Missouri Department of Elementary
How Does a Friend Act?
Two puppets showcase social skills while scholars decide whether their actions are positive or negative. Learners take turns with the puppets, acting out scenarios with a peer while the rest of the class decide if they're being a good...
Missouri Department of Elementary
How Do I Act Like a Friend?
Familiar puppets set the stage for a thoughtful discussion about friendship. To show what they know, scholars role-play scenarios. Peers offer a thumbs up when they view positive character traits exhibit good friend behavior.
Missouri Department of Elementary
How We Are Alike And Different
Scholars develop social awareness by exploring the concept of similarities and differences. Learners examine two beverages and use a Venn diagram to identify similarities and differences. They tally each item to identify if they are more...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Feeling Faces
A instructional activity help scholars identify emotions through facial expressions. After a friendly puppet reads scholars a poem all about feelings, learners act out how they would feel when a specific action happens to them....
Missouri Department of Elementary
Celebrate Your Culture
After a class discussion about celebrations and customs, class members draw pictures depicting special events from their family cultures. Next, they draw pictures of an event from a different culture and share their work with classmates.
Missouri Department of Elementary
STAR Deputies, Unite!
STAR deputies unite! Scholars gather in small groups to solve problems using the STAR method. Pupils read a card that describes a situation that requires problem-solving. They role-play the scenario in front of their peers.
Missouri Department of Elementary
How Much Does Smoking Really Cost?
Following a brief survey about tobacco, scholars examine a fact sheet to answer questions about the substance. A practice page challenges the class to determine the cost of the habit using money math. Pupils discuss their findings...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Putting on Armor
Peers can exert tremendous pressure that can lead to positive and negative consequences. To conclude the Risky Business unit, class members create a Personal Safety Plan. They list things or situations that cause stress, things they have...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Putting on Armor
Middle schoolers learn how to protect themselves from risky behaviors with a lesson that has them role play several scenarios and demonstrate ways that they might do to stay safe. Class members then use what they have learned to build a...
Missouri Department of Elementary
“Re-Solutioning”: Practice Brings Out Our Best
Seventh graders create and perform a skit that demonstrates their conflict resolution skills. They begin by examining the process of crafting a performance and review what they have learned about conflict resolution. Next, they...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Diversity Day
Party time! Here's a resource that suggests celebrating diversity by organizing a school-wide event that features performers and speakers that represent the various cultures and traditions. The packet includes a list of suggested...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Quest for Magic Minutes
A "Magic Minute" activity asks class groups to develop a commercial to advertise a way to turn a time-waster into a time-saver. Ad groups begin by brainstorming time-wasters and then problem-solve was to turn them into time-savers. After...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Color Your Destiny
Class groups bring feeling words alive by creating a poster that illustrates with images and colors, but not words, the feeling conjured by the word. The posters are then combined into a mural for the classroom wall.
Curated OER
I'm Just a Bag of Feelings
First graders identify and discuss different kinds of feelings and emotions. They take turns pulling a feeling out of a bag, and acting out their feeling while the other students guess the feeling. Students also complete a Feelings...
Curated OER
Talk is Cheap: Part 2
Second graders examine and discuss different goals that lead to learner success. They discuss the story of "The Tortoise and the Hare," and discuss different goals and scenarios on a handout. Students then write a personal learning goal...
Curated OER
Respect: Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like
Sixth graders participate in a question and answer discussion on respect and then complete the "Planning to Use Respect" activity sheet. They describe the senses of a stuffed animal to their peers and assess how respect looks, sounds and...
Curated OER
Finding My Pathway
Eighth graders engage in a lesson that is concerned with the acquiring of skills necessary to make informed career choices. They examine the type of language that should be acquired for communication in the workplace. They also have...
Curated OER
How Does a Friend Act?
Students brainstorm a list of characteristics that friends should and should not have. In groups, they are given a set of hand puppets in which they role-play different scenerios in front of the class. To end the lesson, they are shown...
Curated OER
A Fair Trade
Students examine a piece of art to find objects and symbols used by the artist. In this visual art lesson plan, students look at Jaun Quick-to-See Smith's, "Trade Canoe for Don Quixote." They look for symbols and items that show the...
Curated OER
Las Tejanas
Fourth graders recognize that the Tejanas were Texas women of Spanish-Mexican origin who contributed to the history of Texas. Students read and research the Tejanas women, complete an essay about a day in the life of a Tejanas woman ,and...
Curated OER
Finding Meaning in the Badge
Children who are three to five years old study two rank badges from the Qing dynasty to develop an understanding of social rank, language skills, and symbolism. The lesson is discussion-based and requires learners to compare and contrast...
Smithsonian Institution
Solomon G. Brown: Letter Writing
Personal correspondence in the form of letters is not as common as it once was. This resource presents an opportunity for you to introduce your class to letter writing and cover topics in social studies. Learners read a letter written in...
Channel Islands Film
Step Into the Shoes
Small groups create skits that illustrate the different perspectives of those involved in the transitioning of Santa Rose island from private ownership to National Park.
Teaching Tolerance
Collage of Concerns
A picture can speak louder than words. An interesting lesson introduces the themes of social justice and diversity to young learners by having them create artwork. Scholars create collages from a variety of sources to showcase what...