Important Lesson on How Family Influence the Self: Pre-K SEL

To better understand themselves, pre-kindergartners need to learn the different factors that affect the way they see themselves. One of these factors is their family.

Families play an important role in one’s self-concept, as they are the primary source of socialization. Young children perceive themselves mainly through the way their family sees them.

In this SEL lesson, pre-kindergartners gain a deeper understanding of how their families build and affect their self-concept. Different learning strategies are used in this lesson to ensure a fun and effective learning experience for the classroom.

The lesson opens with a puppet show illustrating how families affect one's self-concept. The puppet show presents Squeak and Mimi, two loveable hedgehogs, having different feelings about themselves because of their families and their actions.

Here, Squeak is feeling negative, like a Grumpy Grouch. Meanwhile, Mimi enjoys her day in the Happy Circle, feeling positive like a Bright Sider.

Following the puppet play is a class discussion on the role of families in building self-concept. The discussion guides the pre-kindergartners to understand that their feelings for themselves can be influenced by their positive and negative encounters with their families.

After they learn about their family's role in their self-concept, the pre-kindergartners join in the story of "The Secret of Secret Street." It is a continuing story about the recurring characters of the siblings, Emily and Luis, who discover a positive talking spotlight, Sadie the Stoplight. In this lesson, the story follows the siblings as they finally discover all the secrets of Secret Street. The “Emily,” “Luis,” and “Sadie the Stoplight” posters are displayed to better immerse the students in the story.

To retain the lesson concepts in the students’ memory, the "Grumpy Grouch/Bright Sider" music is played. It is a great way to finish the lesson as the students are engaged until the end.

The goal of this lesson is to help students realize that other people, like their families, affect their self-concept. Self-concept is the way they see and feel about themselves. It starts to form in early childhood experiences and is shaped by feedback from the self, family, and others. Teaching this as early as pre-kindergarten sets the foundation for the students to become self-aware as they grow.