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Lesson six - pages
12/13
Children squabbling
Aim for the
book
To give children the opportunity to explore
what Christians believe about the nature of both God and humans,
by studying hands.
Learning objectives
- To know that
hands can be used to do good, or to hurt.
- To be able to explore feelings of anger and
happiness.
- To understand that strong feelings can
lead to fighting.
Bible reference
James 4.1-2
Background
The hand of God is not always benign in biblical literature. Just
as we use our hands for a variety of purposes so God is depicted
as using hands for discipline and correction. (God's hand can be
held up in judgement.) Creative hands can invent, make and use weapons
of destruction; creative hands can wrestle, hurt and maim. The use
of hands separates human beings from other creatures. We have a
dexterity not shared by others in the created world.
Key words
- Cruel
- Hurt
- Bully
- Punch
- Pinch
- Kick
- Fight
- Grab
- Steal
- Shout
- Sorry
- Forgive
- Forgiveness
- Help
- Love
- Care
- Kindness
Activity one - hands that help and hurt
- You will need
The children seated on chairs in a circle.
If possible, pictures of people/children
fighting - maybe from the newspaper.
Prepared questions asking children why and
what makes them they fight with their brothers/sisters/friends
in order to stimulate discussion.
Writing material.
White/black board.
- Start
Share the purpose of the lesson with the
children.
Show the children the pictures. What
is happening in these pictures? When and how often are they,
the children, in fights either with their family members or with
others?
How does the fight make them feel
before, during and after the fight?
- Develop
Ask the children to draw around their hands.
Then decorate them and write a sentence on each paper hand.
One hand can have a positive comment about what hands can do
and another hand can have a negative comment about what hands
can do. (For example: 'Hands can caress/hold/help/smooth' and
'Hands can smack/poke/flick/pinch'.)
The children may like to indicate
the positive hand with a happy face or bright colour and the
negative hand with a sad face or very dark colour. This would
need to be discussed and agreed by the whole class in advance.
Towards the end of the lesson the hands could
be attached either on some bare tree branches (sprayed silver
or gold), or a 2-D painted tree on a large piece of paper.
Alternatively, the hands could be stuck around the room,
like a border, at the children's height, so they can read the
sentences written by each other. End the lesson by holding hands
together whilst standing in a circle and 'passing the squeeze'
and/or passing round 'a smile'.
Celebrate the end of the lesson with a clap
for everyone for doing so well and thinking so hard.
Activity two - family fights
Share the purpose of the lesson with the children.
Explain that they are going to act out plays in small groups.
Divide them into groups and then discuss which role they might
take on within their group. The scenarios can conclude in either
a happy way or a sad way. The children choose their own words
throughout the play.
- Develop
Examples of possible scenarios:
- In the garden there are: a big sister with a nice toy that belongs
to her,a little brother who has just grabbed the nice toy and
wants to play with it but has broken it in the scuffle, and a
Mum.
- In the house there are: a big brother with a special birthday present,
a smaller brother who wants the special birthday
present, and a Dad.
The children are then asked to go away with their group to practice
their play, perhaps to the library or hall with an assistant, or to
a corner of the classroom. They have about fifteen minutes.
- End
Each group performs its play to the rest
of the class. Each group may talk about the outcome
they invented and why they chose that conclusion.
After each play is acted out, each child
to draw a cartoon strip of the play they acted and
say what is happening in each section. If they are able to,
they may like to write a text beneath each picture and display
their work. Photographs or a video could be taken during the
play's performances to show the children later.
Activity three - musical
moods
- You will need
A recording of Mars (God of War) by Gustav
Holst from the Planets Suite, or something similar, to play to
the children and encourage them to think about the music's mood.
Tape/CD player.
A piece of happy, pleasant music that will
lift their mood and make them smile. (Keep this for the end.)
A selection of percussion musical instruments,
drums, shakers, rainsticks.
Prepared coloured paper hand shapes for children
to write on.
- Start
Start by having the children seated in a
circle and then share with them the purpose of the lesson. Talk
about the piece of music and tell them briefly its background.
After the children have listened to it once or twice, ask the
children to say how they feel about the music's mood. Is it happy,
sad, frightening or what? Talk about the composer's choice of
instruments and how they are played.
- Develop
Divide the children into groups of no more
than four and encourage them to choose some instruments from
the selection. Ask them to compose a piece of sad or angry music
and write their composition down, using their own symbols. This
will enable them to remember what they have composed and should
help them play it more than once. Give them about five or ten
minutes to work and then ask each group to perform in turn to
the whole class.
Discuss ways that the music may become unhappy/
sad/ fighting music by the choice of instruments and the speed
or pitch at which they are played.
Get the children sitting back in the circle
again. Ask them how they feel about their musical compositions.
Then ask them how they feel generally. Did they enjoy making sad
and unhappy music?
Then, as a surprise, play the happy piece
that you have prepared, but before you play it, ask the children
to reflect on their face only how they feel when they hear
the next piece. The happy piece should be a complete surprise
and a strong contrast with the first piece.
End the lesson by 'passing a smile'
around the circle.
Can each child reflect on a moving piece
of music and describe how they feel about the piece?
Activity checklist
Activity one - hands that help and hurt
The children seated on chairs in a circle.
If possible, pictures of people/children
fighting - maybe from the newspaper.
Prepared questions asking children why
and what makes them they fight with their brothers/sisters/friends,
in order to stimulate discussion.
Writing material.
White/black board.
Activity two - family fights
Prepared prompt cards with a variety of situations
that children can act out in small groups. These tell each child
the specific role they play within the group.
Activity three - musical moods
A recording of Mars (God of War) by Gustav Holst
from the Planets Suite, or something similar, to play to the children
and encourage them to think about the music's mood.
Tape/CD player.
A piece of happy, pleasant music that
will lift their mood and make them smile. (Keep this for the end.)
A selection of percussion musical instruments,
drums, shakers, rainsticks.
Prepared coloured paper hand shapes for
children to write on.
Web site links
For further information, look at the links
section of this site.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/bully/
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~rc313/bullying.html
http://www.scre.ac.uk/bully/whatisbul.html
©
Trudie Bateman
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