learning activity guide - choose to be nice

LEARNING ACTIVITY GUIDE

WHAT’S INSIDE: • Learning Activities for Grades 3-5• Book recommendations + literacy activities• Home connections + tips for parents• Student-centered activities designed to promote lifelong

social and emotional intelligence

GRADES 3-5RESPECTFUL RYAN

HONEST HANNAHRESPONSIBLE RILEY

PATIENT PRIA COURAGEOUS CAMERON

KIND KIERAACCEPTING ALEX

TEAMWORK TYLER

FRIENDLY FELIPE

| 2choose to be nice© Choose To Be Nice, LLC

BOOK LIST

Each learning activity for each grade includes a unique book suggestion. This list has been selected to introduce the nine values for each grade. If you have trouble finding a book from the list below, please contact us at [email protected] and we can help you. If you would like more literary options, please choose from additional suggestions on pages 9-10.

RESPECT(3) Miss Nelson is Missing!, By Harry G. Allard Jr.(4) What if Everybody Did That?, By Ellen Javernick(5) I Have A Dream, By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

KINDNESS(3) How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids, By Tom Rath(4) Kermit the Hermit, By Bill Peet(5) The Hundred Dresses, By Eleanor Estes

ACCEPTANCE(3) One of Us, By Peggy Moss(4) Hooway for Wodney Wat, By Helen Lester(5) Teammates, By Peter Golenbock

TEAMWORK(3) How a House is Built, By Gail Gibbons(4) The Soda Bottle School: The True Story of Recycling, Teamwork,and One Crazy Idea, By Laura Kutner and Suzanne Slade(5) The Last Dragon, By Susan Miho Nunes

HONESTY(3) Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire, By Gordon Korman(4) The Honest-to-Goodness Truth, By Patricia McKissack(5) Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big, By Berkeley Breathed

getting started


getting startedRESPONSIBILITY(3) Your Job is Easy, By Carl Sommer(4) The Paperboy, By Dav Pilkey(5) Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, By Judith Viorst

FRIENDSHIP(3) Enemy Pie, By Derek Munson(4) Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, By Mem Fox(5) The Stone Soup Book of Friendship Stories, By William Rubel and Gerry Mandel

PATIENCE(3) Zen Socks, By Jon J. Muth(4) A Penguin Named Patience: A Hurricane Katrina Rescue Story, By Suzanne Lewisand Lisa Anchin(5) Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan In Pursuit of a Dream, By Deloris Jordan andRoslyn M. Jordan

COURAGE(3) Mirette on the Highwire, By Emily Arnold McCully(4) Brave Harriet: The First Woman to Fly the English Channel, By Marissa Moss(5) The Butterfly, By Patricia Polacco

ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS

RESPECTPinduli, By Janell Cannon

KINDNESSThose Shoes, By Maribeth Boelts A Chair for My Mother, By Vera Williams


getting startedACCEPTANCEA Bad Case of Stripes, By David Shannon

TEAMWORKThe Enormous Potato, By Aubrey Davis Marty McGuire Digs Worms!, By Kate Messner and Brian Floca

HONESTYA Day’s Work, By Eve Bunting

RESPONSIBILITYDo I Have To?: Kids Talk About Responsibility, By Nancy Loewen

FRIENDSHIPA Letter to Amy, By Ezra Jack Keats

PATIENCEWhat Do You Do With a Problem?, By Kobi Yamada

COURAGEPink and Say, By Patricia Polacco Courage, By Bernard Waber

Have more book suggestions? Let us know by sending them to [email protected].


RESPECTFUL RYAN is always polite.

RESPECT


BOOK SUGGESTION: Miss Nelson is Missing!, By Harry G. Allard, Jr.

LEARNING ACTIVITY: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Poems

SUBJECT CONNECTIONS: English Language Arts

MATERIALS NEEDED:• Respect Acrostic Poem Worksheet (see Reproducible 1 on page 52)• Chart paper

INSTRUCTIONS: After reading Miss Nelson is Missing!, ask students to compare and contrast Miss Nelson’s classroom before and after the visit of Miss Viola Swamp. Have students discuss the importance of respect at school and share examples of how students and teachers can show respect for one another. Write student examples on chart paper.

Next, ask students to write their own acrostic poem to define what respect means to them. Explain that acrostic poems start with a topic word written vertically. Students then write a horizontal line that relates to the topic word and begins with each letter.

Share the following example with students:

Raising my hand Every day at school Saying hello Putting other people first Everyone participates in Classroom respect Teachers too!

Have students use the Respect Acrostic Poem Worksheet to create their poem. Invite them to look at the chart paper examples from the class discussion for inspiration.

After students finish their poems, ask for volunteers to read them aloud to the class. Hang up the finished poems as reminders of classroom respect.

EXTENSION IDEAS:• Have students present their poems to students in another class, at a school wide assembly

about respect, or during daily announcements.

• Publish student poems in the school newspaper.

• Have students create additional acrostic poems for other words that remind them of respect.

HOME LINK Students can recite their acrostic poem at home to their parents/guardians.

RESPECTFUL RYAN is always polite.

THIRD GRADE RESPECT

learning activity guide - choose to be nice

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