The Eight Gifts: A Grade 1 SEL Lesson on Nurturing What Matters

Every individual possesses eight valuable gifts: time, possessions, energy, talents, thoughts, money, actions, and feelings. Each of these gifts holds immense potential for growth and fulfillment, but only if one chooses to nurture them with positive actions. This is the message that the teacher imparts to first graders using Maurice the Mouse poster.

Maurice, a curious and adventurous mouse on a hunt for "the greatest treasure of all," takes a break from his endeavor to join this evidence-based SEL lesson and share what he learned about the eight gifts. He tells a story about a surprise birthday party he witnessed in the house where the treasure map led him and his cousin Marrott.

The birthday girl, Elena, is the youngest member of a big, big family, and she receives eight gifts from her eight siblings: a watch, a toy dog, a drawing paper with a set of colored pencils, a diary, a jump rope, money, and a bar of heart-shaped chocolate. Elena’s siblings explain how these items are meant to remind her to take care of her eight valuable gifts.

Through their conversations, Elena learns that she must use her time wisely, take care of her possessions and share them with others, invest her energy into positive actions, develop her talents, learn to choose positive thoughts, spend money wisely, choose positive over negative actions, and manage her feelings.

After the story, the class reviews what each item represents. The teacher also introduces the definition of each of the eight gifts, allowing students to make sense of abstract ideas and ponder concrete positive actions they can take.

The lesson ends with Maurice teasing that there is more to learn from Elena's family. Indeed, the students are just at the beginning of their self-management journey. Who knows what other valuable lessons they will learn along the way? One thing is for sure: with Maurice's guidance, they are off to a great start.