“B E THE P OWER OF O NE ” B UILDING C HARACTER FOR S UCCESS “The Puzzle Takes Work” Lesson K.14 Created By: Pam Gunter

P REPARATION Materials Needed: A puzzle. Classroom Setup: Have the students sit on the floor in a circle.

C HALLENGE OF THE W EEK – F OLLOW U P Have the students share how they worked out differences with others last week. Help them remember the steps by showing them the signs, or the poster if you chose to make one for the classroom, and walking through them again.

T HE A CTIVITY Begin the lesson by reminding the students we’ve learned many important lessons over the past several weeks. Ask the students if they can share some of the things they’ve learned. Toss the puzzle pieces onto the floor. Ask the students why the puzzle didn’t fall into place when you tossed the pieces onto the floor. (Because you have to work to put it together. It takes effort, even though you may enjoy it.) Life is a lot like this puzzle. We have many things that help us be our best, but it takes work.

T HE A CTIVITY - C ONTINUED There are many things we can do to be our very best. Just like wanting to put this puzzle together, we need to know what we want to do before we work on it. Like, deciding to start making our bed every morning, or remembering to brush our teeth. At school, it could be keeping our desk clean, or remembering to put our name on our paper. Maybe it is to remember to say, “Please” and “Thank you.” Writing things down that we want to do helps us remember to make them a habit. For example, how could we remember to brush our teeth? (Tape a note on the mirror in the bathroom, writing a small note and placing it on your desk.)

T HE A CTIVITY - C ONTINUED Take the puzzle and lay out the pieces neatly on the floor. Just like we laid all these pieces on the floor, we need to organize things in our lives to make it easier to get things done. When we are working on our goals, it might be easier to write notes to remember to do things, sometimes we can change when we do things. For example, maybe you set a goal to make your bed every morning but you keep forgetting before you go to school. What could you do differently? (You could make your bed as soon as you get up.) Sometimes we have many things to do that we forget to do everything. Making lists and checking them off helps remind us what we need to do. It also helps us make a “routine” or pattern.

T HE A CTIVITY - C ONTINUED Start putting the puzzle together in an orderly fashion. One piece at a time. Explain that checking things off our list, one at a time, helps us stay organized and we can use our time wisely. Explain that the list can include morning activities and chores, as well as after school activities and chores. When we are organized, we can save time and we won’t get as frustrated and angry. We will be better prepared and we’ll feel better about ourselves. We will also help our families. For example, if you put on your evening “to do” list to complete homework, put papers and books in backpack, put backpack by the front door, before you go to bed, you won’t be running all over the house in the morning looking for it. How many of you have a hard time finding your shoes or backpack in the morning? Have the students share what a good solution to the problem would be. (Put shoes in their closets, or in the shoe rack by the door as soon as they take them off.) Complete the puzzle and compliment everyone for working together in an orderly and organized manner.

T HE O BJECT OF THE L ESSON Points instructor needs to bring out: Everyone needs to set goals to be the best they can be and continue to improve and grow. Staying organized helps save time and reduces anger and frustration. When we put things back in the same place, we won’t get frustrated that we can’t find them. It helps make our home, classroom and school environment be more positive and calm. We can accomplish many things when we don’t waste a lot of time by not being organized. If we keep our desks clean we can find our books easier, if we keep our clothes organized we can find clean ones and get dressed for school on time.

C HALLENGE OF THE W EEK Encourage the students to make a daily “to do” list, or checklist that will help them get organized and use their time wisely. It could be a good activity to work on at home with their parents, or in the classroom. You could also develop a classroom checklist to demonstrate how it helps in the classroom.