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Subjects

• Social Studies
  --Civics
  --Holidays

Grade

• Pre K
• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12
  

Brief Description

Ideas for celebrating CHARACTER COUNTS! Week from the CC! national office, plus links to many more ideas.

Objectives

Students

• understand the meaning of the Six Pillars of Character.
• reinforce that understanding by participating in events that recognize and celebrate good character.

Keywords

Character Counts, citizenship, Six Pillars, character, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship

Materials Needed

• See ideas below for material requirements.

Lesson Plan

Character education is an every-day proposition in schools around the world. Each year, however, many schools make an extra effort to celebrate good character during the third week of October, CHARACTER COUNTS! Week. The folks at the CHARACTER COUNTS! national office have put together a list of ways in which schools and communities have recognized CHARCTER COUNTS! Week in previous years. The CC! Web site offers free teaching tools and free CHARACTER COUNTS! Week materials (registration required) that include plenty of ideas for celebrating good character in your school, tips for getting parents and local business partners involved in supporting your efforts, printable posters, and much more.

What Other Schools Have Done
Champion Middle School (Warren, Ohio) held an assembly on the Friday of CHARACTER COUNTS! Week. The main activity was a Jeopardy game with questions (or rather answers) on the Six Pillars of Character. Students drafted the answers, and both students and teachers participated as contestants. They set up a large screen that displayed PowerPoint slides of the answers and questions.

Hemphill Elementary School (Kyle, Texas) presented six mini lessons, one for each Pillar, on the six Fridays leading up to CC! Week. The mini-lessons occurred at the same time throughout the entire school, and fifth graders acted as ambassadors of character, entering classrooms to help with each lesson.

At John Marshall High School (Cleveland, Ohio), the school's rotunda was painted with six Grecian columns representing the Six Pillars of Character. The drama department developed and performed several skits on good character, broadcast over Channel 1 during the homeroom news.

Manassas Park Elementary (Manassas Park, Virginia) had a sidewalk chalk contest. Chalk art illustrated the Six Pillars of Character. Students voted for their favorites by putting pennies in jars. The money raised went to a local charity

Click for many more ideas.

More Ideas from "CHARACTER COUNTS! Week" Events
Have students interview a person who demonstrates one or more of the Six Pillars. Then have students present their interviews to classmates.

Have students write or draw CHARACTER COUNTS! slogans or Quotes to Inspire.

Work with a business partner to create a banner that reads "CHARACTER COUNTS! in [name of your city or town goes here]" and display it over a main road in town.

Write book reports or reviews focusing on book characters of good character.

Design and print lunchroom placemats that read "CHARACTER COUNTS! in [name of your school goes here]." Send the placemats home so parents and kids can discuss them together.

Click for more ideas for celebrating in your school and community (free registration required).

Lesson Plan Source

National Standards 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH: Physical Education
GRADES K - 12
NPH.K-12.5 Responsible Behavior
NPH.K-12.6 Respect for Others

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Civics
GRADES K - 4
NSS-C.K-4.5 Roles of the Citizen

GRADES 5 - 8
NSS-C.5-8.5 Roles of the Citizen
GRADES 9 - 12
NSS-C.9-12.5 Roles of the Citizen

See more Lesson Plans of the Day in our Lesson Plan of the Day Archive. (There you can search for lessons by subject too.)

For additional social studies lesson plans, see these Education World resources: