MYSELF
lesson 5:
a piece in the puzzle
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, students deepen their understanding of their own uniqueness and strengths. Through the Strength in You Puzzle, students identify their strengths and unique qualities and develop their appreciation for the strengths and uniqueness of other students in their class.
Purpose
Purpose: In this lesson students realise that everyone has their own unique qualities and strengths. By noticing the variety of strengths and qualities within each person in the class, students can connect with each other through appreciating their differences.
Process
Time Needed: 25 to 30 minutes
Activity: That’s Me! (5 mins)
Intro: My Piece (2 mins)
Activity: Strength in You Puzzle (10 mins)
Activity: Gallery Walk/Discussion (5 mins)
Debrief and Reflection (5 mins)
Materials & downloads
For this lesson, you will need the following:
Plain Paper
Coloured pens or pencils
Optional: Student workbook / notebook
Activity - THAT’S ME!
How it works:
The teacher calls out a series of statements.
If it’s true for a student, they stand up, wave their hands, and say, “That’s me!”. If it is not true, students stay seated and silent.
Students then quickly sit back down, ready for the next statement.
Examples (pick 6–8 fun ones):
I had breakfast this morning.
I like pizza.
I have a brother or sister.
I like playing outside.
My favourite colour is blue.
I’ve watched Bluey.
I like to tell jokes.
I have a pet (or want one!).
Teacher Script:
“Let’s get moving with a quick game! When I read out something that is true for you, jump up, wave your arms, and shout, ‘That’s me!’ Ready? Here we go!
Debrief: See how some of us stood up for the same things, and some of us were different? That’s what makes our stories interesting, no two are exactly the same, but we can always find things in common. Now let’s look at our own stories a little more closely.
intro: my piece (2 mins)
Everyone in our class, school and community is different and unique. That’s what makes the world interesting and special! Each person has their own strengths, ideas, and ways of seeing life and the world. When we all come together, it’s like pieces of a puzzle — everyone plays an important part in making the bigger picture complete.
If all the pieces were the same, the puzzle wouldn’t work. It’s our differences that help us learn from each other and grow.
Activity: strength in you puzzle (10 mins)
Teacher Script:
Before we can understand how our piece adds to the bigger puzzle, we first need to identify what we bring, through our strengths and qualities.
Teacher Instructions:
Hand out a puzzle-piece template to each student.
On the puzzle piece, ask students to either draw or write their unique qualities and strengths on their piece (e.g., “I am a good listener,” “I like helping others,” “I am creative”).
Give students time to draw, write and colour their puzzle piece.
“Each of us is bringing and using our own strengths today. When we put all our puzzle pieces together, we’ll see the many strengths in our class. One piece alone is important, but when we join them, the picture becomes stronger.”
activity: gallery walk and/or discussion (5 min)
Teacher to decide which of the activities (or both) to complete with the class.
Gallery Walk:
Once all students have completed their puzzle piece, students leave their puzzle piece on their table and students move around the classroom to read and look at all of the puzzle pieces.
Discussion:
Ask students questions to explain how their individual puzzle pieces connect with their class, school and wider community:
Why do you think it’s important that everyone is different?
How do all of our different strengths help our class work together?
Can you think of ways your unique qualities could help your community outside of school?
Write key points on the board as students share.
Lesson Debrief:
Let’s bring this all together. We have explored how we are all different from the people around us and even with these differences, we have things in common with everyone we meet! We have all had different experiences so far in life - we have different interests and hobbies, skills and strengths! Our individual skills and strengths not only support us, we can use them to help others too. If your strength is being creative and your friend’s strength is listening, together you could come up with a new game to play at break time which you can both enjoy. Your own puzzle piece fits together with everyone else’s puzzle pieces to make one big puzzle. This means that when we combine everyone’s strengths and skills, we can create something amazing and achieve so much more.
