Climate & Culture Mini-Lesson (PK-2) 26'-27' by Kirk Ziemke

Hello Teachers!

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:39:33 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-Awareness

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:39:49 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. Our lesson today will focus on our emotions. What is an emotion? Emotions are often described as feelings. We all know what it's like to feel happy, sad, excited, or frustrated. When we feel these things we are experiencing emotions. What emotions are you feeling right now? We'll answer that question in a moment but first let's watch a read aloud of a book titled "Visiting Feelings". Take a look.

Model: What feelings are visiting you today? Can you describe how these emotions make you feel?

Questions for students:

What feelings are visiting you today?
How are you able to recognize the emotions that you feel?
What is your favorite emotion and why?
What is an emotion that you don't really enjoy? What can you do to help yourself when you feel this not so pleasant emotion?

Closing: We feel many different kinds of emotions. Some may be pleasant while others can be a bit uncomfortable, but all of our feelings and emotions are valuable because they are a big part of what makes us unique. So tap into how you feel today. Recognize and acknowledge your emotions. If you do that, you're practicing self-awareness.

Intro Lesson: Self-Management

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:40:12 UTC

Intro: In our previous lesson we talked about something called self-awareness. When we practice self-awareness we often spend time checking in on our emotions and how those emotions make us feel. Well today we are going to talk about a social and emotional skill called self-management. When we practice self-management we learn how to handle the emotions that we experience. Has anybody ever heard of the word "tantrum"? Maybe you've heard of the phrase "throwing a tantrum." What does that word or phrase mean? When someone throws a tantrum they often do so because they are having a hard time managing the feeling of frustration. Let's take a minute to watch a read aloud of a book called "The Tantrum Monster." We'll come back and talk about what we can do to manage tough feelings like frustration so that we can avoid turning into a tantrum monster.

Model: Can you share an example of a time when you felt frustrated? How did you mange that feeling?

Questions for students:

Have you ever turned into a "Tantrum Monster"? Can you share your story?
Is throwing a tantrum something that helps you to be a better student, friend, or family member? Why or why not?
How can we manage a difficult emotion in a healthy way? A way in which we avoid throwing a tantrum.

Closing: We don't solve any problems when we throw a tantrum. Often times we just make a tough situation worse. So the next time you feel a difficult emotion like frustration or disappointment take some steps to manage that emotion. Try a few deep calming breath's. Count to ten. Or give yourself a reassuring pep talk. When you do this, you practice self-management....and you avoid turning into a Tantrum Monster:)

Intro Lesson: Responsible Decision Making

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:40:32 UTC

Intro: Our topic today is something that we call responsible decision making. You make a lot of decisions throughout the course of the day. Often times we call decisions choices. We can make good choices, and not so good choices. An example of a good choice would be to make sure that you brush your teeth every night before bed. This is a good choice because when we brush our teeth we're taking care of ourselves and our physical health. An example of making a not so good choice would be deciding to run down the hallway when we're at school. This is a not so good choice because when we run in the hallway we may put the physical safety of ourselves and others at risk. I want to hear more about the choices that you make on a daily basis and I want to learn about the thinking behind why you make those choices. Before we share, let's take a look at a read aloud of a book called "My Magical Choices", take a look.

Model: How do you choose to be responsible? How does this choice help you and the people around you?

Questions for students:

How do you choose to be responsible? How does this choice help you and the people around you
How do you choose to be helpful? How does this choice help you and the people around you
How do you choose to be patient? How does this choice help you and the people around you?
How do you choose to be confident? How does having confidence help you as a student?
How do you choose to be generous? Can you give me an example of a time when you were generous?
How do you choose to be calm? What are some things that help you find your calm?
Can you tell me about a time when you chose to be brave?
Let's talk about forgiveness. Why is being forgiving an example of responsible decision making?

Closing: We are constantly making decisions and choices. Let's work together as a class to make sure that our choices are ones that help both ourselves and others.

Intro Lesson: Relationship Skills

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:41:01 UTC

Intro: Today we are going to cover a social and emotional competency that we call relationship skills. When we practice relationship skills we reflect on actions that help us to be a good friend, classmate, and family member. Today our focus will be on friendship. Friendships are a type of relationship that can bring much joy and happiness to our lives. So what can we do to make sure that we have healthy and rewarding friendships in our lives? Let's watch a video together where a group of kids try to determine the "Ingredients" necessary for a solid friendship.

Model: Share your "secret" ingredient for friendship soup.

Questions for students:

What ingredients are needed in your batch of friendship soup?
What ingredients can spoil a batch of friendship soup?
Do we only need to cook one batch of friendship soup or is it something that we need to tend to on a daily basis?

Closing: You know what's kind of funny? All of the ingredients that you included in your batch of friendship soup are also called relationship skills. So make sure that you use these ingredients in your relationships with your friends, your family members, your classmates, and your neighbors because we all deserve to be treated like a dear friend:)

Intro Lesson: Social Awareness

klziemke — 2026-09-08 12:41:27 UTC

Intro: The final topic or competency that we'll focus on is called social awareness. When we practice social awareness we work to impact our community in a positive way. We do this by caring for the people around us, including the people around us, and supporting the people around us. Social awareness is rooted in kindness. When we recognize the power of kindness and spread it throughout our community, we can't help but to have a positive impact. Let's take a look at a read aloud of a book titled "Kindness is My Superpower" then we'll come back and talk about how you spread kindness to the people in your community.

Model: Share an example of someone you know who spreads kindness in your community? How does this person make your community a better place?

Questions for students:

First off I want to ask you a question. Do you think kindness is a superpower? Why or why not?
What would you name a superhero who's superpower was spreading kindness?
Share an example of someone you know who spreads kindness in your community? How does this person make your community a better place?
What are some ways in which you can share kindness in our school community? How will this practice make our community a better place?

Closing: You have a superpower that comes in the form of kindness. Kindness gives you the power to spread smiles, laughter, and joy. That's a pretty special ability. Please make sure to use it:)