Climate & Culture Mini-Lesson (3-5) 26'-27' by Kirk Ziemke

Intro Lesson: Self-Awareness

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:34:21 UTC

Intro:Hello! Welcome to our first climate and culture mini-lesson of the school year! What is a climate and culture mini-lesson? Well it's really just a time for us to connect with each other through conversations that focus on our experiences as people. We'll talk about the emotions we feel, and how we manage those emotions. We'll talk about the choices we make and how those choices help us to be better students, friends and family members. And finally, we'll talk about ways in which we can treat ourselves, others, and our communities with care, compassion, and kindness.

Today's focus is on a practice that we call self-awareness. When we practice self-awareness we focus in on understanding who we are as a person. We want to get in touch with our heart and our mind while reflecting on our emotions, our values, our attributes, and even our goals. Let's watch a quick video that touches on some of the topics that we'll cover as we work to develop our self-awareness practice. Take a look.

Model: Who are you? What do you like to do? What makes you, you?

Questions for students:

Who are you? What do you like to do? What makes you, you?
How would you describe your values?
What is something that you love?
How does your culture connect with your identity?
What is something that makes you unique?

Closing: As we go through this school year and continue our self-awareness practice our goal is to form a rock solid relationship with ourselves. Know your identity, know your values, know your emotions, dreams, and goals. When you do this, you're practicing self-awareness:)

Hello Teachers!

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:34:21 UTC

Thank you for taking the time to build a healthy climate and culture in your classroom community! The lessons contained in this Padlet are designed to promote classroom connection through conversation on social and emotional topics. The lessons are short and designed to easily infuse into your weekly schedule. Use this content to ensure ongoing and consistent social and emotional exploration with your students. Five lessons will be distributed in two week cycles. Our recommendation is to share three lessons week one, and two lessons week two. We will release new lessons every other Sunday starting August 28th. A recommended two-week implementation schedule shared below.

Topic (Aligned with CASEL's 5 Core Competencies)
Monday (week one)-Self-Awareness
Wednesday (week one)-Self-Management
Friday (week one)-Responsible Decision Making
Tuesday (week two)-Relationship Skills
Thursday (week two)-Social-Awareness

Lesson Format:

Intro: Introduce the competency with age appropriate language. Sample introduction "scripts" are included with each lesson.

Share lesson video; self explanatory, just share the video included with each lesson after you introduce the topic.

Model: Share your reflections on, or feelings related to the video.

Questions for students: Questions to help drive discussion included with each lesson. With that said feel free to freestyle as needed.

Closing: Sample closing statements are included with each lesson but the goal here is to simply wrap up the lesson with a statement that encourages practice within the competency prior to transitioning to the days' activities.

See the link above to familiarize yourself with CASEL's 5 Core Competencies.

Intro Lesson: Self-Management

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:34:21 UTC

Intro: The second competency in our social and emotional practice is called self-management. The definition of self-management is as follows: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. There are very few straight paths in life. Often times we need to navigate and manage difficult emotions, struggles, and set backs on the way to achieving our goals and dreams. When we fight through these obstacles we show a trait called resilience and resilience is the direct result of having a good self-management practice. How do you manage tough emotions? How do you fight through a set back? How do you stay on track in your journey? The answers to these questions will help to define your self-management practice. Let's take some steps today to begin to lay the groundwork of defining our self-management strategy. For a little motivation, let's take a look at a video where an Olympic athlete tells her story of resilience.

Model: Share your go-to self-management strategy for managing difficult emotions or frustrating set-backs.

Questions for students:

First off let's hear your thoughts on Asha Phillip's story of resilience. How did she manage the difficult challenges that she faced?
How do you mange a challenge? How do you work through frustration and disappointment?
Let's talk about a couple of difficult feelings, stress and anxiousness. How do you manage feelings of stress or anxiousness?
Do you have an example of a time in your life when you overcame adversity? Can you share your story?

Closing: Define your self-management practice by locking down some go-to strategies for managing difficult emotions or experiences. You'll be happy to have them in your tool belt when needed.

Intro Lesson: Responsible Decision Making

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:34:21 UTC

Intro: The third competency in our social and emotional practice is called responsible decision making. You have a lot of choices to make on a daily basis. What steps do you take to insure that those choices are responsible ones? When we reflect on our responsible decision making practice we want to focus on the steps that we take in the process of making decisions. Are we reactionary or are we patient? Are we influenced by emotion or reason? Let's get the ball rolling on our responsible decision making practice by watching a video that comes to us from Great Britain. This video will share three tips that you may be able to include in your responsible decision making practice. Take a look.

Model: What is something that you do when faced with making a big decision? How has this practice helped you to make good decisions?

Questions for students:

The video shared three tips to utilize when confronted with a big decision, they are as follows: Free up your brains bandwidth. Give your brain the fuel it needs. Get honest advice from a friend. Which one of these tips will you use in your responsible decision making practice and why?
Do you have any tips that you'd like to share? What are some ways in which you make good choices? Please be specific in describing your practice.

Closing: It is important to make good choices but it is also important to reflect on the choices we've made. When we reflect on our past choices and plan for future choices, we fine tune our decision making abilities. That's what this practice is about. Putting yourself in the position to make good choices in an efficient and effective manner. Good luck with your practice!

Intro Lesson: Relationship Skills

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:34:21 UTC

Intro: The fourth competency that we'll focus on in our social and emotional practice is relationship skills. There are many relationship skills. Empathetic listening, care, compassion, support, forgiveness, motivation, humor, the list goes on and on. We'll talk about all of these subjects as the year goes on, but if you ask me, the foundation of all relationship skills is kindness. It feels good to give kindness. It feels good to receive kindness. When we lead with kindness in our interactions with others we can't go wrong. Lets watch a quick animated short called "Color Your World With Kindness." Once finished I want to hear about your relationship with kindness.

Model: Describe the kindest thing someone has done for you. How did that action make you feel in the moment? What kind of impact did it have on your life?

Questions for students:

Describe the kindest thing someone has done for you. How did that action make you feel in the moment? What impact did it have on your life?
Describe the kindest thing that you've done for someone. What motivated you to be kind in that moment.How did it feel to give kindness?
What are some ways in which you can utilize kindness as a relationship skill in your interactions at school?

Closing: Be kind. It's not always the easiest thing to do but it is always the right thing to do:)

Intro Lesson: Social-Awareness

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:34:21 UTC

Intro: The fifth and final competency of focus is called social awareness. The definition of social awareness is as follows: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. Ultimately social awareness comes down to the impact you have on your community and the people who make up your community. Is that impact a positive one? One that brightens the lives of the people you come into contact with? Those who have a high level of social awareness make the world a better place with each an every positive interaction they have with others. Care for the people around you. Show that care. Leave people feeling valued, respected, and loved. if you do that, you'll be a social awareness warrior. Let's take a look at a video where a group of people show a young man that he's valued, cared for and loved. A great example of social awareness in action. Take a look.

Model: Share your thoughts on the actions of the pep band in the video. How did it make you feel to watch? How do you think it felt for the birthday boy to experience?

Questions for students:

Share your thoughts on the actions of the pep band in the video. How did it make you feel to watch? How do you think it felt for the birthday boy to experience?
What are some things that you do to positively impact your community?
Do you know someone who has a strong social awareness practice? What does this person do to make the world a better place? What can you learn from this person to enhance your own social awareness practice?

Closing: Make a positive impact on the people around you. Empathize with others. Spread love, joy, and happiness. Care for your community and show that care through your actions.