Books on Grit and Growth Mindset

Reading children's books can help explain the abstract concepts of grit and growth mindset to young students. I love the book Whistle for Willie (1998) by Keats and have shared it with hundreds of children to teach perseverance. A new book on my shelf Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still (2016) by Gray is a example of how biographies are a great genre to teach these concepts. Another great biography is Salt in His Shoes by Michael Jordan's mom and sister.

There are several good lessons online that use The Most Magnificent Thing to teach goal setting, grit, and/or growth mindset including  MostMagnificentThingTeachingGuide and https://twowritingteachers/spires/ The latter has a very good anchor chart similar to the one I develop when teaching growth mindset in grade 2 and 3.

Here are others I use in grades K-3 in either tier 1 class lessons or tier 2 small groups:

Giraffes Can't Dance by Andreae & Parker-Rees

Flight School by Judge

You Can Do It Bert! by Konnecke

What Do You Do with an Idea? by Yamada

The Dot by Reynolds

Ish by Reynolds

Extra Yarn by Barnett

Making A Splash: A Growth Mindset Children's Book by Reiley

Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Raschka

I typically teach goal setting, grit, and growth mindset together in tier 1 lessons in September. I also cover these important topics in my resiliency tier 2 groups.