Thursday, 11 September 2014

Good feelings arise when friends help each other by sharing the work.

While reading the classic folktale "The little red hen", the children demonstrated an understanding that because the other animals (hen's friends) did not want to share in the workload during the day, when it came to enjoying the delicious bread that the hen had baked all by herself, the hen chose not to share even though all the animals jumped "to help eat" when it came to that. The children recognized that the hen might have felt upset and disappointed that she received no help and then everyone wanted to eat. 

"You can't just eat. Everyone needs to help a little bit. I always help my parents at home." Esme 

We created a feeling face chart where the children picked a feeling that reflected how they think that red hen felt when no one helped her.

"I like to help my friends." Kesler 
"It makes them happy." Andrea 

In order to dramatize the story, we all made paper puppets. Esme chose to be the little red hen and when she asked the other children (animals) to help her bake bread, they all said yes. The children felt the need to change the story because they all felt that sharing the workload is a generous act that reflects an important friendship quality.
After the dramatization, we gathered all the ingredients necessary and baked our own bread. The children enjoyed taking turns and helping with adding the ingredients, mixing and cleaning up at the end. They all agreed that working together was fun and fast. 

"We should share the bread with all our friends." Esme 
"I think they will really enjoy it. It feels good to share and make others happy." Grace 

The children demonstrated an understanding that it is more likely for someone to share with the others when the workload is shared amongst friends. 


The smell of the bread baking in the oven was delightful. 
Esme couldn't stop herself from checking from time to time to make sure that the oven was on and that the bread was rising. 
"I am so excited to eat the bread..... and to share it with everyone. Let's do a show for all our friends and tell the story where everyone helps each other."

"I would like to share some bread with my mommy." Luca 


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