Greater Good Education Program:

Pre-K/Lower Elementary:

Acts of Kindness: Students think of ways they have acted with kindness towards others and then draw and write about it. 

Acts of Kindness (practice)

Upper Elementary/Middle/High:

Put Down the Put Downs: Students reflect on and listen to the feelings generated by put-downs (hurtful names and behavior), and brainstorm approaches to ending this problem in the classroom. 

Put Down the Put-Downs (practice) 

Middle School:

Be the Change: Performing Acts of Kindness: Students watch a video of a school where a class of students carried out anonymous “random acts of kindness,” and then plan ways to do their own acts of kindness. 

Be the Change: Performing Acts of Kindness (practice)

High School

Responding to Differences: Students reflect on the ways people respond to human differences as they journal, read a poem, and engage in a sorting activity. They consider the consequences of people’s responses and how they want their school community to respond to differences. 

Responding to Differences (practice)

The above activities and links are from the Greater Good Education Program

As described on their website,

“Greater Good in Education is produced by UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center (GGSC). The GGSC studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society--what we call "the science of a meaningful life." 

As part of the GGSC, our Education Program presents education professionals with practical, scientific insights that help them bring the science of a meaningful life into their lives, schools, and classrooms. It draws on disciplines such as social-emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness, character education, and related topics. Our goal is to help them better understand the roots of kind, helpful--or "prosocial"--behavior and emotional well-being, and how they can build those skills in themselves, their colleagues, and their students. 

Greater Good in Education advances the work of the GGSC Education Program by distilling key strategies for the social, emotional, and ethical development of students and for the well-being of the adults who work with them, synthesizing the top insights and practices from science, programs, and practitioners. It takes the science that the GGSC has been covering for years and puts it into a format tailored to the needs of educators, building on the other programs and activities of the GGSC Education Program. 

Ultimately, we hope to transform the way education professionals think about the purpose of education and what it means to be a human being.” 

Link: Greater Good Education Program 

They also note: “Greater Good in Education (GGIE) provides educational professionals across the globe with free access to research-based and research-informed lessons, practices, and other resources for addressing their own well-being as well as the social, emotional, and ethical development of the students in their communities. We offer these resources for free to educational professionals across the globe to ensure greater access to best practices and to promote equity for all students.”

Link: Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Link: More Resources from Greater Good in Education 

Committee For Children

Elementary School:

Being Kind and Respectful to Help Stop Bullying: In this activity, students will create posters showing ways they can be kind and respectful to each other every day and help stop bullying before it starts.

Activity - Being Kind and Respectful to Help Stop Bullying 

Grades 6-8:

Class Meeting: Different from You: This activity helps students talk about what may be challenging about understanding other people’s differences and how to accept and celebrate them

Activity - Class Meeting: Different from You 

The above resources are from the Committee for Children. Their website states, “Part of our mission is to empower children and adults with social-emotional skills that help them realize their goals in the classroom and throughout their lives. In keeping with that, and in an effort to help educators engage with their students and reinforce the social-emotional skills they’re teaching, we’ve created this Free Classroom Activities Page.”

Additional activities

More information about the Committee for Children: “For more than 40 years, Committee for Children has been helping children learn, grow, and thrive. Because we believe that if you make a positive impact on enough children through social-emotional learning, then the ripples will help a family, a school, a community, and ultimately, the world.”

Link:  About Us - Committee for Children