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What Would You Do? Making Caring Choices

Students think through everyday situations and practice pausing to choose the caring, healthy response — learning we can control what we do, even when we can’t control what happens.

Grades 2–4Decision-Making45 minutes1 class periodSEL LessonExplicit teaching4 StandardsCASEL 5
Start the Lesson
Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Pause before reacting to a problem.
  • ✓Think about the consequences of a choice.
  • ✓Choose a caring, healthy response.
  • ✓Explain why a choice is a good one.
Essential Question

You can’t always control what happens to you — but you can control what you do next. How do you make a caring choice, even when you’re upset?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Make a Choice · Interactive

What Would You Do?

Project each situation and read it aloud. Have students pause, think, and pick the caring choice — the tool explains why it’s the healthiest one.

🤔 Read the situation — what’s the caring choice?Try it
Pause and think. What is the caring, healthy choice?
The Lesson · SEL Lesson (Check-In · Practice · Reflect)

45 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Check-In — Stop and Think

5 min

Share a time you reacted too fast.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Ask when acting fast made things worse.
  • Introduce “stop and think.”
  • Set the goal: caring choices.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Recall a fast reaction.
  • Notice the result.
  • Predict a better way.
2

Learn — The Choice Steps

10 min

Model a decision.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Model: stop, breathe, think, pick the caring one.
  • Use What Would You Do?
  • Think aloud about consequences.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Learn the steps.
  • Follow the think-aloud.
  • Weigh a consequence.
3

Practice — Practice Choosing

12 min

Practice with scenarios.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Work through the situations.
  • Explain each choice.
  • Compare healthy vs. unhealthy.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Choose the caring option.
  • Explain why.
  • Rule out unhealthy ones.
4

Apply — Your Situations

13 min

Apply to real life.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Give classroom situations.
  • Act out caring choices.
  • Note when to get an adult.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Choose caring responses.
  • Role-play a good choice.
  • Name when to ask an adult.
5

Reflect — Reflect

5 min

Name the choice steps.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Recall the steps.
  • Affirm they control their actions.
  • Hand out the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Recall the steps.
  • Share a caring choice.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the CASEL 5 social-emotional learning competencies.

CASEL
Responsible Decision-Making

Identify solutions and consequences, and make caring, constructive choices.

CASEL
Self-Management

Pause and manage impulses before acting.

CASEL
Relationship Skills

Resolve conflicts and communicate respectfully.

CCSS
SL.3.1

Engage effectively in collaborative discussions, expressing ideas clearly.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Picture-supported scenario cards.
  • Sentence frame: “First I stop. Then I ___.”
  • Role-play the caring choice.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Offer two choices instead of three.
  • Use a “stop-think-choose” chart.
  • Role-play before choosing.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Write your own tricky situation.
  • List two caring options for one problem.
  • Explain a consequence for each.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Projector / board
  • 📓Notebooks
  • 💻What Would You Do?
  • 🖼️Scenario cards
  • 🛑A “stop-think-choose” poster
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

choicea decision between optionsconsequencewhat happens because of a choicecaringkind and thoughtful toward otherspauseto stop for a moment before actingresponsiblemaking thoughtful, safe choicesconflicta disagreement between peoplesolutiona way to solve a problemimpulsea sudden urge to act
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
What is a good first step when a problem upsets you?
Pause (stop and take a breath) before you react, so you can think of a caring choice.
QUESTION 2
A friend cuts in line in front of you. What is a caring, healthy choice?
Calmly tell them how you feel and ask them to go to the back — or let an adult help — instead of pushing or yelling.
QUESTION 3
Why think about consequences before you choose?
It helps you pick the choice that is caring and keeps everyone safe, instead of one you might regret.

Going deeper? Make a choices comic.

Have students draw a two-panel comic — an unhealthy choice and a caring one for the same problem — and label the consequence of each. A printable comic template is in the SEL library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 What Would You Do?Flip
Card 1
Term
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Meaning
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Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 What Would You Do?Quiz
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Question 1
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Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ What Would You Do?Print
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: caring, choice, conflict, consequence, impulse, pause, responsible, solution
  1. kind and thoughtful toward others
  2. what happens because of a choice
  3. a way to solve a problem
  4. a decision between options
  5. to stop for a moment before acting
  6. a disagreement between people
  7. making thoughtful, safe choices
  8. a sudden urge to act

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. What is a good first step when a problem upsets you?
  2. A friend cuts in line in front of you. What is a caring, healthy choice?
  3. Why think about consequences before you choose?
Answer key — Part A: 1) caring · 2) consequence · 3) solution · 4) choice · 5) pause · 6) conflict · 7) responsible · 8) impulse
Part B: 1) Pause (stop and take a breath) before you react, so you can think of a caring choice. 2) Calmly tell them how you feel and ask them to go to the back — or let an adult help — instead of pushing or yelling. 3) It helps you pick the choice that is caring and keeps everyone safe, instead of one you might regret.