Open Society Institute - Baltimore
Restorative Practices Lesson Plan Guide
Looking for resources that use restorative practices to build a positive school community? Then check out this 92-page lesson plan guide that provides background information on restorative practices, suggestions for how to implement a...
Nemours KidsHealth
Self-Esteem: Grades 3-5
Two lessons examine self-esteem and encourage scholars to exude confidence. Lesson one asks learners to recognize the characteristics of self-esteem then create a collage compiled of images that reflect their skills, accomplishments, and...
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...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Think Positive!
Following an attention-grabbing read-aloud, scholars brainstorm ways they can change negative thoughts into positive thoughts. Small groups plan and perform a skit that showcases one of the new ideas to uplift one's feelings....
Missouri Department of Elementary
I’m A Star!
A lesson encourages scholars to be star community members. Pupils take part in a class discussion that challenges them to brainstorm at least two ways to show responsibility within one's community. Small groups play a game in which...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Showcasing Your Understanding
The final instructional activity in the series asks class members to demonstrate what they have learned about how photographs can revel injustice and how they can encourage people to take action against injustice. Either as a class, in...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Advertisements Promoting Activism
Activism can create real change. Class members examine a series of photographs that represent a different form of activism. Individuals then craft a persuasive speech in which they argue why the photo they chose is the best example of...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Legal Action: The Supreme Court
A social justice lesson focuses on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans. The lesson begins with class members examining a photograph of...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Confronting Unjust Practices
A powerful photograph of the Freedom Riders of 1961 launches an examination of the de jure and de facto injustices that the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s addressed. Young historians first watch a video and read the Supreme...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Confronting Unjust Laws
The right to peacefully assembly to protest injustice is a key element of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Class members are asked to analyze two photographs of people confronting what they consider to be unjust...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Homelessness and Poverty
Photos can capture a complete story in a single image. Class members closely examine a photo of a homeless camp and attempt to read the story told by the picture. They then read the caption for the photograph and compare their notes with...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Anti-Immigration Sentiment
The debate about immigration reform continues. To gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved, class members first examine a photo of an anti-immigration rally. Groups then conduct an internet search for an image that presents an...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Gender Bias
Young sociologists are asked to read two photographs, identifying how the photographer uses point of view, color, pose, light, and shadow to express a stereotype of women or to challenge those stereotypes. Partners then create their own...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Racism
Photographs capture a moment in time. And some of the best pictures demand that viewers not only ask questions about why the photo packs such an emotional wallop, but also about what happened before and after it was taken. A photograph...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Supporting Social Border Crossings
A lunch-time activity encourages pupils to step out of their usual lunch bunch and connect with someone new. To begin, individuals examine a group photograph and identify what they believe is the gender, race, religion, and sexual...
Missouri Department of Elementary
An Apple a Day
Three apples—green, red, and rotten—exemplify character traits, negative and positive. Following a discussion about the classroom community, scholars complete an apple-themed worksheet that challenges them to read each trait, color it...
Missouri Department of Elementary
What Color is Your Apple?
Build your classroom community with an activity that uses apples to examine oneself and their classmates. Participants draw four large apples on blank paper then exchange them within a small group. Group members write a character trait...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Fly Your Kite
Encourage scholars to become a productive community member with a kite-themed lesson plan. Following a review and discussion, learners complete a Venn diagram that displays the connection between character traits needed to make a home...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exploring Identity
Even without captions, photographs can tell amazing, involved, and complex stories. Viewers analyze two photos, consider what the pictures reveal about the subjects' identity, and determine the social justice issues represented in the...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Goldilocks Revisited
After a read-aloud of the story Goldielocks and the Three Bears, scholars gather into small groups to answer a series of questions. Peers examine the idea of smart decisions and identify three feelings of characters alongside three...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Many Roles I Play in My Community
Small groups brainstorm their roles in the community. Then, individually, complete a community roles web worksheet. Peers share their completed product and extend the conversation to include the feelings and character traits that go...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Put Yourself in Check
The final lesson in a four-part unit on conflict resolution offers middle schoolers strategies for how to keep themselves in check when involved in conflicts. A role-play activity and a reflective journal stress the importance of...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Managing Conflicts
Conflicts happen. Learning how to manage conflicts in mature and positive ways is an important part of social-emotion growth. The lesson offers insight into behaviors that exacerbate conflicts as well as suggestions for how to resolve...