Grades 1–4
Change Your Words
Rewrite six stuck thoughts like “I can’t do this” into growth mindset words like “I can’t do this yet.”
SEL worksheet · Growth mindset
Fixed or Growth Mindset?
Read ten thoughts and sort each into fixed mindset or growth mindset.
- Grade level
- Grades 2–5
- Time
- About 20 minutes
- Topic
- Growth mindset
- Answer key
- Yes, page 2 of the PDF
- Kids practice
- Growth mindset, Perseverance, Positive self-talk, Learning from mistakes
What kids do
Printed on the sheet:
- A fixed mindset thinks “I can’t get better at this.” A growth mindset knows your brain gets stronger when you practice, try new ways and learn from mistakes.
- Circle Fixed or Growth for each thought.
- I’m just not a math person.
- Mistakes help me learn.
- I can’t do it yet, but I will keep practicing.
- This is too hard, so I quit.
- She is smart. I will never be that smart.
- If I have to try hard, I must be bad at it.
Teacher tip
Read each thought in a different voice to make it fun. Ask which voice they hear in their own heads.
How to use it
- Share a mistake you made this week and what you learned from it.
- Add “yet” to the end of kids’ “I can’t” statements all week.
- Use it during morning meeting or right after recess, when the topic is fresh.
Watch for
Praise for being “smart”. Try praising the effort or the strategy instead.
Talk about it
- Why are mistakes part of learning?
- Have you ever been in a moment like this? What happened?
Take it further
Make a class “Power of Yet” bulletin board with kids’ goals.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More growth mindset worksheets
Grades K–2
Look How I Have Grown
Draw something you could not do as a baby, something you can do now and something you will learn next.
Grades 1–3
Growth Mindset Power Words
Fill in the six power words, yet, practice, mistakes, try, help and brain, then pick your favorite.
Grades 3–5
Mistakes That Made Something Great
Match six real inventions, from Play-Doh to penicillin, to the mistake or surprise that led to them.
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