Teach Your Dragon to Stop Lying Book Character Education Read Aloud Activities is a structured companion for Teach Your Dragon to Stop Lying by Steve Herman. Through guided discussion, honesty worksheets, lying worksheets, and differentiated follow-up activities, students examine why honesty matters, how dishonesty affects trust, and what it means to take responsibility after a mistake.

This resource is part of a growing collection of SEL read alouds that connect meaningful picture books with explicit instruction in behavior, social-emotional learning, and literacy. It can be used as an interactive read-aloud lesson, a short honesty unit, or a flexible source of character education book activities that teachers can revisit throughout the year.

Teach Honesty Without Relying on Shame

Students may lie to avoid a consequence, shift blame, gain attention, protect themselves from embarrassment, or escape another person’s disappointment. A lie may seem like an easy solution in the moment, even though it often creates a larger problem later.

Correcting the false statement is necessary, but correction alone may not teach the student how to respond differently. Students also need help tolerating the discomfort of admitting a mistake, understanding how dishonesty affects trust, and learning how to repair the situation.

This resource was created to provide that instruction.

Through a relatable story and structured character education read aloud activities, students compare honest and dishonest choices, examine their outcomes, and practice taking responsibility. The goal is accountability without shame: students learn that mistakes require repair, but telling the truth is the first step toward solving the problem.

Why Teachers Use This Resource

This companion helps teachers:

• Teach the importance of honesty and telling the truth

• Address lying in a supportive but accountable way

• Help students understand why someone may be tempted to lie

• Build integrity, responsibility, and trust

• Connect dishonest choices with natural consequences

• Guide students toward more positive behavior choices

• Teach students how to repair relationships after dishonesty

• Reinforce ELA skills while addressing behavior and decision-making

• Differentiate instruction using varied activity types and levels

What’s Included

This 100-page resource includes more than 40 differentiated activities. It is intentionally designed so that you do not need to complete every page.

The range of activities allows you to:

• Select activities based on student needs and ability levels

• Use the resource across several days or weeks

• Teach in whole groups, small groups, centers, or individual settings

• Revisit the same concepts without repeating the same assignment

• Combine SEL instruction with reading, writing, and discussion

Interactive Read-Aloud Lesson Plan

The interactive read-aloud section includes:

• Questions to use before, during, and after reading

• Structured discussion prompts

• Connections between the story and real-life honesty

• Opportunities for students to examine motives and outcomes

• Guidance for discussing responsibility, trust, and repair

If you are looking for an SEL social emotional read aloud that goes beyond telling students that lying is wrong, this resource provides the structure needed to teach honesty, accountability, and relationship repair.

Honesty Worksheets

The honesty worksheets help students identify what truthful behavior looks like in realistic situations. Students examine how honesty supports trust, problem-solving, and stronger relationships.

Students practice:

• Distinguishing honest and dishonest statements

• Identifying missing or misleading information

• Recognizing when someone is shifting blame

• Explaining why telling the truth may feel difficult

• Considering how honesty affects trust

• Practicing truthful ways to describe a mistake

• Identifying steps for taking responsibility

• Reflecting on how honesty can help solve a problem

These worksheets can be used for whole-group teaching, small-group discussion, behavior reteaching, or individual reflection.

Lying Worksheets and Scenarios

The lying worksheets help students look beyond whether a statement is true or false. They examine why the person may have lied, what happened afterward, and how the situation could be repaired.

Students consider:

• What happened before the lie

• What the person hoped to avoid or gain

• Who was affected by the dishonesty

• Whether the lie solved the original problem

• What additional problems developed

• What an honest response might have sounded like

• What the person could do to rebuild trust

Honesty-versus-dishonesty scenarios allow students to apply these ideas without requiring them to begin by discussing their own mistakes publicly.

Positive Behavior Choices Activities

The positive behavior choices activities help students understand that honesty involves more than answering a direct question truthfully. It also includes giving complete information, admitting mistakes, avoiding blame, and correcting misinformation.

Students compare choices such as:

• Telling the truth immediately

• Admitting the truth after initially lying

• Blaming another person

• Leaving out important information

• Making an excuse

• Asking for help after a mistake

• Taking responsibility and repairing harm

Students learn that telling the truth may not remove every consequence, but it allows the real problem to be addressed and begins rebuilding trust.

Choices and Consequences Activities

The choices and consequences activities help students examine the connected outcomes of honesty and dishonesty.

Students reflect on:

• How each choice affected trust

• Whether the response solved the original problem

• How other people were affected

• What happened when the lie was discovered

• Whether additional consequences developed

• What an honest choice might have changed

• What repair is needed now

This helps students understand consequences as outcomes connected to a decision rather than simply punishment imposed by an adult.

Emotional Regulation and Telling the Truth

Students often know that they should tell the truth but struggle when honesty brings fear, embarrassment, guilt, or anticipated disapproval. Emotional regulation can help them tolerate that discomfort long enough to make a more responsible choice.

The emotional regulation learning worksheets help students recognize the thoughts, feelings, and physical signals that may appear when they are tempted to lie. Social emotional regulation learning worksheets provide structured practice with pausing, managing discomfort, and choosing an honest response.

Teachers can select from the emotional regulation activities worksheets when students need additional practice with:

• Recognizing fear or embarrassment after a mistake

• Pausing before making an excuse

• Tolerating the discomfort of admitting the truth

• Using calm words to explain what happened

• Asking for help

• Accepting responsibility

• Managing another person’s disappointment

• Recovering after a mistake and beginning repair

Understanding why a student lied does not remove accountability. It helps adults teach the skills the student needs to respond differently next time.

Repairing Trust After Dishonesty

Telling the truth after a lie is important, but it may not immediately restore trust. Students need to understand that repair also involves taking responsibility and following through with more honest behavior over time.

Reflection and apology activities help students practice:

• Correcting the false information

• Naming what actually happened

• Acknowledging how another person was affected

• Apologizing without adding excuses

• Repairing harm when possible

• Accepting reasonable consequences

• Identifying what to do differently next time

• Rebuilding trust through consistent actions

Social-Emotional Learning Skills

Students practice:

• Distinguishing honesty from lying

• Telling the truth after a mistake

• Taking responsibility for actions

• Understanding the impact of dishonesty

• Managing the discomfort connected to truthfulness

• Making positive behavior choices

• Understanding choices and consequences

• Repairing relationships after mistakes

• Building integrity

• Rebuilding trust

ELA Skills

The resource also includes practice with:

• Predictions

• Summarizing

• Character analysis

• Compare and contrast

• Cause and effect

• Text-to-self connections

• Written responses

• Extended writing prompts

These activities allow teachers to reinforce literacy skills while teaching honesty, integrity, and responsible decision-making.

Additional Supports

Additional materials include:

• Honesty-versus-dishonesty scenarios with outcomes

• Apology letter templates

• Behavior-reflection activities

• Notes to families for reinforcing honesty at home

• Real photographs that increase student connection and engagement

• Differentiated activity formats

• Options for verbal, written, and visual responses

Ways to Use This Resource

Teachers can use these activities during:

• Whole-group interactive read-aloud lessons

• Small-group SEL or behavior instruction

• Counseling or behavior-support groups

• Centers or independent work

• Behavior intervention programs

• Self-contained classroom instruction

• Individual reflection and reteaching

• ELA lessons connected to character development

• Lessons focused on honesty, integrity, or responsibility

About the Book

In Teach Your Dragon to Stop Lying by Steve Herman, Diggory Doo learns that lying may seem like an easy way to avoid a problem, but dishonesty creates larger problems over time.

Through relatable situations, students see how lying affects trust and relationships. The story also demonstrates how telling the truth, taking responsibility, and making amends can begin repairing the damage.

The Bottom Line

If your students struggle with lying, avoiding responsibility, or admitting mistakes, this resource provides a structured way to teach the skills underneath those behaviors.

Students learn to recognize why someone may be tempted to lie, tolerate the discomfort of telling the truth, make more positive behavior choices, and repair trust after dishonesty. These skills support integrity, accountability, and healthier relationships in school and beyond.

Curious for More?

Explore the complete collection of SEL read alouds and book companions here. Each resource combines structured discussion, social-emotional learning, literacy practice, and differentiated follow-up activities to help students build skills they can use in real situations.

Learn More: Interactive Readalouds for SEL and Literacy Skills

Discover the power of an interactive read aloud in promoting social-emotional learning (SEL) and literacy skills in children.

Whether you’re a teacher or a caregiver, learn how an interactive read aloud can positively transform young lives with this blog post: Interactive Read Alouds: How to Use Them to Promote SEL and Literacy Skills.

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