P.S.

175 City Island School

Guidance Curriculum
FEBRUARY - HONESTY

Title of Lesson
Honest or Dishonest?

Grades
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade

Materials
Whiteboard
Dry-erase markers
Pictures of scenarios
Honest/Dishonest buckets

Purpose (Why of the lesson, where and how does it tie into the course/curriculum?)
To incorporate good character and honesty into the school community and connect it with:
Good/bad honest/dishonest (acts) characters in a story (Kindergarten)
Biographies typically display good honest qualities (MLK, etc Nonfiction = real facts)
(1st Grade)
Knowledge of characters (2nd Grade)

Learning Outcome(s) (What will students be able to do/know by the end of the lesson?)
Students will be able to define the character trait of honesty
Students will be able to reflect on a given situation and decide if it is honest or
dishonest
Students will be able to see a difference between honest and dishonest situations

Bridge-In (Focus student attention)

Introduce this months topic as honesty, and create a web on the board about some of
the things they know about honesty
Procedure
1. Explain that now that we have an idea of what honesty is, we are going to ty to decide
whether certain situations are honest or dishonest
2. Explain the word dishonest
3. Pass out cards and buckets
4. Explain that you will be reading situations to them, and these situations are either
honest or dishonest
5. Explain to the students that each situation matches a card that is on their table, and
that you will hold each card up before you read its corresponding situation, and the
students will find that card in their piles
6. Explain to the students that one bucket is for honest and one bucket is for dishonest
7. Explain to the students that if they think the situation is dishonest, to put the picture in
the honest/dishonest bucket
8. Begin:
- You broke a glass when you were playing with your brother/sister/friend, but
and you tell an adult that it was you who broke it
- You find a wallet with money in it, but you keep it for yourself instead of taking
it to its owner
- You play a game with your family, but you cheat and dont tell anyone
- You tell the teacher why you made someone upset
- You shove someone on the playground and then pretend you didnt do it
- You promised mom/dad that you would clean your room, but you watched
TV instead
- You borrowed your friend's toy and then lost it, but dont tell them
- You take two cookies from a tray that says take one cookie and hope no
one will notice
- Your friend asks you to lie to an adult so that they wont get in trouble, but
you say no, Im not lying and you tell the truth

Guided Practice (Application of knowledge: classroom activities for students, problem to

solve, etc.)
Students will decide for themselves whether the situation read aloud is an honest or
dishonest one, using the web of ideas they created to describe honesty

Reflection (Recap key concepts, helps students consolidate knowledge)

This activity encourages the students to focus on being honest and use integrity both
in the classroom and in their lies
What will happen if you get caught in a lie?
Sometimes you lie and dont get caught, how does that make you feel?
Touchstone - The Golden Rule: Treat others the way that you want to be treated

Check for Understanding (What questions will you ask and when to determine students
understand?)
 Touchstone: The Golden Rule - Treat others as you want to be treated
What is the difference between honest and dishonest?
Who can give an example of an honest act o a dishonest act?

Assessment (Product, Reflect on Learning Outcomes)

Questioning/deciphering between honest and dishonest situations
 P.S. 175 City Island School
Guidance Curriculum
FEBRUARY - HONESTY

Title of Lesson
Honesty Pledge

Grades
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade

Materials
Whiteboard
Dry-erase markers
Paper (pre-captioned for kindergarteners)
Hole punch
Yarn

Purpose (Why of the lesson, where and how does it tie into the course/curriculum?)
To incorporate good character and honesty into the school community and connect it with:
Good/bad honest/dishonest (acts) characters in a story (Kindergarten)
Biographies typically display good honest qualities (MLK, etc Nonfiction = real facts)
(1st Grade)

Learning Outcome(s) (What will students be able to do/know by the end of the lesson?)
Students will be able to recall what honesty means to them
Students will be able to create ways to keep honesty in the classroom
Students will be able learn what a pledge is and what it means to make a pledge
Students will be able to make a pledge to be honest

Bridge-In (Focus student attention)

Recap honesty and what it means to the students
Ask, What is a pledge? (prompt them to think of the Pledge of Allegiance)
Prompt students to cme to the conclusion that a pledge is like a promise
Procedure
1. Explain that now that we know what a pledge is, we're going to make our own pledge
2. Ask, What have we been talking about in class? (honesty)
3. What can we pledge with honesty? (to always be honest) - Turn & Talk
4. We are going to pledge to always be honest in school, and everywhere
5. Kindergarten: Hand out pe-captioned pape - I, _____________ pledge to always be
honest /Prompt students to write their names in the blank
Grades 1 & 2: Hand out blank paper and write on the board ot them to copy - I,
___________ pledge to always be honest (half the class add anything that they feel
applies to their room specifically)
6. Have the students decorate their pledges
7. Bind all of the pledges together into a book and give to each teacher to keep, and to
reference if the is an instance of dishonesty

Guided Practice (Application of knowledge: classroom activities for students, problem to

solve, etc.)
Students will be able to verbalize how to keep honesty in the classroom
Students will be able to create an example of their own pledge

Reflection (Recap key concepts, helps students consolidate knowledge)

Explain to the students that they have done lots of work with honesty and that there
are lots of reasons to be honest - ask for three reasons to have honesty Turn & Talk
Touchstone - The Golden Rule: Treat others the way that you want to be treated

Check for Understanding (What questions will you ask and when to determine students
understand?)
How is our pledge similar to the Pledge of Allegiance?

Assessment (Product, Reflect on Learning Outcomes)

Creating and signing their own honesty pledges
 P.S. 175 City Island School
Guidance Curriculum
FEBRUARY - HONESTY

Title of Lesson
Snowball to Avalanche

Grades:
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade

Materials
Whiteboard
Dry-erase markers
Sheets of white paper

Purpose (Why of the lesson, where and how does it tie into the course/curriculum?)
To incorporate good character and honesty into the school community

Learning Outcome(s) (What will students be able to do/know by the end of the lesson?)
Students will be able to see how balancing different lies can be challenging and can
make your story collapse

Bridge-In (Focus student attention)

Review the term honesty and what it means
Ask if students know what the opposite of honesty is (lying)
Ask students if they can define lying
Emphasize the wrong in lying

Procedure
1. Explain that one lie can come after another, and it is easy for them to build up
2. Explain that soon all of the lies are difficult to follow and keep track of
3. Prompt the students to give examples of lies
 4. With each lie, crumple up sheets of paper and start to build a pyramid/pile of the
snowballs
5. Once the pyramid falls, explain to the students that your story of lies can start from one
snowball, and pile up to cause an avalanche (explain what an avalanche is)
6. Repeat example with another set of lies from the students

Guided Practice (Application of knowledge: classroom activities for students, problem to

solve, etc.)
Students will be able to see how with each lie/snowball added by them, the pile of lies
becomes more likely to collapse

Reflection (Recap key concepts, helps students consolidate knowledge)

Ask, How can an avalanche of snowballs show us that lying is wrong?
When the is an avalanche, the is a loss of trust
Touchstone - The Golden Rule: Treat others the way that you want to be treated

Check for Understanding (What questions will you ask and when to determine students
understand?)
Touchstone: The Golden Rule - Treat others as you want to be treated.
What made the snowballs fall?
How can we avoid an avalanche?

Assessment (Product, Reflect on Learning Questions)

Share-out with questions with above questions above
 P.S. 175 City Island School
Guidance Curriculum
FEBRUARY - HONESTY

Title of Lesson
The Five "I Will's"

Grades
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade

Materials
Whiteboard
Dry-erase markers
Chart paper

Purpose (Why of the lesson, where and how does it tie into the course/curriculum?)
To incorporate good character and honesty into the school community and connect it with:
Good/bad honest/dishonest (acts) characters in a story (Kindergarten)
Biographies typically display good honest qualities (MLK, etc Nonfiction = real facts)
(1st Grade)

Learning Outcome(s) (What will students be able to do/know by the end of the lesson?)
Students will be able to know the five I Wills
Students will be able to pledge to stand by these five I Wills
Students will learn the behaviors that promote honesty

Bridge-In (Focus student attention)

Recap this month's theme as honesty and integrity, and have the students give
examples

Procedure
1. Explain that we are going to be making some rules to practice for honesty
 2. They are called the five I Wills and they are:
I will tell the truth
I will not exaggerate the facts (define exaggerate)
I will admit when I am wrong
I will not take things that don't belong to me
I will play by the rules
3. Have a scenario ready for each rule
4. Ask, Is it tattling if you're telling the truth?
5. Ask for some examples of how the students can carry out these rules
6. Explain that we want to always remember them, so we are going to make an honesty
banner with each rule on it
7. Each student will trace their handprint on the bottom
8. Explain/prompt students to realize that the five I Wills are like their hands - one
finger for each I Will

Guided Practice (Application of knowledge: classroom activities for students, problem to

solve, etc.)
Students will be able to give examples of each I Will and apply it to their own
experiences

Reflection (Recap key concepts, helps students consolidate knowledge)

Explain to the students that we will be applying these honesty I Wills to the
classroom every day with the banner, but these honesty rules should be followed
throughout life
Touchstone - The Golden Rule: Treat others the way that you want to be
treated/Kindness

Check for Understanding (What questions will you ask and when to determine students
understand?)
What are some examples of these rules?
Have you seen examples of these rules in your own lives?

Assessment (Product, Reflect on Learning Outcomes)

Giving examples of the honesty rules