Spreading Gratitude Rocks
A Note of Gratitude
Gertrude Stein once said, "Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." Learners break their silence by engaging in discussion and making lists of what makes them grateful. Next, pupils write and illustrate a thank you letter to a chosen...
Curated OER
Back to School (Secondary)
Welcome your class back to school! They will participate in a character education instructional activity in order to build community at the school. First they identify needs of new students by putting themselves in their shoes and create...
Curated OER
Place and Character in Poetry
Students examine how place in poetry helps give clues about character. In this poetry lesson, students read a poem while focusing on the descriptions of the room that is being described and predict what type of person would live there....
Curated OER
Teaching Responsibility
In this responsibility worksheet, students complete a true/false checklist about being responsible and complete discussion questions after viewing a referenced video. Suggestions for writing and students activities are also given.
Curated OER
Fairness and Justice
In this fairness and justice learning exercise, students complete a true/false checklist about being fair and complete discussion questions after viewing a referenced video. Suggestions for writing and students activities are also given.
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
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...
EngageNY
Analyzing Character: Eliza Character Pyramid
Building a pyramid is not as hard as it looks! Scholars analyze the character of Eliza in Pygmalion by crafting a character pyramid about her. After discussing a model pyramid, pupils receive a blank Eliza Doolittle Character Pyramid to...
Workforce Solutions
Discover Your Interests
Career exploration is the focus of a lesson that encourages pupils to choose a profession based on their strengths and interests. Following a thoughtful discussion covering different character traits, class members complete an interest...
Spreading Gratitude Rocks
Live and Learn and Pass It On
What are some of life's most tried-and-true lessons? Pupils listen to examples from the book Live and Learn and Pass It On by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. They write down their own life lessons to later compile in a class booklet. As a bonus...
Teaching Tolerance
Identity Self-Portraits
What symbols represent you best? Individuals consider how they would draw peers using symbols about their identities with an interview and art activity. After conducting interviews and portraits, the art makes a great centerpiece for...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Mrs Twit
"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly." The second instructional activity in an 11-part unit that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl uses poetry to encourage positive character traits. Mrs. Twit has ugly thoughts, but...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Fly Your Kite
Encourage scholars to become a productive community member with a kite-themed lesson. Following a review and discussion, learners complete a Venn diagram that displays the connection between character traits needed to make a home and...
Curated OER
Building Communities
Students examine the ADL's Pyramid of Hate and use it to identify bullying instances they are aware of. In this character education lesson, students discuss their findings and design activities or programs to combat bullying in their own...
Curated OER
Drama-Dialogue
Use drama to study and practice dialogue. Creative minds discuss what dialogue tells about a character, and how it can be used to advance the plot. They read a play, think about what they gleaned from dialogue, and record their...
Curated OER
Around the Room Short Story
Collective story writing is a great way to reinforce the concept of story elements and collaborative learning. Young writers discuss story elements such as, setting, character, action, climax, conclusion, foreshadowing, dialogue, and...
K12 Reader
If
Rudyard Kipling's advice to his son in the poem "If" is a resounding message that echoes through generations. After reading the famous poem, middle schoolers work on analyzing specific lines, completing activities based on unfamiliar...
Curated OER
Welcome to My World
Elementary schoolers discuss what a community is, and what their community has to offer them. They create posters, or flyers for the different businesses or places in their community to place around their school. After the students have...
Reed Novel Studies
Fuzzy Mud: Novel Study
Trouble always finds trouble. While avoiding a bully, Tamaya and Marshally from Fuzzy Mud take a trip through the off-limit woods and find themselves lost. To complete the worksheet study, scholars analyze several literary devices, learn...
Reed Novel Studies
One Crazy Summer: Novel Study
Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer describes three girls who go looking for their mother who ran out on them. Scholars complete a novel study guide with vocabulary exercises, character descriptions, and comprehension poems.
Nemours KidsHealth
Bullying: Grades 6-8
Two lessons promote social awareness and build relationship skills. In lesson one, scholars define bullying and role-play coping strategies. Lesson two challenges learners to diffuse a bullying situation using their knowledge of...
Curated OER
Taking a Stand on Bullying
Middle schoolers stand up against bullying in a character-building lesson. After discussing historical figures who became advocates in times of adversity, they brainstorm ways to end bullying at their own school, and use a formal letter...
Curated OER
Someones Else's Shoes
Build a caring and empathetic classroom community. This presentation provides several scenarios to discuss. It focuses on how each scene makes a person feel, then how someone else might feel. A great way to start a discussion or to build...
Sunburst Visual Media
Respect: It Starts With You!
There are few things as frustrating to a teacher as a disrespectful student. Luckily this collection of activities, worksheets, and writing exercises is here to help eliminate this problem by teaching young leaners what respect really...