Prayer Lesson, MAEA Conference, and Art Ideas

I can’t deny it – it really stinks when you spend 5-10 hours a week prepping lesson plans, and have no students attend class. But I understand how busy life can get. Today’s lesson was very important, so hopefully I can push my curriculum back one week and fit it in next Sunday. Regardless, here is an overview of the lesson plus some fun art ideas to try.

Lesson : Prayers.

Open with Devotions, Classroom Rules, pass out snack.
Lecture/Discuss prayers. Talking points : Why do we say prayers? What happens when we don’t pray? Who do we pray to? What do we pray for? What is the Obligatory Prayer?

Prayer Scavenger Hunt : Put students into groups and hand each group a prayer book. Hand each student a prayer scavenger Work Sheet and a pencil. You can see the worksheet here , although the formatting was changed when I uploaded it: Prayer Scavenger Hunt
(ETA : Just saw I included “When you wake up” twice, that can be changed or they can find 2 prayers for that situation!)

The students will fill out the scavenger hunt, and each group will choose a new prayer they found that they liked. They will present it to the whole class. This will be the next prayer we work on memorizing in class.

During this activity, teacher will prepare for the Arts and Crafts Activity next.

Craft : Obligatory Prayer and Frame
Ahead of time – Use a hot glue gun to make picture frames out of popsicle sticks. Glue a magnet onto the back of each frame. Also, print out the obligatory prayer on nice card stock, large enough to fit in the frame.

Students will use acrylic or tempera paint, sequins, foam stickers, ect to decorate their frame. Then they will glue the Obligatory Prayer to the back of the frame and hang it in their locker or on their refrigerator at home.

Clean Up, review songs.

Hopefully I can use this lesson next week!

On Thursday and Friday of last week I attended the Michigan Art Education Association Annual Fall Conference in Dearborn. It was quite an experience – especially for a newbie like me. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned so much. One session I attended had us making illustrated accordion books with Haiku poems inside. I have been wanting to make this kind of book with the Blessed Is The Spot prayer and now I know how too! Well, I am still fine tuning the details, and when I do I will post specific instructions here. But here is what I came up with so far:

And one of my newest favorite books is The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas. I copied this project from the book, but it can be adapted and changed. I thought it goes GREAT with the story of Abdu’l-Baha and the sheep, which can be found in the Core Curriculum book of Baha’u’llah stories, Volume 1.

To make this kind of art, use a white oil pastel to draw the sheep’s bodies and some lines on the ground. Then wet the entire paper with water, and use blue/purple/pink watercolors. Make sure the colors run together and mix. I used Windsor and Newton Cotman WaterColours in Intense Blue and Permanent Rose. When the paint dries, use black watercolor or ink to add in the heads, tails, and legs. Let that dry, and then use white acrylic or tempera paint to splatter all over – the book suggests dipping a toothbrush in the paint and flicking it with your finger.

I am also working on a Shrine of the Bab drawing lesson. Here is my first attempt, drawing it out first in pencil and then filling in with oil pastels. This kind of project would work best with 4th-8th grade, possibly High Schoolers if they show interest in drawing. And crayons or colored pencils would also work better.

That’s it for this week! Hopefully next week I’ll have some more concrete things to share.

Golden Rule – And A Bit About Differentiation

Last week we opened our classroom to first graders, making our class 1st-5th grade. It has me thinking about multi-age classrooms, as well as differentiated learning in a religious education setting. While my brain has only begun to get a grasp on these contents, I’d love to have a conversation with anyone interested in these topics, if that’s you let me know!

Last week, our class learned about the Golden Rule. And more importantly, we learned that the Golden Rule can be found in every world religion! After we investigated their similarities and differences, we decorated puzzle pieces with the different Golden Rules.

At the end, we put it together to make a heart! All religions teach us to love one another.
We talked about how we try to treat others as we wish to be treated, and heard a folk tale about a family that treated their neighbors with kindness and respect.

Here is the finished puzzle – I’ve mounted it on poster board to hang in the classroom.

For those interested in exploring what the World Religions have to say about the Golden Rule, here is a great interactive website :

http://www.scarboromissions.ca/Golden_rule/golden_rule_flash.swf

Next week we will be celebrating Global Oneness Day, learning more about our UNICEF service project, and beginning our studies on Baha’u’llah.

Whole Soul Lesson Planning

I have always been a fan of Whole Brain Teaching. But lately I’ve been wondering what Whole Soul Teaching would look like. So for our last lesson at the Detroit Baha’i Center Sunday School, I planned a lesson using many small activities to exercise the brain and the soul. Here’s a brief overview:

Objective – Create a lesson for 2nd-5th graders to teach Progressive Revelation. Students will understand that there is One God, One Human Family, and One Religion. Students will understand that God’s Messengers are like mirrors reflecting the light of the Sun (God) and they are the teachers of humanity.

Time – 90 Minutes
Overview:
1. Prayers
2. Review Classroom Rules
3. Teacher Lectures on the Main Concepts
4. Students learn Sign Language for the Main Concepts
5. Students get worksheet and copy a quote from Baha’u’llah.
6. Students take mirrors outside to scientifically learn a concept.
7. Students draw their observations based on their discovery outside.
8. Children make a craft.
9. Children learn a song.

1. Begin class with prayers. This directs our education towards God and strengthens our soul.

2. Review classroom rules and procedures. This establishes a loving, respectful environment.

3. Teacher introduces the Oneness of God. Introduce the Messengers of God. Use metaphor – Messengers reflecting the light of God and Messengers as the progressive teachers of humanity. Discuss how through progressive revelation, unity of God, God’s Law, Love, Nation, and Humanity were achieved. This uses listening skills.

4. Children stand up in a circle and learn sign language relating 5 Prophets and the unity they established. This uses gross motor skills,

5. Pass out short worksheet on Messengers as Mirrors. Children will draw a picture of a mirror reflecting the light of the sun, and then copy a quote from Baha’u’llah. This employs the use of writing and reflection. It involves the private study of the Writings and Independent investigation.

6. We take small hand-held mirrors and go outside the school to see what a mirror looks like when it reflects the light of the sun. This involves scientific discovery.

7. Then we go back inside and finish the drawing on our worksheet. This involves critical thinking.

8. Then we make a craft project that reinforces the Oneness of God, Man, and Religion. This engages the eyes, hands, and creative mind.

9. To end the class, we learn and sing a song called “God Is One” which cements the new concept in our hearts, minds, and souls.

Outcome:
The class went extremely well. Although I do not plan to use so many different activities in every lesson, I could immediately see which modes of learning the children preferred. For one student, who recently moved here from overseas and is still learning English, he excelled during the scientific discovery portion. I could assess his understanding by his ability to draw what a mirror looked like when it reflects the light of the sun.

And the craft? Too cool for words. I modified a craft from the Catholic Icing Blog

Hanging below the Hand shape were squares that read “God” “Humanity” “Religion”
The song lyrics were

God is One
Man is One
And all the Religions are One
Land and Sea
Hill and Valley
Under the beautiful sun

God is One
Man is One
And All The Religions Agree
When everyone learns the 3 onenesses
We’ll have world Unity.

You can listen to it here: just scroll down until you see God Is One.

Whole Brain Teaching – The Baha’i Way

Last summer, I came across something called Whole Brain Teaching (originally called Power Teaching.) It is a grassroots education reform movement designed to make classrooms a place of order.

Among it’s principles are 5 classroom rules accompanied with hand movements. The website lists these 5

1. Follow directions quickly (make your hand shoot forward like a fish)
2. Raise your hand if you want to speak (raise your hand and then make a talking motion with your fingers)
3. Raise your hand to leave your seat (raise your hand and then make a walking gesture with two fingers)
4. Make smart choices (tap one finger on your temple as you say each word)
5. Keep your dear teacher happy (draw a smile with your fingers)

Well, Sunday School classes started at the Detroit Baha’i Center  two weeks ago, and I found myself with the opportunity to try Whole Brain Teaching with my 1st-3rd grade students. I adapted the rules a bit.

1. Follow directions quickly
2. Raise your hand if you want to speak
3. Respect yourself, respect others, respect your school (point to self, point to others, point down to floor)
4. Make smart choices
5. Follow the example of Abdul-Baha (make walking motions with your hands, then point to a photograph of Abdul-Baha)

After we learned the rules together, I drew a grid on the board called The Motivator. Whole Brain Teaching developed this as an incentive to classes. You draw a smiley face, a frowny face, and then a grid between them. You reward good behavior by making a talley under the smiley face, at which time the class goes OH YEAH. And you discipline your class with a frowny face, at which time the class goes AWWW. If, at the end of class, your students have more smiley’s, they get a reward. Whole Brain teaching recommends that you give them more frowny’s the first few days, and then give them small rewards, like an extra minute for recess.

To suit a Sunday School setting, I changed it around a bit. I will almost always give the class more smiley’s, but their reward is “Homework.” All the kids groaned upon hearing this, until I told them what the homework would be. It might be a bookmark, or a coloring page, it might even be a craft kit, or a mini story book. And best of all, there would be no grades! My reasoning for doing this is that I want homework to have a positive association, and I want to get them reading the Holy Writings as much as possible at home.

So, I had my class repeat the 5 rules once more, and because they lacked enthusiasm, I gave them a mark under the frowny face. They immediately repeated the rules with tons of energy, so I gave them two marks under the smiley face!

I can see how this will be a valuable tool in our classroom. The children picked up on the rules immediately, making sure to raise their hands. The students even discussed ways that we could respect our school by not slamming doors or talking in the hallway.

Abdul-Baha said that “It followeth that the children’s school must be a place of utmost discipline and order,”

I hope that as we continue with our 5 rules and Motivator, our classroom becomes just that 🙂

The Importance of Educating Girls – Gender Equality In The Classroom

The New York Times recently published an article highlighting the importance of educating girls.

“In many poor countries, the greatest unexploited resource isn’t oil fields or veins of gold; it is the women and girls who aren’t educated and never become a major presence in the formal economy. With education and with help starting businesses, impoverished women can earn money and support their countries as well as their families. They represent perhaps the best hope for fighting global poverty.”

Moreover, the article asserts that making education a priority for females will reduce terrorism.

“Yet another reason to educate and empower women is that greater female involvement in society and the economy appears to undermine extremism and terrorism…Some scholars say they believe the reason Muslim countries have been disproportionately afflicted by terrorism is not Islamic teachings about infidels or violence but rather the low levels of female education and participation in the labor force.”

In the US and other industrialized countries where girls attend school, it is still important to promote gender equality.

In The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Abdul-Baha states that :

“Daughters and sons must follow the same curriculum of study, thereby promoting unity of the sexes. When all mankind shall receive the same opportunity of education and the equality of men and women be realized, the foundations of war will be utterly destroyed.”

Whether you are a 10th grade science instructor or preschool teacher, here are some helpful tips for promoting gender equality in your classroom

1. Develop activities which require the cooperation of male and female students.
Cooperative games, science activities, ect will teach students to work together, rather than focusing on the “right answer.”

2. Encourage older female students to assist or tutor in your classroom.
Also invite community role models to give presentations to your class.

3. Be mindful of your own gender bias, and gender biased language.

4. Be mindful of gender differences that already exist in your classroom –
Boys might tend to be aggressive when answering questions, girls might tend to be timid and quietly       raise their hands.

5. Investigate your teaching materials
Make every effort to have a classroom library filled with books illustrating positive females and males. Be critical of the videos you show and the posters you hang in your classroom. If you notice a video about airplanes that focuses on boys, hold a class discussion about gender stereotypes after viewing it.

6. Use Metaphor to Demonstrate Concepts
Show students how a plant grows with the help of soil, sunlight, and rain. These may appear different, but work together to achieve growth.

Teach students about balance and harmony. Ask them how their own bodies work through balance and harmony.  (Two eyes, two hands, two legs.) Tell them that men and women are like two wings of a bird, the bird cannot fly unless both wings are equally strong.

Share and memorize this quote :

The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly.

-Abdul-Baha

Please share your ideas! Have you found a great game, activity, book, or fieldtrip to teach your students gender equality? Let us know!

Spirit of Service – Volunteer Ideas For Kids

Previously, we highlighted an article describing the benefits of volunteering. But more often than not, we aren’t thinking of personal gain when devoting time to the service of others. Whether helping a neighbor or joining a global campaign to end hunger, living a life of service has the power to transform the world.

“Training in morals and good conduct is far more important than book learning. A child that is cleanly, agreeable, of good character, well-behaved–even though he be ignorant–is preferable to a child that is rude, unwashed, ill-natured, and yet becoming deeply versed in all the sciences and arts. The reason for this is that the child who conducts himself well, even though he be ignorant, is of benefit to others, while an ill-natured, ill-behaved child is corrupted and harmful to others, even though he be learned. If, however, the child be trained to be both learned and good, the result is light upon light.”

What better way to raise children to be a benefit to others while developing their intellectual capacities than through service?  When planning a service project for your family or classroom, there are a few things to consider.

1. Research Your Community

Involve children in actively researching the needs of your community. Talk to hospitals, homeless shelters, and schools to find out what they need. For example, some hospitals only accept new packs of crayola brand crayons for their younger patients; and homeless shelters might use a particular brand of toiletries. By going directly to the source you will have greater impact, and children will feel personally engaged in developing the service project.

2. Service Should Connect The Community

There can be no words to express the benefit of community service, but what if you could increase it’s rewards? Making holiday cards for local senior citizens is a wonderful idea – but expand it by delivering the cards in person and spending a few hours sharing stories. Collecting canned food helps the hungry, but volunteering at a soup kitchen heals the community.

3. Capitalize on Individual Talents

In order to do good for others, the first step can be looking within ourselves. Not neccessarily in some hippy-dippy way, but by acknowledging how our unique talents and interests can benefit others. We don’t have to be rocket scientists – an interest in basketball can give birth to an effort to hold a Saturday Sport Workshop connecting local children with sports instructors. Or even the opportunity to sell concessions at a big game and donate a portion towards buying the school new sports equipment. Get creative!

4. Planning Only Gets You So Far

Translate your ideas into reality!

“Some men and women glory in their exalted thoughts, but if these
thoughts never reach the plane of action they remain useless: the
power of thought is dependent on its manifestation in deeds.” – Abdul-Baha

Service Ideas

1. Heifer.org – This organization raises funds to provide livestock for families in need. With an income, communities are empowered and able to feed it’s people. The organization also provides free education kits containing lesson plans, books, and posters.

2. Meals On Wheels – Spend a morning delivering meals to people in need. Most often senior citizens, Meals On Wheels combats hunger and creates community connections. My family volunteered on Christmas morning and cannot describe how wonderful it was to meet so many amazing people and hear their life stories.

3. Soup Kitchen – Spend a few hours at a Soup Kitchen. Younger children may prefer to arrive early and help in food preparation (sandwich making!) Older children might enjoy organizing a fundraiser to collect canned food to personally deliver at the soup kitchen. This is a great way to participate in service directly with the community.

4. Bedtime Snack Sacks. “While most kids enjoy a bedtime snack, children living in homeless shelters seldom have that treat. With your kids, decorate a number of lunch bags with markers, sequins, and glitter. Fill each bag with a juice pack and non-perishable treat such as a granola bar, packaged crackers, or dried fruit. The experience should foster some meaningful conversation with older kids about why the shelter exists and how it’s supported.”

5. Reverse Trick-Or-Treat – Around Halloween, organize a reverse trick-or-treat event. Children can assemble small bags of candy. Then, dressed in halloween costumes, they can deliver them at a local nursing home, hospital, or children’s home. (Research comes in handy here!) Spend time over licorice and chocolate and show children how wonderful it can be to share.

6. Share Your Ideas! Did you put on a play to teach equality? Or paint over graffiti with a decorative mural? Let us know!

7 Ways To Save In The Classroom

Recently, my Aunt sent me an e-mail announcing which office supply store was having a mega sale on Crayola Crayons. After seeing me collect crayons from restaurants, she knows how seriously I care about classroom budgets and providing supplies for all of my students.

It can be overwhelming to gather the tools required to teach. Many teachers go into debt every year trying to provide simple things for their students.

So this post is dedicated to my favorite places to get school/teaching supplies!

1. Recycle old crayons into new rainbow crayons by melting them in muffin tins!

We all have bits and pieces of well-used colors hidden in the bottom of crayola boxes. Put them to use by making jumbo rainbow crayons – you can even let your students help collect the used bits and teach them about unity in diversity!

2. Recycle Brown Paper Grocery Bags Into Creative Crafts

Many of us use eco bags when grocery shopping. If you haven’t made the switch and find yourself being asked “Paper or plastic?” opt for the paper and recycle the bags into fun crafts or scrap paper for painting and drawing.

3. Browse Used Book Stores and Thrift Stores

No link here, but this can contribute to the biggest savings. I fully admit being fascinated by brand new books, but when it comes to classroom reading materials, I scour used bookstores and aways find treasures. For a fraction of the price, you can find classics like Rainbow Fish, or huge books filled with lesson planning ideas. It can be tough to provide students with reading materials, but this solution will benefit your budget and the environment.

4. Freecyle!

Freecyle enables you to network in your community for free items. Attentive browsers will quickly identify people ‘decluttering’ their houses/classrooms and offering paper, pencils, even toys to the first responder.

5. Collaborate With Parents

Encourage parents to start collecting household items like cans and water bottle caps for your class.  These can make priceless organizers for holding pencils and paint brushes. Glue water bottle caps onto a margarine lid and you have a handy palette for painting. Shoeboxes, toilet paper rolls, magazines – these can be indispensable items in a classroom.

6. Make Musical Instruments

Music time can enrich a classroom and develop creativity and self esteem in students. However, budgets can’t always allow teachers their own supply of instruments. So get crafty with the children and make instruments like tambourines. Not only will you enjoy making music, but the students will feel ownership over their creations.

7. Share Your Ideas!

Collaborate with other teachers and parents and learn new ways to save in the classroom. Share your ideas in the comments section here!