Helping Hands
Building Community
Teacher Lesson Guide
(swipe to advance)
Objectives
Denotation
Collaboration
Problem Solving
Lesson Design
45-60 Minutes
5 Min: Review Learning Objectives
20 Min: Literary Discussion: Badger Carries Darkness
5 Min: Wound vs. Support: Denotation Activity
10 Min: Build a Beat: Reinforcing Activity
3 Min: Closing Activity
Objectives
Inform students of lesson objectives using student friendly language.
Practice skills of kindness by:
identifying and differentiating between language and actions designed to wound and language and actions that support and build friendships
providing personal examples of actions and language that demonstrate kindness
Discuss and express the benefits of collaboration and teamwork
Engage in strategies that help to promote a class culture of kind collaboration and friendship building
Lingo List
Dishonest Language
untrustworthy
lie
cheat
unfair
Hurtful Behavior
ignore
humiliate
bother
yell at
pick on
complain
steal
Kind Language
appreciate
give thanks
gratitude
consider
thoughtful
attentive
please
courteous
generous
kindness
friendly
trustworthy
honest
sincere
Kind Actions
mindfulness
collaborate
support
build up
listen
protect
care
help
cooperate
service
aid
celebrate
praise
honor
Our words are a powerful gift that can be used to affect the emotional well-being of classmates and others. Helping children identify positive and negative behaviors and how they affect their classroom and school community. The words we choose serve an essential role in the success of collaboration. Challenging interpersonal situations can be navigated by the intentional use of language.
This lesson contains materials to help initiate conversations that can emphasize the wounding of ridicule and empowerment of praise.
Guiding Questions for Class:
What is kindness to you? Why are friendships important? Why are our words powerful? What are some benefits to working with others?
Reading:
Badger Carried Darkness
Coyote was traveling along. Badger always used to carry darkness on his back. Coyote met him. "My cross-cousin, what's in the bag you carry?" he asked. He was hungry and he thought Badger had food in his sack.
Because he thought there was food in there, Coyote wanted to stay around where Badger was and maybe get something to eat. So, the two traveled on together for a way. Then Coyote was thinking he would offer to carry the load and let Badger rest.
After quite a while Coyote said, "My cross-cousin, you look tired. You have a heavy load there. Why don't you let me carry it and you rest?" "No, I'm not tired. I always travel this way," Badger said.
After a while Coyote said again, "My cross-cousin, I think you are tired. Let me carry the load for you just a little way and you rest for a while." "All right, you carry this, my bed, if you want. I know you are thinking it's something to eat, but it's not. I carry this always. I'll let you have it, though." "I'm just saying this because I want to carry it for you and because you are giving out. I will carry it a little way," Coyote answered.
So Badger took his pack off and gave it to Coyote and they started on again. After a while Coyote said to Badger, "I want to stop to take a rest behind this bush. You keep on ahead and don't bother to wait for me." So, Badger went on ahead.
As soon as Coyote got behind the bush, he started to untie the pack, as that was all he wanted to do in the first place. When he untied the pack, it started to get dark. Darkness was all coming out. Coyote got scared and hollered after Badger, "WA-'a, my cross-cousin, I'm having a bad time here. It must be that you are packing bad things with you. I can hardly see at all."
Badger came back and said, "I told you not to open my pack. Now you have done it and started this. I already told you that there was no food in it. You have done something bad." Then Badger spread his arms and gathered in all the darkness and shoved it into the sack again, tying the mouth tight. Coyote felt mad on account of being fooled and said, "You just carry badness."
Open-Ended Questions:
After the reading, debrief the story using the open-ended questions below.
Denotation
Tell about a time when someone helped you.
When someone is helpful to you, how do you feel?
What are some ways that you help others?
What happens when people are not helpful?
Collaboration
How do we decide what help is needed?
What kinds of things are better to do alone?
What types of work or projects are better to do with the help of others?
Problem Solving
How can we decide when others are being truthful?
How can we tell someone respectfully that we prefer to not have help?
How can we ask for help when something is too difficult?
Denotation Activity: Wound vs Support
Purpose: Participant will fill in the chart on to learn new vocabulary; defining words and actions, then categorizing
Instructions:
Review words in the left column then ask the participants to help you come up with a symbol or synonym to fill in the 2nd column.
Categorize the new vocabulary as a word/action that can “wound” or “support” others/friendships discussing why.
Word
praise
untrusting
cooperate
ignore
sincere
complain
consider
humiliate
bother
give thanks
courteous
Symbol/Synonym
Reinforcing Activity: Lights, Camera, Community
Objective: Just like a movie has many roles for different characters to be played by actors, every community is built from many people who have different jobs, different ages and go about different routines through the day. For this activity, students will be casting roles in a movie called, “The Great Works Community.”
Materials: None
Instructions:
Organize small groups into teams of 2-5 students.
Have each team sit in a circle.
Give each team a talking stick (could be a pen or pencil).
The object of the game is to name as many community roles as possible for each group. (Community Role examples might be police, firefighter, electric company worker, bank teller etc.)
The student with the talking stick will say a community role for the movie, then pass the talking stick to the next student.
Group mentor should take notes on each individual
Choose a time limit for the game and compare lists with other teams for debriefing
Debrief
As a large group, ask about the roles each team/individuals came up with, write it on the (white)board/chat, or share screen. Ask for a show of hands to identify how many groups/individuals came up with the same role.
With each role, ask for a student to explain what that worker does in the community then ask for another student to explain to the group why the community would/wouldn't function well without that person.
Invite other students to agree or disagree with the comments being made.
Closing Activity
Today, we looked at how we work together with each other in the classroom and how we can make sure everyone contributes to a culture of kindness at school. We explored ways we can share our learning and caring with others in our school, on the playground, and in our neighborhood.
COME FULL CIRCLE- Open-Ended Questions
What new words did you learn today concerning kindness?
What are some advantages/challenges to working together?
In what ways does kindness help a classroom? What about home and outside the class?
What are some things we can each do to help teams be successful?
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