This week was Social Action Sunday for the older kids. The K-2nd and 3rd-6th graders counted cans, make a kindness chain, and decorated cookies for our Meadowlark Hills Valentine’s Party. Meanwhile, the preschoolers learned more about babies and dedication ceremonies, and the infants and toddlers made noise while reading Mr. Cow Can Moo! Can You?
The K-2nd and 3rd-6th graders spent the day thinking of others. The lesson started with making a chain link of random acts of kindness. The kids received strips of paper on which they wrote random acts of kindness that they have done or have been done to them. Then we combined the strips for a long chain. After reflecting on acts of kindness, we participated in two acts. First, the kids counted the cans collected by the Fellowship for Souper Bowl Sunday. We exceeded our goal of 100 cans by 71. Yay for 171 cans!! Second, we decorated sugar cookies to bring to our Valentine’s Party at Meadowlark Hills next Saturday. They’re going to be beautiful in addition to being yummy! This was a great day to think about others and making their lives a little brighter.
In the pre-K room, the preschoolers continued to learn about babies. Baby Sloane visited the classroom and the preschoolers visited the nursery to see Baby Arthur and Baby Lila. They learned how babies are different from toddlers and older kids. Then they drew pictures of babies. They also talked about the dedication ceremony for babies and Sandy showed them how it is done. Finally, they had snack and talked about what it’s like to have a baby in the house.
In the nursery, the infants and toddlers hosted the preschoolers. Then they had their own activity. They read Dr. Seuss’ Mr. Cow Can Moo! Can You? and made as many noises as they could. This was a good day for making noise, as the infants in the nursery needed a distraction! They ended their lesson by playing with toys.
If you would like to extend these lessons at home, here are some suggestions: for K-6th graders, make your own “random acts of kindness” chain and hang it up in the house. You could also do a neighborhood collection of cans or boxed goods and visit the Flint Hill Breadbasket. For preschoolers, show your children pictures of them when they were babies. They will really enjoy seeing their pictures and hearing stories about when they were younger. For infants and toddlers, allow some noise-making time every day. Pull out pots, pans, musical instruments, etc and have a ball making noise. Then put them all away and take some aspirin! 🙂