Reinforce the Skills
SECOND STEP Extension Activities for Grades 1–3
Note: Many of these activities can be adjusted up or down a grade.
Skill: Empathy
The Hundred Feelings (Grade 1)
Read The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. Have the class identify the feelings of each character as the story develops and note those moments when feelings change. Ask the class, "How would you feel if you were Wanda?" This activity helps children use a variety of clues to identify others' feelings.
Recipe for a Good Friend (Grades 1 and 2)
Have students create a class recipe that lists all the ingredients needed to be a good friend. This activity supports children's understanding about how others feel and the ability to show concern for others.
Fascinating Faces (Grades 1, 2, and 3)
Put large pieces of butcher paper around the room labeled with the six basic feelings words: happy, sad, mad, surprised, scared, and disgusted. Have students look through magazines and cut out faces to match each category. Then have them create a collage on the butcher paper for each category. This activity supports children in learning to identify others' feelings by their facial expressions.
Snowflakes (Grade 2)
Read a book or an article about snowflakes. Have students cut out paper snowflakes. Discuss what is similar about all snowflakes. Then discuss how no two snowflakes are exactly the same. Have students compare and contrast their snowflakes. Help students see how each of us is unique and how being different benefits everyone.
Friends from Enemies (Grade 2)
Read Enemy Pie by Derek Munson. Discuss how enemies became friends in the story. Have students think of one of their own good friends and write a story about how they first became friends.
Scare Compare (Grades 2 and 3)
Have students brainstorm a list of things that scare them. Use tally marks to find out how many students are afraid of each item and chart the results. Have the class survey a younger or older class and chart those results as well. Then have the class compare the results and discuss the possible reasons for any differences. This activity supports the concepts that people can feel differently about the same thing and that feelings change.
Changing Feelings (Grades 2 and 3)
Read I Speak English for My Mom by Muriel Stanek. Have students identify how each of the main characters felt in the story. Ask the class:
- What clues did the author and/or illustrator use to show how the characters were feeling?
- What clues explained how their feelings changed?
- Have you ever felt the way these characters felt?
- When did the characters have conflicting feelings?
- What did you do when you felt this way?
- What do you think will happen after the story ends (when Lupe's mother has just begun to learn English)?
Drawing Perspectives (Grade 3)
Select a simple object, such as an open book or a shoe. Have students draw the object from different perspectives (for example, from above, below, far away, and close-up). Have the students examine the views of the object from these different perspectives. Ask them:
- What is different?
- What is the same?
- What can't be seen from certain perspectives?
This activity supports the concept that people perceive situations differently.
Skill: Impulse Control and Problem Solving
Pumpkin Pie Puzzle (Grade 1)
Pose the following dilemma to your class: "Your family is hosting guests for Thanksgiving dinner. Ten people want a piece of pumpkin pie for dessert. You are helping serve the pie, and you count only eight pieces. What would you do?" Encourage students to use SECOND STEP problem-solving steps. This activity gives children practice in solving problems.
The Meanest Thing to Say (Grades 1 and 2)
Read The Meanest Thing to Say by Bill Cosby. In the story, Little Bill's dad teaches him an alternative to playing the "mean game." Ask students:
- Why is saying "So?" effective?
- What might be some other respectful and friendly solutions to Little Bill's problem?
Jump Rope Jumble (Grades 1, 2, and 3)
Have the children make a list of ten SECOND STEP words or phrases to say while jumping rope (for example, feelings, intentions, and choosing solutions). Then have them say each word or phrase while skipping rope. Add the extra challenge of having them say the problem-solving steps as a jump-rope rhyme. Then challenge them as a group to get through all the steps in order without tripping over the rope.
Accidents May Happen (Grade 2)
Choose two or three stories from Accidents May Happen by Charlotte Foltz Jones. Read them as examples of how the first attempt at solving a problem doesn't always work. Discuss how sometimes "failures" turn out well.
Who Lives Where? (Grades 2 and 3)
When your students study animals, have them classify a set of animals according to the habitat the animals prefer (for example, temperate forest, tropical rain forest, savanna, desert, or arctic). Discuss why different animals prefer different environments and why a variety of animals sometimes prefer the same environment. This activity supports the concept that different people may have different preferences.
Fur Coats and Fluffy Tails (Grade 3)
Have students investigate the different ways animals have solved the problem of surviving in cold weather. Ask them, "How have humans solved the same problem?" This activity gives practice in using problem-solving strategies.
Thought Bubble Theater (Grade 3)
Pair two of your students with two students from an older "buddy" class. Have the foursome make "thought bubbles" that show the SECOND STEP calming-down and problem-solving steps on stiff paper. Then have the group plan and perform a skit demonstrating their use of these steps in solving an interpersonal conflict or problem that they have observed. This activity supports the development of impulse control, including calming-down and problem-solving skills.
Montgomery Bus Boycott (Grade 3)
Have a group of students reenact a meeting that Martin Luther King, Jr. might have had with his advisors when planning and organizing the Montgomery bus boycott. Encourage students to use the SECOND STEP problem-solving steps as a guide for the skit. This activity helps children learn to see the importance of using the problem-solving process.
Problem Solving in the News (Grade 3)
Have students bring in newspaper articles that present a problem and a solution. Have one student present only the problem part of his or her article to the class. Then have the class go through the SECOND STEP problem-solving steps to pick a possible solution to the news article's problem. After the class chooses its solution, have the student who brought in the article read the published solution. Have the class compare its solution to the one actually used.
Skill: Anger Management
Dealing with Disappointment (Grades 1 and 2)
Read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Discuss how Alexander could have dealt with disappointment more appropriately.
"Ways to Calm Down" Memory Game (Grades 1 and 2)
Have students play a progressive memory game about different ways to calm down. The first child names one way to calm down. The second child repeats the first child's way and adds another. Then the third child names the previous two ways and adds yet another, and so on. As a variation, this game could be played with each student naming the feeling he or she is experiencing at that moment.
Anger Button Ideas (Grades 2 and 3)
Read The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume. Have students identify the anger buttons that upset the main character. Consider other characters in the story and discuss how they could have used SECOND STEP anger-management and problem-solving strategies.
Calm Down, Count Up (Grades 2 and 3)
Have students keep running tallies at their desks of every time they have managed a strong feeling by calming down (for example, when they have been frustrated by a math problem and done deep breathing). Record individual tallies on a master tally for the class, and make a graph showing the total number of tallies for each day. Discuss the different ways students calmed down. This activity provides opportunities to discuss the value of knowing how to calm down and to reinforce the many ways students can calm themselves down.
Catch the Beat (Grade 3)
Take the class outdoors. Have students find their pulses and measure their heart rates. Then have them run in place or follow a specified route for one minute and check their pulses again. Have them compare their resting and elevated heart rates. Remind them that our heart rates can also increase when we have strong feelings, and that one way to deal with strong feelings is to do deep breathing, or belly breathing. Have students do deep breathing for 30 seconds and check one more time to see if their pulses have changed again. This activity demonstrates how deep breathing can help students calm down.