After completing Week 10 in the Teacher’s Manual, teachers in grades 2+ will be ready to select a Topic Week. You can find a listing of these in the Table of Contents in your Teacher’s Manual. Grades K–1 will continue to use the instruction as indicated in the Teacher’s Manual.
To select a Topic Week, you might consider the following:
• Decide which topic your class will most benefit from discussing at this time.
• If you work with a grade-level team, discuss whether you will all do the same Topic Week or if you will each make your own selection.
• Look to the near future for School Life issues to address. Consider what your class is most in need of discussing, while also considering how ready they are to have these conversations.
• Try to avoid multiple consecutive weeks of Social Issues by interspersing Character Building and School Life Topic Weeks so that students have the opportunity to implement ideas that were brought forward in Social Issues discussions.
To learn more, complete the Topic Weeks activities on the Teacher Learning System (Professional Learning tab > Teacher Learning System chiclet > Caring School Community dropdown > Elements of Instruction (Grades K–5) > Topic Weeks [Grades 2–5]).