Train Your Dragon to Do Hard Things Character Education Read Aloud Activities is a structured companion for Train Your Dragon to Do Hard Things by Steve Herman. Through guided discussion, perseverance worksheets, and differentiated follow-up activities, students learn to manage frustration, continue after mistakes, and shift from “I can’t do this” to “I can’t do this yet.”

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 perseverance unit, or a flexible source of activities that teachers can revisit whenever students need support with effort, confidence, and persistence.

Help Students Keep Going When Learning Feels Hard

Many students shut down, avoid work, or give up when a task feels challenging. Some immediately say, “I can’t do this.” Others rush, refuse help, become frustrated, or choose an easier task rather than risk making a mistake.

Encouragement can help, but telling a student to “try harder” does not teach the student what to do when frustration rises or confidence drops. Students need explicit instruction in how to approach a difficult task, manage the emotions that come with struggle, and choose a productive next step.

This resource was created to support those moments.

Using an engaging picture book, guided discussion, and differentiated activities, students explore how thoughts, effort, practice, and persistence influence success. They learn that perseverance is not continuing in exactly the same way forever. It may include slowing down, trying another strategy, asking for help, taking an appropriate break, or returning to the task with a new plan.

Why Teachers Use This Resource

This companion helps teachers:

• Teach students how to persevere through difficult tasks

• Introduce and reinforce a growth mindset

• Help students recognize and reframe negative self-talk

• Move students from “I can’t” to “I can’t do this yet”

• Build confidence through realistic practice and reflection

• Teach students how to manage frustration during challenging work

• Support students who avoid difficult tasks or give up easily

• Reinforce ELA skills while addressing mindset and behavior

• Differentiate instruction using varied activity types and levels

What’s Included

This 97-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 challenges

• Opportunities for students to explain their thinking

• Guidance for discussing effort, mistakes, confidence, and perseverance

If you are looking for an SEL social emotional read aloud that goes beyond general encouragement, this resource provides the structure needed to turn the story into explicit instruction in perseverance and frustration tolerance.

Perseverance Worksheets and Activities

The perseverance worksheets help students understand what persistence looks like in real situations. Students examine the thoughts and behaviors that can lead someone to continue, change strategies, ask for help, or give up.

Students practice:

• Recognizing situations that require perseverance

• Identifying negative self-talk

• Reframing “I can’t” statements

• Choosing a productive response when a task feels difficult

• Breaking larger challenges into smaller steps

• Identifying strategies that have helped them before

• Asking for help without giving up responsibility for the task

• Reflecting on effort, progress, and improvement

The activities help students see perseverance as a set of skills they can practice, not a personality trait that some people naturally have and others do not.

Growth Mindset and the Power of Yet

The growth mindset introduction lessons help students compare fixed-mindset and growth-mindset thinking. They explore how thoughts can influence whether someone avoids a challenge, continues practicing, or tries another strategy.

Power of yet worksheets and reflection activities help students replace statements such as:

• “I can’t do this.”

• “I’m not good at this.”

• “I always make mistakes.”

• “This is too hard.”

Students practice adding “yet” and identifying the next step that could help them make progress. The goal is not to pretend that every task is easy. It is to help students understand that difficulty, mistakes, instruction, and practice are all part of learning.

Emotional Regulation During Difficult Tasks

Students often need emotional-regulation support before they can use a perseverance strategy. When frustration becomes overwhelming, a student may know what to do but have difficulty accessing that skill in the moment.

The emotional regulation learning worksheets help students recognize frustration, discouragement, and fear of failure before those emotions lead to shutdown or avoidance. Social emotional regulation learning worksheets provide structured practice connecting those feelings with safe, productive responses.

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

• Recognizing physical signs of frustration

• Naming thoughts and feelings connected to difficult work

• Using a coping strategy before returning to the task

• Deciding whether to keep trying, change strategies, or ask for help

• Taking an appropriate break without abandoning the task

• Recovering after a mistake

• Returning to learning after frustration

These activities help students understand that managing frustration is part of perseverance. The goal is not to eliminate uncomfortable feelings, but to help students respond to them in ways that support continued learning.

Social-Emotional Learning Skills

Students practice:

• Perseverance and persistence

• Growth mindset versus fixed mindset

• Moving from “I can’t” to “I can’t do this yet”

• Managing frustration

• Recognizing and reframing negative self-talk

• Building confidence through effort and progress

• Continuing after mistakes

• Asking for help appropriately

• Choosing strategies when tasks feel difficult

• Reflecting on effort and improvement

ELA Skills

The resource also includes practice with:

• Predictions

• Summarizing

• Character analysis

• Compare and contrast

• Text-to-self connections

• Cause and effect

• Written responses

• Extended writing prompts

These activities allow teachers to reinforce literacy skills while teaching perseverance, emotional regulation, and growth-mindset thinking.

Additional Supports

Additional materials include:

• Power of yet worksheets

• Growth-mindset reflection activities

• Notes to families with ideas for supporting perseverance 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 instruction

• Executive-functioning 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

About the Book

In Train Your Dragon to Do Hard Things by Steve Herman, Andrew’s dragon, Diggory Doo, struggles when tasks feel difficult. He is tempted to quit or choose the easiest path, but encouragement and practice help him learn that effort and perseverance can lead to progress.

The story provides a relatable foundation for discussing challenges, mistakes, confidence, and the choices students make when something does not come easily.

The Bottom Line

If your students avoid challenges, become overwhelmed by mistakes, or quickly decide that they cannot do something, this resource provides a structured way to teach the skills underneath those responses.

Students learn to recognize negative self-talk, manage frustration, choose a useful strategy, and continue working toward a goal. Over time, those skills support greater confidence, independence, and willingness to take on challenges 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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