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CHARACTER
EDUCATION:
Being Thankful and Caring (Love Of Family):
The character pillar of "Caring" encompasses
so many sub-traits of good character: Kindness, Helpfulness, Compassion, Forgiveness,
and many more. And it only stands to reason that a caring person is, no
doubt, one who is also "Thankful." And what a perfect month/season
for focusing on these great qualities.
"Caring" Topics
of Discussion: How do we show someone we care?
*What
does it mean to be "kind" to someone? Again, the word is hard
to define even for adults but we can role play examples of kindness. I like
the word "nice" in conjunction with kindness as most 4yr olds I've met
understand "being nice" or using "nice words."
*Role play a situation where "forgiveness"
is demonstrated.
*Name things
we can do to "help" someone.
*How
can we show our friends that we care?
*How
can we show our families that we care?
Creative Drama:
If your nursery rhyme this month is "Little Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe,"
and you have created a cardboard box "shoe house" for the children to
play in, you might suggest to them that they practice doing "nice/kind"
things for their pretend brothers and sisters who live in the shoe with them.
Activity: Helping Hands Booklet: Take as long as you wish to do this (week,
month, even all year): Make a little classroom booklet in the shape of a child's
hand. Print a child's name on each page. On any given morning, after discussing
things we can do to "help" someone, tell the children you are going
to watch to see if you can see someone being "helpful." Print
the observed acts of "helping" on the respective children's pages of
the booklet.
"Being Thankful" Discussion:
I have
found that the phrase "Being thankful" is sometimes a difficult concept
for the 4yr olds I've had in my classes. But I feel that when I talk about
things that make us "glad or happy," it's a little easier to then move
on to being "thankful." (We can be thankful for our families,
our healthy bodies, our pets, our nice warm beds, our food that we eat each day,
etc.)
Language: If children are playing in a cardboard
house this month, print their words on the outside of the house after asking them,
"What are you thankful for?" (Do this after discussing what it
means to be thankful.)
Suggested Books:
Charlotte's
Web, by E.B. White: This classic is such a great children's story.
As you may recall, it's about a pig named Wilbur who is surrounded by lots
of marvelous friends who exhibit lots of good character traits (care, compassion,
love, for example), especially his spider friend, Charlotte.
Please share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com
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Reminder
from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom
ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you
can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here
to check them out.
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