Description

Are you searching for a lesson that highlights empathy, kindness, and the importance of inclusion, even when language and cultural differences present challenges? The picture book Chocolate Milk, Por Favor by Maria Dismondy provides an inspiring narrative that fosters understanding and builds critical Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills in students. Designed for 3rd-6th grade teachers and school counselors, this lesson plan offers a comprehensive way to integrate SEL into your classroom with engaging and reflective activities.

Aligned with the CASEL competency of Social Awareness, this resource guides students through the story’s themes of compassion, perseverance, and inclusion. The lesson plan includes thought-provoking activities that encourage students to reflect on their own actions and build skills that promote understanding and kindness in diverse settings. It includes twelve student-driven activities that focus on SEL topics.

Inside the lesson plan, you will find:

• A “Before Reading” activity and discussion questions.
• “During The Reading” discussion questions.
• “After The Reading” comprehension questions, activities, SEL-focused lessons, and critical thinking prompts.

The student-driven activities focus around:

• Reading comprehension questions that all focus on the SEL skills you want your students to learn and practice.
• Questions that challenge students’ thinking on a topic.
• Questions that reinforce what they might do or say if they were in the story.
• Applying the story’s lessons to their own lives through real-world connections.
• Working definitions of SEL skills (such as empathy).

Specific Skills Covered

• Notice and Wonder T-Chart: Encourage observation and curiosity as students identify key details and questions about the story.
• After-Reading Comprehension Questions: Assess understanding and deepen critical thinking about the characters and themes in the book.
• People Can Change – Reflection Activity: Guide students to explore personal growth and transformation by reflecting on how the characters evolve throughout the story.
• Compare and Contrast – Reflection Activity: Help students analyze similarities and differences in characters’ actions, perspectives, or experiences to build critical thinking skills.
• Keep the Story Going – Extension Activity: Inspire creativity as students imagine what might happen next in the story, extending the narrative in their own words.
• Alternative Ending – Extension Activity: Challenge students to reimagine the story’s conclusion, fostering creative thinking and problem-solving.
• A New Student – Brainstorming Activity: Encourage empathy and inclusion as students brainstorm ways to welcome a new student to their classroom or community.
• A Time When… – Reflection Activity: Connect the story to personal experiences by having students reflect on moments when they demonstrated kindness or courage.
• Book Review: Develop opinion writing skills as students craft a thoughtful review of the book, supported by evidence from the story.
• Growth Mindset – Brainstorming Activity: Promote resilience by helping students brainstorm ways to maintain a positive outlook when facing challenges.
• Kindness Activity – Community Building Activity: Foster a sense of community by having students identify and practice acts of kindness within their classroom.
• Literary Elements: Deepen understanding of the text by exploring core literary elements, such as theme, character traits, and plot structure.

This lesson plan empowers students to dive into SEL skills like empathy, inclusion, and social awareness, while also addressing important literacy objectives. It’s an excellent resource for fostering meaningful conversations in your classroom or counseling sessions. Use Chocolate Milk, Por Favor to create a classroom environment that celebrates diversity, understanding, and kindness.

YOU CAN ALSO FIND THIS RESOURCE IN DIGITAL FORM HERE:

• Coming soon!

LOOKING FOR BOTH THE PRINT AND DIGITAL VERSIONS? CLICK HERE:

• Coming soon!

✅ Download the preview to see how comprehensive this resource is!

One of the most significant needs in our schools and in our classrooms is access to an appropriate and meaningful SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) curriculum. Students need to be able to work through the five competencies of SEL: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making (© CASEL 2017).

This product is a part of The SEL Bookshelf™ Curriculum Series.