Every Child is Special - Character Development Part B - Unit 2

This unit focuses on helping Foundation students build positive relationships by explicitly teaching the character traits of kindness, gratitude and passion. Students learn to notice others’ needs and choose helpful actions, recognise and express appreciation for people and positive experiences, and develop persistence by staying engaged with activities even when they become challenging. Together, these traits support a safe, friendly and cooperative classroom environment.

Across the unit, students practise these skills through structured role-plays, picture discussions, gratitude circles, and hands-on collaborative tasks that require sharing, waiting, helping and problem-solving. A key highlight is the Friendship Garden project, where students visibly track and reflect on real acts of kindness, gratitude and passion over time, reinforcing the connection between these traits and strong friendships.

The summative experience occurs through the Friendship Garden Exhibition, where students work in teams to create and present a shared garden feature using limited materials. During this task, students must demonstrate all three traits in action and explain how kindness, gratitude and passion helped their group work together and complete the project. This allows teachers to assess students’ understanding through both observable behaviours and simple student reflections.

• Learn what kindness looks like.
• Find things in our life to have gratitude for.
• Learn how having passion helps us grow.
• Learn how kindness, gratitude and passion help us work well with others.
• Learn how kindness, gratitude and passion help grow friendships.
• Learn how kind actions help friendships grow.
• Learn to notice kind actions and show gratitude.
• Keep trying and work with a partner until our task is finished.
• Learn how kindness, gratitude and passion strengthen teams.
• Present our garden crafts to the class.

Lessons

• 10 lessons 

Resources

• Teaching Guide
• Student Workbook

Lesson 10 is a time for individuals to present shared work. Informal and not assessed. 

In this unit, students learn how to use kindness, gratitude and passion to care for the shared spaces in their school. Through discussions, visual scenarios, partner tasks, role-play and real-life helping jobs, students identify problems in places such as the classroom, library, playground, hallway and eating area, and explore how they can respond in thoughtful and helpful ways.

Students learn that kindness means helping others and showing care, gratitude means appreciating people and spaces, and passion means trying their best and taking pride in doing a job well. Across the unit, students practise noticing when something needs attention, suggesting solutions and working with others to improve shared spaces. They reflect on how their actions can help make the school feel tidy, welcoming and respectful for everyone.

By the end of the unit, students understand that when they use kindness, gratitude and passion in everyday situations, they help build a positive school community and show care for the people and places around them.

• Learn how to show kindness in shared school spaces.
• Learn how to show gratitude when someone helps us.
• Learn how passion helps us keep going during everyday school routines.
• Learn how kindness, gratitude and passion help routines run smoothly.
• Learn how kind actions can grow friendships.
• Decide where kindness can help our school.
• Practise keeping going when a task is tricky.
• Show gratitude to helpers in our school spaces.
• Use kindness, gratitude and passion to help solve problems in our shared school spaces.
• Take action and help care for a shared school space.

Lessons

• 10 lessons

Resources

• Teaching Guide
• Student Workbook

Applied action of traits in Lesson 10. Informal and not assessed. 

In this unit, students explore how kindness, gratitude and passion work together to make lives better. Through real-life examples, class discussions and practical tasks, they learn how noticing what they have can help them recognise needs in others and how caring about something can help them act with purpose. 

Lessons 1–5 focus on understanding the traits by examining true examples of children who used kindness, gratitude and passion to help others in everyday, meaningful ways. Lessons 6–10 provide opportunities for students to apply these same traits through individual student-led projects connected to needs they see around them. As they identify a need, plan a realistic action and take steps to make it happen, students build agency and responsibility while seeing that even small actions can strengthen relationships and communities. 

• Learn how kindness helps people notice when others need help and choose actions that support them.
• Learn how gratitude helps people notice and appreciate the good things in their lives, including everyday experiences and help from others.
• Learn how passion helps people keep practising and improving because they care.
• Learn how kindness, gratitude and passion can work together to help people make a difference.
• Learn how to recognise gratitude, kindness and passion in real people’s actions.
• Think about what we are grateful for to identify needs in others that we can respond to in kindness.
• Plan how to use your passion to help meet a real need and make lives better.
• Choose one idea and plan what will be needed to make it happen.
• Take action on your idea and begin making it happen.
• Share how gratitude, kindness and passion were used in your project to make lives better.

Lessons

• 10 lessons 

Resources

• Teaching Guide
• Student Workbook

Lesson 10 is a time for individuals to present progress. Informal and not assessed. 

In this unit, students explore how kindness, gratitude and passion can work together to create meaningful change. Through real examples, discussion and reflection, students examine how noticing what they are grateful for can shape what they care about and how passion grows through effort and commitment. 

Lessons 1–5 focus on understanding these traits by examining true examples of people who used gratitude, kindness and passion to make a positive difference. Students consider how passions develop over time and how strengths, interests and resources can be used to help others. 

Lessons 6–10 shift the focus to application through a student-led Passion with Purpose project. Students identify something they care about improving, recognise the strengths and resources they bring and plan a realistic action they believe they can carry out. They are encouraged to begin taking action, reflect on what it feels like to start and persist even when progress is slow or results are not obvious. 

Across the unit, students share ideas, discuss challenges and reflect on progress. By the end of the project, students share how their passion with purpose is progressing and what they have learned about effort, persistence and impact. The unit supports students to develop agency, responsibility and confidence while recognising that their thoughtful actions can make a positive difference in the world. 

• Learn how kindness is a choice that can influence what happens next.
• Learn what gratitude is and how practising it can influence the way we think and feel.
• Learn how passion can grow from what matters to you and be strengthened through commitment.
• Learn how kindness, gratitude and passion can work together to create positive change.
• Learn how passion, when combined with skills or interests, can prepare people to create meaningful change.
• Identify how your personal passion can connect to making a positive difference beyond yourself.
• Identify strengths, interests and resources you have that could help make a difference through your passion.
• Plan how to turn your passion with purpose into action.
• Reflect on what happens as you put your passion with purpose into action.
• Share your Passion with Purpose project and how it is progressing with the whole class.

Lessons

• 10 lessons

Resources

• Teaching Guide
• Student Workbook

Lesson 10 is a time for individuals to present progress. Informal and not assessed.