Communication Skills What Would You Do? Cards — Think, Choose, Act
Grandpa starts his farm story while you keep snapping bricks onto a spaceship.
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About this resource
Grandpa starts his farm story while you keep snapping bricks onto a spaceship. These communication skills what would you do scenarios give Grades 2–5 forty moments to listen, speak clearly, share feelings with I-statements, read tone and ask when a message is unclear. Students choose one of three action cards for each and explain why, building Relationship Skills they use at dinner, on the playground and in the grocery store.
What students practice
- Listening with eyes, ears and whole body
- Speaking clearly, in order and loud enough
- Using I-statements to share a feeling
- Reading tone and body language
- Asking when they don’t understand
What’s inside
- 40 scenario cards in five groups of eight: Listening With Full Attention, Speaking Clearly, Using I-Statements, Reading Tone and Body Language and Asking When I Don’t Understand
- 120 action cards (three per scenario, 10 printable pages)
- 40 reflection sheets
- The teacher guide, with discussion, sorting, role-play and station ideas; 77 pages
A look inside
- A Word Called Matinee: your great-aunt says, “On Saturday, I’ll take you to the matinee.” You’ve never heard the word. The cards: Ask About the Word, Look It Up Later, Nod and Smile.
- Rules All at Once: you explain winning, then the spinner, then the bonus cards, and cousin Ilse looks lost.
- Signed Up Without Asking: Dad signed you up for Saturday drama club. Share How It Lands is the I-statement card: say you feel surprised when plans are made for you.
How to use these communication skills what would you do cards
- Role-play Two Stories at Dinner with Wait for Her Ending and again with Talk a Little Louder, then compare how each one went.
- Swap roles on Raised Eyebrows so a student plays the teacher and feels what the pause means.
- After Past the End Cap, use an exit ticket from the guide’s decision making activities: students write the best choice and why before leaving.
- Of the five SEL learning stations, Act It Out and the Decision-Making Challenge work well here, since most cards are short exchanges students can act out.
Grade fit
Home leads with 15 scenes, the community has 14 (a bike shop, a pottery studio, a movie theater) and school 11. The exchanges are brief and familiar, so second graders can act them out and fifth graders can take apart tone and word choice; the guide’s tips cover both ends of Grades 2–5.
Digital version
The interactive digital version shares as one link: students answer the think questions (or just read them in the quick format), choose an action card and say why, on any device with no student logins. At the end they download an answer sheet to hand in.
Pairs well with
Keep practicing with Communication Skills Role Play Scenarios or more communication skills activities in Communication Skills Conversation Cards.
Questions teachers ask
Does the set teach I-statements directly?
Eight scenarios focus on Using I-Statements. In Signed Up Without Asking, for example, the most helpful card has students tell Dad they feel surprised when plans are made for them and would like to help choose.
Can I use one card in a few minutes?
Yes. The guide suggests reading one Scenario Card as a morning meeting discussion starter, then adding the three action cards when there is time.
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