Truthfulness Reflection - What Happened in Class?

Today our virtue was Truthfulness.

Story: We told the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, and it was told with extra emphasis (to keep it interesting!) as the kids shouted out "super silly sheep!" every time they were pointed to. This story is easily understood by kids and our kids were no exception. We introduced the quote from Baha'i Writings: "Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtue." We discussed the meaning of the word "foundation", and then the meaning of "virtue", because understanding these words is key to really understanding the whole quote. The kids memorized this quote.

Music: We reviewed "Doh-Re-Mi" with the hand signs and added "Fa" and "Sol". We learned that "Doh" is the foundation of the music, and then sang the word "Truthfulness" as we signed "Doh". Then we added the words "hu-man vir-tues" on the notes "Mi" and "Re" and ended with the words "super silly sheep" (just because they are so fun to say!) on "Sol". We did this a few times until we had it learned vocally, and then transferred it onto instruments. We think it helped solidify remembering the quote, but definitely that would be reinforced much better by the craft.


Craft: We decided at the last minute to make sheep pictures - we drew a sheep outline onto a blank piece of paper for each kid, and then gave them cotton balls to glue onto the picture to make a wooly sheep. The kids added faces and landscapes etc to the pictures and they were lovely! At the bottom of the picture we wrote the quote about truthfulness, and the kids took the pictures home with them. Pictures of these sheep are forthcoming, as soon as I can figure out how to get the pics off of my phone (forgot the camera today!)

January 24th, 2010 ~ Truthfulness

This week our focus is on the virtue of Truthfulness.

Story: We will tell the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" which really illustrates well for children the importance of truthfulness.

Music: We will sing "Truthfulness is the Foundation of all Human Virtues" while accompanying it rhythmically on the instruments and xylophone. Then we will continue with reading rhythms and learning solfege (Do-Re-Mi etc).

Craft: still tba

January 17th, 2010 ~ Friendliness Reflection

What happened in class?

Story: Today we had five kids ages 5-7, and the theme of our class was Friendliness. We read a book to the kids called "I'm a Good Friend" by David Parker (Scholastic). We had a great discussion about friendliness as well as unfriendliness. We brought in a quote from the Baha'i Writings: "Blessed is he who mingleth with all men in a spirit of utmost kindliness and love." We discussed the meaning of "mingleth" just to be clear, and also we clarified that "men" refers to "humans" (not just men!).

Music: We learned the song "Hello World" by Red Grammer, and we learned the sign language for it as well. Then we made a rain storm on hand drums, using dynamics.

"Hello World"

Making a sonic rainstorm

Craft: We made friendship bracelets out of beads and pipe cleaners and planned to give them to a friend.

No Class January 10th, 2010

Hi everyone, sorry that there will be no class today as teachers are both unable to be there! So hope to see you next week,
:) Amy & Sarah

Generosity Reflection : What happened in class?

We had four kids today, and the lesson on generosity was easy to connect throughout all of our sections of the class.


Story: The story was fun to hear, as the kids all had comments about the felt sheep that were being used to help tell the story! Some were missing eyes and were a bit ragged around the edges, but when the sheep were distributed amongst everyone in class the point was pretty solidly made.


Music: We carefully reviewed speaking the rhythm cards before playing them, and then transferred them to instruments. The kids should be looking at the rhythm cards while playing their instruments - thus reading the music as they play. Even though they already know how the rhythm goes, seeing it while they play it correctly reinforces their knowledge of the components of notation. We also started learning pitch with Kodaly hand signs for Do, Re and Mi and talked about which notes sound higher or lower. We sang the song "Love is something if you give it away" and talked a bit about how you end up having more love if you give love away. The kids totally got it and said some insightful things.

Learning Kodaly hand signs (Do, Re, Mi)

Stirring cookie batter

Craft: Actually today was baking, and we made oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips on top. The kids took turns stirring or adding ingredients, and then each of them had their own tray to put their cookies on. While waiting for the cookies to bake, we decorated boxes for the cookies, and the kids decided to whom they would give their cookies - giving the cookies away is our practicing generosity.

January 3rd, 2009 ~ Generosity

This week we will focus on the virtue of Generosity.

Story: We will tell the story of 'Abdu'l-Baha (as a young boy) going out to inspect his father's flock of sheep. When the man who is accompanying him tells him that they cannot leave the shepherds without giving them a gift (as his father always did), 'Abdu'l-Baha thinks carefully, because he has brought nothing to give them, and then he decides to give the shepherds the sheep as a gift. His father, Baha'u'llah, was pleased with this, even though 'Abdu'l-Baha had given away their sheep. 'Abdu'l-Baha showed great generosity towards the shepherds, and he continued to show great generosity for the rest of his life. Generosity does not always mean giving 'something', it can mean spending time with someone, making food for someone, sharing toys with someone, or just giving love. It can mean many things and we will talk with the kids about this.

Music: We will sing the song "Love is something if you give it away" (an old favourite!). Since it has been a few weeks since our last class, we'll review our rhythm cards and begin to talk about
pitch.

Craft: We'll bake and decorate cookies to take home and give away. A way to practice generosity!