Life Skills 101: Developing Empathy, Integrity, and Perseverance for Grades 3-5

Life Skills 101 is a course designed for students in grades 3-5 to help them develop important life skills and values such as empathy, integrity, and perseverance. Through this class, your learner will learn how to cope with challenges, adopt a positive attitude, and become a responsible, respectful individual. They will also learn how to work well with others, resolve conflicts, resist negative peer pressure, and be a good friend and citizen. Join us on this journey of personal growth and development for your learner!

Each class begins with a stimulating small group discussion, followed by a hands-on activity to apply the lesson taught.

As this is an ongoing class, the content and dates may change as I create new ideas to keep the class engaging and exciting. Please feel free to drop in whenever you would like!

Week of May 1st: Responsibility 
Students will learn about responsibilities and consequences of decision making.

Week of May 8th: Responsibility 
Students will learn about responsibilities they have for themselves, their family and their community. 

Week of May 15th: Empathy
This lesson aims to teach students about empathy, including its definition and importance, ways to show empathy, and identifying how others may feel in different situations. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of empathy and its practical application.

Week of May 22nd: Empathy 
This lesson aims to build empathy through reading a book that explores empathy, discussing an empathy situation, and writing thank-you notes to family, classmates, or school staff. Students will learn about the importance of empathy in building positive relationships with others.

Week of May 29th: Coping Skills
In this lesson, students will learn about stress, its effects on their lives, and how to identify stress-inducing situations. They will also gain knowledge of coping techniques and strategies to manage stress effectively.

Week of June 5th: Respect
This lesson aims to teach students the definition of respect and its practical application in various settings such as school, home, and the community. Students will also understand the consequences of not showing respect in these settings.

Week of June 12th: Respect
In this lesson, teams are assigned different letters from the word RESPECT to create collages using drawings that depict respect and individuals they admire. Through this collaborative exercise, students explore and visually express the concept of respect.

Week of June 19th: Integrity 
In this lesson, students will explore the meaning of integrity by sharing their ideas and discussing famous quotes together. They will then collaborate to create a list of behaviors that demonstrate integrity in various settings such as the classroom, jobs, families, sports, and the community.

Week of June 26th: Integrity
In this lesson, students will participate in an "integrity challenge" by making choices in various scenarios. 

Week of July 3rd: 
No Class

Week of July 10th: Having a Positive Attitude
In this lesson, students were exposed to positive and negative words, discussed the difference in their emotional impact, and learned about the importance of cultivating a growth mindset and using positive self-talk to promote personal development and overcome challenges.

Week of July 17th: Having a Positive Attitude
The lesson aims to foster self-expression and promote a positive classroom environment by having students create self-portraits accompanied by positive affirmations, followed by an exchange of positive comments among classmates.

Week of July 24th: Perseverance, Personal Best and Goal Setting
In this lesson, students will discuss personal experiences that required perseverance and create a chart listing events and actions taken to succeed. They will also explore real-life challenges, discuss goal setting, and identify short-term goals as steps towards achieving long-term goals.

Week of July 31st: 
No Class

Week of August 7th: 
No Class

Week of August 14th: Goal Setting and Perseverance 

Week of August 21st: Cooperation and Teamwork
In this lesson, students will explore a fable emphasizing teamwork and cooperation, followed by discussions on strong teamwork and communication. They will culminate the lesson by demonstrating teamwork and cooperation through a collaborative task.

*More dates and content always continue to be added

My Background:
As a current teacher and member of our schools Positive Behavior Support Team and Instructional Leadership Team, I have done a lot of work as it relates to the growth mindset, resilience, and problem-solving. I have seen direct instruction with these life skills help to empower many of my students.