Toothpaste Lesson

(ASCA website, ASCA national model, Foundation, Student Standards)

Name: Toothpaste Lesson
ASCA Domain: Personal/Social Development
ASCA National Standard(s):
Standard A: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes and
interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and
others.
Standard B: Students will make decisions, set goals and take
necessary action to achieve goals.
Competency:
PS:A1 Acquire Self-knowledge
PS:A2 Acquire Interpersonal Skills
PS:B1 Self-knowledge Application
Indicator:
PS:A1.2 Identify values, attitudes and belief
PS:A1.5 Identify and express feelings
PS:A1.6 Distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior
PS:A2.3 Recognize, accept, respect and appreciate individual
differences
PS:A2.6 Use effective communications skills
PS:A2.7 Know that communication involves speaking, listening and
nonverbal behavior
PS:A2.8 Learn how to make and keep friends
PS:B1.7 Demonstrate a respect and appreciation for individual and
cultural differences
Grade level: 5-6
Learning Objectives:
1. Students will be able to identify actions and
words that hurt others, and how they effect other people
2. Students will be able to understand that
communication isnt just verbal
3. Students will be able to identify posititive
friendship skills

Attention getter: We will start the lesson, and every lesson, by

practicing our belly breathing. (Bring Hoberman Ball)
Attention getter: 5-4-3-2-1.. I will count down starting loudly and
then getting softer and softer until I am almost at a whisper. By the
time I reach 1, the students need to be quiet and ready to learn again.
Attention getter: Ok x- graders! If you can hear me clap twice, if
you can hear me clap once.
Lesson: We will start with our belly breathing with our Hoberman Ball. We will then start
the activity part. I will have each student think about a time when someone used words or
actions to hurt them or think of a time when they used their words or actions to hurt
someone else. I will then have each student come up to the front of the room and squeeze
a little bit of toothpaste out of the tube onto a paper plate. Once each student has gone, I
will ask them how I can get the toothpaste ALL back into the tube without cutting the
tube open. We will talk about how our words and actions are like the toothpaste in the
tube. We can apologize, and make it better, but we can never take our words or actions
back. We will also talk about the plate. We will discuss how the plate is still a plate, but it
is different now. No matter how much we wipe off of the plate, it will always have some
pieces of the toothpaste left on it. It is still a usable plate, but it is different now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnMwrprRfw - relaxing music
Brain Break ideas:
1. 5 minute meditation after the activity
Auditory Component: Discussion before and after the activity,
listening to the counselor
Visual Component: The toothpaste
Kinesthetic Component: meditation and squeezing the toothpaste
Questions to ask:
1. What does the toothpaste represent?
2. What does the plate represent?
3. How can we make sure that we dont use our words or
actions to hurt people?
4. What are ways that we can help others understand that
words and actions hurt people?
Items to bring:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Hoberman Ball
Toothpaste
Paper Plate
Paper towels