10 Picture Books for Goal-setting with Students

This is a great one to start with. It explains what resolutions are and what kinds of resolutions/ goals to make. All the animals in the story have resolutions, but Squirrel is struggling to think of one. Throughout the story, he helps others with their resolutions and finds the perfect resolution for him: to help someone every day!

This story is so sweet! It’s also a bit unique as it’s a wordless picture book. One day a little girl sees a bicycle in a store window and is determined to buy it. She decides to ask her neighbors if she can help with their yard work to make money. Only one neighbor, a kind old woman, says yes. This is a great story to discuss perseverance but also generosity as well. There are some goals that require help from others to be able to reach. Extension: have students choose a page to write speech bubbles for!

This is a fun one! I love these Ninja series because they all promote positive ways to deal with problems. In this one, Ninja wants to get his blue belt, but learns how to set goals and steps to get there (and to follow through). Great book for teaching patience, staying focused, and accountability!

In this story, a little boy named Liam stumbles upon a small garden in his city and sets a goal to help bring it back to life. This is a great example of how we can set goals that help the community. You could use this to start a discussion on setting a class goal that would benefit the classroom community. This would also make a great read for Earth Day. 

For some extra fun, the students can try to find the main character on every page (he is hidden on some)! 

This story is a classic for a reason! Knowing how to whistle is a goal and rite of passage for many young students. In this story, a boy named Peter wants to be able to whistle for his pet dog, Willie. It takes a lot of practice for Peter to meet his goal. He whistles until his cheeks hurt! 

This is an adorable story about a penguin who is determined to fly. It’s a great way to begin the conversation on setting realistic goals. In the end, the penguin gets some help from his friends to experience what it feels like to fly. Reminds me of when I tried to run a marathon on a whim! 

You may already be familiar with Wing’s Night Before series as it’s a favorite among teachers and students!

This fun rhyming story is a great way to explain how many people celebrate the new year and make New Year resolutions. In the story, each member of the family sets a goal for the new year. 

Be sure to grab the free poster below to have your students make New Year resolutions.

This one is great to read after students have set goals. Just like the title implies, this book is all about perseverance and not giving up on goals! It’s very relatable since the main character struggles to learn how to ride a bike, a common goal with kids.

Continuing with the theme of perseverance, this book is all about affirmations and believing in oneself even when times are tough. Discuss how most goals take hard work to achieve so they have to prepare for those tough moments. Ask students to brainstorm what they will do when they’re feeling like they’ll never reach their goals! Extension: Make a class anchor chart with affirmations for students to refer to.

I love the lessons in this book! The little girl wants to make something magnificent and it doesn’t turn out right. She makes adjustments, quits, then comes back to try again. She notices that each attempt has something great about it! We can learn lessons from our mistakes! It’s a great book for planning steps to reach one’s goal and revising those steps when they’re not working.