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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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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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 7: Community Empathy (TK-2)

Students play Kindness Freeze Dance — dancing freely until the music stops, finding a partner, and performing a called-out kindness action (high five, handshake, smile, or compliment) before the music restarts — then design and decorate a Kindness Coupon promising one specific kind act they'll do for a friend or family member.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Recognizing Empathy (TK-2)

Students toss a ball around the circle, each giving a personalized compliment to the classmate they throw to, then practice the Feelings Signal Game — listening to short scenarios and identifying how the person in each scenario might feel through discussion, acting out, or feelings cards.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 5: Kind Words (3-5)

Students play Kind Words Echo — repeating compliments back in calm, loud, and silly voices — then write or draw a compliment for a classmate or family member on a Compliment Card to give away.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 5: Kind Words (TK-2)

Students play Kind Words Echo — repeating compliments back in calm, loud, and silly voices — then write or draw a compliment for a classmate or family member on a Compliment Card to give away.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 3: Walking in Someone’s Shoes (2nd-5th)

Students play Shoe Shuffle — removing one shoe, mixing them in the center, then guessing whose shoe they picked up and discussing similarities and differences with that person — then decorate a shoe outline with personal clues (favorite color, something they like, and what makes them feel happy or calm).

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 3: Walking in Someone’s Shoes (TK-1)

Students play Shoe Shuffle — removing one shoe, mixing them in the center, then guessing whose shoe they picked up and discussing similarities and differences with that person — then decorate a shoe outline with personal clues (favorite color, something they like, and what makes them feel happy or calm).

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 2: Feelings Charades (2nd-5th)

Students play Emotion Freeze Dance — dancing freely until the music stops, then freezing in a full-body pose matching the feeling called out — then color a Feelings Wheel, choosing their own color for each emotion section (happy, sad, mad, scared, tired, silly).

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 2: Feelings Charades (TK-1)

Students play Emotion Freeze Dance — dancing freely until the music stops, then freezing in a full-body pose matching the feeling called out — then color a Feelings Wheel, choosing their own color for each emotion section (happy, sad, mad, scared, tired, silly).

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 1: What is Empathy? (2nd-5th)

Students play Feelings Face Shuffle — making the facial expression that matches each emotion called out (happy, sad, surprised, scared, etc.) — then look at 4–6 pictures of children and discuss what feeling each child is showing and what might help them.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Week 1: What is Empathy? (TK-1st)

Students play Feelings Face Shuffle — making the facial expression that matches each emotion called out (happy, sad, surprised, scared, etc.) — then look at 4–6 pictures of children and discuss what feeling each child is showing and what might help them.

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Empathy Gina Patterson Empathy Gina Patterson

Clustergrams

Students move around the room to find classmates who share the same answer to each statement (same breakfast, shoe size, favorite food, etc.), cluster together, and act out a mime representing their group before the next statement is called.

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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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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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