These Learning Links provide ten quick-and-easy, five-minute mini-lessons to promote student thought and dialogue about service and civic engagement. You may use as many of them as you wish, and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of time, talent, and treasure for the common good) and to reinforce the lesson focus. These Learning Links also promote the development of character traits, civic engagement, and student leadership. As appropriate to your grade level, it is recommended that students play an active leadership role in presenting these mini-lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: Listen to this Aesop fable entitled The Bundle of Sticks: An old man asked his sons to visit him. He wanted to give them some advice before he died. He ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks. Then he said to his oldest son, "Break it."  The son tried and tried, but with all his efforts he was unable to break the bundle of sticks.  The other sons also tried, but none were successful.  "Untie the bundle," said the father, "and each of you take one stick."  When they had done that, he called out to them, "Now break!" Each stick was easily broken.  "You see my meaning," said the father. Union gives strength.
   
   Discuss: What does "Union gives strength” mean? How will we be “stronger’” if we work together to make a difference during our service event?
   
    
2. Read: Zero, Two, Four, Six, Eight - Who do we appreciate? Colin often hears the cheerleaders of his sister’s volleyball team repeat this chant. Each time the cheerleaders would say this chant they would answer their own question with a name of one of the team’s players. The chant would go something like this:  Zero, Two, Four, Six, Eight - Who do we appreciate? Katie, Katie, Katie she’s first rate! They would continue this chant until all of the players were told they were appreciated. When you appreciate someone it’s best to tell him or her that rather than to assume that they already know it.
   
   Discuss: How do you think someone who is told they are appreciated feels? How do you feel when someone tells you that you are appreciated?
   During our service event we will have many players on our team. What are some ways we can tell all of them that what they will do during our service event is appreciated and first rate?
   
    
3. Read:  “It’s no big deal,” he thought to himself. “I’ll go help for awhile and then leave and meet my friend.” This is what Cameron planned he would do on the day of his class’s service project. Earlier, his teacher had talked about commitment in class. She said that a commitment was a promise. “Sometimes,” she said, “we make commitments to others. Sometimes we make commitments to ourselves.” Cameron made a promise to be at his class’s service project and to work along with the others. But in his mind he was already wishing he hadn’t. He thought about making up some excuses about not feeling well or having to help at home instead. But it didn’t seem right. He thought going, working for a little while, and then leaving would be a good compromise. Then something strange happened. On the scheduled day, he had gone to help his class as promised.  But before the thought of it being time for him to leave came to him, the time planned for everyone to work had expired. The project was over before he even knew it!
   
   Discuss: Sometimes we get involved in something and it seems like time flies. What are some things you do that while you’re doing them time seems to fly? Why do you think “time flies”? Why do think time “flew” for Cameron? Why is it important to keep our promises to someone or ourselves especially when we wish we hadn’t? How can we keep our promises during our service project?
   
    
4. Read: Do you belong to a club? Have you ever wanted to start a club? Has anyone ever asked you to join their club? Maybe you have wondered how to go about starting a club? It’s easy. Here is a story of how one club got started. One day, a group of kids got together to rake a lawn for an elderly neighbor in New Canaan, CT. A few weeks later, these same kids helped a soup kitchen make 150 bag lunches. They were learning how great it feels to help others. They told their friends and in just a few weeks their club had grown to over fifty excited boys and girls. The only rule in this club was helping others. That was the beginning of Kids Care Clubs. Today there are over 1000 registered Kids Care Clubs in the 50 United States and countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. So it is as easy as just getting started!
   
   Discuss: How is our service project like joining a club? What might be some of the rules of our ‘Service Club’? How is our club similar to the Kids Care Clubs? Why might it be important that we get started learning how great it feels to help others?
   www.kidscare.org
   
    
5. Read: Do you hear people complaining about a lot of things they don’t like? “The Public Restrooms are a mess these days!” “Our highways look awful. Doesn’t anyone throw their junk in the trash, anymore?” “There’s way too much noise around here. Kids drive around with their car radio volumes turned up ridiculously high! “The price of gas is outrageous. I’m going broke!” “Nobody seems to want to help anyone anymore. I guess like me, they’re too busy.” “I don’t like those ugly looking land-fills any more that the next person, but it takes way too much effort to recycle.” “The fish in this lake aren’t fit to eat. Too much run off, especially from those farms, I guess.” Mahatma Gandhi, a well known major political and spiritual leader of India once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
   
   Discuss: Gandhi implied that if we don’t like something we need to be the ones to change it by doing something about it. What could someone do to help keep a public restroom clean? To help pick up the trash along our roads?  To help lower the amount of noise in our community? To reduce the amount of money spent for gas? To offer to help someone in need? To reduce the number of landfills? To help clean up a lake or stream? During our service project how are we planning to be the change we want to see in the world? Why should this not be a one-day event for how we live our lives?
   
    
6. Read: If given the choice most kids would rather eat chocolate than broccoli. If given the choice most kids would rather play than work. Broccoli and work just are not the same as chocolate and play!  Most adults will tell you to eat your vegetables, because they are good for you. They are right! But did you know that chocolate, particularly dark chocolate is also good for you? Where we run into a problem is when we have too much of something and not enough of something else. Too much candy and not enough vegetables. Too much play and not enough work. Balance is what makes for good health. Balancing our diets and our ‘work with play’ are two ways to ensure our good health.
   
   Discuss: Sometimes we really don’t want to do what’s best for us. We would rather snack on sweets or play than eat healthy food or work. How can our being involvement in our service project help us “balance” our lives?  What could we say to a classmate, who doesn’t want to “work” during our service project, to encourage him or her to do the “healthy” thing? How can we make our service day of “work” more like “play”?
   
    
7. Read: Most “fish stories” sound a bit “fishy”. They usually are about the “big one that got away”. But here’s a real fish story. A group in New Jersey organized a “Take a Vet Fishing Day”. It was intended to recognize and show appreciation to those men and women who serve or had served in the military. Andy Powers of Mahopac, New York heard about what this group wanted to do and joined in. He not only offered his own boat for fishing free of charge, but he also set up a website and encouraged others to join in this project. “It’s all about giving back,” one of the boat owner volunteers confessed. “This is the least I can do.”
   
   Discuss: “The least I can do…” what does this statement suggest? Some might not consider taking someone fishing to be a good way to give back. Do you agree or disagree with this thinking? Why? When we think about our service project what are some of “the least things we could do”? How might “the least thing” we do still be important?
   www.takeavetfishing.org
   
    
8. Read: Sport’s teams are often encouraged by their fans cheering for them. This cheering can be led by cheerleaders. It can also be led by fans that get other fans to join them. Sometimes words flashing across a scoreboard screen are used to get a crowd to cheer. Sometimes even the team members themselves will try to get the crowd cheering by motioning for them to get involved. It seems that cheering is a very important part of games.
   
   Discuss: In what ways might cheering be important and effective? What role do you think cheering could play in our service project? What are some of the ways that we can cheer our “team of workers” and get everyone involved in doing their best during our service project?
   
    
9. Read: April’s mom decided that it was time to do some “spring cleaning”. It looked like winter was finally over. “Let’s do the whole upstairs this weekend, and we can leave the downstairs for another time” mom announced on Friday afternoon. “The whole upstairs?” April whined. “We’ve planned a sleepover at Natasha’s on Saturday night. Now I won’t be able to go.” “Well, we’ll see about that,” mom said. That night mom sat down with the rest of the family and shared the plan. “April was assigned to the bathroom and laundry area. April’s younger brother would be responsible for the upstairs bedroom while Dad would handle the kitchen, since the sink needed fixing anyway. Mom volunteered to cover the dining and living rooms. “That pretty much should do it," she said. “Any questions?” April felt a lot better. The bathroom and laundry room certainly sounded like less work than the “whole upstairs.” She thought it was pretty smart of her mom to divide the areas in need of cleaning. April was pretty certain that what she had to do would be done in time to still go to Natasha’s sleepover. The thought even crossed her mind that whenever mom announced the “spring cleaning” for the downstairs, it probably wouldn’t be so bad either.
   
   Discuss: What did mom do to make a “big job” into a “little job”? Everyone had an area to clean and when each had cleaned their area of responsibility, the entire job was complete! In what ways could we do the same thing during our service project to make it easier? April was able to work and still have time to play. How does working as a team help make this possible? Why is it important that everyone does what he or she is assigned to do?
   
    
10. Read:  Have you ever volunteered do something to help someone else?  To volunteer means to offer and provide help to others. Shannon is a student who volunteers her time to help others. Shannon has a pet llama. Who knows what a llama is? If you said that it’s a large animal that looks a lot like a camel, you’re right! Llamas are gentle animals and make good pets and companions. When she was just eight years old Shannon would volunteer her time to take her pet llama to nursing homes, places where people lived who needed lots of care. The people in the nursing home loved to pet the llama. It made them smile. That made Shannon happy. Shannon also helps kids in her community. She volunteers her time to hold monthly themed parties about animals and reading at her local library. She says she likes helping children learn to read.
    
    Discuss: Why is it important that as many volunteers as possible be involved in our service project? In what ways are we hoping to make our community a better and safer place to live and work during our service project? What kinds of things do you think we can do to get kids involved with our event?
    http://www.buildabear.com/aboutus/community/huggableheroes/2004HH.aspx

Reflection plays a very important role in promoting student learning. The following suggested activities are ways to help students reflect on their learning after they have participated in a service event.  Choose one or more of the activities most appropriate to the service event and your students.

ACTIVITY ONE:
Provide each student with a cutout of a green, orange, yellow, and blue gum ball (a circle). On each green gum ball have the students write what they did during the Event activity.  On each orange gum have them write what impact they felt they made because of what they did. On the yellow gum ball have the students write a word that represents how they felt. On the blue gum ball have the students write something that they might do in the future to be helpful. Have students share their “gum balls” with a partner.  After their sharing, have the students come to the display area and place their four gum balls inside the outline of a glass topped gum ball machine.  (NOTE: Each gum ball should be displayed so that what is written on it can be easily read.)  Should the “Gum Ball Machine” not be “filled up,” encourage the students to add additional blue gum balls as they think of additional activities they could do to be of service.

ACTIVITY TWO:
Have the students share what chores they are responsible for doing around their home.  Record these responses on a display board for all to see.  Have the students look for commonalities and differences.  Lead the students in a discussion that explores why doing these chores might be helpful to everyone in the family; how they contribute to the “common good” of the family.  Now, lead the students in a discussion about the Event and have them explain what it is they did during the service project.  Record their responses next to their “chores” responses on the display board.  Lead the students in a discussion that explores the importance of doing their “chores” as a member of the community; why taking part in the service project might be helpful to their family, school, and/or community.

Ask the students how they feel about doing their “chores” around the house.  Record their responses on the display board. Then encourage them to share how they felt while being involved in the Event and have them compare their “chore” feelings with their “Event” feelings. Note similarities and differences and encourage them to draw some conclusions.

ACTIVITY THREE:
Draw a clock face on the display board without its numbers and Label it “What Time Is It?”  Randomly, read the statements below and instruct students to raise their hands if they know what time it is (hour)?  They are to determine the correct time by the clue found in the statements.  Once a student correctly identifies the time (hour) from the clue, they are to share something from their experience with the Event.  Capture one or two key words or phrases that “summarize” the student comments and record these key words/concepts, along with the correctly identified number in the appropriate hour position that the number occupies on the clock face.  (Note: Use the ‘time cues’ suggested or ones that might be more appropriate to your present classroom academic instruction.

Time Clues:

1. How many people are flying an airplane when a pilot is flying solo?    
   (1 o’clock)
2. How many people are there singing in a duet/How many people does it take to tango?    
   (2 o’clock)
3. The minimum number of legs you need on a chair in order for it to stay upright/The right side half of a figure eight/Number of blind mice who ran after the farmer’s wife.   
   (3 o’clock)
4. The number of “downs” you get to move the football 10 yards/The number that is called out when a golfer is concerned that someone might be hit by the golf ball.    
   (4 o’clock)
5. The number of digits that make up a hand or a foot/Number of players on a basketball team that can be playing on the floor at the same time   
   (5 o’clock)
6. A half-dozen/The highest number one can shake on a single die   
   (6 o’clock)
7. The number of days in a week/A half of a decade plus two         
   (7 o’clock)
8. The figure of some race tracks/The shape of a snowman           
   (8 o’clock)
9. Three triples/One year short of a decade/A baseball team         
   (9 o’clock)
10. The highest score for an Olympic diver/A decade    
    (10 o’clock)
11. The last hour of the morning before noon/The hour before midnight     
    (11 o’clock)
12. Eggs are usually sold in this quantity/How old is the oldest pre-teen in the world?    
    (12 o’clock)

Once the numbers and key words/phrases have been placed on the clock, label the clock “Time for Philanthropy.”  Ask the students to summarize what they heard in the way of key words and phrases.  Asking “Do you have time for philanthropy?” might be a good question when considering helpful acts of kindness and justice.

ACTIVITY FOUR:
Show the students a variety of pictures of various candy bars (or have a variety of candy bars on display).  Ask the students to think about their favorite candy bar.  Have them share what it is about their "pictured" candy bar that appeal to them.
For example:

1. How do they feel while they are thinking about their favorite candy bar?
2. How do they feel while they are actually eating their favorite candy bar?
3. How do they feel after they have actually eaten their favorite candy bar?
4. Do they think that they might eat another of those candy bars in the future?
5. Do they think they might try a different kind of candy bar in the future?

Have the students think about and share with the class how eating their favorite candy bar and their having been involved in this most recent service project might be alike.  Conclude this reflection by having the students share their favorite part about this service project and explain why.