Lesson #13 Compassion

 "The Kingdom of God is founded upon equity and justice, and also upon mercy, compassion, and kindness to every living soul."

Last year: We used large cardboard play blocks with the words of the quote on each block. The children built the Kingdom of God using the blocks by starting on the bottom and working their way up to the top which ended with every living soul.


Older Class:

This year:

The mailbox with bags of gems

We had balances with two sets of five gems for each child. On the gems were written the words: equity, justice, mercy, compassion, and kindness. We talked about how we must show compassion, mercy, and kindness to everyone under all conditions. This will help lead to justice and fairness in the world. When a part of the quote was said, the children found the gem with that word on it and put one gem in each side of the balance.

 

For the art project, they painted their balances.

 

 

Story: The story in the Ruhi Book

Younger Class

Mailbox:

Lesson: There was a board with laminated pictures of different scenarios. Some of the scenarios were a man coughing, a girl's nose running, someone feeling sad, and a little boy with a scraped knee. On the bottom there were pictures of a glass of water, a tissue, a person giving a hug, and a bandaid. The children had to match each object with each scenario to help learn about compassion.


Movement: They used masking tape and played hopscotch


Story: Feel Better Bear

 

Water Color Painting:

 

Lesson #12: Honesty

 "Beautify your tongues, O people, with truthfulness, and adorn your souls with the ornament of honesty"

Last year: We had a paper crown for each child with honesty written on the front. A few words from the quote were written on pieces of paper. We Paper clipped the pieces of paper to the back of the crown. Each child took a crown which they placed on their head to adorn themselves with honesty. Then they put the pieces of paper in order to form the quote.

Older Class:

This year: We had a body drawn on a big piece of paper with a heart for the soul and a mouth for the tongue. We wrote beautify, truthfulness, adorn, and honesty on individual pieces of paper. The children made a line like a relay race. We placed the pieces of paper about twenty feet away from the body poster. The children took turns running or walking fast up to the papers, took one of the pieces and came back. They  then decided if the paper should be taped on the mouth(tongue) or the heart(soul) of the body poster. This helped them learn the quote.

Story: We used the picture book Harriet and the Garden


Craft: The children made honesty necklaces in which they could adorn themselves. They cut out a shape with a piece of paper and wrote the word honesty on it. Then they painted the paper, punched holes, and took a piece of ribbon to make a necklace.

Younger Class:

 

 

Movement: The children did stretching

 

 

Story: Ruthie and the Not so Teeney Tiny Lie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson #11: Forgiveness

" Let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth the hearts of the well-favored of God."

Older Class:

Quote: We had pieces of paper with the words: forgiveness, mercy, that which cheereth the hearts, and well-favored of God on each piece of paper. These papers were hidden throughout the room. The children each found a piece of paper. The mailbox/quote helper for this class stood up. We said the quote and when the child's part of the quote was said, they taped or adorned the piece of paper on the child.

Story: The story from the Ruhi Book


Art Project: Each child had a forgiveness box which they painted. There were pieces of paper to go inside the forgiveness box. On the pieces of paper were: sing a song, say a prayer, take deep breaths, kick a ball, write a letter, dance, listen to music. Sometimes when we are upset with someone, it is very hard to talk about the issue and forgive right away. This box has alternative choices when we are upset before we may be ready to forgive.

 

 

 

Game: Both classes played the game People to People together( in the Ruhi book). The children walked around saying people to people and clapping their hands. When the game helper called something out everyone stopped and did what the game helper said like back to back, feet to feet, or elbow to elbow. The game helper called out one command at a time.


Younger Class:


Lesson:  When our hearts are angry and sad they are dirty and don't reflect the attributes of God. When we forgive, our hearts are pure again

Story: We All Need Forgiveness by Mercer Mayer



Painting with Water Colors:

 

 

Lesson #2: Justice

" Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path"

Older Class:

Lesson:
Tread: walking towards something
path: Leads to somewhere, shows you the way
Justice: making something fair for all- examples:  following rules in a game or waiting until everyone has food before taking more.


We used movements for the quote:

Tread ye (stomp) the path(move both hands in a path movement in front of you) of justice, ( use both hands out to the sides like a weight), for this, verily,  ( put both hands down by your side pointing to the ground)is the straight( arms out straight in front of you pointing straight) path (both arms straight up pointing to the sky)


We also used a game to help the children understand what justice means.

We had various statements written out. If the statement is just, then the children would take one step forward. If the statement was not just, they would take a step backwards. We also used jumping forward and back, turning forward and back, baby steps, lunges, etc.
Some statements were: Planting a public garden for all to share, using one crayon at a time during coloring, taking all the cheese during snack time


Art: Each child traced their foot. They wrote justice on the foot and decorated it as desired(crayons, markers, stickers etc.) The foot print was to take home and put in their house somewhere. Every time they step on the justice foot, they can say the quote about justice

Game: Cooperative musical chairs. Start out with one chair per child. The children walk around while the music is playing. When the music stops, they have to find a chair. Remove one chair each time. By the end all children have to try to fit on one chair.

Younger Class:

Story: The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza

This Year's Children's Class

Looking back at our previous year and after consultation, we decided that it would be best to keep a similar format as last year with just a few changes.  We will continue to have the helping hands job chart and we will repeat the lessons in Children's Classes Grade 1: Some Principles of Baha'i Education with our own twists to the lessons. Families are welcomed to stay for the classes. The class will go as follows:


1. Hello Song: the person whose name is on the helping hands chart will start

2. Songs: the person whose name is on the helping hands chart will take the basket around and pass out a shaker to each child. We will then sing the new song for the week's lesson ( in the ruhi book). The song helper picks a song from the previous lessons, which we sing and then the helper collects the shakers. This gives that individual child the opportunity to perform a service to others.

 

 

 

Split into two classes: We decided in consultation after last year, that it would be best to split into an older class and a younger class. This gives the older class an opportunity to expand their knowledge on each virtue in a more challenging way. It will also help them to better understand the meanings of the quotes and virtues as well as use them in their personal lives rather than just memorize what is being taught.


One class is for two to four year olds ( about eight children)
The other class is for five to seven year olds ( about four children)


Younger Class
Prayers: The person whose name is on the helping hands chart will start prayers. They can chose to say a prayer individually from their heart, pick a prayer to sing together, or say Allah-u-Abha
Movement: This is a different movement activity each week where sometimes it is yoga poses, sometimes it is obstacle courses, or any other type of movement. The child whose name is on the helping hands chart starts the movement or is first in line for that activity.
Story: This is sometimes a story with props or a picture book about the virtue for that week.
Mailbox: The child whose name is on the helping hands chart gets what is in mailbox. This is usually the coloring page colored and laminated for the lesson.
Painting: They will be using water colors to paint the coloring page that is in the ruhi book for that lesson


Older Class:
Prayers: the person whose name is on the helping hands chart will start prayers. We will have the prayer box from the previous year.


Mailbox: The person whose name is on the helping hands chart will get what is inside the mailbox. Usually it will be the quote for that lesson or an object that has to do with the quote


Story: We may have a story helper if needed which will be listed on the helping hands chart. The children may act out part of the story, there may be props, we may use the story in the ruhi book or a picture book.


Art: The art project can be anything we want it to be as long as it goes along with the virtue we are talking about for that week.
Game: We will use the game in the ruhi book if we want or find a game that we would like to do for that week. We can decide if we want to join the other class for the game or if it is more appropriate for just our age level.


The classes come back together for snack and virtue journals.

A Year For Learning

    Last year, we had a children's class in Eliot which was not only a learning experience for the children, but also for the teachers. That was the first year we used the Ruhi Institute Children's Classes Grade 1: Some Principles of Baha'i Education. This is a book composed of twenty four lessons for children. Each lesson focuses on a different quality or virtue such as joy, truthfulness, forgiveness etc.
    We were very fortunate to have five teachers in our class as well as various community members who stepped in when one of the teachers was unavailable to be at the class.  There were on average about seven children who joined the class with ages ranging from three to six. Sometimes, we even had babies and 1 year olds sit in and listen.
      We had one teacher who played guitar, so she would play/teach the song each class that followed the lessons in the Ruhi Book. The other teachers rotated each aspect of the lesson including: leading the prayers, teaching the quote, sharing the story, and leading the game. That gave us a chance to develop our story telling skills, our creativity when teaching the quote, and our leadership skills with the game.
   We had a Helping Hands chart which I will post a picture of in one of my later posts. Each child's name was placed on the chart every week next to a certain part of the class.


*Hello Person: We began class with a hello song. We would start with the child's name who had that as a job. Hello  _________. How are you? Shake hands with someone sitting next to you. This would go around the circle until everyone had been introduced.


*After our hello song, we said prayers. There was a box that we passed around with quotes and prayers inside that we learned in previous classes to help with memorization.


*Song Person: We learned the new song for the lesson and then the song person could pick a song from a previous lesson for the group to sing together.


*Mailbox Person: There was a mailbox that had the quote for the week inside or something that had to do with that week's lesson.


*Story: We usually used the story in the Ruhi Book. Sometimes, we had some of the children help act out part of the story or used props.


*Game: We used the game in the Ruhi Book for the current lesson for that week.


*Coloring Page: The coloring in the Ruhi Book for the lesson we were on for that week.


*Snack: We had a rotating schedule for parents to bring a snack each week. The child or children of the family bringing snack would help pass out snack that week. While the children were eating snack, we also did virtue journals. Virtue journals are little booklets of paper. Each week, the child would take their virtue journal home. Either their parent or the child wrote down one virtue that they practiced that week. The virtue journals were shared with the group. A teacher gave clues as to whose virtue journal was going to be read such as the child's name starts with the same letter as snake or the child had a star on their shirt. The kids looked around the room to figure out whose virtue journal was going to be read next.








The whole year was wonderful. The children had fun, the teachers had fun, the children learned, the teachers learned, and all developed new qualities from within.