Lesson Highlights and Ideas

I really like doing lessons where students tap into themselves and make personal connections, but I love it when I can extend that to help them make connections with other classmates.

Here are a few ideas for lessons you may enjoy.

Here is what I did with 5th Grade. We watched this amazing Ted Talks about a boy becoming an artist. *heads up: make sure you watch this video before you play it to make sure it's good for your students. Mine love it and I've never had a problem.

After the video, we discussed the struggles he faced in reaching his goals and I asked the students to reflect on their own struggles by telling filing in the blanks: "I struggle with___, but I won't let that stop me from___." Here is the exit ticket.

I had a student tell me he loved this lesson because he really got to open up and share his feelings. Music to a counselors ears.

Other ideas:
*Read " This Is Moose" as a lead in and talk about reaching your goals even when others might doubt you. My students LOVE this book.

 This book is going to be so much fun for our career unit and talking about not giving up on your dreams. Read the story behind the story here.

*Tie this into a bravery by reading "My Brave Year of Firsts" with younger students.
*Talk about perseverance with older students by reading "3 Ninja Pigs" and/or watching this adorable video about not giving up.

*Have students research other famous people that have struggled and over come.
My next favorite lesson is....



 "Mr. Peabody's Apples"
I love this book because you can connect it to honesty, stealing, the power of words, consequences, bullying, gossip, rumors, etc. You can get my entire lesson and more on my TPT store here.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Activity-Packet-for-Mr-Peabodys-Apples-2132627

Follow up: Use the QQT game cards to start a discussion on a variety of topics. If you want to use the book to talk about rumors, gossip, etc. I created these FREE differentiated exit tickets which are perfect for collecting perception data.

We followed up talking about the power of our words and then watched this video and then used it to play "give a compliment, get a compliment" from an activity from JyJ counselor.   Each student had a paper and I played music as they walked around and gave each other compliments.

This is also a good way to introduce a new service learning project for our student leadership team on spreading happiness. 

Here are a few other books I love for empathy. What are your favorites?