Students working collaboratively on a mini-archaeology dig to locate and identify artifacts, create hypotheses about the objects and what information they tell us about a society, and research past artifacts to determine if their hypotheses were correct. Students had to use collaboration when working on the dig, when creating their hypotheses, when measuring the artifacts, and when forming conclusions. Additionally, students had to use critical thinking when formulating theories, researching and reviewing data online, assessing their ideas, analyzing and comparing their hypotheses with archaeology studies online, and when justifying their hypotheses (and proving them) with the artifact data they discovered online, and forming conclusions.

Classroom Culture

Instill a sustainable, positive culture in your classroom with these lessons and activities.

Elementary - 8 Activities for Building a Compassionate Classroom Culture

Middle School - 7 Activities to Foster Decision-Making and Character Skills

High School - 6 Ways to Embed Mental Wellness into Classroom Culture

Be Good People is an incredible health and social emotional learning resource that follows 5 themes: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making.
Each section comes with more than 10 lessons or extension activities that help you address these themes with your students.

This resource has content for kindergarten through grade 12.

Made by Minnesota Educators
Educators at the St. Croix River Education District in rural Minnesota.

"An upstander is a person who recognizes injustice, knows their personal strengths and uses those strengths to create change."

This resource explores how to be an upstander in a variety of settings and includes:
*a full teacher's guide
*FREE virtual museum visit can be booked to accompany
*Canadian upstanders & upstanders you know
*stories
*rights
*take a stand
*tell
*act

This is a fabulous list of 21 books to teach students about everything from self-regulation to patience.

These books would be a wonderful addition to any classroom library or library and would be excellent as read-aloud stories for students, followed by discussion.

These books are all connected to 21st century skills - especially self management or character/self-regulation.

This is a resource to plan Character Day and provide activity ideas all year long!

Included are:
Helpful Links
Attachments
Examples of School Initiatives

Sun West Character High School 10-12 Guidebook - please use the table of contents to navigate this guidebook. Also, we invite you to share resources you think would be suitable for this guidebook with any of the author's of this guidebook.

Sun West Character Middle Years Grade 6-9 Guidebook - please use the table of contents to navigate this guidebook. Also, we invite you to share resources you think would be suitable for this guidebook with any of the author's of this guidebook.

Sun West Character Elementary K-5 Guidebook - please use the table of contents to navigate this guidebook. Also, we invite you to share resources you think would be suitable for this guidebook with any of the author's of this guidebook.

Character Playbook is an innovative digital course that uses engaging strategies to educate students about cultivating and maintaining healthy relationships during their critical middle school years. Comprised of six lessons that cover key concepts around positive character development, social-emotional learning (SEL), and building healthy relationships, Character Playbook allows students to engage with real-world scenarios, including examples of bystander intervention, resolving conflicts, effective communication, and positive relationships.

This Course Covers
Analyzing Influences
Understanding & Managing Emotions
Communicating Effectively
Resolving Conflicts
Stepping In
Making Decisions

Check out these great kindness activities that your students can do at school or at home to help them build character and make the world a "Kinder" place.

The resource includes a downloadable list of 31 Acts of Kindness that you can implement in your school or classroom, as well as a 30 Days of Kindness Journal, complete with instructions, kindness quotes and spaces for reflection. There are videos from the creator that will get you started using the resources to help your students create a world that is kind to self and others.

Explore the library of Podcasts to access short podcasts outlining activities that you can implement in your classroom right away.
Listen for free, anytime! Choose from the library of 295 podcasts.
Or sign up for the CharacterStrong Weekly to have the short, to-the-point podcasts delivered directly to your inbox.

The following handout is an assignment for students where they acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses, character traits and self regulation in the classroom.

In this handout, students evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, their character traits and their self regulation in class.

The picture you start your year with is not how it is going to end. Letting go of expectation. Changing your expectations and letting go.

The College and Career Competency Framework, developed by Drs. Gaumer Erickson and Noonan, supports educators in systematically embedding intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive competencies into course content. In this way, educators support students to develop into career-equipped, lifelong learners who are socially and emotionally engaged. The College and Career Competency Wheel includes 26 specific competencies categorized in three domains. Each competency is integral to in-school and post-secondary success, as determined by current and emerging research.

This site includes free, research-based instructional resources for all 26 competencies, as well as professional development opportunities to systematically teach competencies and academic learning standards simultaneously, thereby improving academic achievement, engagement, and post-school outcomes.

Colours have the power to make us think and feel different emotions. This assignment allows students to dive into the psychology of colours. 

An inquiry-based project to map the land in your community. The key concepts in this unit are grounded in Indigenous beliefs of interconnectedness, connectedness, and respect for all things.

The driving inquiry questions for this unit are:
1. How can respect for the land be shown?
2. What do we look for when setting up a camp?
3. What stories or teachings are connected to key locations in and around our community?
4. How has the land around our community changed over time?
5. Who do we share our community’s lands with?