The Adventures of Dakota. Susan Bowman, $19.95 (Grades K-5)

Dakota, a friendly wolf, shows children lessons about life using experiences he has with other animals. The stories and follow-up activities teach children valuable life skills in character, coping, compassion, problem-solving and decision-making.

All About Me Art Activities. Christy Hale, $18.99 (Pre-K to Grade 1)

20 easy, step-by-step projects that celebrate kids’ individuality and build classroom community.

All About Me: Reproducible Activity Sheets to Develop Self-Awareness, Self-Concept and Life Skills in Your Students. Susanna Palomares, $24.95

You and your students will love these fun, enjoyable, delightfully illustrated ready-to-use worksheets. 88 separate activity pages involve your students in the development of their own self-concept, confidence, awareness, and resiliency. Organized around recognized building blocks of social-emotional learning; identity, belonging, purpose, and competence, they provide quick, easily implemented experiences in vital issues. Appropriate for use with individuals, small groups and classrooms.

Canadian Character Education Grades 1-2. Janet Bartier & William Young, $19.99
Canadian Character Education Grades 3-4. Janet Bartier & William Young, $19.99
Canadian Character Education Grades 5-6. Janet Bartier & William Young, $19.99

CANADIAN CHARACTER EDUCATION has been developed specifically for elementary teachers to facilitate planning lessons in character education. Curriculum-based reproducible forms with supporting information sheets, student worksheets, suggested activities and project ideas and other materials for classroom use are rich resources for classroom and school-wide use.

Character Building Day by Day: 180 Quick Read-Alouds for Elementary School and Home. Anne Mather & Louise Weldon, $18.95

In elementary schools across the country, teachers are expected to provide character education each day. This book makes it easy to meet that requirement in a meaningful way. CHARACTER BUILDING DAY BY DAY includes 180 character vignettes grouped by trait, each featuring kids in real-life situations making decisions that reflect their character. The vignettes are short enough to be read aloud and all can be used as starting points for discussion, to support an existing character education program, or as the basis for an independent program. An excellent tool for the classroom, youth groups or the character-conscious home.

Creating Caring Classrooms: How to Encourage Students to Communicate, Create and Be Compassionate Of Others. Kathleen Gould Lundy & Larry Swartz, $24.95

This passionate book is about community, compassion, and creativity; it is about caring for others. It is also about helping students care about their work. Teachers will learn how to establish inclusive classrooms where kindness and concern become crucial backdrops for critical conversations. They will be introduced to simple but profound strategies that initiate and maintain respectful dialogue, promote collaboration over competition, and confront difficult issues such as bullying and exclusion.

CREATING CARING CLASSROOMS is committed to building respectful relationships among students, teachers, and the school community. Through active, engaging, relevant, open-ended activities, students will be encouraged to explore events, ideas, themes, texts, stories, and relationships from different perspectives, and then represent those new understandings in innovative and creative ways.

Deeno's Dream Journeys in the Big Blue Bubble: a Relaxation Programme to Help Children Manage their Emotions . Julia Langensiepen, Illustrated by Gerry Turley, $26.95

DEENO'S DREAM JOURNEYS IN THE BIG BLUE BUBBLE is a fun and easy-to-use guide to a special relaxation technique for children. Adapted from the system of Autogenics, the six-week programme uses positive affirmations and guided imagery to help children manage their emotions, let go of anxiety and feel calm and confident. Separate introductions for parents, teachers and other professionals provide advice on how best to use the technique, whether at home, at school, or elsewhere. There is also a children's introduction, which introduces Deeno and explains the technique in accessible terms.

Free to Be ... You and Me. Marlo Thomas, $23.00

This is the book we all know and love by Marlo Thomas and her friends—with brand new illustrations to captivate and inspire a new generation of readers on a journey of the heart. Celebrating individuality and challenging stereotypes empowers both children and adults with the freedom to be who they want to be and to have compassion and empathy for others who may be different. The thoughts, ideas, and emotions the creators first envisioned 35 years ago will still have a magical effect on children today.

Friendly Facts: a Fun, Interactive Resource to Help Children Explore the Complexities of Friends and Friendship. Margaret-Anne Carter & Josie Santomauro, $20.95 (ages 7-11)

Making and keeping friends doesn't come easily for some children. Many children need to be taught a range of strategies directed at expanding their social understanding skills, such as reading facial expressions and body language. FRIENDLY FACTS, an interactive workbook aimed at children ages 7-11, addresses these challenges by breaking down the complex concept of making friends into simpler ideas. Through fun, engaging activities, children gain real-life knowledge of the major "secrets" of making and keeping friends. By gaining the foundation for making and keeping friends at a crucial age, children are better prepared for successfully interacting with others for the rest of their lives.

Growing Good Kids Book: 28 Activities to Enhance Self-Awareness, Compassion, and Leadership. Deb Delisle & Jim Delisle, Illustrated by Ken Vinton, $33.95

Created by teachers and classroom-tested, these fun and meaningful enrichment activities build children's skills in problem solving, decision making, cooperative learning, divergent thinking, and communication while promoting self-awareness, tolerance, character development, and service. Kids create books, write stories, resolve to help others, explore their own values, discover why mistakes can sometimes be beneficial, practice patience, and more in projects that combine enjoyment with learning.

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids. Carol McCloud, illustrated by David Messing, $11.50

Through sweet simple prose and vivid illustrations, this heartwarming book encourages positive behavior as children see how very easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation and love on a daily basis.

How Do I Stand In Your Shoes? A Story & Worksheets about Empathy. Susan DeBell, $17.50

Miranda Peabody had no patience for the other students in class and just didn’t understand why they couldn’t be as smart and talented as she was. Her teacher, Mrs. Klemp, suggested that she try to understand other people by “standing in their shoes.” After much searching, she learns the true meaning of “standing in someone else’s shoes” and having empathy for others. This full-color, illustrated storybook for grades PK-4 includes discussion questions as well as activities to enhance learning about empathy.

One of Us. Peggy Moss & Penny Weber, $19.95 (ages 6-10)

Roberta is the new girl in class and moves from group to group, just trying to be herself! One of Us explores the stress of peer pressure and trying to “fit in” at school.

Play-2-Learn Dominoes™ - Character Strength. Franklin Learning Systems, $24.50 (2-5 players; Grades 2-8)

Based on the dynamic field of positive psychology, Play-2-Learn Dominoes — Character Strength is based on the concepts of the new field of positive psychology. Designed to build strong character in kids, the strengths emphasized in this game are kindness, self control, forgiveness, modesty, leadership, and social intelligence. 

Positive Reinforcement: Activities and Strategies for Creating Confident Learners. Peter Clutterbuck, $35.95

The first part of this book deals with the child`s self-image and contains activities to build self-worth and self-esteem. It explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realize that it really is "Good to be me." The 50 activities help children understand how and why feelings lead them to behave the way they do-particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious.

Building effective relationships with others has a huge impact on self-confidence and the skills needed are developed in the second part in the same activity-based way. Many of the activities concentrate on building community within the school, concentrating on caring for others and teamwork.

All the supplementary materials are supplied on the included CD-ROM for ease of reproduction.

Respect Matters, Grades 6-8. R.E. Myers, $17.95

Real–life scenarios that are easily integrated into classroom activities provide powerful discussion starters for all aspects of respect.

Strong Start—Grades Pre-K: a Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. Kenneth Merrell, Danielle Parisi, & Sara Whitcomb, $44.50

Strong Start—Grades K–2: a Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. Kenneth Merrell, Danielle Parisi, & Sara Whitcomb, $41.95

Strong Kids—Grades 3–5: a Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. Kenneth Merrell, et al $37.50

Strong Kids—Grades 6–8: a Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. Kenneth Merrell, et al, $40.50

Strong Teens—Grades 9–12: a Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. Kenneth Merrell, et al, $41.95

Social-emotional competence is a critical part of every child's school success, and just like any academic subject, children need instruction in it. These proven curricula will help promote the social-emotional competence and resilience of children and adolescents.

Divided into five age levels from preschool through high school, these innovative social and emotional learning curricula are filled with engaging, thought-provoking class activities that help students develop vital skills they'll use for the rest of their lives: understanding emotions, managing anger, relieving stress, solving interpersonal problems, and much more.

Elementary school children can start building positive character traits like caring, citizenship, cooperation, courage, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility. The true stories, inspiring quotations, thought-provoking dilemmas, and activities in this book help kids grow into capable, moral teens and adults. Previously titled Being Your Best, this award-winning book has a fresh new cover and updated resources.

What is Friendship? Games and Activities to Help Children to Understand Friendship. Pamela Day, $31.95

Friendship is a vital part of achieving emotional well-being, but some children experience difficulties both initiating and maintaining friendships. This fun and accessible programme contains detailed instructions and photocopiable handouts for teaching children about friendship. The book combines group activities, individual work, homework exercises and games, and will be especially useful for groups containing children with developmental and social difficulties, such as ADHD and autism. Developed in an inclusive classroom, this programme will arm children with useful strategies to deal with difficult situations such as negative peer pressure and conflict.

WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP is ideally suited for use with children aged 7-11, but can be adapted for younger children or older children with developmental difficulties.

Young Person's Character Education Handbook. Editors at JIST, $21.95

This essential guide is a fun, relevant way to introduce students to key character traits. THE YOUNG PERSON'S CHARACTER EDUCATION HANDBOOK helps students understand why character is important and how positive character traits contribute to success in school, at home, and in life.