The Same

Today’s word is HAPPINESS. It happens to be on the day that I taught my favorite Kindergarten lesson. I wrote about it a few years ago. I have taught it for years and it never fails to make an impact on the kids. It always brings me happiness when I teach it.

After showing the kids a brown egg and a white one, we talk about the differences on the outside. Then we crack them open and talk about how they are the same inside. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for them to realize – just like people.

It is a lesson that works every time. Here are some photos and responses from today.

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(Translation: “The outside’s different. The same on the inside.”)

(Translation: “They’re different on the outside but they’re the same on the inside.”)

Light Overpowers Darkness

Following along with yesterday’s blog about MLK and our white egg/brown egg experiment, today, my class met with their 4th grade reading buddies.  Once a week we meet and the children read to each other.  This week we changed things up a bit and I read a book to the two classes about Martin Luther King and then they worked with their buddies to come up with a way that they could create something great in our world.  Every pair of buddies came up with wonderful answers, but this one made my heart melt.

“Even though there’s darkness in the world, light can overcome it.”

It really could not be more clear.  If only everyone could think the way children do.  The world could be a pretty amazing place.

As soon as I read this, I knew it would be my blog for today.  The photo prompt was “On the Third.”  The only way I can relate the topic to my blog is this…today is the 3rd Friday of January.  There was no way I was skipping this beautiful message so it will have to do 🙂

Color

I didn’t follow the photo prompt exactly today. It was Color Blocking but I thought that since “color” was the idea behind the lesson, I would make it work this way instead.

I write about this every year this week.  My favorite lesson to teach.  “The White Egg Brown Egg Experiment.”  I have been teaching this for years and it never gets old.

 

One of the greatest lessons to teach diversity to young children.  After talking all week long about Dr. Martin Luther King and how he changed our world, is it a great way to tie it all together.

I show the students one white egg and one brown egg and we talk about how different they look on the outside.  For the most part, it is just the color that they notice but we also talk about how they are the same.  They are both oval shaped, they roll, they are fragile.  Then they relate it to themselves.  They are all Kindergarteners.  They are all children.  The answers go on and on.

I crack the eggs into a clear bowl and we look at the insides – which of course are exactly the same.  Just like us.  Even the children realize this.  Inside, there is no difference.  One child even said that if we held up an x-ray, we wouldn’t be able to tell if it was from a child with brown skin or a child with peach skin.

Exactly.  Lesson learned. 🙂

Tolerance

This is one of my favorite weeks of teaching as a Kindergarten teacher.  We focus all week on Martin Luther King Jr.  Many of the students don’t know much about him and when they learn that there was a time that we could not all be together because of the color of our skin, they are shocked.  This is something most of them cannot comprehend because they know of no other way.  To hear that they could not go to school with children who are different colors than they are is bewildering.

I spend days talking about MLK, reading about him and just talking about tolerance. Today’s photo prompt, Trio worked perfectly in today’s lesson.  Three “flesh” colored markers and an innocent drawing from one little girl in my class says it all – in her very own “kindergarten spelling,” with three children who are different colors…

“Be nice to everyone”

If only everyone could think like a five year old. ❤

MLK Mitzvah Day

Since today we recognize Martin Luther King Jr, and it is also the inauguration of The President of The United States, I told my boys that today, we would be giving back to others by donating our time somewhere in the community.  We decided to volunteer with “Back Pack Pals”.  The four of us, my husband included, headed over to Congregation B’nai to help out.  Several churches and temples in the area were holding “days of service”‘ in celebration of Dr. King.  AlthoughI wrote about Back Pack Pals in an earlier post.  I had never actually seen the packs of food assembled.  When we arrived at the temple, we began to set up an assembly line.  Each bag of food includes, four meals (2 lunch, 2 dinner), 2 milks, 2 juices, 2 applesauce cups, 2 fruit cups and 2 breakfast bars.  This enables a child to have enough food to get them through the weekend.  Today volunteers helped pack over 110 bags.  All of the food goes to students in our school district.  I asked how many weeks this would last and was shocked to hear that nearly 70 bags are given out each week.  What seemed to be an enormous amount of food  would not even be enough for two weeks of meals!  One of the organizers, Dave, told me that every week, he has groups, (like the girl scouts and other local organizations), come together to pack up the bags.  The bags are then delivered to the students at their schools so that they can bring them home in their back packs and not be hungry on the weekends.  Many of these children are able to receive free or reduced meals during the week at school, but on the weekends, might otherwise go hungry.

This is such a worthwhile cause.  A lot of the money raised for Back Pack Pals comes from the Rent Parties – (this is from an earlier blog, https://aprojectforkindness.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/rent-party/).  If you are looking for a way to donate, I really want you to check out this program.  Both of my boys were as surprised as I was at how many children in our own school system benefited from it.  Check out their facebook page, and like it, to see some of the ways that you can help.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rent-Party-BackPack-Pals/244596515582876