At the beginning of the year we get to create our classroom community. We get to decide how we will learn and grow and play with each other for the rest of the year. This is a new beginning for all. As we start to decide what kind of classroom community we are going to be, we begin by thinking about the importance of the words we use with each other.

Building a caring and inclusive classroom begins with an understanding of where students are at not just academically, but emotionally. Many students today have been exposed to experiences that affect their ability to regulate their emotions. By teaching children positive behavior and self-regulation, teachers can help improve outcomes for all students and build a caring community. This lesson will introduce students to mindful activities and the use of gratitude journals.

In this lesson, students learn that we all have ideas and talents to make the world a better place. This is an opportunity to demonstrate and feel the impact of kindness, inclusion, and listening on a caring community. Students learn from a community helper about the needs they observe in the community. They make and donate a "calming kit" so the tool may help youth calm themselves. Use this at the beginning of the year to set a tone and learn skills of effective language that are good for all. 

In this lesson, the students learn to use their voice to say something to make the world a better place. This is an opportunity to demonstrate and feel the impact of kindness, inclusion, and listening on a caring community. Students learn from a community helper about the needs they observe in the community. They make and donate a "calming box" so the tool may help youth calm themselves. Use this at the beginning of the year to set a tone and learn skills of effective language that are good for all. 

Students organize and implement a school-based recycling plan based on a one-day lunchroom waste audit.

Adapt this one-period lesson plan for your grade level and follow it with a simple and powerful service project for Earth Day. The reflection brings learning and service impact together. 

Students explore the roles of bees in a hive and as pollinators. They learn about reasons their population numbers have been declining in recent years. They design a project to help beautify their school and help the larger environment by attracting bees. They may write a letter or create a handout to teach others how to help bees through planting native species.

Conflict happens in many situations and knowing the proper means to communicate and resolve issues can mitigate many problems. This lesson helps youth evaluate the roots of conflicts and methods on how to resolve conflict with respect.  

In civil society, different people come together to form community. While differences may cause conflict, for the sake of the common good, we practice empathy and respect for others. Students respond to scenarios of differences in opinion. They learn to communicate respectfully with someone of a different opinion and to seek common ground or compromise. The lesson concludes with a service project in which the students create posters to teach these methods to the school or community. 

Students learn about the roles of bees in a colony and discuss how that relates to people in community. Bees have an important role in nature as pollinators, but their population numbers have been declining in recent years. Students write a letter or create a flyer to teach others how to help bees by planting native species.

Students learn about nutrition for healthy bodies and encourage others to make healthy choices. Students learn about healthy choices by playing a group game. In the end they learn that when everyone is healthy, we are all able to do our best.