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What Makes Our Community Strong?

Lesson Plan

Our Community's Superpowers

Students will be able to identify and articulate the diverse strengths present within their classroom community, recognizing how these collective strengths contribute to a positive and supportive learning environment.

Understanding and appreciating collective strengths helps students build a stronger sense of belonging, promotes empathy, and encourages collaboration. It creates a positive classroom culture where everyone feels valued and empowered.

Audience

3rd Grade Class

Time

40 minutes

Approach

Through discussion and an interactive activity, students will discover and celebrate their shared 'superpowers.'

Materials

Our Community's Superpowers Lesson Plan, The Power of Us Slide Deck, One Thing I Appreciate Warm-Up, Community Strength Web Activity, Markers or pens, and Large paper or whiteboard

Prep

Review Materials and Set Up

15 minutes

Step 1

Warm-Up: One Thing I Appreciate

5 minutes

  • Begin with the One Thing I Appreciate Warm-Up.
  • Ask students to think about one thing they appreciate about their classroom community.
  • Go around the room and have each student share their appreciation. Encourage brief responses.

Step 2

Introduction: What Makes Us Strong?

10 minutes

  • Use the The Power of Us Slide Deck to introduce the concept of community strengths.
  • Discuss the idea that everyone in the class brings unique talents and positive qualities, which are like 'superpowers' for the community.
  • Facilitate a brief discussion using prompts such as: 'What does it mean to be strong as a group?' or 'How do different talents help us learn together?'
  • Display the question: 'What makes our community strong?'

Step 3

Activity: Community Strength Web

20 minutes

  • Introduce the Community Strength Web Activity.
  • On a large paper or whiteboard, draw a circle in the center with the words 'Our Community's Superpowers'.
  • Ask students to brainstorm specific strengths they observe in their classmates or in the class as a whole (e.g., 'good listeners,' 'creative thinkers,' 'helpful friends,' 'problem-solvers').
  • Write each strength as a branch extending from the central circle. Encourage students to explain why they chose that strength.
  • As strengths are added, draw lines connecting related strengths to create a 'web,' visually demonstrating how strengths are interconnected and build upon each other.
  • Ensure every student has an opportunity to contribute at least one strength or elaborate on an existing one.

Step 4

Wrap-Up: Reflecting on Our Superpowers

5 minutes

  • Review the completed "Community Strength Web."
  • Reiterate that every person contributes to the class's collective strength.
  • Ask students to share how recognizing these superpowers makes them feel about their community.
  • Conclude by emphasizing the importance of continuing to identify, appreciate, and utilize their collective strengths throughout the school year.
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Slide Deck

The Power of Us: Celebrating Our Community's Superpowers

What makes our class special?

Welcome students and prepare them for a discussion about their community. Connect to the warm-up.

What are 'Community Superpowers'?

• Talents and positive qualities that help our class.
• Things we are good at, individually and together.
• These make our community strong, fun, and supportive!

Explain that like superheroes, each person has unique strengths or 'superpowers.' Our classroom community gets stronger when we recognize and use all these different strengths together.

Why are Community Superpowers important?

How do different talents help us learn and grow together?

Engage students with a thought-provoking question. Encourage them to think broadly about what makes a group successful or happy.

Our Community Strength Web

We're going to create a web of all the amazing strengths in our classroom!

Think about:
• What are your classmates good at?
• What makes our class a great place to be?

Introduce the main activity. Explain that they will be creating a visual representation of their class's strengths.

We Are a Super-Powered Community!

Every single one of us brings something special.

Together, our superpowers make our classroom an amazing place to learn and grow!

Conclude by reinforcing the main message: everyone contributes, and together, they are a powerful community.

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Warm Up

One Thing I Appreciate

Think about our classroom community. What is one thing you appreciate about our class or your classmates?

It could be something big or small! We will share these aloud as a class.







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Activity

Community Strength Web

Objective: To visually represent and celebrate the collective strengths of our classroom community.

Materials:

  • Large sheet of paper or whiteboard
  • Markers or pens

Instructions:

  1. Center: In the middle of the large paper or whiteboard, write: "Our Community's Superpowers!" Draw a circle around it.

  2. Brainstorming Strengths: As a class, we will brainstorm all the different strengths, talents, and positive qualities we see in our classmates and in our class as a whole. Think about:

    • What are your friends good at?
    • What makes our class a kind place?
    • What helps us learn new things?
    • What makes our class fun?

  3. Adding to the Web: When you share a strength, we will write it down as a branch extending from the central circle. For example, if someone says, "We are good listeners," we will write "Good Listeners" and draw a line from the center to it.

  4. Connecting Strengths: As we add more strengths, we will look for ways they connect. If "Good Listeners" helps us be "Helpful Friends," we can draw a line between those two branches. This shows how our strengths work together!

  5. Everyone Contributes: Make sure everyone has a chance to share at least one strength or add to an existing one. We want to celebrate all the unique "superpowers" in our class!

Discussion Prompts after the activity:

  • What did you notice about our community as we built this web?
  • How does having all these different strengths make our classroom better?
  • How can we continue to use these superpowers to help each other and our class?
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What Makes Our Community Strong? • Lenny Learning