It is so important for our students to understand what it means to have integrity. My goal in designing these integrity activities is to give students memorable and meaningful experiences. I want lessons to move beyond the classroom. If you’ve been searching for ways to better incorporate integrity into your character education lessons, read on for my favorite ideas.
Need integrity resources?
This integrity resource you see below is the final installment of my Character Education activities series. It contains a variety of activities and tools for making your character education month more than lessons. If you’re new to using these character education resources, check out my post about where I start each year.
Integrity Pacing Guide
This pacing guide organizes the entire character education month of integrity. It will help you plan and set aside enough time to complete all of the activities with your students. Pick and choose what works best for your classroom and student interest.
Integrity Parent Letter
Parent letters are so great to use! These are very effective in establishing good habits. They get families involved so they can reinforce the character education lessons at home.
The letter included in my resource provides parents and families with the tools they need to help them explain, model, and praise acts of integrity in the home. Additionally, I include a list of books and movies that families can enjoy together!
Integrity Read Alouds
With all the varying experiences of students, read-alouds are the perfect way to give them a shared experience to discuss. They can see good (and sometimes bad) examples of showing integrity. I put together a list of my favorite read-alouds that teach different aspects of friendship. These books allow your students to explore ideas and makes for great conversation.
Integrity Bulletin Board
When we navigate into a new character trait each month, the first thing I do is take care of updating the bulletin board. It’s a beautiful way to introduce and define the concept and start class discussions.
I include everything you will need to introduce integrity to your class. You’ll have a beautiful display that can be left up the whole month. There is space to add quotes for each week, social scenarios for class discussions, writing prompts, and more!
Integrity Anchor Charts
I love anchor charts. They are perfect resources for students. I often refer my students to the anchor charts around the room as we respond to questions and discussions. It is also helpful as they start to work independently or with groups.
This anchor chart activity is a great way to move from the bulletin board introduction to the character education pillar discussions. I’ve used anchor charts paried with metnor texts. I’ve set the anchor chart up as a discussion question so students can work together to find an answer in their own words. I also include printable versions in this resource for an individual approach.
Integrity Poster
Posters are perfect reminders. And they double as decor! This resource includes three different posters that define integrity. Each poster has the same message with different clip art that shows an example of integrity. The clip art used includes multicultural children to reflect the diverse learners in our classrooms.
Hang these posters on your bulletin board, as part of a display, posted in the hallway, or create individual printouts for students to keep at their desks.
Integrity Calendar
Using a calendar gives your students a month-long challenge to show integrity. This calendar is editable, so you can change the month and activities listed. You can pick and choose what makes sense for your classroom and student culture, or you can swap around activities for different days.
I like to take a few minutes each day to discuss the calendar activity. We might have conversations about how to complete the listed activity, or what it might be teaching us about integrity. Students can come up with examples as well! When finished, students color in the square.
These calendar activities make the most impact on my students. It gives them real-life opportunities to practice integrity and make meaningful connections. It puts it into action and helps them internalize their character education lessons.
Integrity Doodle Notes
Doodle notes are a fun and creative way to get students to think about what integrity is and ways they can show it. You can use this after a mentor text read-aloud, after introducing your bulletin board and posters, after anchor charts, or any discussions about integrity.
Once your students finish coloring the doodles and answering the questions, hang the completed pages around your room or in the hallway for a colorful display. You can also opt for a color version so that students can focus on reflection questions.
Integrity What Would You Do Activity
This activity will give students a variety of situations. Students will think about how they would respond with integrity and write what they would do. It also gives students more indepth questions to ponder, like would they change their actions if someone was watching or if they were alone. You can make this a self-reflection activity individually, or you can have students get together in small groups to discuss their answers.
Integrity Peer Pressure Activity
Peers can encourage each other to act in positive or negative ways. It is important to avoid negative peer pressure if you want to have integrity. Students will cut out actions from the worksheet and place them in the correct columns. This is a great early-finisher activity or, you can easily make this a whole-class discussion.
Acting with Integrity Activity
Students will be given a sheet with a variety of statements. They will then color each with a rating of how often they act with integrity. A coloring key is included. Students will also take time to answer a couple of reflection questions after they complete the coloring portion.
Inspire Integrity Poster
Students will create a poster with a partner to inspire others to act with integrity. I’ve included a planning page to help students brainstorm ideas about integrity and their design. There is also a blank poster page and an optional poster template. This activity is a great culmination project for students to show what they know about integrity and how to do the right thing even when no one else is watching. Students will have the opportunity to work together and put their integrity to practice.
Integrity Quotes
For each week you spend on integrity, you can share new quotes with students. I’ve included five integrity quotes and three short-answer questions. This will help students reflect on the quote’s meaning. You also have several printing options available. Include it on your bulletin board each week, or print individually for students to work at their desk.
Integrity Scenarios
Social-scenarios are really fun to incorporate into character education. This allows your students to place themselves in new situations and think about integrity. I love these for promoting meaningful conversation. These can be displayed on your bulletin board as well. Or, students can work in small groups to discuss.
Integrity Readers Theater
These are super fun for students. There are a lot of benefits to using readers theater. It helps with fluency, comprehension, speaking, reading motivation, and confidence. It also provides purpose for reading. I’ve included basic steps of teaching performance like highlighting parts, reading expressively, and stage positions. Included are three scripts:
Hall of Fame: In this story, students will play the roles of hosts and athletes who are being honored for their acts of integrity during different sporting events. Here, students will learn about amazing examples of integrity in a tennis match and race.
Evening News: In this story, students will play different people on the evening news. Students will hear three stories that show different aspects of integrity. The stories involve a local bike store that needs to make things right, a professional basketball player who makes good on a promise, and a Goodwill worker who returns money found in a donated purse.
The Seed: In this folk tale story about the important of honestly and integrity, students will play various roles. When the king dies, his Wise Man gives each of the sons a seed that they must plant and tend to for a year. The king’s sons all report how well their seeds are growing, except for Marvin, whose seed won’t grow. At the end of the story, Marvin presents a pot of dirt next to his brothers’ large trees. However, we learn that the seeds were boiled and could not grow. For telling the truth, Marvin is crowned king.
Integrity Writing Prompts
Writing prompts help encourage students to write in thoughtful and creative ways. These integrity prompts are perfect for student reflection. This resource has five writing prompts for students to write about integrity.
These include:
- Thinking about what integrity is and where it comes from.
- Describing a person or fictional character who demonstrates integrity.
- Thinking of something the student might do to earn money and how having integrity will be important.
- Students will think about a popular saying, “Don’t just talk the talk. Walk the walk.”
- Writing a short story about a town where everyone has perfect integrity.
These writing prompts include printable bulletin headings. You can choose to display these in your classroom or “publish” student work with fancy paper and included clip art images.
This integrity resource is just a small part of my larger Character Education or Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum bundle. You’ll be set for the entire year!
All of the individual character education pillars (kindness, respect, responsibility, courage, cooperation, empathy, generosity, perseverance, friendship, and integrity) are covered in this bundle. It is filled with meaningful lessons, materials, hands-on activities, anchor charts and bulletins and more!
