Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement

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Growing as a Group
Unit of 9 lessons
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Unit Overview:

This unit was designed to teach to Regular Kindergarten students at the beginning of the school year. Many Kindergarten students have not attended school before and are not aware of the skills necessary to get along with a large group. The initial philanthropy lessons deal with sharing, taking turns, cooperation and working well together in a group. Students learn that there are rules to be followed and that being at school is different than being at home. Students also become aware that they are members of a community and that everyone benefits when the members of the community work cooperatively together for the good of the group.

Unit Purpose:

  • To introduce and instruct Kindergarten students about the skills necessary for interacting together as a group.
  • To teach Kindergarten students about responsible personal conduct.
  • To teach students that they are members of a community and to understand that all benefit when the community works together for the good of the group.

Unit Objectives:

Lesson One: Sharing is Caring
  • To engage in an activity that requires sharing to solve a problem.
  • To brainstorm a variety of solutions to the problem.
  • To discover that they must share limited resources to solve task.
Lesson Two: Compliments and Feelings
  • To define "compliment" by giving a compliment to another student.
  • To state how they felt when giving and receiving a compliment.
  • To complete a paper plate face showing how their face looked when giving and receiving a compliment.
Lesson Three: Polite Listeners and Traffic Rules
  • To identify what each color in the traffic light means.
  • To learn traffic rules.
  • To learn and memorize a poem about the traffic light
  • To learn how the traffic light will be used in the classroom for classroom rules.
  • To correctly construct a traffic light from construction paper
Lesson Four: Class Rules
  • To identify the three reasons that it is necessary to have classroom rules.
  • To brainstorm ideas for classroom rules.
  • To create rules for the classroom.
Lesson Five: Hands are for Helping
  • To have students give examples of ways they can use their hands for sharing.
  • To have students work cooperatively together to trace each other's hands to create an art project.
  • To have students describe how working cooperatively made the task easier.
Lesson Six: Angry Feelings
  • To have students brainstorm positive ideas of ways to handle angry feelings.
  • To discuss positive ways to handle angry feelings in the classroom.
  • To identify, name and label and area of the classroom where students can go to cool down and spend some quiet time.
  • To have students engage in dramatic play to demonstrate appropriate responses to angry feelings in the classroom.
Lesson Seven: Picture-Go-Round
  • To have the students discuss and define the word "group".
  • To have the students discuss and define the word "cooperation".
  • To have the students discuss and define the word "contribution".
Lesson Eight: Rolling in Dough
  • To have students follow a recipe and successfully create play dough.
  • To have the students discuss and define the word "cooperation."
  • To have students describe and demonstrate behaviors that are necessary for people to work together in a group.
Lesson Nine: Service Project
  • To have students identify hunger and poverty as needs in the community.
  • To have students brainstorm ideas for a service project.
  • To have students discuss the suggested projects.
  • To have students decide on a service project for the class to implement.
  • To have students implement and complete a service project.

Service Experience:

Although lessons in this unit contain service project examples, decisions about service plans and implementation should be made by students, as age appropriate.

To have students implement and complete a service project (food drive).

State Curriculum and Philanthropy Theme Frameworks:

See individual lessons for benchmark detail.

Lessons Developed By:

Janice Peterson
Detroit Public Schools
Woodward Elementary School
2900 Wreford
Detroit, MI 48208

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