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Teaching Courage: Brave Charlotte and the Wolves

brave charlotte

by Anu Stohner

Grades: K-3

CASEL Standard: Self-Management- The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations.

Character Education Lesson Objective: To understand what courage is and how to demonstrate it

Materials:

Part 1: 

  • What does it mean to be brave?
  • Being brave means that you do something even though you might be scared.
  • Can you think of a time when you were brave?
  • All of you had your first day of kindergarten, which can be really scary.  You were all brave when you went to school for the first time.
  • You might have been brave when you climbed a tree, sled down a hill or even talked to a stranger.
  • It can be easier to be brave if you see someone else doing what you are afraid to do.  Raise your hand if you were ever able to be brave because you saw that someone else could do the thing that you were afraid to do.
  • I am going to give you a worksheet.  It has two columns.  In one column, you are going to write down or draw pictures of the times that you have been brave.  In the other column, you are going to write down or draw pictures of things that you have seen other people do that was brave.
  • When you are done, you will have a chance to share what you wrote down.
  • As the students are sharing, point out how many different ways to be brave there are.

Part 2: 

  • We are going to be reading a book called, Brave Charlotte and the Wolves by Anu Stohner.
  • Read the book.
  • What does Charlotte do that is brave and different from the other sheep?
  • Why did the older sheep always say, “Tut, tut, tut” when they saw what Charlotte was doing?
  • Does it bother Charlotte that she is different?  How do you know?
  • Charlotte is able to save the shepherd because of her bravery.  Can you think of a time when you were brave and able to help do something?
  • Why do the other sheep say, “As long as Charlotte is here to watch over us, we should be okay?”
  • What did you like about Charlotte?  Did Charlotte have any characteristics that you would like to have?

Part 3: 

  • Charlotte was a brave sheep.  She was not afraid of the things that the other sheep were afraid of.  She climbed up high, she explored at night and she went far away.
  • Charlotte had a lot of adventures because she was brave.  She was even able to save the shepherd.
  • You are now going to be writing a story and drawing a picture about you.  Think about a time that you were brave, maybe even a time when you were brave and no one else was.
  • The title of your story will be, Brave Me, just like the book that we just read, Brave Charlotte.
  • After you are done writing your story, you will have a chance to share it with the class.

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Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer

Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.

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