In our Shining Star School Family we continue to plan activities that encourage kindness. This week we are enjoying the story of Stone Soup. We are focusing specifically on the skill of sharing. The props in the picture above are from a Mailbox Magazine (2002). A cute little song accompanied this activity called "Sing a Song of Sharing". The song is sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together" and goes like this:
"The more we share with our friends, with our friends, with out friends.
The more we share with our friends, the happier we'll be.
With (say 4 children's names as you continue singing).
The more we share with our friends, the happier we'll be."
As we sang the song, we passed a small stone around the circle. When we got to the children's names we would say the names of the children who were holding the stone at that time. They would then come up and select a vegetable to add to the soup pot. We continued this way until everyone had a turn.
Next, I introduced our "Sharing Project". I took an old soup can and made up a new lable that reflected our goal to demonstrate sharing. I couldn't resist adding special ingredients as well as nutrition facts. :)
I explained to the Shining Stars that we have lots of opportunities to practice sharing throughout our time in preschool. We discussed lots of examples and acted out opportunities to share. We will also take pictures to post around the room of children sharing. Every time a teacher sees children sharing we will add a stone to the soup can. Our goal not to see how quickly we can fill the can with stones. Rather, our goal is to encourage kindness. When the can is full we will celebrate sharing with a special snack for the whole School Family!
We had a little extra time at the end of our lesson to play musical instruments. Don't you love it when natural events allow you an opportunity to reinforce a lesson you just taught!?! Well, I went to pass out the triangles to all the children in my group and realized I would be one short. Instead of doing all the thinking for the children, I let the natural events take their course. I passed out all the triangles and one child didn't get a triangle. Almost immediately a little girl turned to that boy and said, "I'll share with you!" Then she held the triangle and gave him the stick so he could play it! All week long our classroom has been filled with children (and teachers) looking for opportunities to share!
To help us extend our learning about sharing and Stone Soup we have invited all of the parents to come in next week for a Thanksgiving Celebration in our School Family. Each family has been asked to bring some type of fruit to share. We are going to share fruit salad instead of Stone Soup. The children will sing some songs for the parents and then we will complete a special craft as a family. Our families will also be bringing donations for our school-wide food drive so we can continue to demonstrate to the children the power of sharing and making a difference!
