Growing Together

Learning Objectives

By the end of this 45-minute session, Year 1 students (5-year-olds) will be able to:

• Demonstrate teamwork by participating in group activities that require cooperation and sharing roles.
• Show resilience by trying again after facing simple challenges or setbacks during activities.
• Understand and use basic social skills such as listening to peers, taking turns, and using positive language.
• Begin to recognise and express emotions related to challenges and working with others.
• Use new vocabulary related to feelings, cooperation, and encouragement.

Curriculum Alignment

This lesson closely follows the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh focus on:

• Personal and Social Capability (Key Competency: Managing self; Relating to others)
• Development of social skills and emotional growth appropriate for Year 1 (ages 5-6)
• Encouraging positive dispositions for learning, such as perseverance and collaboration
• Supporting language development through oral communication and vocabulary (English Learning Progressions Phase 1: communicating feelings and experiences)

Specifically, the teaching and learning are aligned with:

• The personal qualities in the English curriculum phase 1, including managing emotions and social interactions
• Developing resilience and perseverance as highlighted in the Mathematics and Statistics curriculum for Years 0–3 as important qualities for learning (associated with motivation and wellbeing)
• Fostering cooperative behaviors through role-taking and interpersonal communication skills

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Lesson Outline

Time	Activity	Purpose & Curriculum Links
0–5 mins	Warm-up Circle Time: “Our Team” Chat	Introduce teamwork and resilience. Use simple, clear language so children describe times they worked with friends and tried again if something was hard. Supports oral language and social skills development.
5–15 mins	Group Story Sharing: "When We Work Together"	Read a picture book or tell a drama story illustrating characters showing teamwork and resilience. Use puppet props for engagement. Highlight vocabulary: try, help, wait, share, again, together. Encourages narrative language and emotional expression【4:0】 .
15–30 mins	Collaborative Task: Building a Tower	In groups of 5, children use blocks or recycled materials to build a tower. Roles assigned (starter, builder, helper, encourager, checker) to foster teamwork role-taking, interpersonal communication, and shared responsibility. Encourage children to solve problems if the tower falls, modelling resilience by trying again【4:0】 .
30–40 mins	Emotion Charades	Using facial expressions and body language, model and encourage children to identify and act out feelings such as frustration, happiness, pride, and calm. Discuss what helps us feel better when challenges arise to promote emotional self-regulation【4:0】 .
40–45 mins	Reflection Circle and Positive Feedback	Children share what they enjoyed and how they helped others or kept trying. Teacher reinforces the value of teamwork and resilience using affirmations and introduces simple self-talk phrases ("I can try again!", "We can do it together!"). Builds metacognition and self-regulation skills .

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Detailed Activity Descriptions

Warm-up Circle Time: “Our Team” Chat (5 min)

• Gather children sitting in a circle.
• Teacher introduces the ideas of teamwork ("working together") and resilience ("not giving up").
• Prompt children with questions: "Can you tell us about a time you helped a friend?" or "What do you do when something is tricky?"
• Use positive, encouraging vocabulary.
• Purpose: Setting the context for the lesson, activating prior experiences, building oral language, listening and turn-taking skills.

Group Story Sharing: "When We Work Together" (10 min)

• Choose a simple, engaging story highlighting cooperation and trying again.
• Use puppets to make the story interactive.
• Pause to ask children about characters’ feelings and decisions.
• Reinforce new vocabulary related to emotions and teamwork.
• Purpose: Build narrative understanding, emotional literacy, and new vocabulary.

Collaborative Task: Building a Tower (15 min)

• Children form groups of five, each with roles:
  • Starter: begins the base.
  • Builder: adds blocks.
  • Helper: passes blocks.
  • Encourager: supports others verbally.
  • Checker: sees if the tower stands tall.
• If the tower falls, encourage perseverance by trying again.
• Teacher models positive language and problem-solving.
• Purpose: Foster teamwork, role-taking, resilience, communication, and social problem solving.

Emotion Charades (10 min)

• Teacher models facial expressions and body postures for emotions: happy, frustrated, proud, tired.
• Children guess emotions and take turns acting them out.
• Discuss ways to manage tricky feelings when tasks are hard.
• Purpose: Develop non-verbal communication skills and emotional regulation.

Reflection Circle and Positive Feedback (5 min)

• Children share what they found easy or tricky.
• Reinforce the idea that trying hard is good.
• Teach simple self-talk phrases.
• Give positive feedback and acknowledge teamwork.
• Purpose: Foster metacognition, self-regulation, and positive peer interactions.

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Resources Needed

• Puppets or props for story reading
• Picture book or simple story script about teamwork
• Building blocks or recycled materials for towers
• Emotion flashcards for charades
• Comfortable space for circle time

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Assessment and Feedback

• Observation during collaborative task: note children’s ability to share, take turns, and persist through challenges.
• Teacher asks reflective questions at the end to assess understanding of teamwork and resilience concepts.
• Use positive reinforcement to encourage growth in social skills.
• Informal anecdotal records can help plan next steps in supporting emotional development and collaboration.

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Teaching Considerations

• Use clear, simple language suited to five-year-olds.
• Be sensitive to children who may need additional support expressing feelings, using scaffolds like visuals or sentence stems ("I feel ___ when ___").
• Promote an inclusive environment acknowledging diverse cultural backgrounds and communication styles, including non-verbal cues【4:0】 .
• Build on prior knowledge and experiences to make learning meaningful.
• Encourage all students to participate, offering reassurance and modelling resilience.

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This lesson plan fosters foundational social and emotional capabilities aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh. It interweaves oral language development, emotional literacy, and personal qualities essential for life-long learning, structured within an engaging, play-based framework appropriate to Year 1 learners. Teachers will be equipped with clear steps, role descriptions, and strategies to promote collaboration and resilience from day one of school.

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If you would like, I can also provide detailed scripts or visual aids suggestions to support delivery.