This week, one of our team members was working with a school in Pennsylvania when a question came up that stuck with us:
If you could help students strengthen one critical behavior, value, or skillset today, which one could create the biggest impact on their future success?
Take a second with it.
Communication? Perseverance? Self-control? Empathy? Problem-solving?
There are dozens of answers, and that is exactly what made the question so interesting.
Because when we looked at the First Five through that lens, something became really clear:
Students are already practicing many of those skills every morning. Sometimes they just happen to be doing it while laughing at a meme, answering a ridiculous question, or trying to beat an EdGame.
Yes, It Is a Meme. It Is Also Practice.
From the outside, the First Five looks like fun: a Meme, a few Questions, a quick Video, an EdGame.
And it is fun on purpose. We want students to participate, talk, laugh, think, and connect.
But there is more happening underneath each activity.
The Meme creates a shared laugh, but it can also ask students to practice communication, creativity, and perspective-taking.
The Check-In may look like a quick “How are you today?” but students are also practicing how to identify, express, and understand emotions.
The EdGame is a puzzle, but it can also require problem-solving, collaboration, decision-making, focus, and perseverance.
Here is what that looks like in one Primary edition from September 3:
Those skills are not separate lessons we added to the First Five.
They are the skills students are already using while they participate. Now, we are making that connection much easier for teachers to see.
45 Skills, Layered by Grade Level
Across the school year, the First Five gives students daily practice on a deliberate set of 45 skills.
Thirty of them are core skills that run at every grade level, every weekday: communication, empathy, focus, perseverance, problem-solving, self-control, and more.
The rest are layered in by grade level:
- Junior (PK to 1) adds five foundational skills for our youngest learners: following directions, helping others, listening, sharing, and taking turns.
- Primary (2 to 5) adds digital awareness, growth mindset, leadership, organization, and self-awareness.
- Secondary (6 to 12) adds active listening, critical thinking, integrity, resilience, and time management.
The set stays consistent all year, so the practice builds on itself. A student who practices perspective-taking a few mornings a week in kindergarten is still practicing it in eighth grade, with years of experience behind it.
You can see the full matrix, filterable by grade band, on our Scope & Sequence page.
Why These Skills Matter
Think about the students in front of you and the world they are growing up in.
Finding information is not their challenge. They can look up almost anything in seconds. What they need are the skills to handle what comes next: asking a good question, disagreeing respectfully, working with someone they did not choose, recovering after a mistake, and noticing how the person next to them is doing.
These are often called soft skills. Anyone who has watched a group project fall apart knows how much they matter.
They also do not develop on their own. Taking turns, reading the room, and sticking with a hard problem are learned through practice, feedback, and plenty of trial and error. Five minutes a day, every school day, adds up.
The research supports this. In a review of 270,034 students, those in programs built on this same foundation gained 11 percentile points in academic achievement (Durlak et al., 2011). A 2023 meta-analysis of 424 studies and more than 575,000 K–12 students connects these daily practices to better behavior, a healthier school climate, and real academic gains. You can read more, including all 76 sources, on our Evidence page.
Where to See the Skills at Work
You can find the skills in four places:
- Beneath every component. Open any edition and look under the Meme, the Questions, the Quote, or any other activity. The Skills row and the Character Traits row show exactly what students are practicing. It is also a helpful thing to point to during a walkthrough. Read more about the rows.
- In the Searchable Database. When your class needs a week on conflict resolution or a quote about perseverance, search the First Five database by topic, skill, or trait. Everyone can search, and First Five Plus members can search without limits.
- On the Scope & Sequence page. See the full 45-skill matrix, plus the 65 full themed editions this year, including character trait editions on confidence, empathy, kindness, perseverance, and integrity. See the year ahead.
- Under every Quote and Video. The prompting questions in the Primary and Secondary editions turn a one-minute video into a conversation about the skill behind it.
Try This Next Week
A few simple ways to help students see the practice, too:
- Pick one skill for the week. Name it on Monday. Then point it out when you see it: “That was perspective-taking.” Students repeat what gets noticed.
- Let a student read the row. Before the Questions, have someone read the skills listed underneath. It takes thirty seconds, and now the whole class knows what the activity is for.
- Ask them the question. “If you could get better at one skill this year, which one would it be?” Their answers may surprise you, and they make a great Quick Connect of their own.
- Crown with a reason. When your class crowns their favorite activity, ask which skill it helped them practice.
Your Turn
Back to that first question. If you could help your students strengthen one skill this year, which one would it be?
Email and let us know at info@edtomorrow.com. We may share some of your answers in an upcoming roundup!
See you next Thursday.
-Edtomorrow Team