Ruhi Book 3 Lesson: Unity

Here are some suggestions for additional ideas and activities for teaching about UNITY.
I am not going to repeat in my posts what you already have in your Ruhi Books (I do the lessons from the book and the following ideas are supplemental activities to add to your lessons or replace parts of the lessons). The key is to keep it still simple enough that another teacher could also take over if necessary. As always, I would like to hear from you. What ideas and activities have you used? Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share your ideas.

Song:
The Ruhi Book 3 lesson on Unity includes a beautiful song that starts with:

"We are drops of one ocean,

           We are pearls of one sea,

           Come and join us in our quest for unity,

           It's a way of life for you and me..."

Teach them the hand gestures to go with the song or if you cannot remember the gestures, have the children help you make up hand gestures that fit the words of the song.

To get the pdf of lyrics for the songs and coloring pages for each lesson, click here. This link will take you to the section within ruhiresources.org that has the lyrics and coloring pages.

You can also find CDs with the songs and sheet music by clicking here. This link will take you to the section in ruhiresources.org that has this information.

Story:
One of my all time favorite books that can be used to teach multicultural education or character education is called "The Crayon Box That Talked" by Shane DeRolf (it was based on an anti-racism campaign). Kids love it and the illustrations are adorable. It is about a box of crayons where the crayons don't get along. Eventually a girl comes and buys them and uses all the different colors to draw a picture. They then start to realize how special they each are. I love the ending part:

"We are a box of crayons,
                Each one of us unique,
                But when we get together...
                The picture is complete."

You can get more info about this book on Amazon by clicking on the book here:

Art Activity:
You can also have children make a collage with pictures they cut out that show people working together in unity.

Or you can have them draw a picture, such as flowers of a garden or do the coloring page provided in the Ruhi Book 3 lesson (reminding them to use lots of crayon colors like in the story).

Anyways, those are just some extra ideas you might want to use to supplement your lessons on unity.

Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :).

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across. To email this post to others, just click on the email link at the bottom of this post (icon looks like an envelope).

Ruhi Book 3 Lesson: Kindness

Here are some suggestions for additional ideas and activities for teaching about KINDNESS.

I am not going to repeat in my posts what you already have in your Ruhi Books (I do the lessons from the book and the following ideas are supplemental activities to add to your lessons or replace parts of the lessons). The key is to keep it still simple enough that another teacher could also take over if necessary. As always, I would like to hear from you. What ideas and activities have you used? Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share your ideas.

Song:
To get the pdf of lyrics for the songs and coloring pages for each lesson, click here. This link will take you to the section within ruhiresources.org that has the lyrics and coloring pages.

You can also find CDs with the songs and sheet music by clicking here. This link will take you to the section in ruhiresources.org that has this information.

A great song to use is called "Kindness" and it is from the album "Be Bop Your Best" by Red Grammer.

You can find out more on Amazon by clicking on the CD picture:

This whole album is a great resource for teaching character/virtues education. For more info, go to http://www.redgrammer.com/.

Art Activity:
You can also have the children make coupon books/cards for their friends/family. I cut out heart shapes from pretty flower wrapping paper and gave one to each child to tape the edges onto the inside of their card. This made a heart-shaped pocket inside their card. I then made flower shaped coupons for them to store inside the heart-shaped vase (pocket). The coupons could say things like, "This coupon is good for: cleaning my room."

This is how the coupons look:

This is how the inside of the card could look:

Here is a free pdf file of the coupons I created. You can download or print to pdf and use for your own class. The stem has the "This coupon is good for" and the flower part is blank for the children to write in something like: "A big hug" (or you can help them write it in):

Kindness Coupons

Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :).

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across. To email this post to others, just click on the email link at the bottom of this post (icon looks like an envelope).

Ruhi Book 3 Lesson: Justice

Here are some suggestions for additional ideas and activities for teaching about JUSTICE.

I am not going to repeat in my posts what you already have in your Ruhi Books (I do the lessons from the book and the following ideas are supplemental activities to add to your lessons or replace parts of the lessons). The key is to keep it still simple enough that another teacher could also take over if necessary. As always, I would like to hear from you. What ideas and activities have you used? Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share your ideas.

Introducing "Justice":
You can explain that to be just means to be fair and to share with others.

When discussing justice in your classes, you can make cards that say "justice" on one side and "not justice" (or the word justice crossed out, like "justice") on the other side. Then give examples and have the children hold up the side that says "justice" if they think the example shows justice or the side that says "not justice" if they think the example does not show justice. You can make the cards out of index cards or card stock. This helps keeps the students engaged in the discussion and moves them towards being more active participants rather than passively listening.

I used the following examples for our discussion  (I have put a J in front of the examples that show justice):                   

1. 
   
   (J) Sharing crayons with others.
2. 
   
   (J) Following the rules when playing a game.
3. 
   
   Taking away someone's toy without asking to use it.
4. 
   
   (J) Making sure everyone gets a slice of cake.
5. 
   
   Cutting in front of others in line without permission.
6. 
   
   (J) Taking equal turns on the swing.
7. 
   
   (J) Finding a game everyone can enjoy.
8. 
   
   Taking someone's candy if they were mean to you.

 (Note: you may want to provide less examples if the children are getting antsy)

You can then give the students a chance to raise their hand and offer their own examples and have the rest of the children hold up their cards to say if that child's example shows "justice" or "not justice." When I did this in our class, the children seemed to enjoy giving their own examples. It also encourages children to listen to each other's examples because they know they will be having to raise their card after hearing it.

This is an example of the two sides of the cards:

Story and Art Activity:
I also came across a story online called "Fran the Fair Frog" which you can download for free as a pdf file. You can then use the Frog Craft heart shape theme as an arts and crafts project. It makes a really cute frog out of heart shaped parts. I then typed up some tips on how to be fair and taped it to the back of the frog that each child made. You can find the story "Fran the Fair Frog" and also the heart shaped frog craft by going to http://www.first-school.ws/THEME/animals/amphibians.htm

This is how the end product will look (I glued the tips of how to be fair on the back):

Song:

To get the pdf of lyrics for the songs and coloring pages for each lesson, click here. This link will take you to the section within ruhiresources.org that has the lyrics and coloring pages.

You can also find CDs with the songs and sheet music by clicking here. This link will take you to the section in ruhiresources.org that has this information.

Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :).

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across. To email this post to others, just click on the email link at the bottom of this post (icon looks like an envelope).

Ruhi Book 3 Lesson: Love

Here are some suggestions for additional ideas and activities for teaching about LOVE.
I am not going to repeat in my posts what you already have in your Ruhi Books (I do the lessons from the book and the following ideas are supplemental activities to add to your lessons or replace parts of the lessons). The key is to keep it still simple enough that another teacher could also take over if necessary. As always, I would like to hear from you. What ideas and activities have you used? Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share your ideas.

Art Activity:
There is a fun book called "My Map Book" by Sara Fanelli (all of it was done by a young girl). I came across this from one of my professors while getting my Teaching credential and I loved it. This book has different maps she has drawn ranging from a map of her room to a map of her tummy. Towards the middle of the book is a page called "Map of My Heart" where she writes and draws people and things that she loves. You can show this page to your students and then have them draw their own map of their heart. I created a sheet that said "Map of My Heart" on the top and then drew a large heart on it and then had "By_______" for them to draw and color in.

Here is an example of how a completed Map of My Heart would look:

(On a side note: If you are a school teacher, you can also use some of the other pages for other subjects in the classroom. For example, to teach about timelines there is a page in the book called "Map of My Day" or they can learn about maps in general from the page about "Map of My Neighborhood")

Click on the picture of this book to find out more about it on Amazon:

Song:
To get the pdf of lyrics for the songs and coloring pages for each lesson, click here. This link will take you to the section within ruhiresources.org that has the lyrics and coloring pages.

You can also find CDs with the songs and sheet music by clicking here. This link will take you to the section in ruhiresources.org that has this information.

I love the song in the Ruhi Book 3 lesson, but if you would like another song or plan to do the lesson in two separate classes, a great song to use is called "Caring and Compassion" by Red Grammer and Pamela Phillips Oland on the album "Be Bop Your Best".

Click on the image of the CD to find out more on Amazon.

Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :). 

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across. To email this post to others, just click on the email link at the bottom of this post (icon looks like an envelope).

Tips: Classroom Management, Procedures, Organization, Materials

Here are some suggestions for helping make your children's classes go smoothly. As always, these are just some suggestions, you may have other ways of doing things that work just as well or better.

Please feel free to use any of these ideas. You can also click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to let me know your ideas of what works well for you.

Classroom Management:
Make sure to explain to your children in the first classes what you expect of them and what they all will be learning about. Ask the children themselves for ideas of how they should behave in class and why. For example, they might say to raise their hand to say something so someone does not call out the answer before another child has a chance.

Whenever I need to quickly refocus their attention or get them to stop what they are doing quickly and listen, I use the "Give me 5" signal (This comes from the book First Days of School by Harry Wong -- a book used by many school teachers).

"Give me 5" means (hold up your hand showing all 5 fingers):

1. Eyes on Speaker
2. Quiet
3. Put things down
4. Be still
5. Listen

Really go over this signal a lot in the first classes. Have them practice before ever using it. I have the children talk to another child sitting next to them and then I say "Give me 5" and have them refocus their attention by quickly doing the 5 steps. We do this a few times and they like to see how quickly they can refocus and end their conversations.

After that it only takes a few times of reminding them what "Give me 5" means before you do not have to explain it again and just say "Give me 5" and they quickly focus. This is useful for if you forgot to explain something and need to get their attention in the middle of the art section or if you need to refocus their attention during a lesson. We also practice this again if we get a new student.

Use positive reinforcement (praise) when they are doing well. For example, "I like how _____ is sitting so quietly" and you will often find that the other children will quickly try to sit the same way so they can get praised too.

Some of my family members explained about "prayer posture" during one of the classes. This really helped as every time we say prayers at the beginning of class, the children now know exactly how to sit during a prayer (this is a good reminder for Baha'i children and a chance to explain it to seeker children).

Procedures and Routines:
Decide ahead of time how you will deal with transitions from one activity to another. One method that works well for us is to count down to zero and tell them that they need to be ready and at the right place for that activity by the time we get to zero. If you anticipate that they will need time, you can go from 20-0, for shorter transitions, just count from 10-0.

Decide what time of day would be best for you and the children for class. We happen to have our on Fridays right after school. The Baha'i parents bring the seeker children from school when they go to pick up their own children (this saves the other parents from an extra trip).

If you have lots of eager volunteers in your class like I do =), give each child a number and then have all the numbers in a bag. Pull out a random number from the bag each time you need to decide who gets to pass out materials or answer a question/give an example (if everyone is raising their hands for a turn). You'll find that the children actually ask you to do that from then on because they feel it is more fair. I always of course give them the chance to say "pass" if they do not feel comfortable. If you are doing Book 3A you can also use this same idea and have the names of the characters to act out in the bag and have each child draw out a paper and see what character they will be playing (so they do not get upset about what character they are to act out).

Decide how you plan to have children pass out materials. For example, I have the children passing out materials wait to give materials out until they see the person sitting down and ready to start the art section. This encourages the children to quickly get settled down as they know they will not get their materials until they are seated quietly.

Organization:
If you have a Costco membership, go to the stationary/office supplies section and grab a box of plastic sheet protectors (those plastic sleeves that you put paper into and then put in a binder). They last a really long time (225 plastic sheet protectors all together). Give one to each child at each lesson to keep all their materials protected. They can then keep their materials in one binder. This way the children value what they have worked on and it does not get torn or wrinkled.

Keep a binder of your own master copies of everything you do in plastic sheet protectors so you can remember what you have covered and be able to reuse again for future classes with other children/share with other teachers.

Store the crayons, glue, scissors, etc in plastic tubs/baskets (you can get these affordably at stores like the 99 cent store).

Materials:
Crayons
Colored pencils/markers (good for older kids)
Scissors
Glue
Tape
Index cards (or cardstock)
Pencils (sharpened), erasers
Construction paper
Plastic Sheet Protectors (see section about Organization)

Baha'i Children's Class Resources

http://www.ruhiresources.org/
(Go to the sections called Book 3 or Book 3A depending on which age range you are teaching or to the section called Child Education). This is a great website with many valuable resources, including pdf files of the coloring pages and song lyrics, handouts to give parents as an introduction, links to buy the CDs of the songs, and the list could go on -- there are so many great resources on their site.

http://www.bahai.us/bahai-education
Listed on this site are many useful links to websites. Some helpful sections on this site are Spiritual Education Resources and Core Curriculum for Spiritual Education. Under the "Spiritual Education Resources" section there is a link to the Brilliant Star Magazine Index that lists every issue of the magazine since 1991 -- this is great for if you already have a collection of the magazines and just want to find which one would have the virtue/activity you are looking for.

http://www.usbnc.org/
Sign in and search for the teacher's tool box. My Ruhi Book 3A tutor let me know about this resource =).

http://www.brilliantstarmagazine.org/index.htm
The Brilliant Star magazine has great activities and stories that children really enjoy.

http://unityworksstore.com/
A Baha'i store that sells materials for children's classes.

http://childrensclasses.org/
A blog about children's classes with some anecdotes about how each lesson went. Be sure to check out the "files" section for some materials to use.

http://home.earthlink.net/~l.qualls/index.html
This site has materials created by Linden Qualls. Click on the part that says "available documents"

http://moodle.r2pnetworks.com/mod/wiki/view.php?id=2&page=Character+Education%2C+Teaching+Virtues
A list of useful websites and resources out by the Snohomish Baha'i School

http://www.bahai.org.nz/family/childrens_classes.html
Great clear and useful introduction to use when explaining to others about Baha'i Children's Class.

http://www.bahai.us/bahai-children
Explains about the importance of Baha'i Children's Class and Spiritual Education. Also provides links to people interested in learning more as well as some resources.

http://virtuesproject.org/virtuesandstrategies.html
Virtues Project site that gives concrete definitions and examples of each virtue and how each one looks in practice in our daily lives. You can also purchase the Virtues cards and other resources at this site.

Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :).

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across.

Baha'i Children's Class -- Supplies and Books

Some stores that are useful for supplies are: Big Lots (especially for items like scissors, glue, and stationary), 99 cent store or Dollar Tree (great for art supplies and plastic tubs to store supplies in an organized way), and stores like Target (in their stationary/art section).

One way to help the environment while finding free materials is to join your local freecycle organization. This is where people offer free items for you to pick up in your own city. Oftentimes I will see people post free children's books, classroom supplies, stationary, toys, and so on.

I have created a teacher store through Amazon that is focused on Children's books, Children's songs, and School Supplies. Click here to see the store.

There is always your public library as a source for books, videos, and DVDs (check out my posts about each virtue and the section on the side of my website to see some books that I recommend). They also usually have a bookstore at the library with affordable children's books.

To create your own boardgame about theVirtues, you can go to the Bare Books company and purchase a kit that has a blank, durable game board (just like real boardgames), spinner, money, cards, and any other item you can think of (and at a reasonable price). Great too for if you want to create your own family boardgame, you can even print out digital photos of each family member and attach that to the playing pieces to move around the game.

Now it's your turn...I would like to hear from you :).

Click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to share other resources that you have come across.