YEARS 1-2
Lesson 3: Next steps…let’s connect! (part 1)
Length of lesson: 60 minutes plus extra time if required for role play.
Prior knowledge (what should the teacher have already covered)
 Lesson 2 concepts relating to feelings and actions we can take to make ourselves and
classmates feel happy at school.
Resources required
 List of social skills cards (30) with one social
 Class set of yellow smiley happy faces
skill printed on each card (template
and red sad faces (enough for one set
provided)
each)
 A3 size jigsaw poster (template provided)
 Blue tack or Velcro dots
Key Concepts
 The choices we make everyday impact on our own feelings, and the feelings of others.
 If we use skills that help us connect well together, we create a place where people feel they
belong.
Learning outcomes
LO1: Students can classify good and poor social skills (behavioural choices) when interacting
with others in daily activities.
LO2: Students can identify and demonstrate positive social skills with their peers.
Australian Curriculum Links
HPE Subject Area Years 1 and 2
ACPPS019: Describe ways to include others to make them feel that they belong
ACPPS020: Identify and practise emotional responses that account for own and others’
feelings
ACPPS022: Explore actions that help make the classroom a healthy, safe and active place
General Capabilities by the end of year 2 (level 2):
PSC: Personal and social capability
PSC: Recognise emotions: compare their emotional responses with those of their peers
PSC: Communicate effectively: discuss the use of verbal and nonverbal communication skills
to respond appropriately to adults and peers
Assessable moments: As students undertake the learning experiences described in the
lesson, take note of a range of assessable moments to provide information about student
achievement. Ongoing assessment will provide evidence of the extent to which students
achieve the identified Australian Curriculum links. Assessable moments are linked to learning
outcomes and are identified by the following identifier:
LO (insert number)
Format
Lesson Plan: Suggested sequence of learning experiences
Intro
Welcoming activity (see lesson 1)
5 mins
Teacher’s notes: this lesson consolidates learning from the previous lesson.
State the learning intention: In the previous lesson, we recognised that we all
have feelings that can be hurt. We came up with a list of things we can do to
make others feel good and included (recorded on a poster). Once people feel
good at school, we can make good friendships or connections. Today we will
begin our theme – Next steps…let’s connect! Firstly, we will look at how we can
have great connections (relationships or friendships) with other people if we make
good choices relating to what we do (our behaviour). If we connect well with
others, we feel a sense of belonging. In the session that follows, we will explore
the different ways we can connect with others to share our thoughts and feelings
(communication). This will help us understand different ways or connecting or
communicating.
50 minutes
or more
depending
on how
much time is
given to role
play.
Activity 1: How can we connect well with others?
Establish context: Every day we make choices about our behaviour when we
are around others (ie. what we do and what we say). The choices we make
always have a consequence, or result in something. It is important that we think
about this so we can make good choices that make our day better. Your good
choices make other people’s day better too! If we make good choices, we can
CONNECT with others and develop good relationships.
Task 1 (Choosing positive social skills): In this activity, we are going to sort out
behaviours (or social skills) that you think are positive and result in good things
that help us connect with others to have happy classrooms, and behaviours that
are negative and stop us having good connections with others.
Teacher’s notes: In the following activity, the visual impact of positive (wanted)
and negative (unwanted) choices need to be highlighted. To do this, sit children in
a circle facing each other so they can see whether the group considers the
behaviour shown to be positive or negative. If it is a positive behaviour, the word
can be displayed on the jigsaw connections poster (see poster template). If it is a
negative behaviour, it is not put on the poster. This activity can also be used to
develop subject specific literacy with students being asked to recognize a word or
phrase that the teacher reads out.
Resources required: (all attached)
 Set of cards (30) with one social skills written on each card
 Class set of yellow happy smiley faces and red sad faces.
 A3 size connected jigsaw poster for positive social skills
 A3 size disconnected jigsaw poster for negative social skills
 Blue tack of Velcro dots
Procedure:
1. Sit students in a large circle facing each other.
2. Hand students a yellow card with a smiley face, and a red card with a sad
face.
3. Hand each student a card with a social skill written on it (or more than one
so that all 30 social skills are included in the activity)
4. Teacher reads out a social skill, and displays text of the word or phrase on
a display board, and asks the group who has this word.
5. Once the student is identified, ask all students to hold up either the yellow
or red face, depending on whether it is a positive (helps us connect with
others) or negative behaviour (stops us from connecting with others).

6.
LO1Have a class discussion to reflect on why they made this choice.
7. Ask the student with the social skill to place it in one of the jigsaw posters
depending on whether it is a positive skill (connecting) or negative skill
(not connecting). Use blue tack or velco dots to attach to the poster.
8. Repeat until all social skills have been covered (30).
9.
LO1There will be blank jigsaw pieces left on the posters. Have a
class discussion about other examples of positive and negative
behaviours to complete the jigsaw pieces.
10. Display jigsaw posters in the class room and refer to throughout the
program.
LO2Task 2: Role play
Organise students into groups of 3, and give them 2 positive social skills from the
list provided. Ask them to devise a short role play to emphasise and practice the 2
positive social skills they have been given. They can plan a scene from the
‘playground’, ‘in class’ or ‘at home’.
Ask students to act out their scene, and ask the class to identify the positive
behaviours they were demonstrating.
Main points to highlight:
 The choices we make relating to our behaviour impact on our own
feelings, and the feelings of others.
 Everyone is better off if we make good choices about our behaviour
when we are mixing with others.
 If we use skills that help us connect well together, we create a place
where people feel they belong.
Conclusion
and
reflection
5 mins
LO1 Children sit in a circle and respond to the following questions.
What did you learn today?
Why is this important?
What questions do you have?