LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Read about and describe habits that boost happiness; evaluate mental and physical health benefits of joy-boosting behaviors 

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 6: Use goal- setting skills to enhance health. 

CASEL COMPETENCY: Self-awareness

KEY VOCAB

productivity

oxytocin

endorphins

immersed

intrinsic

Lesson Plan: C'mon, Get Happy!

Can doing five simple tricks each day make you a whole lot happier all year? Two brave teens took our challenge to find out.

Table of Contents:

1. Preparing to Read

2. Reading and Discussing

3. Building Comprehension and Vocabulary

4. Expanding SEL Opportunities

1. Preparing to Read

Before you read the debate “C’mon, Get Happy,” ask your students the following pre-reading question:

How can small changes to my routine and habits improve my happiness?

2. Reading and Discussing

  • Have your students read the article “C’mon, Get Happy!” independently; read the article out loud to them; or have students take turns partner reading.

  • After they’ve read the debate, revisit the pre-reading question. Have their answers changed? 

  • Next, have your students answer the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking questions, either working in small groups or independently.

Close-Reading Questions
The following questions can be shared in printable or interactive form from the Resources tab. 

  1. Describe at least one of the reasons Emmanuella and Daniel gave for wanting to take on the happiness challenge.

  2. What did Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., discover about “upward spirals” in a study conducted with high school students?

Critical-Thinking Questions

  1. Do you find you identify with any of the reasons Emmanuella and Daniel gave for wanting to try the happiness challenge? Explain.

  2. Which of the happiness habits do you already do regularly? Which do you think you might want to try incorporating if you did the challenge?


3. Building Comprehension and Vocab

Check students’ comprehension of and engagement with the story with the following assessment tools:

  • Quiz

  • Vocab Builder

4. Expanding SEL Opportunities

Continue the learning journey with the following extension activity: 

Get ready, get set, TAKE THE HAPPINESS CHALLENGE! In this activity, your students will identify two small changes they’d like to make to boost their happiness and focus on those changes over the course of one week. Have them keep track of their happiness-boosting habits using our happiness tracker. Have the class discuss any trends they notice in student responses and ponder their takeaways from the activity. Optional: You can also have your students share anecdotes about how the changes affected their happiness using a collaborative app like Jamboard or Padlet.

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