The children tell stories about their family memories and the special “memory items” brought from home. (See Lesson One: Traveling Back in Time.) They meet their senior friend in person or through writing and share and compare memories.
Continuing from the previous lesson, the young people learn the next four of the seven principles of Kwanzaa. They are challenged to apply the principles to their everyday lives in a way that enhances the communities to which they belong.
Learners define bullying and describe what bullying behavior looks and feels like. In contrast, they experience the feelings of being helpful and nice to peers when they need it.
The key to cultural competence is learning about cultures around the world. The book Children Like Me sparks curiosity about different cultures. Youth make a simple keychain to represent the different cultures they can learn about with the key that helps them open doors....
Cultures are sometimes represented through clothing items like head wear or colors. These clothing items can be very meaningful and important, and it is respectful to learn about others and what their cultural expression means to them. It is never okay to mock someone for what they wear or to...
Lead a discussion about the power of words to include, instruct, and inspire action. Participants analyze quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, about being open and inclusive. Design social justice posters to teach others about what they learned.
The Free Breakfast for Children Program of the 1960s exemplified mutual aid and differed from traditional charity while still being a form of philanthropy. We discover and learn how the people of a community most affected by issues, including young people, are sometimes the most able to...
We learn how different groups coming together for the good of all established the Mayflower Compact. This brief agreement was the first document of its kind designed to bring a community together to focus on the common good. This may be a model for a group agreement written by the...
Students become familiar with the structure of the newspaper and the purpose of the different types of articles as they explore "stories" about acts of giving and sharing time, talent, and treasure for the common good. Students recognize the types of voices and articles in the newspaper. They...
This lesson introduces the characteristics of fairy tales as a genre. The children explore positive and negative character traits and universal themes in the story of Cinderella. The service plan is introduced in this lesson and carried out over the next weeks.