Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)

Lesson Length: 1 - 2 class sessions

Topic: Strengths, Relationships, Appreciation

Grade Level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will recognize the strengths in another person.

Know Before You Start: Students should be able to give a few examples of signs of strength in a person. Students should be familiar with characters from a read-aloud text the class has previously read together.

Hook:

  • Ask students:
    • “What do strengths and weaknesses mean?”
    • “What are your own strengths?”
    • “How can you identify someone’s strengths?”
    • “Why is it important to recognize someone else's strengths?”

Activity:

  • Carry out a ‘think aloud’ by describing the main character in a book to the class recently read together and record the characters’ strengths in the Main Idea Web Chart.
    • The character’s name will be in the middle of the web and strengths will be recorded on the outer circles.
    • As you record each strength, explain your thinking by recalling an example in the book that is connected to the selected strength.
    • Explain why the words selected are considered strengths.
  • After listening to your model, have students complete a Main Idea Web to recognize a friend or family member’s strengths.
  • Have students explain why they selected those strengths in small groups or pairs.
  • Have students create a comic about their selected person displaying one of the strengths from their chart.

Closure:

  • Have students share their comics in pairs or small groups.
  • Share with students that recognizing strengths in others is important because it allows us to celebrate them and the positive attributes they have. When we highlight strengths in another person it can encourage them to continue to build that strength and can make them feel special.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover to read their comics aloud.
  • Provide a list of strengths for students to refer to.

Resources:

Suggested Story Starters: