Little Stones
How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
Curated OER
Fix the Problem!
People won't let me finish talking!...I hate the lunch room...Leave my name alone! Explore a variety of problems learners can face on a daily basis, and use this game to have pupils determine the best ways to answer those situations.
Social Skills Central
Ready, Set, Respond!
When faced with a difficult situation, do you respond selfishly, face it head on, or ignore the problem? This game encourages learners to evaluate the wide range of reactions we can have to problematic situations, and how our responses...
Film English
Music
Some emotions are indescribable, but sometimes you have to try! After brainstorming adjectives that describe emotions, pupils watch a quick film, at first with no sound. Partners share their adjectives and come up with descriptions for...
Nemours KidsHealth
Stress: Grades K-2
Two activities focus on stress—its triggers and tools to manage it. The first activity asks pupils to identify personal stress triggers then practice stress management techniques. The second activity gets scholars up and moving with yoga...
Anti-Defamation League
Identity and Diversity in My Generation
Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, according to research, is the "most racially and ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history." Gen Z high schoolers are challenged to consider how they identify themselves. They select a photo...
GLSEN, Inc.
Ready, Set, Respect!
Instill the importance of respect in your classroom with a comprehensive unit that focuses on positive behavior in and outside of school. Three parts, each separated into four grade-specific lessons, cover bullying, bias, name-calling,...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Keep Finding the Positive
Group members take on roles to create a positive classroom community. Learners perform their role—leader, recorder, presenter, timekeeper, encourager, and collector—in preparation for a formal presentation of their positive thinking...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Are You Balanced?
Balance scales create a strong visual of how an individual prioritizes one's self alongside their commitments to the community, school, and home. Scholars complete a graphic organizer then discuss their findings with their peers. A...
The Holler
Conflict Resolution
Does your class understand the importance of peaceful conflict resolution? Middle schoolers share conflict stories, then collaborate to resolve simulated conflicts during an engaging instructional activity. The teacher's guide contains...
Overcoming Obstacles
Kindness
Encourage kindness with a lesson that defines kindness, asks scholars how to show kindness, and share how others have shown them kindness. Multiple activities prove that kindness is easy to give through coloring, storytelling, a game of...
Overcoming Obstacles
Becoming a Good Friend
A lesson focuses on the qualities of a good friend. Scholars discuss how to be a good friend and decorate a hand cutout to represent a high five of friendship. Small groups offer encouragement and give compliments to each other.
Overcoming Obstacles
Being Responsible
A lesson all about responsibility details the importance of building trust. Scholars discuss and create posters about responsibility and explore strategies to become more responsible. Peers work collaboratively to craft a rainbow of...
Overcoming Obstacles
Respect
In a lesson about respect, scholars define it and write examples of how they show it at school, at home, and community. Small groups work together to identify scenarios as respectful or not. If not, groups explain what should be done to...
Overcoming Obstacles
Resolving Conflicts
Assist scholars in resolving conflicts with a lesson that starts with defining the terms, conflicts, and resolutions. Learners take their newfound knowledge to identify a conflict and list strategies to resolve it. Partners work together...
Committee for Children
Learn to Identify What’s Bullying, What’s Joking, and How to Deal With It
A quick lesson takes a look at the differences between bullying and joking. Through whole-class discussion, scholars identify between the two behaviors and brainstorm actions to take to cease bullying behavior. Small groups share with...
Learning to Give
Deliver Gratitude Day
Gratitude is the focus of a discussion that sets the stage for pupils to take part in a service-learning project in which they deliver notes of kindness by way of social media or mail. A reflection closes the learning experience.
Transforming Education
Social Awareness Toolkit
A 32-slide professional development presentation introduces administrators, counselors, and teachers to the social awareness competency. The presentation includes specific strategies to help learners develop social awareness, identifies...
Department of Education (Ireland)
Understanding Influences
"Understanding Influences," a richly detailed, carefully scaffolded unit, asks middle and high school scholars to examine how internal and external factors like friends, media, and society influence their attitudes and behaviors.
Health Smart Virginia
Walk A Mile in Their Shoes
After watching a presentation that describes the difference between sympathy and empathy, class members fill out an empathy shoe organizer sharing 10 facts about themselves that others may not know. The goal is to create a more accepting...
Nemours KidsHealth
Getting Along: Grades K-2
Boost social awareness with two activities focusing on getting along. In the first activity, scholars brainstorm ways to get along with their classmates and create four rules for the classroom. The second activity asks pupils to track...
Health Smart Virginia
Taking Turns
Scholars work cooperatively, taking turns, to boost peer relationships and fairness. Rotating through five stations, players practice tossing, bouncing, push-ups, and working together to clean up fallen equipment, then rate their...
Guidance Group
101 Ways to Teach Children Social Skills
Increasing pressure to improve student achievement has made it easy to overlook the social skills they also need to develop. With this collection of worksheets and activities, you'll be able to improve children's communication, teamwork,...
Curated OER
Filtering Angry Statements Activity
Help learners who struggle with blurting out statements when they are angry by reviewing a series of statements and determining when, if ever, they are appropriate to say.