Character counts

CHARACTER COUNTS!®
The Six Pillars of Character®
CHARACTER COUNTS!" and "The Six Pillars of Character" ®are registered
trademarks of Josephson Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

All information contained within this presentation can be credited to the
Josephson Institute and their CHRACTER COUNTS! ® program.

Acronym: TRRFCC

Students can use this acronym to help them remember
that people with good character are terrific:
T rustworthiness
R espect
R esponsibility
F airness
C aring
C itizenship
Josephson Institute. “The Six Pillars of Character ®”. CHARACTER COUNTS ®. 4 November 2012.
http://charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html

Color Scheme
Trustworthiness : blue
Think "true blue"
Respect : yellow/gold
Think the Golden Rule
Responsibility : green
Think being responsible for a garden or finances; or as in being solid and
reliable like an oak
Fairness : orange
Think of dividing an orange into equal sections to share fairly with friends
Caring : red
Think of a heart
Citizenship : purple
think regal purple as representing the state


Trustworthiness

Be honest
Don’t deceive, cheat, or steal
Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do
Have the courage to do the right thing
Build a good reputation
Be loyal — stand by your family, friends, and country


Lesson on Trustworthiness
Overview: Children learn about the need for trust by working together.
Materials:
An object made from LEGOS or other building-block materials
LEGOS or blocks to make a replica of the object (enough for each group)
Procedure:
Ask: When do we need to trust other people? Field answers. Ask: When do people need to trust you?
Define and discuss cooperation and teamwork. Emphasize the importance of trusting the accuracy of
information when people work together. Say: When we work together to achieve a goal, we must trust
each other. Can anyone explain why? Discuss examples of what may go wrong when people work
together but don’t trust each other. Ask: How can we get others to trust us? List answers.
Divide the children into groups and distribute building blocks. Make sure the model object is hidden
from view. Introduce the activity. Say: We're going to practice teamwork and show our trustworthiness
by constructing an exact copy of an object made out of blocks (or LEGOS, etc.). The problem is, the
object is hidden and only one person from each group will be allowed to see it. This person must go
back and tell the rest of his/her group how to build it based on what he/she saw. Those in the groups
must take turns adding a piece to build their replica. The person who saw the object is not allowed to
touch the replica his/her group is building.
When all groups have finished, discuss the process. Ask the children to explain what skills were
needed, how they showed trustworthiness, and the effect it had on the outcome.

Adapted from an idea submitted by Herb Gould, a CHARACTER COUNTS! Character Development Seminar trainer and
police officer in Waverly, Tennessee.

Respect

Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule
Be tolerant and accepting of differences
Use good manners, not bad language
Be considerate of the feelings of others
Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone
Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and
disagreements

Lesson on Respect

Overview - Children will learn the importance of listening, an important aspect of respect.
Materials:
Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat (or any story that points out the role
listening plays in understanding)
Drawing paper
Crayons
Procedure:
Read or summarize Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat.
In this story, a Vietnamese girl named Hoa is teased and ridiculed at her new American
school because of her language and dress. In one instance, she is taunted by a classmate and
fights back. To settle the dispute and teach the children a lesson, the principal orders the
two children to complete an unusual assignment. The girl must tell her tormentor about
Vietnam, and the boy who teased her must listen and write down her story. This leads to a
friendship between the two children — and ultimately to the whole school creating a
fundraiser to help reunite Hoa’s family.

A Lesson on Respect Cont…..

Discuss how this story illustrates the importance of listening and how our
viewpoints about other people change if we take time to understand them
better.

Inform the students that they will practice listening. Divide students into pairs.
Instruct them to tell each other about their family and what they like to do
together. Have each child draw a picture of an activity that their listening partner
shared about his or her family.

Have the children share with the class what they learned about their partners
from listening to them. If possible, have the children share pictures of their
partner’s family.
This lesson is from the Good Ideas book, available for purchase from the CHARACTER COUNTS! online store:
http://www.charactercounts.org/materials

Responsibility

Do what you are supposed to do
Plan ahead
Persevere: keep on trying!
Always do your best
Use self-control
Be self-disciplined
Think before you act — consider the consequences
Be accountable for your words, actions, and attitudes
Set a good example for others

A Lesson on Responsibility

Overview - When we talk to students about responsibility, we can't do so without mentioning stakeholders.
While this can be an abstract concept for little learners to master, it’s critical in their understanding of the
responsibility pillar.
Materials - A tent stake (or picture of a stake) to use as a visual to help explain the job of the stake in the
ground: to hold something up, like your tent. Ask if anyone knows what a “stakeholder” is. Explain that a
"stakeholder" is anyone who might support or hold you up and have a stake in your choices, in the outcome
of your decisions.
Procedure
Ask the students this simple question, "Who will care?" Have students stand up to represent the
stakeholders as they name them. For example:
Who will care if you show up late for a baseball or soccer game? Expect answers like the
umpire, our teammates, the other team, the other coach, our fans, the other team’s fans, the team
who plays next, etc. If you take it out far enough, everyone in the room will be standing


A Lesson on Responsibility Cont…

Try a few more; have your students answer aloud or make a list of
stakeholders:
Who will care if you don't let your dog in at night?
Who will care if you sneak out of the house after your curfew to drive
around with friends?
Who will care if you choose never to recycle anything?
Who will care if you don't do your homework?
Who will care if you don't pick up after yourself at home? in the
classroom?
Who will care if you don't show up for a play dates?
Who will care if you promise to give a friend a ride to skate night and you
forget and go without him/her?

A Lesson on Responsibility cont…
CLOSURE: Here's a little ditty that encapsulates the responsibility pillar
that you can use as an echo poem or sing to the tune of Where is
Thumbkin?
What's Responsibility?
Staying in control of me!
Doin' my chores faithfully,
Making choices carefully.
Thinkin' 'bout the stakeholders.
Thinkin' 'bout the consequences.
You can count on me –
Responsibility!
This lesson was submitted by Barbara Gruener, counselor at Westwood
Elementary School, Friendswood, Texas.

Fairness

Play by the rules
Take turns and share
Be open-minded; listen to others
Don’t take advantage of others
Don’t blame others carelessly
Treat all people fairly

A Lesson on Fairness
Overview - Students hypothesize and what the optimal size
would be for a jack-o-lantern and estimate its circumference.
Then they discuss the importance of being fair in not judging
others by their physical characteristics.
Materials
Examples of different-sized pumpkins
String
Scissors
Ruler
Writing paper
Pens
Orange construction paper

Josephson Institute. “The Six Pillars of Character ®”. CHARACTER COUNTS ®. 4 November
2012. http://charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html

A Lesson on Fairness cont….
Procedure
Show students images or real-life examples of pumpkins. Ask the class to describe the
features of these pumpkins, including color, shape, texture and size.
Ask students to define “jack-o-lantern,” explaining when and why these novelties appear.
Describe the following scenario to your students:
We are going on an imaginary field trip to visit a pumpkin patch today. Your task is to pick
the perfect pumpkin to carve into a jack-o-lantern. Yours will be on display to celebrate
Halloween.
Introduce the term circumference to students. To introduce this concept to younger
students, draw a diagram of a pumpkin pie to demonstrate the relationship between a circle
and a round object.
Pass the ball of yarn to each student, instructing them to cut a length of yarn they feel is the
perfect-sized pumpkin. Ask students to predict the length of their piece of yarn.
Using rulers, have students measure their length of yarn and record this number in their
writing journals. Introduce various units of measurement to older students.
Compare these measurements by asking students to lay their yarn pieces on the floor. You
may wish to create a graph of these results with students’ names on the x-axis and
measurements on the y-axis. Younger students can create an ordered list of their names
according to the size of their strings.

A Lesson on Fairness Cont….
Ask students to vote for the length they feel best represents the perfect
pumpkin. When students have voiced their opinions, prompt a class
discussion on the impossibility of forming such conclusions. Say,
There is no such thing as a perfect- sized pumpkin! All pumpkins, big or
little, are ideal for celebrating Halloween. A pumpkin patch needs all
sizes.
Explain that an important part of being fair means keeping an open
mind and not judging people by their differences. To reinforce this
concept, have students write a reflective paragraph on what they
learned about fairness.
Encourage students to create a pumpkin of any size from construction
paper. Have students cut out their pumpkins and paste their paragraphs
inside.
Create a class pumpkin patch with these cutouts on a classroom wall or
bulletin board. This will stand as a fun fall reminder that fairness means
appreciating everyone’s unique qualities.

Caring

Be kind
Be compassionate and show you care
Express gratitude
Forgive others
Help people in need

A Lesson on Caring

Overview - Students learn what it means to give and
receive compliments and why it’s important. This
activity helps them learn to initiate friendships and
make others feel good about themselves. It's most
effective when done regularly as a 10- to 15-minute
exercise.
Materials - Light color or white construction paper
(cut paper into 3 x 4 "tickets" prior to the activity)

A Lesson on Caring cont….

Procedure

1. Begin by finding opportunities to compliment the class (e.g., You all did a great job listening quietly when the principal
was here). Each time you compliment them, acknowledge it. (I just gave you a compliment. That means I told you
something nice about yourselves.)

2. The next day, remind the class about the compliments they received. Say: Now let’s play the "compliment game." I’ll
start by giving one of you a compliment. When you get a compliment, you get a ticket. Write your name at the top. Then
it’s your turn to give a compliment to someone else. Every time you give a compliment to someone, you also give the ticket
to that person.

3. Give three or four youngsters compliments that they, in turn, pass on to another child, each one writing his/her name at
the top of the ticket each time a compliment is received. When you stop the activity, save the tickets so the game can be
picked up where it was left off.

4. Resume the activity with the kids who last wrote their names on the tickets. Have them start by reading all the names on
their tickets to recognize everyone who has been complimented. When the slips of paper are full of names, give new
compliments and tickets to those who haven’t received any yet. Make sure all kids are recognized. Keep tickets that are
filled with names in a jar to show that the compliments remain valid.

Contributed by Laurie Kutcher, Coolidge Elementary School teacher (San Gabriel, CA).

Citizenship

Do your share to make your school and community better
Cooperate
Get involved in community affairs
Stay informed; vote
Be a good neighbor
Obey laws and rules
Respect authority
Protect the environment
Volunteer
Josephson Institute. “The Six Pillars of Character ®”. CHARACTER
COUNTS ®. 4 November 2012.

A Lesson on Citizenship

Overview - Students learn how members of a community work together to help each other.
Materials – None
Procedure
1. Discuss the word "community." Explain that communities are made up of many neighborhoods. Make
sure they understand the meaning of community before proceeding. Discuss jobs that adults do that
make their community work.

2. Make a list of "community helpers" and the help they provide. Show how each person is necessary for
the community to work.

3. Create scenarios in which the kids act out what might happen if these community helpers were not
available.

4. Discuss ways that kids can be helpers in the community (e.g., recycling, taking out trash, keeping their
school and parks clean, etc.).

Adapted from the Character Education in Ohio: Sample Strategies handbook (Ohio Department of
Education, Columbus, OH), 1990.

References

Josephson Institute. “The Six Pillars of Character ®”.
CHARACTER COUNTS ®. 4 November 2012.

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