Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
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Unit Overview:
- learn and practice the social skills necessary to get along in a classroom.
- develop a list of classroom rules with consequences for appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
- recognize that s/he can perform acts of service which contribute to the common good.
- share his/her limited resources.
Unit Purpose:
Unit Objectives:
The learner will:
- develop classroom rules and consequences to raise awareness of how his/her behavior affects others and improves learning.
- complete a project by working cooperatively and respecting the work of others.
- share limited resources to provide for the group.
- choose cooperation rather than competition to get things done.
- show his/her respect for nature by improving his/her environment.
- recognize that services s/he provides and things s/he makes can be gifts of kindness.
- Wait patiently and take turns.
Service Experience:
Students will perform a clean-up activity on their school grounds or at a nearby park. Students will also give "kindness gifts" at school and at home.
Unit Assessment:
Through observation, students will be assessed in following rules, cooperation, sharing, respect for nature, and being kind.
School/Home Connection:
- "Copy-and-Paste" Newsletter Information Insert We are studying philanthropic behavior in class. The students will learn appropriate behavior in a group setting and will perform philanthropic acts of kindness, which contribute to the common good. Students will do a clean-up activity on their school grounds or at a nearby park. Students will also give "kindness gifts" at school and at home.
- Interactive Parent/Student Homework Lesson One: Students will take home a copy of the rules and consequences developed in class. Students must explain to their parents what their classroom will look, feel, and sound like. Teachers may request that parents sign the plan and return it to school. (Lesson One: Rules)
Notes for Teaching:
In order to maximize learning in early-childhood classes, certain social skills must be taught to the students. It would be foolhardy to assume that all students are taught all of the basic interaction skills at home that they will need to get along in the class. Often this teaching is not done in a formal lesson setting, but through group interaction. The initial philanthropy lessons teach manners, sharing, taking turns, and general cooperation. We find that while some lessons can be structured, as these are, most are done on the spot as the opportunity arises.
These fundamental philanthropy lessons can be taught to the whole group as either reinforcement or introduction to sharing and caring at the early-childhood level. Many of the lessons address the vocabulary with which children should become familiar in order to facilitate any future lessons on philanthropy.
The lessons in this unit are to be integrated into what we already teach, both from necessity and the recommendation of early-childhood administrators. Please take just a few minutes to review the lessons. Decide if any would apply to your situation or if you could alter some to meet your personal needs. These are not meant to cause any extra work. They are only meant to help teach much-needed skills to students.
State Curriculum and Philanthropy Theme Frameworks:
See individual lessons for benchmark detail.
Lessons Developed By:
Pamela McIntosh
Detroit Public Schools
Woodward Elementary School
2900 Wreford
Detroit, MI 48208
Unit Contents:
Overview:Philanthropic Behavior Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Rules
- 2.
- Cooperative Building
- 3.
- Class Soup
- 4.
- Hug O' War
- 5.
- Nature Tribute
- 6.
- Kindness Certificate
- 7.
- Picture Sharing
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Comments
Tied this lesson to the activities that students volunteered to do during Earth day. They planted flowers and cleaned up the streets around the school. The lesson brought meaning to the planned activities. Students wrote and illustrated a reflection after the activities were done.