Lions Clubs International Foundation
Mindful Self-Awareness Exercise: Identifying Feelings
A self-awareness activity teaches pupils to identify their feelings by focusing on different parts of their bodies. Participants begin by focusing attention on their feet, then calves, moving up slowly to the top of their head, and...
Lions Clubs International Foundation
Mindful Self-Management Exercise: Responding Using S.T.O.P.
Respond rather than react! A self-management exercise teaches pupils a Mindful S.T.O.P. activity. Participants Stop their thoughts or actions, Take deep breaths, Observe how they are feeling, then Proceed with a response that will help...
Lions Clubs International Foundation
Introduction to Mindful Breathing
Mindful breathing or belly breathing is the basis for most mindfulness exercises. Introduce mindfulness practices with a short exercise in breath awareness designed to reduce stress and increase awareness.
Education Foundation of Sarasota County
Problem Solving Skills for Home and School
Dr. Seuss' The Zax has a lesson plan to teach tweens and teens about the importance of problem-solving skills. After viewing the short video, groups identify conflicts that may occur at home, in school or in the community. They then...
Education Foundation of Sarasota County
Self-Calming Strategies to Manage Emotions
Tweens and teens learn coping skills to help manage strong emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness with a lesson plan that asks them to generate a list of self-calming strategies they use and to consider the suggestions in a short...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity Charts
Many factors shape the identity of persons, communities, and even nations. Tweens and teens have an opportunity to consider the many aspects of identity as they create a graphic that reflects who they are. Class members first brainstorm...
Facing History and Ourselves
Bio-poem: Connecting Identity and Poetry
Writing a bio-poem is a great way to have young scholars go below the surface and reflect on who or what has made them who they are. Check out this richly detailed lesson that provides step-by-step directions for crafting a bio-poem.
Miama-Dade County Public Schools
African Americans and the Civil War
The American Civil War is the theme of this packet of materials prepared for Black History Month. Class members learn about the roles that African Americans played during the Civil War and examine the African-American experience after...
Nebraska Department of Education
Blue Collar and Proud of It
There is a strong need for workers skilled in trades (agriculture, construction, transportation, the service industry, manufacturing, industry). Middle schoolers listen to an interview with a tradesperson and then go online to...
Nebraska Department of Education
Career Family Tree
What do you want to be when you grow up? How does your family influence your choices of occupations? These are the questions middle schoolers consider as they interview family members and create a career Family Tree.
Nebraska Department of Education
A Letter to Myself
Middle schoolers craft a letter to themselves describing what their life will be like in four years using a prewriting organizer to guide their work.
Nebraska Department of Education
Reflective Listening
Reflective listening is not casual! After learning about the practice of reflective listening, middle schoolers practice reflective listening skills in a role play activity that has them take turns being a speaker, listener, and observer.
Nebraska Department of Education
Social Class and Fitting In
Social classes may be explicitly defined as in a caste system or based more informally on such ideas as wealth or education. After reading and discussing an article about one woman's experience with trying to fit into a system different...
Nebraska Department of Education
Coat of Arms
After discussing the significance of a Coat ofArms, eighth graders design their own to represent their strengths, values, goals, and culture.
Nebraska Department of Education
Communication Skills
It's not just what you say but how you say it! That's the take-away from a lesson plan about verbal and non-verbal communication. An engaging activity has middle schoolers demonstrating how tone of voice and body language can totally...
Nebraska Department of Education
Stress and Coping
Life can be stressful. Class members fill out T-charts identifying stressors associated with school, parents, friends, and life then list coping strategies that can help with each category.
Nebraska Department of Education
This I Believe
As part of a Career Develop unit, eighth-graders reflect on their beliefs and values and consider how these beliefs might affect their relationships with friends and with colleagues when they join the workforce.
Nebraska Department of Education
Time Management
As eighth-graders move on to high school, strong time management skills become critical. As part of a career Planning & Management unit, scholars learn how to analyze their time and consider how their choices impact their ability to...
Nebraska Department of Education
Who Am I?
When people look in a mirror, they rarely see themselves as others see them. Tweens and teens can consider the significance of these disparities in a lesson that asks them to reflect on the kind of person they are and how they think...
National Institute of Drug Abuse
Nurturing My Mental and Emotional Health
One exercise does not necessarily work for all! A resource from the National Institutes of Health provides tweens and teens with exercises to help them cope with anxiety and stress. Participants note their stress levels before and after...
Newseum
You Can’t Say That: Right to Know vs. Security Risk
Print or block? That is the question young journalists debate as part of their study of the freedom of the press. Half the class represents the journalists' legal team, and the other half represents the government's legal team. Teams...
Scholastic
Stressed Out?
Provide tweens and teens with information they need to know about stress with an article that details how stress affects various organs in the body. The article also offers tips for healthy ways to cope with stress.
Canadian Mental Health Association
Busting Stress: Stress Management Lesson Plans
Feeling stressed? Who are you going to call? Why stress busters, of course! A 15-page booklet includes activities designed for tweens and teens. Participants first take a stress test to determine their level of stress. They then learn...
Cultures of Dignity
Equity and Equality Lesson
Equality does not equal equity and this lesson explains why. Class members compare two images--one labeled "Equality" and the other "Equity." Using the provided discussion questions, they then develop definitions that distinguish between...