Every Child is Special – Character Development – Unit 4

We Can Help Others helps Foundation students understand how their actions and attitudes can inspire and support others. Through playful storytelling, role-playing, and class discussions, students will explore how self-discipline, reflection, kindness, and gratitude create positive change. They will learn that by making good choices, thinking about their actions, and treating others with care, they can be role models in their classroom, home, and community. 

Each lesson focuses on building character through real-life examples and meaningful activities that encourage students to take responsibility, help others grow, and celebrate kindness. Students will be invited to reflect on how they have made a difference and explore ways to share what they have learned with their peers. By the end of the unit, students will see how even small actions like saying thank you, being helpful, or staying on task can inspire and uplift those around them. 

• Lesson 1:  Thumbs Up for Role Models. Students say ways they have noticed classmates showing self-discipline, then give them thumbs up. 
• Lesson 2:  Partner Discussion – good choices to make in different scenarios. 
• Lesson 3:  Partner reflection and sharing about George Stephenson’s story. 
• Lesson 4:  Role– play Three Little Pigs learning from mistakes. 
• Lesson 5:  Making biscuits to share. Charades of kind actions. 
• Lesson 6:  ‘Kindness Penguins’ for class display – showing ways we can be kind. 
• Lesson 7: ‘Web of Gratitude’ – making a class ‘web’ with a ball of wool, passing to people we are grateful for. 
• Lesson 8: ‘You Decide’ masks and finding things to be grateful for in different situations. 

Features

• Animated flipbook
• Audio and video clips
• Animations

Real Life Exemplars

• Cathy Freeman (Lesson 1) 
• Tim Silverwood (Lesson 2) 
• George Stephenson (Lesson 3) 
• Alfred Date (Lesson 6) 

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

• Lessons x 8 
• Instructional Teaching Guide 
• Unit Overview 
• Personal Reflection 
• Professional Learning Modules 

Making a Difference helps students see how their actions can positively impact others at school, home and in the world around them. In this unit, students discover how self-discipline and reflection help them stay focused, learn from their choices and lead by example. They’ll explore how kindness and gratitude can lift others up and create strong relationships, building happier communities. Through passion and curiosity, they learn how excitement for learning can inspire change and how belief and grit can help them and others to persevere through challenges. 

Each lesson includes hands-on activities, real-life stories, and chances to share and reflect, helping students build confidence in their ability to make a difference. Whether they’re encouraging a friend, solving a real-world problem, or spreading kindness, students will come to understand that even small actions have the power to create big change. 

• Lesson 1:  Traffic Lights Game – stopping on Red, moving on Green. 
• Lesson 2:  Thinking Machine – helping professionals make wise choices in difficult situations. 
• Lesson 3: Gratitude Cards –  Print flowers and leaves onto cards to give people as an act of kindness or gratitude. 
• Lesson 4:  Gratitude Walk – Walk around school grounds to see ways people have shown kindness in caring for them, even if we’ve not seen it happening in person. 
• Lesson 5: Find balloons with their own names on them – see how it’s easier when helping each other. Then sharing own passions with people whose names are on caught balloons. 
• Lesson 6:  Problem Solver game – identifying problems and potential solutions around us. 
• Lesson 7: Paper Ball Challenge – moving a paper ball across the room with a partner, only using elbows to hold it. 
• Lesson 8: Roleplay as a postal worker, sewage worker, bin collector and roadworker to see how these behind-the-scenes jobs make a positive difference in the world. 

Features

• Animated flipbook
• Audio and video clips
• Animations

Real life exemplars

• Costa Georgiadis (Lesson 3) 
• Wangari Maathai (Lesson 6) 
• Nic Vujicic (Lesson 7) 
• Postal workers, sewage workers, bin collectors, roadworkers (Lesson 8) 

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

• Lessons x 8 
• Instructional Teaching Guide 
• Unit Overview 
• Personal Reflection 
• Professional Learning Modules 

From Practice to Purpose is a Year 3––4 unit designed to help students develop an understanding of key character traits that contribute to long-term success and personal growth. The unit focuses on the character traits: self-discipline, reflection, kindness, gratitude, passion, curiosity, time and effort and how these traits help individuals overcome challenges and inspire others. Students will explore real-life examples of influential people who have used these traits in their careers and lives, from athletes and artists to scientists and entrepreneurs. Through interactive activities, reflection exercises, and inspiring stories, students will connect these traits to their own lives, setting goals for personal growth and learning how to overcome obstacles through sustained effort. By the end of the unit, students will understand the importance of time, effort, and a positive attitude in achieving their goals and making a difference in the world. 

• Lesson 1:  Apply tips on self-discipline and reflection to different careers. 
• Lesson 2:  Give and receive compliments to class members. 
• Lesson 3:  Create banknotes featuring themselves and what they are passionate about. 
• Lesson 4:  Decipher codes to reveal quotes about passion and curiosity in different career types. 
• Lesson 5:  Create class inspiration board of motivational phrases. 
• Lesson 6:  Participate in a simulation video game of people in different careers. 
• Lesson 7:  Create a classroom ‘Stone Soup’ display, showing things they put time and effort into. 
• Lesson 8:  Career Quiz to find a good fit career for their interests. 

Features

• Animated flipbook
• Audio and video clips
• Animations
• Simulated video game 

Real Life Exemplars

• Leanne Benjamin, Yo-Yo Ma, Jessica Meir, Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Thomas Edison (Lesson 1) 
• Queen Elizabeth II, Banjo Patterson, Dame Mary Gilmore, Mary Reibey, Reverend John Flynn, David Unaipon, Edith Cowan, Dame Nellie Melba, Sir John Monash (Lesson 3) 
• Howard Carter (Lesson 4) 
• Leicester City Football team 2015–16, All Blacks, 1996 Hockeyroos, 2000 Olympic Australian swim team, Kenyan runners, 2003 World Cup Wallabies (Lesson 5) 

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

• Lessons x 8 
• Instructional Teaching Guide 
• Unit Overview 
• Personal Reflection 
• Secret Message Clues 
• Stone Soup Poster 
• Professional Learning Modules 

This unit explores how key strengths contribute to success, growth, and leadership across different careers and roles. Through real-life examples, engaging activities, and reflection, students will examine how self-discipline, kindness, gratitude, passion, curiosity, belief, grit, time, effort, service, and leadership help people achieve their goals and make a difference. They will learn how these strengths are used to support and inspire others, as well as how they can apply them in their own lives. By understanding the role of these qualities in various paths, students will gain insight into what it takes to grow and lead effectively. 

• Lesson 1: Inner Coach Voices and My Inner Coach – help professionals choose how to stay on track in different scenarios, then write how to stay on track with a personal goal. 
• Lesson 2: Domino Effect stories – showing how kindness can be contagious in a community. 
• Lesson 3: Image Exploration – discovering more about curious questions from websites. Sharing our pPassion through a silent ball game adaptation. 
• Lesson 4: Song analysis of When You Wish Upon a Star – discuss belief and grit in different career challenge scenarios. 
• Lesson 5: Career Star Game Show – like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but answering questions related to time and effort taken to succeed in different careers. Sharing own personal career dreams. 
• Lesson 6: Leadership and Service Decoder game – like Mastermind, using leader and service roles to guess hidden numbers. 
• Lesson 7: Hope Island Simulation Game – choose which professionals to send to help an island in need, then problem solve as challenges come. 
• Lesson 8: Journalist activity – interviewing experts on leadership for a TV show. 

Features

• Animated flipbook
• Audio and video clips
• Animations

Real Life Exemplars

• Walt Disney (Lesson 4)  
• Li Cunxin (Lesson 5) 
• Thai Cave Rescue team, Australian Emergency Services, Maggie Beer (Lesson 6) 
• Barak Obama, Maree Norden, Simon Sinek and Australian High School Student leaders (Lesson 8) 

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

• Lessons x 8 
• Instructional Teaching Guide 
• Unit Overview 
• Personal Reflection 
• Hope Island Professional Cards 
• Professional Learning Modules