GRADES 4 TO 6

Team challenges promote collaboration. Together students must pool their ideas using a design mindset to create a spaghetti tower. The tower must support a marshmallow and the winning team will have built the tallest tower! With limited resources but with the power of teamwork who knows how tall the towers will get!

Understanding and feeling compassion is essential for healthy relationships and contributes to reducing incidences of bullying in classrooms. Exploring what compassion means through creating acrostic poems will provide students the opportunities to explore a word and its meaning.

A simple act of kindness can transform an invisible boy into a friend. Trudy Ludwig’s tale raises poignant life issues of friendship, belonging, empathy and acceptance, opening avenues for classroom inclusion.

Exploring an attitude of gratitude requires students to look at their situations from a point of appreciation. Engaging in a class activity of ABC Gratitude helps students to identify people, events and surrounds that they are thankful for and reflect on the positives in their lives!

Honesty and integrity are important attributes for everyone. A classroom made version of Snakes and Ladders challenges students to explore versions of truth by posing challenging questions.

Perhaps the best way to teach the virtue of humility is to foster in our children a deep sense of gratitude. A sense of gratitude for even the little things can be expressed through thank you letters.

The simple routine of sharing a joke instantly brings humour into the classroom. Every student is assigned the task to present a joke to the class. Different types and styles of jokes can be explored and the funnier the better!

Concepts of perspective, ‘point of view’, and empathy are explored via a storybook inquiry about The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka. Traditionally readers sympathise with the three pigs. In the retelling of the three little pigs, the author changes the point of view of the story and shares the wolf’s story. The story also investigates themes relating to truth. Which version of the Three Little Pigs depicts the truth? Could each version be true?

Classroom affirmations are used to create a positive and supportive environment to help students develop a mindset of positivity and success. and are a powerful way to help students develop a mindset of positivity and success. Used consistently, affirmations can support positive attitudes and actions.

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf's is a book about a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights and is happy to embrace his differences. Ferdinand is caught between staying true to his nature and living up to others' expectations and stereotypes. The book provides momentum for discussions about conformity and individualism and self-acceptance. Students can explore their uniqueness whilst acknowledging other’s diversities.

To trust someone, you must be able to rely upon that person and, at the same time, feel both physically and emotionally safe. The aim of this activity is to provide a scenario that requires students to place trust in their fellow classmates for their physical safety.