TK - First Grade

Developmental Characteristics

Physical

  • Enjoy long periods of free play

  • Developing eye-hand coordination

  • Enjoy small group cooperative play

  • May require rest after high-energy play

  • Improved body coordination; yet still can fall easily

Social Emotional

  • Eager to receive adult praise

  • Enjoy dramatic play

  • Eager to engage in new activities/adventures led by involved adult

  • Eager to identify with older children

  • Enjoy exploring new materials and equipment

  • Can be easily frightened by novel or strange events

  • Prefer play in small groups

  • Like responsibilities they can handle

  • Learning to cooperate with others, but may at times display selfish behavior

Cognitive

  • Understand language better than they speak

  • Are interested in present; vague concepts of past/future

  • Eager to learn

  • Ask many questions

  • Define things by their use

  • Developing a sense of humor

  • Communicate best within a small group of peers

  • May need guidance of adult when starting a new task

Lessons

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

Week 8: Boss of My Body

Students play Duck, Duck, Goose with a different silly movement style each round (penguin, robot, skip, gallop, crawl), then complete a "Boss of My Body" worksheet exploring how their brain controls their body's movements.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

Week 5: Zones of Regulation Relay

Students act out emotions for each Zone of Regulation (blue, green, yellow, red) when called by name, then do a Zones Relay — moving around the room to music in silly ways and rushing to a colored zone when the music stops to practice coping strategies for that zone.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

Week 4: Mystery Box Challenge

Students follow along to a Yo Gabba Gabba stretching and breathing song on the rug, then take turns reaching blindfolded into a mystery box while practicing self-control by keeping their guess to themselves until everyone has had a turn.

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Self Control Gina Patterson Self Control Gina Patterson

Week 3: Night at the Museum

Students play Night at the Museum (staying frozen as statues while a "janitor" with a flashlight tries to catch them moving), then fold and decorate paper airplanes and must wait for a whole-class countdown before flying them.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 7: Understanding Community

Students play Just Like Me (standing and doing a silly dance when a teacher-called attribute applies to them) across 5 rounds of shared traits. Then each student picks a kindness phrase, paints and decorates a rock with it, and places it in the class community garden.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 6: Point of View

Students play This or That by choosing between picture pairs displayed on the board, then listen to general descriptions of everyday items (a pizza, a pet, a family, a toy, a dessert) and draw their own interpretation of each — sharing their drawings with the class to discover how everyone pictured the same words differently.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 5: Bodies are cool (TK-2)

Students play Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes with 2-3 volunteers leading the class at different speeds, then listen to a read-aloud of Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder, draw 1-2 bodies from the book with an explanation of why they're cool, and finish with Strike a Pose — each student gets a 5-second runway walk or dance move in front of the class to a class-chosen song.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 4: Boundaries & Respect (TK-2)

Students play Listen and Learn in pairs — counting 1, 2, 3 back and forth while progressively replacing numbers with claps, stomps, and snaps across 5 rounds — then watch and sing along to "The Boundaries Song" before listening to a read-aloud of Don't Hug Doug (He Doesn't Like It) and discussing what boundaries are and why they matter.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 3: Displaying emotions (TK-2)

Students sing a modified "If You're Happy and You Know It" with verses for happy, mad, sad, and excited — acting out each emotion with their face and body — then play Emotions Bingo (1-3 rounds) using the feelings chart to identify emotions called out.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 2: Identifying emotions (TK-2)

Students dance to music and freeze while striking the called-out emotion (happy, mad, sad, worried, calm) for 5 rounds, then play Emotions Charades where each student gets 30 seconds to act out a teacher-assigned emotion from the feelings chart while classmates guess.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

The Rabbit Listened (TK-2)

Students take turns adding one block at a time to build a class structure for the class stuffy, then listen to a read-aloud of The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld, and finish by making paper Magic Listening Ears (bunny ears) out of construction paper or a paper plate.

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Self Confidence Gina Patterson Self Confidence Gina Patterson

Week 2: Uplifting Others (TK-2)

Students build a Friendship Web by tossing yarn across a circle while saying something positive about the person they throw it to, then watch a Charlotte's Web storytime video, color and cut out a farm animal to glue on a popsicle stick, and use their puppet to practice walking up to peers and asking them to play.

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Self Confidence Gina Patterson Self Confidence Gina Patterson

Week 1: Positive Self Talk (TK-2)

Students play Counting to 10 — working together as a class to count without overlapping or repeating numbers — then listen to a read-aloud of I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont, practice a guided mindful breathing minute, and complete an affirmation worksheet with a self-portrait to share with the class.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Week 6: Reflection and celebration (TK-2)

Students play SEL-Style Musical Chairs — walking around chairs to music, but instead of eliminating anyone, everyone works together to find a spot when the music stops — then rotate through the SEL Scenario Celebration, where the teacher reads real-life scenarios (a friend crying, wanting to yell, fighting over a toy) and students respond or act out the best SEL solution.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Week 5: Conflict Resolution (TK-2)

Students watch a movement brain break video about solving problems, then play the Scenario Challenge — the teacher dramatically acts out wrong choices (grabbing, interrupting, yelling) while students call out "NOT A GOOD CHOICE!" and shout Fix-It responses like using words, taking a breath, or walking away.

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Problem solving Gina Patterson Problem solving Gina Patterson

Week 4: Decision making steps (TK-2)

Students play Zoo — competing to pick a different animal body pose than the leader on the count of three — then practice the Stop, Think, Choose strategy through a movement game (TK–K) where they freeze, point to their head, and move on cue between different locomotor actions, or act out scenarios applying the three steps (1st–2nd).

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