Fourth - Fifth Grade

Developmental Characteristics

Physical

  • May be careless about their clothes, room and body cleanliness

  • Girls may have sudden growth spurt and beginning signs of puberty

  • Enjoy physical activities that master specific skills

  • Enjoy competitive games

  • Possess a high activity level

  • Enjoy games that allow for comparison of skills

  • Enjoy games that allow for self-improvement

Social Emotional

  • Enjoy small, peer-dominated group discussions

  • Like to join organized groups

  • Are anxious to grow up

  • Are intensely loyal to their peer group

  • Form a close one-on-one friendship

  • Have a growing desire to assert individuality and independence

  • Can be daring and competitive

  • Can be critical of peers and adults

  • Are self-conscious of their abilities

Cognitive

  • Ask many questions and what thoughtful answers

  • Can often understand other points of view

  • Developing strong interests, hobbies, and collections

  • Enjoy daydreaming

  • Enjoy problem solving games and puzzles, etc.

  • Enjoy rule-based games

  • Are beginning to develop view about social/global issues

  • Beginning to enjoy humor by telling jokes and understanding sarcasm

Lessons

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

What is Motivation

Students will write their own definition of motivation, then collaborate in small groups and a gallery walk to build a shared class vision of what motivated and motivating behavior looks like — which gets posted in the room as an ongoing reference.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

Wear Your Attitude

Students will select a mood card as they enter the room and wear it visibly throughout the session, then observe how their own and others' displayed moods affect interactions — and reflect on whether and how attitudes can be changed.

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Relationship Building Gina Patterson Relationship Building Gina Patterson

Values Carnival

Students will generate lists of desirable and undesirable community values, then rotate through five carnival-style games where winning requires correctly identifying or targeting the positive values, earning tokens to redeem for prizes.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Unity Day Poster-Making

Unity Day is a national day when students, teachers, and families wear orange to show they support bullying prevention. In this activity, students explore what unity means and collaborate in pairs on posters that show how working together can help stop bullying. Posters are then hung throughout the school.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Understanding Empathy

Students will read short stories about characters who lack empathy, identify how each character could have responded more understandingly, then rewrite one story to show what empathy in action looks like.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Tricky Rope

Students will work together to figure out a secret hidden code embedded in a turning jump rope, using trial and error and group communication to get everyone across to the other side.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

The Trees and the Worms

Students will listen to a story while moving through a series of yoga poses, using breath and movement to practice grounding and self-control. A brief debrief follows where students reflect on how focusing on their breath affects their thoughts and feelings.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

The Marshmallow Challenge

In groups of four, students will use only spaghetti, string, tape, and one marshmallow to build the tallest freestanding structure they can in 15 minutes — with the marshmallow on top — then compare heights and reflect on their teamwork.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

The Great Egg Drop

In groups of three, students will use a bag of limited materials to engineer a contraption that protects a raw egg, then test their designs by dropping them from a second-floor window to see whose egg survives intact.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Team Spelling Bee

Teams will race to agree on a word that fits a given category, assign each member a letter tile, and physically line up to spell it out — competing against other teams for speed and word length.

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Self Confidence Gina Patterson Self Confidence Gina Patterson

Team Résumé

Students will select personal quality cards that represent their strengths, share them with a partner, then merge into groups of six to collaboratively fill out a Team Résumé that captures their collective strengths and values.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Survivor

In small groups, students use a limited set of materials to design and build a shelter that can protect a small doll from an incoming "meteor storm," then test their shelter's durability by having tennis balls thrown at it.

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Relationship Building Gina Patterson Relationship Building Gina Patterson

Story Clues

Students will take turns telling a short story that weaves in six words from a TABOO card while their classmates listen carefully and try to guess all six words, then discuss the listening and communication skills the game required.

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Self Confidence Gina Patterson Self Confidence Gina Patterson

Still I Rise

Students listen to Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise," discuss its message, and share a personal strength with the group before writing about a time they overcame a struggle and creating a collage of their strengths or sources of encouragement.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Stick It to ‘Em

Working in pairs, students will use verbal communication to recreate a marshmallow-and-toothpick model — one partner is blindfolded and can only touch, while the other can see but cannot use their hands.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Star-Bellied Sneetches

Using Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches as a starting point, students explore what it feels like to be left out, how groups create “in” and “out” categories, and how to build fairer practices in their own community.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

Sponge Brigade

Teams race to fill a bucket by passing water-soaked sponges down the line (over heads, under legs) and wringing them out — with dropped sponges eliminated from play — until the water hits an exact tape line, then debrief on teamwork strategies used.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

SMART Goals/Passion Collage

Students create a passion collage using magazine images and words across three categories (academics, career, relationships), then use the SMART goal framework to turn those visual passions into concrete, written goals they share with the class.

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