This Document Is Available to Everyone and Anyone for Classroom Use And/Or Study

This document is available to everyone and anyone for classroom use and/or study. You may modify it in any way you wish and you need not credit Seton Hall.

If you have a lesson plan of your own, on one of the three major monotheistic religions or especially in their interactions, please consider submitting it to us at [email protected].

Kindness, Caring

Objectives:

Students will learn that when we touch someone’s life with an act of kindness and caring, that person will often catch the spirit and do something nice for someone else.

Materials Needed:

Big red apple Cutting board and sharp knife to cut the apple Plate for the cut apple and seeds Poster or photo of an apple tree Envelope for each child with a red apple on the front with their name and “Kind Kid” printed on it. Prepare envelopes by placing five strips of paper inside with some of the following suggestions on them.

Write a thank-you note to your mom and leave it on her pillow. Tell your dad he’s a great guy. Smile at everyone you meet today. Hold a door open or let someone go ahead of you in line. Be especially kind to a little brother or sister by playing a game or doing something he or she would like to do. Tell your teacher, the custodian, or a cafeteria worker how much you appreciate what he or she does for you. Ask students to come up with some kindness of their own to include.

Steps to Follow:

1. Hold up the apply and ask the students, “Can we count how many seeds there are in this apple?” (yes) 2. Cut the apple in half or in quarters and remove the seeds. 3. Hold up the seeds and count them with students. 4. Hold up one apple seed. Ask the students, “how many apples are in this one seed?” (there is no way to count them) 5. “If I plant this apple seed, it has the potential to grow into a big apple tree.” Ask who has seen an apple tree and discuss how many apples might be on one. “From this one seed could come countless apples year after year, with each apple containing seeds that can grow into many more trees with many more apples.” 6. “The same is true of kindness. We never know how one act of kindness can in turn cause someone else to be kind and in turn cause someone else to be kind and on and on. We may think our influence is small, but really, we can touch many lives.” 7. Pass out a previously prepared envelope to each student. “Your assignment for the coming week is to take one strip of paper out of your envelope each day and do what it says. As you complete an assignment, take another one out of the envelope to work on. Hopefully, kindness and caring will become a habit. Remember, kindness is contagious! Expet it to spread to those around you.” 8. On Friday (or next week), discuss what happened when the students did their kind deeds. Direct the students to be prepared for discussion.

Expected Outcomes: An increase in kind deeds and caring attitudes will be noted among the students. Hopefully, kindness will become a habit that lasts for more than one week!

This activity can be incorporated into the study of the following areas. Math Science Social Studies