Commitment

From the story "The Quiltmaker's gift", the children discovered that sometimes gifts come with responsibilities. The King gave the boy a marble. He could play with it, paint with it, etc. but when he decides that he doesn't want it anymore, he can store it somewhere or give it to someone else. In the same story, the King gives away a bowl of fish. Living things require care and commitment. The children connected that situation with the fish that we recently received. As a group, they all decided to take responsibility and care for the fish. We read "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister and the children found out that fish live in water and that they need friends. While we were looking at our fish bowl, we realized that the water is very dirty - it needs CARE! All the children in the wind group agreed to commit as a group and take care of the fish. Emilie: "I am sure the fish will appreciate that"; Simon "They will show their appreciation by letting us admire them and feed them". Together we gathered all the things needed to change the water and yes, it required lots of patience, attention and work, but we all enjoyed the process. 
The children will make sure that the fish are fed 3 times a day, that the water is clean and to let everyone know that they need to take care and be gentle around the bowl. 

The Water will be changed every week and we hope that our fish will enjoy and appreciate the generous act the children are showing. 

Generosity and feelings.

Today we talked about the King's feelings and the way that things influence our life. Together, we retold the story "The Quiltmaker's Gift" and on a chart, we glued the feelings that the King expressed throughout the story. The children realized that for a very long time, the King was very unhappy, angry and lonely. A few times, he showed a more caring side; Trystan "He started to worry that the Quiltmaker will get hurt". However, it didn't last for too long. As soon as he saw that the Quiltmaker was happy, the king was unkind again. 
Simon "It took a very long time for the King to smile". 
In the end, the children showed understanding when the King tried to change and to give things away. Emilie "It started with a marble....". 
In the end, the King's feelings changed, and he went from being greedy and unhappy, to being joyful and kind. “His smile shows that he is very excited and very happy”, Trystan said. 

The children thought about the King's experience and they decided to share some of their things with other people. Please help them choose something that they don't use/need anymore and at the end of the unit, we will share those things with other people in need of clothes, toys, food, etc. 

Thank you! 

Making a quilt!

After painting and drawing different scenarios of times when we gave something away or received a gift, the children wanted to explore sewing. "We need a needle, string and scissors", Emilie said. 
The children showed empathy towards the Quiltmaker. Practicing sewing made them realize the hard work required to make a quilt. Trystan said that, "Sewing involves a lot of patience and care". Sarah said that, "Sewing requires a lot of practice". 

After sewing some parts of the quilt, the children showed an understanding of the importance of appreciating each other’s talents. It takes lots of practice, patience and determination to make something. It also takes a lot of love and generosity to give it away to other people. 

Who We Are....

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Are we generous beings?
 What is generosity? 
 * Sharing with our friends and family.
* Being kind and helping each other. 
* Giving things that we don't need/use anymore .
* Receiving presents. 
* Saying Please and Thank you to show our Appreciation towards other people.

The children in the Wind group received a blank cut out person. Their job was to decorate it in order to share some characteristics about themselves. Sarah and Emilie reminded everyone to be thoughtful when using different colours and materials to decorate themselves, because as they remembered from the colour unit, colour and materials can be used to describe something. The children shared and discussed various aspects that they liked. We talked about different ways of showing generosity and discussed their understanding of what generosity is. 

Emilie and Sofia told us that they love to give hugs and kisses to their parents, which also makes their parents happy. Byron said that it made him happy to share his stuffy with his brother, because he could see that his brother really liked it.
From this conversation, we read the story "The Quiltmaker's Gift" by Jeff Brumbeau. The story is about a Quiltmaker that sews quilts for the poor people. After she finishes a quilt, she walks up and down the street, looking for people that are homeless. The children identified that taking care of other people and giving gifts that will help other people be comfortable and cozy is an act of generosity. In the same story, there is a very greedy king that likes to receive things and doesn't like to give anything away (Trystan: "The King is not kind. He is not generous") He makes various attempts to acquire a quilt, but the Quiltmaker gives quilts only to the poor and needy so she suggested to the King that if he desires a quilt, he should give away possessions that no longer make him happy. The King thought and thought, and finally he decided to give something away; it was a marble. The boy that received the marble was so happy; and so the King started giving more things away because he realized it makes him happy to make others feel joy. The story ends with the quiltmaker giving the King a quilt and for the first time, he was very happy.  
Sarah "Giving things away can make people change and be very happy" 
Trystan "I love marbles, I would be very happy to receive a marble too" 
The children each received a marble and some paint. Some of them decided to paint with it, others to play. We are all working on making a quilt. We will paint and write stories that show different ways through which we are generous. 

Who We Are - We Are Generous Beings

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Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are
Title: We are generous beings
Key concepts: *Reflection   *Perspective   *Connection
Lines of Inquiry: * We are generous beings.
                              * People have different understandings of generosity.
                               * There is give and take in generosity.
Teacher's Q:  * How can we be generous?
                      * What is generosity?

                              *  Does being generous help us feel happy 

                               (and build community)?

We started our new unit with a discussion about First Nation’s people, 
their traditions and our connection to them.
When they get together, the gathering is called a Potlatch which is a gift-giving festival practiced by the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. The word Potlatch comes from the Chinook language and means "to give away" or "a gift". The children connected this tradition with our new unit, Generosity. The following day, some children brought some food to share with everyone. What a wonderful way to start our new unit. Connecting with each other, sharing and learning different ways of celebrating love and friendship. 

After the "Generosity party", the children were gathered in their own small groups and we started brainstorming and sharing our existing knowledge of the meaning of "Generosity". 

The children in the wind group listed the following qualities that connect to being generous: giving and receiving of food and toys, sharing with their friends and family, and the giving and receiving of hugs and kisses.
Before we start exploring the unit and developing our knowledge, we will talk about each other and the things we like and dislike. This discussion will connect us back to the concept of “Who We Are”.

Using colour to decorate our rooms

Finding the right colour

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Trystan's room

Sarah's room

Sofia's room

Simon's room

The children’s knowledge and experience with colour led into a wonderful activity. Joyfully and thoughtfully, the children choose the colour and decorations that they would like to use to design their “dream rooms”. It was delightful to see them cooperate, share and admire each other’s designs.  Everyone wanted to have something different on his or her walls, something that was their own. On a small piece of paper, they used colour to draw something that they like.

 Howard “I love cars”

Trystan “I would like a blue picture” 

The rooms turned out to be very beautiful. Each room was unique and as the children mentioned before, colour can help us describe someone’s feelings and interests. 

Byron, Howard and Emilie will be working on finishing their rooms this week. 

Decorating our bodies!

Continuous assessment provides insights into students’ understanding, knowledge, skills and attitudes. A chart was made where we recorded everyone’s knowledge on how people use colour.  These are the answers that the children came up with: 

* People use colour to draw, paint, mix, decorate their bodies and rooms, describe someone’s interests, feelings, likes and dislikes.

From this list, the children showed an interest in decorating their bodies using colour. This shows a connection to the central idea “Colour is all around us and makes a difference in our lives”

Their faces lit up as we were decorating them. While looking at their bodies in the mirror, the children’s smiles grew bigger and bigger. As you see in the picture, our activity continued into a dramatic play, where their body decoration transformed them into their character.