Character education lessons, activities, and resources

Purpose: Provide students with an opportunity to discuss and reflect on the Six Pillars of Character and the impact of the Pillars on their year.

Objective:

  • Students will discuss how the Six Pillars of Character have helped them make good choices.
  • Students will create a list of things incoming middle schoolers need to know using the Six Pillars of Character.
  • Students will write a Legacy Letter to an incoming student explaining the importance of having good character and modeling the Six Pillars of Character.

Activity:

  • Small Group Discussion Prompts
    • Grade 6: One of the best things about the Six Pillars of Character is that you can use them in all aspects of your life. Think about the year and a situation when the Six Pillars helped you do the right thing. Share the experience with a partner.
    • Grade 7: As you finish up the year, consider the ways that focusing on character has influenced your behavior. For each of the Six Pillars of Character, write down a time when thinking of it helped you do the right thing or informed your decision. Share how the Six Pillars shaped your year with a partner.
    • Grade 8: As you finish up the school year and middle school, take a moment to think about your middle school years. In groups of two or three discuss why the Six Pillars of Character are so important in middle school.
  • Whole Group Discussion
    • What is a legacy?
    • How do you want to be remembered?
    • What is a legacy you wish to leave behind?
  • Small group work
    • Using the Six Pillars of Character, create a list of the top 5- 10 pieces of information that incoming students need to know to do well in middle school. When complete, share with the class.
    • Write a Legacy Letter for a student in the grade below you using this information to give them advice for how to navigate middle school with the Six Pillars of Character.

Student Name

School Address

School City, State Zip Code

 

Dear _____________,

 

Suggested sentence stems:

Character is…

My advice for you is to…

The Six- Pillars can help you…

Always remember to….

 

 

Sincerely,

Sign Name

 

Need more lessons like this? Check out Today Counts from our online store.