Give+a+Goat+Reinforcing+Activity

Lesson Plan Author: Melinda Walters Title of NCSS Notable Trade Book: ** || Give A Goat By Jan West Schrock Illustrated by Aileen Darragh || || A fifth grade class is motivated to “pass the gift” after reading the true story of a Ugandan girl, Beatrice. She was able to go to school after her family earned money from selling the milk of a goat given to them by Heifer International. The class earns enough money through school projects to not only buy a goat, but also chickens and ducks. Other classes in the school catch the spirit of service and create projects to help other causes. || NCSS Standards: ** || Disciplinary Standard: Economics Thematic Standards: III People, Places, and Environments VII Production, Distribution, and Consumption IX Global Connections X Civic Ideals and Practices || || __ Give a Goat __ by Jan West Schrock Computer with internet access LCD projector 4-6 copies of __Beatrice’s Goat__ by Paige McBrier globe 3x5 unlined colored index cards markers || || Students will learn and practice the concept of “passing the gift”-helping someone in such a way that they are able to help someone else, and another person, and so on in a long chain. || // Exploration/ Introduction: // // Development: // // Expansion: //
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|| Set the stage for the book, __Give a Goat__, by reminding students of how restless and bored they get when it is raining and they can’t go outside for recess. Tell them that this is a true story of what happened when a teacher in Maine, Ms. Rowell, read the book, __Beatrice’s Goat__, to her class. Read __Give a Goat__ to the students, stopping to point out the humorous illustrations. Show the students an actual copy of __Beatrice’s Goat__ at the point in the story where it is mentioned. When you come to the pages with the world map on them, stop and use a globe to show the relationship of the United Sates to Uganda. When the story describes the Heifer International homepage (www.heifer.org), stop and show the website, but don’t explore the site at that time. Finish the story. Ask the students to recall the steps of how the class decided on what to do and how to do it. Write these steps on a board or chart. Break the students up into three groups and tell them they will now see what happens after someone does something like Ms. Rowell’s class did. Provide one of the groups with copies of __Beatrice’s Goat__. Instruct the group to look for the ways that the delivery of a goat impacted Beatrice and her village as they read the book together in a round robin fashion. Provide the second group with access to computers or use the computer with the LCD projection to show the various pictures and stories on the website [|www.heifer.org] (click on Learn and then Pass on the Gift to view the slide show that illustrates passing the gift. Have the third group use markers and index cards to create three “Pass the Gift” cards each by having students write those words on cards to be used later. After the appropriate amount of time has passed have the students rotate the next activity until all have been done. Pull the class back together and have them brainstorm ways that they could “pass the gift” within the school by performing acts of kindness. Ask each child to take their three cards and do three acts such as the ones that were suggested, giving a card to each of the three people who benefit from their acts. They should then ask each person to note on the back of the card what the act was and then pass it on to someone else by performing their own act of kindness. The passing of the cards should be limited to a finite number of classrooms so the cards can be located and collected. || || Have all students participating turn in their cards after a specified amount of time, such as 24 hours. Have the three original groups divide the cards up and list on a chart in their group meeting all of the “gifts” that were passed. Each student should then compose a short paragraph stating what they learned about “passing the gift” within their school. Look for evidence in the paragraph of the awareness of acts of kindness being repeated over and over in a long chain. || || Following suggestions and examples in the book and on the Heifer website, assist students in creating and implementing a project that gives the students an opportunity to raise money for the purchase of one of the different animals that Heifer International provides. Learn about sustainable resources in the United States as well as other countries. || || Tilbury House Publishers [|www.tilburyhouse.com] Teachers Take Note section Heifer International [|www.heifer.org] Read to Feed [|www.readtofeed.org] __ The Promise __, a video on hunger education and fund raising __ The Day Papa Came Home __ by Barbara Justus and Caroline Starbird ||
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