Character
Education Books best picture books for
character lesson plans
Children's
character education books add a powerful kick to your character
education lesson plans. Speaking directly about values and traits is
generally much less effective than using powerful and
engaging stories
that show the merits and consequences of various values and traits. For
example,
one of the children's books listed below is about Wilma Randolph, who
had polio as
a child but never gave up her dream and ended up winning three Olympic
medals (Wilma Unlimited).
Wilma's true story communicates the value of
determination much more powerfully than any 'lecture' or direct
instruction could. Working children's books into character
ed
lesson plans (or entire character education curriculum!) can
make a
tremendous difference in how children absorb and internalize the traits
being taught.
Below are lists of children's books, organized by different values and
traits. These books can provide helpful supplemental material for
schools participating in
formal character education programs or can be great lesson-building
materials
for teachers creating their own character education curriculum.
Note:
Many of the topics overlap (ie: many acts of service are also acts of
service.) So, be sure to check booklists for related
categories. Also, our lists skew heavily toward young
children. We'd would love to have more character education books for
older kids. Know of any?
Valuing diversity.
Not discriminating. Allowing for differences in beliefs,
ethnicity, or ways of being.
Plus examples of racism.
We'd
love to hear from teachers who have either worked children's
books into formal character education programs at their school or
teachers who use them to create their own curriculum. What works for
you? Any suggestions to make our
lists better? Also, if you have accompanying character ed lesson
plans to go with the books, we'd like to add those to our pages to help
other teachers!
Note: The character education
books above are exclusively children's books. If you're looking
for teaching manuals, click--character education curriculum materials--for
Amazon's
list of manuals.
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