Subjects: Social Studies, Language Arts

Learner Outcomes:

1.  Students will be able to describe the meaning of "character".
2.  As they increase vocabulary and critical thinking skills, students will identify the six pillars of character.
3.  Students will be able to identify components of each of the six pillars of education. 

Duration of Lesson:  Six week period, twenty minute sessions each procedure. 

Materials:

• scissors
• construction paper
• index cards
• crayons
• markers
• space themed candy for rewards  

•      Internet access  
•      digital camera 

• Teacher needs to access and review "good ideas" power point presentation 
• Teacher needs to have each student complete AUP.
• Teacher needs to read and copy the site NASA
• Teacher needs to read and copy the information on six pillars of character.
• Teacher needs to require each student to complete and return field trip permission forms.
• Teacher needs to gain access to community resources, such as guest speaker involved in space program.
• Teacher needs to make available a book about astronauts. 

Procedures:

1. Create a bulletin board titled "Countdown to Character". (Draw land at the bottom and a planet at the top.)
2. You may want to read a book about astronauts to provide a definition of an astronaut to introduce this topic. Then discuss the meaning of "character" and the Six Pillars. Ask the children why astronauts must have good  character to fly the space or a rocket. (Examples might include: self discipline in order to learn many complicated tasks and to get their bodies ready for the long trip; courage in order to face challenges they may not know about, trustworthiness in order to conduct truthful experiments, in space, respect for others in order to work out problems during the trip, etc.).
3. Create own rocket ship stencil on Paint and instruct the children to trace the rocket ships onto pieces of construction paper. Have them cut out the rocket and color it. Have the students then photograph each other with the digital camera and print out the pictures to be cut out and pasted on the rocket ships to identify them as their own.
4. Next, explain that all the rocket ships will be placed at the bottom of the bulletin board. For every action of good character that they display, they will be able to move their rocket up one notch on the board toward the "Six Pillar Planet." Every week or day (it's up to you), name a type of behavior that exemplifies one of the Six Pillar traits display the word and some examples using index cards and post them in plain sight. . If children demonstrate this during the course of the day or week, let them move their rocket ships up one notch on the board. Recognize and reward students daily when they exhibit an act of character and also when their rocket ships make it to the top.

 

• Be sure to read all those student files that have I.E.P.'s or 504's. 
• Possible adaptations could be increasing text size for computer users or adding text synthesizers. 
• Teacher could also provide extra time for those that need it.

Some book titles that could be used along with this lesson are: 

Me and My Place in Space Written by Joan Sweeny, Illustrated by Annette Cable  Big Silver Space Shuttle Written by Ken Wilson-Max  Martian Rock Written by Carol Diggory Shields , Illustrated by Scott Nash  Roaring Rockets Written by Toni Mitten Illustrated by Ant Parker  I Want to be an Astronaut Written by Byron Barton  Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon! by Dan Yaccarino

Find these titles at:  Scholastic.com  and Barnes and Noble Booksellers

Teachers could also kick off the lesson by decorating the room as the solar system. 
Teachers could create an "Six Pillars Quiz" worksheet with identifying information for each student.

Evaluation/Assessment:


 Picture quiz using the Character Quiz.
Rubric

West Virginia Content Standards:

Language Arts:  1.22, 1.23, 1.35, 1.74, 1.76 
Health: K.3, K.8, K.17, 1.23, 1.24, 1.25, 1.26, 2.9, 21.7 
Social Studies:   K.4, 1.2, 1.3 

National Standards and Benchmarks K-12:

Language  Arts Standards K-12: 

     1.  Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process. 
     8.  Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes. 

Behavioral Studies Standards K-12: 

     4.  Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions. 

Health  Standards K-12: 

     4.  Knows how to maintain mental and emotional health. 
     7.  Knows how to maintain and promote personal health. 

Working With Others Standards K-12 

     1.  Demonstrates respect for others in group.


 

References:

a) character counts
b) NASA
c) The Mailbox Magazine, Aug/Sept.2001 

Author:

Barbara Compton
Susan B. Ferrell
Regina Williams
Nutter Fort Primary
 

Overview	Lesson 1	Lesson 2	Lesson 3	Lesson 4	Lesson 5
	Countdown to     Character	Have you 'Herd' of Responsibility	Smile your on  Caring Camera	"Respect"-acles	Hands are for Helping