Every Child is Special – Character Development – Unit 2
Foundation – Year 6
The Character Development Program helps students build important qualities and habits that support personal growth and emotional strength. Through guided lessons and self-reflection, they learn to navigate life’s challenges with integrity, kindness and determination.
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Free Starter Lessons
Year Overview
Foundation Year
Unit Overview
This unit is designed to reinforce the key concepts of self-discipline, reflection, kindness and gratitude.
Through a series of interactive lessons, students will explore how to use these concepts in a variety of situations both inside and outside the classroom.
The unit highlights the importance of finding things to be grateful for even in difficult situations and using self-discipline to guide our choices and actions rather than acting on impulse.
Real-life examples will help students connect these concepts to the world around them.
By the end of the unit, students will have built essential character traits such as making thoughtful choices, reflecting on their feelings and showing kindness to others.
Student Activities
- Lesson 1: Students investigate choices by considering the pros and cons.
- Lesson 2: Work as a group to draw a picture.
- Lesson 3: Students reflect on something they did using two stars and a wish.
- Lesson 4: Students discuss how certain feelings give us a clue. that we should do something differently.
- Lesson 5: Play kindness Bingo.
- Lesson 6: Create compliment flowers.
- Lesson 7: Students discuss things they can be grateful in ordinary situations.
- Lesson 8: Students form a gratitude circle and practise saying thank you to their classmates for things they have done.
Features and Real Life Exemplars
Features
- Animated flipbook
- Audio and video clips
- Animations
Real Life Exemplars
- Cadel Evans (Lesson 3)
- Taylor Swift (Lesson 8)
Lessons and Resources
Lessons
- 9 Week Unit
- Lessons are 20 minutes and delivered once a week for eight weeks
- Week 9 – Personal Reflection is completed by students
Resources
- Instructional Teaching Guide
- Student Workbook
- Unit Overview
- Personal Reflection
- Posters
- Professional Learning Modules
Year 1 – Year 2
Unit Overview
In this unit, Year 1 and 2 students will apply key character traits—self-discipline, kindness, gratitude, passion, curiosity, belief, and grit—in different situations.
Through interactive activities, real-world examples, and personal reflection, students will explore how these traits help them overcome challenges and grow.
They will practise using self-discipline to stay focused, show kindness and gratitude in everyday life, develop passions and curiosity through hands-on experiences, and strengthen belief and perseverance to achieve their goals.
By the end of the unit, students will understand how effort, time, and a growth mindset help them improve and succeed in any situation.
Student Activities
- Lesson 1: Play ‘Hold It’ game.
- Lesson 2: Kindness and Gratitude Role-Play. Learning Kindness is Free song.
- Lesson 3: Passion Pathway Role-Play.
- Lesson 4: Guess Mystery images and ask curious questions to think of new ways to use them.
- Lesson 5: Guess My Passion game.
- Lesson 6: Online jigsaw. Paper plane making.
- Lesson 7: Skill practise – skipping, hula hooping or throw and catch.
- Lesson 8: Belief and Grit flags. Tall tower challenge.
Features and Real Life Exemplars
Features
- Animated flipbook
- Audio and video clips
- Animations
Real life exemplars
- Steve Family (Lesson 3)
- First Nations survival experts (Lesson 4)
- The Wright Brothers (Lesson 6)
Lessons and Resources
Lessons
- 9 Week Unit
- Lessons are 20 minutes and delivered once a week for eight weeks
- Week 9 – Personal Reflection is completed by students
Resources
- Instructional Teaching Guide
- Student Workbook
- Unit Overview
- Personal Reflection
- Posters
- Professional Learning Modules
Year 3 – Year 4
Unit Overview
In this unit, students explore how character strengths such as self-discipline, reflection, kindness, gratitude, passion, curiosity, belief, grit, time, and effort can be applied in different situations.
Through engaging activities, real-life exemplars, and reflective discussions, students will learn how these traits help them navigate challenges, work effectively, and achieve success.
Each lesson provides practical strategies for applying these strengths in school, social settings, and personal goals, reinforcing the importance of perseverance, planning, and making thoughtful choices.
Student Activities
- Lesson 1: Answer self-discipline and reflection questions, thinking ‘what would Cathy Freeman do?’
- Lesson 2: Create a class quilt of kindness and gratitude.
- Lesson 3: Diving Deeper reflection on things that make them curious.
- Lesson 4: Decorate a Power of Yet Yeti after identifying something they can’t do – yet.
- Lesson 5: Plot progress in reaching a goal on a class Mountain of Effort poster.
- Lesson 6: Train to improve skills at throwing paper in a basket.
- Lesson 7: Two memory challenges, comparing distracted vs. focused efforts.
- Lesson 8: Design a superhero twice, comparing lack of planning vs. planning.
Features and Real Life Exemplars
Features
- Animated flipbook
- Audio and video clips
- Animations
Real Life Exemplars
- Cathy Freeman (Lesson 1)
- Bindi Irwin (Lesson 2)
- Ron Allum (Lesson 3)
- Alyssa Azar (Lesson 5)
- Nic Naitanui (Lesson 7)
- Stan Lee (Lesson 8)
Lessons and Resources
Lessons
- 9 Week Unit
- Lessons are 20 minutes and delivered once a week for eight weeks
- Week 9 – Personal Reflection is completed by students
Resources
- Instructional Teaching Guide
- Student Workbook
- Unit Overview
- Personal Reflection
- Posters
- Professional Learning Modules
Year 5 – Year 6
Unit Overview
This unit helps students explore how key strengths contribute to personal growth and leadership.
Through real-life examples, interactive activities, and reflection, they will develop their understanding of self-discipline, kindness, gratitude, passion, curiosity, belief, grit, time, effort, service, and leadership.
Students will learn how to apply these strengths in different situations and practise using service and leadership to make a positive impact.
By developing these qualities, they will gain the skills and confidence to grow and lead in meaningful ways.
Student Activities
- Lesson 1: Eyes on the Prize gameshow on self-discipline.
- Lesson 2: Encouraging words notes left for each other.
- Lesson 3: Interest Charades – students connect with others who have similar interests.
- Lesson 4: Identifying Growth or Fixed mindsets. Adding an area they want to develop belief and grit in to a class poster.
- Lesson 5: Interactive story of Jessica Watson where students decide on correct choices to make. Identify personal areas to develop time and effort in.
- Lesson 6: Identify personal talents and how they can be used to serve others. Add to class gift box.
- Lesson 7: Identifying different types of leadership in action. Leadership game.
- Lesson 8: Leading by Serving challenge around school, then to continue at home and school for the week.
Features and Real Life Exemplars
Features
- Animated flipbook
- Audio and video clips
- Animations
Real Life Exemplars
- Arthur Stace (Lesson 2)
- Merindah-Gunya (Lesson 3)
- Dylan Alcott (Lesson 4)
- Jessica Watson (Lesson 5)
- Jonathon Welch (Lesson 6)
Lessons and Resources
Lessons
- 9 Week Unit
- Lessons are 20 minutes and delivered once a week for eight weeks
- Week 9 – Personal Reflection is completed by students
Resources
- Instructional Teaching Guide
- Student Workbook
- Unit Overview
- Personal Reflection
- Posters
- Professional Learning Modules