Little and often
Learning spread over several days helps children remember more than cramming it all at once. Lessons are short, so they fit into a regular family routine.
The research behind LessonFive
Every lesson follows the same research-informed steps. The core lesson takes about 5 minutes, plus optional practice together.
STEP 1
Look back
A quick recap brings back what your child learned earlier.
Retrieval practiceSTEP 2
Today's story
Relatable characters face a familiar moment.
Learning from storiesSTEP 3
Think it through
Your child picks what the character should do, then sees what happens and why.
Thinking before the answerSTEP 4
Plan for real life
A simple promise to try this week, then a check-in.
If-then plansSTEP 5
Practice together
You and your child act out short conversations.
Active practice 路 Optional
The studies
Grouped by the lesson step they support. Each link opens the study on the journal or research database.
STEP 1 路 LOOK BACK
Retrieval practice consistently benefits student learning: A systematic review of applied research in schools and classrooms
Agarwal, Nunes & Blunt, Educational Psychology Review, 2021
What it found: Across 50 classroom experiments, practicing recalling what they'd learned consistently helped students remember.
STEP 3 路 THINK IT THROUGH
Prequestioning and pretesting effects: A review of empirical research, theoretical perspectives, and implications for educational practice
Pan & Carpenter, Educational Psychology Review, 2023
What it found: Answering questions before learning something generally helps people learn it, including elementary school children.
STEP 4 路 PLAN FOR REAL LIFE
The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis
British Journal of Psychology, 2026
What it found: Across 42 studies with children, simple if-then plans helped children follow through on goals, especially younger children.
STEP 4 路 PLAN FOR REAL LIFE
Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence
Harkin, Webb, Chang and colleagues, Psychological Bulletin, 2016
What it found: Across 138 studies, keeping track of progress toward a goal helped people reach it.
STEP 5 路 PRACTICE TOGETHER
A meta-analytic review of components associated with parent training program effectiveness
Kaminski, Valle, Filene & Boyle, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2008
What it found: In parenting programs, having parents practice new skills with their children was linked to bigger benefits.
STEP 5 路 PRACTICE TOGETHER
Effective components of social skills training programs for children and adolescents in nonclinical samples: A multilevel meta-analysis
de Mooij, Fekkes, Scholte & Overbeek, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2020
What it found: Social skills programs that included skill-building practice improved children's social and emotional skills.
LITTLE AND OFTEN
Distributing learning over time: The spacing effect in children's acquisition and generalization of science concepts
Vlach & Sandhofer, Child Development, 2012
What it found: Children who had one lesson a day for four days learned more, and applied it better a week later, than children who had all four lessons in one day.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING OVERALL
The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions
Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger, Child Development, 2011
What it found: Across 213 school programs and more than 270,000 students, teaching social-emotional skills improved students' skills, behavior and grades.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING OVERALL
The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions
Cipriano, Strambler and colleagues, Child Development, 2023
What it found: A review of 424 studies found school social-emotional learning programs improved students' skills, behavior and school success.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING OVERALL
CASEL framework for social and emotional learning
CASEL
What it found: The five social-emotional skill areas most US schools use.
STEP 2 路 TODAY'S STORY
Multimedia Learning: The Multimedia Principle
Richard E. Mayer, Cambridge University Press
What it found: In Mayer's experiments, people who learned from words with pictures did better at applying what they learned than people who got words alone. This research was mostly with older students, and it's why LessonFive's story and outcome videos pair narration with pictures.
Also related
STEP 2 路 TODAY'S STORY
Do storybooks with anthropomorphized animal characters promote prosocial behaviors in young children?
Larsen, Lee & Ganea, Developmental Science, 2018
What it found: Children aged 4 to 6 shared more after hearing a story with human characters than the same story told with animal characters. This study was with younger children, but it's one reason LessonFive's stories use relatable kids rather than animals.
Our programs draw on the five social-emotional skill areas described by CASEL:
- Self-awareness
- Self-management
- Social awareness
- Relationship skills
- Responsible decision-making