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​Self-Awareness and Self-Management - Grades 1-5

Identify different ways of expressing a feeling
Identify one’s own strengths, needs, and preferences
Select coping skill strategies in response to adverse situations
Distinguish among and set short term, mid-range, and long-term goals

Identify different ways of expressing a feeling

Performance Indicators
The learner will:
Supportive Practices
The adult will:
Teaching Strategies
  • Identify a variety of ways to respond to a feeling.
  • Identify and express feelings that are appropriate to the situation.
  • Identify and express feelings in multiple ways. (e.g., gestures, actions, language or drawing)
  • Discuss the relationship of emotions and behaviors.
  • Have students role play different emotions and their responses to those emotions.
  • Draw an 'anger thermometer,' and ask students to discuss why they might move up and down the thermometer; discuss the physical responses as they move higher.
  • Students create a book of feeling words using photographs taken of the students demonstrating those feelings.
  • Discuss with students how one might act differently depending on the emotion.
  • Create a peaceful or cozy corner where students can go and reflect on their feelings.
  • Have students role-play and discuss situations that might trigger emotions. Include different future job situations and how feelings and emotions might impact their work in these jobs (e.g., fireman, teacher, actor, scientist, etc.).
  • Utilize Go Noodle or similar activities that focus on identification of feelings.
  • Ask students to write a short story, complete with illustrations, which describes a situation that made them angry without using the words anger, angry, or mad.
  • Ask students to name the emotions experienced by characters in a story and discuss how they were affected by those emotions.

Identify one’s own strengths, needs, and preferences

Performance Indicators
The learner will:
Supportive Practices
The adult will:
Teaching Strategies
  • Express one's own needs and wants within a context.
  • Select activities based on personal preferences.
  • Identify personal strengths as a member of a group.
  • Have students interview a classmate, then report on their unique characteristics.
  • Invite students to dress like a person or character who shares an interest or personal qualities with the student.
  • Highlight a character trait or personal quality of the week or month schoolwide through daily announcements, bulletin boards, newsletters, etc.
  • Conduct a career day.
  • Have students draw self-portraits and include descriptions of interests, skills, and character traits they possess.
  • Ask students to research a career/occupation and share what they liked and disliked about it.
  • Have students compose a list of interests; then, work with them to match those to a career or job.
  • Have students complete a persuasive writing assignment on an activity or study of interest.
  • Assign students a personal reflection journal activity on how a decision has impacted their life.
  • Utilize cooperative learning strategies to reinforce student strengths.
  • As a journal activity, invite students to analyze what is easy or difficult for them in school.

Select coping skill strategies in response to adverse situations (e.g., positive self-talk, talking to others, taking a break, taking care of oneself, avoiding negative self-talk)

Performance Indicators
The learner will:
Supportive Practices
The adult will:
Teaching Strategies
  • Identify a coping skill when faced with adversity.
  • Demonstrate persistence in solving challenging situations.
  • Use prior knowledge to accomplish a challenging task.
  • Routinely practice with students self-control techniques to meet demands of situations (e.g., taking a deep breath, counting to 10, self-talk, etc.).
  • Routinely provide authentic praise to students when you observe them managing themselves appropriately.
  • As a teacher, model effective self-management in an age-appropriate way for students (e.g., "I'm feeling a little frustrated, so I am going to stop and take a deep breath before I decide what to do next.").
  • Teach students that emotions are okay. However, recognize that how we respond to emotions may not be okay (e.g., It is okay to be mad, but it is not okay to hit someone when you are mad).
  • Have students practice using fill-in-the-blank "I" messages to identify relationships between thoughts, emotions, and actions (e.g., When you__, I feel___. What I would like for you to do is __).

Distinguish among and set short term, mid-range, and long-term goals

Performance Indicators
The learner will:
Supportive Practices
The adult will:
Teaching Strategies
  • Discriminate between short and long-term goals.
  • Identify preliminary short and long-term goals related to individual and career interests.
  • Adopt strategies to meet short and long-term goals.
  • Have students set daily or weekly short- and long-term social and/or academic goal(s), and have students list the steps and skills necessary to achieve their goal(s).
  • Have students make charts and visual reminders so they can track progress on daily and weekly goal(s).
  • Reward students for meeting goal(s).
  • Implement collaborative learning projects that utilize the jigsaw technique to help students create their own learning and improve social interactions.
  • Have students research and summarize the education path required to achieve a specific career goal.