6 Caring L1 Toss in Self-Care

Kindness in the Classroom® — 6th Grade •Week 1

Caring Sub-Concepts

Kindness

Caring

In the ﬁrst week of this unit, we will dive deeper into the concept of caring. Speciﬁcally, this unit

explores what it means to care for and show concern for both ourselves and those around us. The

next four weeks will focus on caring, gratitude, empathy, and compassion. However, in order for us to

be truly caring towards others, we must ﬁrst look inward at how we treat ourselves. We must respect

and care for ourselves before we can genuinely care for others.

Begin the unit with the whole class lesson and then aim to complete at least two of the mini lessons

with your students throughout the week. Each mini lesson is designed to present elements of the

main lesson in new and engaging ways.

Main Lesson

Whole Class Lesson

30 minutes

Toss in Self-Care

Using a beach ball, the class will engage in a conversation around self-care

and how we need to pay attention to both physical and mental caring of

ourselves. (See page 2 for lesson details.)

Mini Lessons

For Small Groups

15 minutes

Self-Care Top 5

Divide the class into groups of 4-6. Assign half of the groups to create a top

5 list of the most important aspects of physical self-care. The other half will

create a top 5 list connected to mental self-care. Allow time for whole class

sharing.

For Partners

15 minutes

My Priorities

With a partner, identify your most important physical and mental way of

caring for yourself. How do you take care of YOU? Share with each other.

If time allows, allow whole class sharing.

For Individuals

15 minutes

My Daily Routine

How do you care for you EACH DAY? Using the handout provided below,

have each student create a daily routine that shows what their daily self-care

looks like. Emphasize the importance of both physical and mental self-care.

Technology-Focused

15 minutes

Media Self-Care

Divide the class up into groups of 4-6. Have each group research apps that

help users track screen time and set goals based on desired self-care

parameters. Allow time for each group to share their preferred app and

explain how it helps to care for our mental health.

6th Grade

Whole Group Lesson

Toss In Self-Care

This is the ﬁrst week of our Caring unit. Students will focus on self-care and explore

the concepts of both physical and mental self-care.

Lesson Timeframe

30 minutes

Required Materials

❏ Inﬂatable Beach Ball

❏ Sharpie Marker

Standards Map

This lesson aligns with CASEL

Competencies, National Health

Education Standards, International

Society for Technology in Education

Standards, when applicable, and

Common Core State Standards. Please

refer to the Standards Map for more

information.

Lesson Objective

Students will:

● Explore how they currently demonstrate self-care in both physical and

mental ways.

● Create a personal goal for increasing self-care as a part of their daily

routine.

Teacher Connection/Self-Care

Welcome to the Caring Unit! In this unit we will talk about a number of

concepts related to caring: compassion, empathy, and gratitude. Let’s begin

this unit like we did the Respect unit and look at how we care for ourselves.

What does self-care look like for you? Exercise? Planning ahead so you are

less stressed? Meditation? Prayer? Time with family and friends? Reading for

fun? What does it look like at school? Eating a healthy lunch? Walking with

students during a free period? (Does your school have a walking program? If

not and this fuels your self-care, maybe you could start one!) Like respect, if

students don’t see us modeling self-care, they won’t do it themselves. So,

think about how you can model self-care at school and then set an intention to

actually do it. Communicate this intention with students so they know that you

are engaging in the practice of self-care just like you will be asking them to

engage in self-care.

Share

3-5 minutes

Take some time to think about diﬀerent ways to show self-care towards

yourself. What does self-care look like to you?

(Invite student responses.)

Excellent! Self-care includes the way we take care of ourselves both physically

and mentally. Kind words AND actions are both needed to truly be caring

towards yourself.

Inspire

3-5 minutes

We talk a lot about how to care for ourselves physically, such as eating right,

getting enough sleep, and practicing good hygiene. However, our thoughts

and words that we say to ourselves is also a very important part of self-care.

You may not be aware of the thoughts you have throughout the day, but they

directly aﬀect your mood, how you handle things, and even how well you are

able to complete school work, sports, and other activities.

Let’s go over some possible options for kind words that demonstrate how you

care for yourself. This can be tricky, so I’ll start with an example. When I get

ready in the morning, I tell myself, “You are smart and can do anything you put

your mind to!”

What are some kind words you could think or say to yourself?

Empower

15 minutes

Explain that the class will now play a game to explore diﬀerent ways that each

of us currently practice self-care. Show the beach ball to the class and explain

that each section of the beach ball has a question written on it. If desired, read

aloud each question so that the class can begin to mentally prepare some

answers during the actual game.

Questions:

● How do you show self-care in your appearance?

● How do you show self-care with your words?

● What is one way you take care of yourself each morning or night?

● What is one way you can make yourself feel better when it’s been a

rough day?

● How can you take care of yourself when you feel overwhelmed?

● How can you take care of yourself even when things are going

really well in your life?

Note: A standard inﬂatable beach ball has 6 sections. If your ball has more,

feel free to repeat the questions or add your own.

How to play:

Have the class form a circle in the room by sitting on top of their desks or on

the ﬂoor depending on your set up. Starting with the teacher, each person will

read the question on which their right thumb is touching.

After answering the question, the person will then throw the beach ball to

another and have a seat. Repeat until all class members have had a chance to

answer at least one question.

Note: If desired, you can allow a student to choose a diﬀerent question on the

beach ball if they feel uncomfortable with the question they received.

Reﬂect

5-7 minutes

As a class, discuss why self-care can be so diﬃcult at times. Examples: We get

busy and forget ourselves, we don’t make time to properly care for ourselves

physically and mentally, we don’t see the value, etc.

This week, make a commitment to spend 5 extra minutes everyday on you.

You are a valuable member of our class, your family, and our community. Take

time for you and report back to us on how it felt to consciously carve out time.