My Mental Wellness: Knowing What I Need
Students learn to recognize signs of persistent stress or sadness in themselves, notice signs that a peer may be struggling and check in respectfully, distinguish between non-urgent concerns and urgent ones, maintain a personal wellness routine and track whether it's helping, and know how to access multiple sources of support and start the help-seeking conversation confidently.
Lesson Overview
What students will be able to do after this lesson: Students will be able to recognize specific signs of persistent stress or low mood in themselves and peers, judge whether a situation requires immediate adult help or can be addressed through support, maintain a tracked wellness routine, and confidently start a help-seeking conversation with multiple sources of support.
Skill segments at a glance:
| Segment | Segment name | Primary standards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noticing: In Yourself and in Others | SM-MHL-5-1 · SM-MHL-5-2 |
| 2 | Urgent or Not? Knowing What to Do | SM-MHL-5-3 |
| 3 | Taking Care: Your Routine and Your Supports | SM-MHL-5-4 · SM-MHL-5-5 |
Supporting standards reinforced:
| Code | Why it connects |
|---|---|
| RS-HLP-5-3 | Knowing school and community support resources is the foundation for identifying who to go to in Segment 3 |
| RS-HLP-5-4 | Understanding urgency levels (covered as primary in L23) is directly reinforced in Segment 2’s urgency distinction |
| SM-HAB-5-3 | Building a personal self-care plan that connects to well-being (covered as primary in L08) is reinforced in Segment 3’s wellness routine |
Key Vocabulary
- Persistent — lasting more than a few days, or recurring; not just a rough moment that passes
- Mental wellness — the overall state of how you’re feeling emotionally day to day, including your mood, energy, and ability to handle ordinary life
- Non-urgent concern — something that matters and needs support, but is not an immediate safety risk — support soon is the right move
- Urgent concern — a situation where someone may be in danger right now and needs adult help immediately — not later
- Wellness routine — a set of intentional daily habits you keep up on purpose to support your mental and physical health
- Help-seeking — the skill of knowing when you need support, who can provide it, and how to start the conversation
Materials
- Whiteboard space or chart paper for: the persistent-signs tracker model (Segment 1); the urgency scale (Segment 2); the wellness routine tracker model (Segment 3); the three-context help-seeking chart (Segment 3)
- Before the week begins: Post your unit anchor chart and I Can Statement where students can see them — you’ll reference both throughout the week.
How this lesson is structured: Each skill segment below has an I Do (teacher models the skill with a realistic scenario) and a We Do (class practices together with your guidance). Independent practice — the You Do — lives in the practice resources that go alongside this lesson.
What Students Need Before This Lesson
- What’s inside
- What students should already be able to do
- Helpful to have in place
- 4 quick set-ups before the I Do“More than a rough day” — what makes stress or sadness persistent · Checking in vs. diagnosing · Urgent vs. non-urgent — the only test that matters · Help-seeking is a skill — not giving up
- Rescue planIf students are significantly behind
This section opens when Grade 5 launches.
Introducing the Skill
- What’s inside
- Opening hook
- What we’re learning
- Why it matters
- Core sentence frameThe frame students use all week
This section opens when Grade 5 launches.
Noticing: In Yourself and in Others
- What’s inside
- I do: 4 teacher modelsTextbook example: recognizing persistent signs in yourself · Wrong version → fix: the vague report doesn’t give you anything to work with · Peer noticing: what a caring check-in sounds like · Wrong peer check-in → fix: diagnosing vs. checking in
- We do: 5 guided scenariosWith sentence frames, pacing notes and what to watch for
- Coaching in the momentWhat to say when students get stuck
This section opens when Grade 5 launches.
Urgent or Not? Knowing What to Do
- What’s inside
- I do: 4 teacher modelsTextbook example: a clear non-urgent situation · Wrong version → fix: confusing intensity with urgency · The urgent case: what it looks like and what to do · Wrong move: waiting when something is urgent
- We do: 4 guided scenariosWith sentence frames, pacing notes and what to watch for
- Coaching in the momentWhat to say when students get stuck
This section opens when Grade 5 launches.
Taking Care: Your Routine and Your Supports
- What’s inside
- I do: 4 teacher modelsTextbook example: a genuine wellness routine and tracker · Wrong tracker → fix: “fine” every day tells you nothing · Help-seeking language: three settings, three versions · Wrong help-seeking → fix: waiting too long and being too vague
- We do: 4 guided scenariosWith sentence frames, pacing notes and what to watch for
- Coaching in the momentWhat to say when students get stuck
This section opens when Grade 5 launches.
Closing the Week
- What’s inside
- 3 partner-share roundsOne for each segment, with the frame students say together
- Round 1 — Segment 1: Noticing in yourself and in others
- Round 2 — Segment 2: Urgent versus non-urgent
- Round 3 — Segment 3: Taking care and knowing your support network
- Land the key idea
This section opens when Grade 5 launches.
Practice for every skill segment
Each lesson comes with independent practice — the “you do” — for each of its 3 skill segments, in print and digital.
Printable practice
Ready-to-copy practice pages for each segment.
- View and print in your browser
- Answer keys for quick checking
Digital activities
Share one link — students open it on any device, and you see their answers.
- Works on Chromebooks, tablets and phones
- Students just type their name to start
While you wait: from the SEL Resource Library
Self-Management resources for Grade 5, ready to use today.
