Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth L. Hamilton All Rights Reserved. Kindness Lesson 4 of 4 Kindness Sacrifices Self (Kindness consciously decides to sacrifice self for the sake of other people.) Affirmation: I show kindness when I sacrifice self for others. Preparation Print on cardstock one copy of page 3. Print one copy of the age-appropriate activity sheet for each child involved. Review: Say: What block are we adding to your character wall this month? Right! Kindness. Hold up the pictures from lessons #1, #2, and #3, reading each caption. Say: Kindness begins by empathizing getting inside someone else s skin understanding how they feel, think, and act. Then kindness does whatever it can to happify others to make them happy. You learned that kindness doesn t stop at making others happy. Kindness keeps going, doing whatever it can to help others. Say: Read the pictures with me once more. Kindness Empathizes. Kindness Happifies. Kindness Helps. Introduction Say: Today, we learn one more thing about kindness. Say: You may think it s easy to show kindness. You know that everyone can show kindness, so why do some people not exercise kindness toward others? What might be hard about showing kindness? Say: You ll know after you listen right to the end of our story. Tell this story in your own words, changing it to fit your listeners culture and ages. Brad looked over his older brother s shoulder. What are you doing, Victor? he asked. Shh. Victor held up one hand. I m doing my homework. Brad stared at the computer screen. No way! You re playing a football game! I am not. I m studying football statistics. It s for my statistics class, Victor told him. These numbers at the top show what s happening in the game. The numbers at the bottom... His voice stopped as he turned to look at his younger brother. Brad wasn t listening. Brad didn t want to know.
Well, it looks like a video game, Brad said. You re lucky, Victor. You have that great new computer and I have an old flop. A failure. A run-down clunker. Mine doesn t do a thing. It doesn t have even one game on it. Victor shrugged. You can use mine sometime, Brad, but I have piles of homework today, he said. You d better go and do yours. He turned back to the computer and began moving a football player across the screen. I don t feel like doing homework, Brad said. He flopped on Victor s bed and stared at the ceiling. He counted the model planes Victor had built. Eleven. He turned his head and counted Victor s trophies. Six. Victor sure was lucky to be the older brother. It seemed like his older brother had all the fun. He closed his eyes. When Victor finished his football statistics, he turned to see what Brad was doing. It looked as though he was asleep. I know how he feels, thought Victor. I remember when I was the little brother and Charles had all the fun. I really need to write a story for English class, though. Victor turned back to his computer. Third String, he wrote. It would be a story about a guitar-playing football player. He stopped. Maybe I should take time to play that new game with Brad, he thought. It would happify him. It would help him, too. He d feel more like doing his homework. He shook his head. It would mean a long night for me if I m going to get my story done for tomorrow, but... Victor made a decision. It was worth giving up his plans for Brad. It was worth sacrificing self. He jumped up. Hey, Brad, he said. I want to show you something. Come on. Get up! He pushed another chair to the desk. Brad sat up. What did you say? Victor grinned. A new computer game. Come on! We can play it together! Brad hurried to the chair, and in no time, Victor was showing him how to play the game. It was a great game, and they played until dinner time. The score was tied when Mother called them to come and it was Brad s turn. Victor could have insisted on taking one more turn each, but he decided to sacrifice self again. He told Brad to take the last turn. Brad won the game but Victor won in showing kindness. Apply the story in age appropriate words. Hold up the page 3 photo: Kindness Sacrifices Self. You show kindness when you sacrifice self for others. Before our story, I asked you What might be hard about showing kindness? Why do some people not exercise kindness toward others? Did you hear the answer in our story? It was hard for Victor to show kindness to Brad. He got inside Brad s skin, saw how lonely it was in there, and decided to happify and help Brad. That part wasn t very hard. But then what did Victor do? Victor had planned to write his story, but he gave up his own plans. Victor s self wanted to finish his homework early, but he sacrificed self. Victor didn t just show kindness without thinking. He thought about it, and he made a clear decision. He decided to sacrifice himself for Brad. He decided to give up himself to show kindness to Brad. Hold up the page 3 photo again, reading: Kindness Sacrifices Self You show kindness when you sacrifice self for others. Close by handing out assignment sheets.
First and Last Name: I show kindness when I sacrifice self for others. Let s make a kindness chain. You may ask for help. You will need these things: colored paper, or white paper and crayons safety scissors glue Now turn your strips into links. First, cut strips of colored paper. Make them about the size of the pink strip at the bottom of this page. If you don t have colored paper, make white strips and color them with crayons. Next, think of four words you learned about kindness. Write the four words on four of the paper strips you made. Write the same words on four more paper strips. Write the word kindness on four strips. Think of acts of kindness you could do for others. Write as many as you can. Use one strip of paper for each act of kindness. Draw pictures instead of words on some strips. A picture of a leaf might mean you would rake leaves to show kindness. Do not write on all of your strips. Leave some with nothing on them. 1. Choose a colored strip. Place a bit of glue on one end and make the strip into a circle. 2. Choose another strip for the second link. Place the second link through the first link. Make a circle and glue the ends as you did for the first link. 3. Make and add links until your paper chain is as long as you want it. Character-Trait-of-the-Month Program Kindness #4 Ages 3 to 7 Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth L Hamilton For more information, visit www.character-in-action.com
First and Last Name: I show kindness when I sacrifice self for others. Let s make a kindness chain. You will need these things: colored paper, or white paper and crayons safety scissors glue Now turn your strips into links. First, cut strips of colored paper. Make the strips about the size of the purple strip at the bottom of this page. If you don t have colored paper, cut white strips and color them. Next, think of the four words you learned about how to show kindness. Write the four words on four of the paper strips you made. Write the same words on four more paper strips. Write the word kindness on four strips. Think of acts of kindness you could do for others. Be sure you include acts that require sacrifice of self. Write as many as you can. Think of the stories you heard. Use one strip of paper for each act of kindness. Draw pictures instead of words on some strips. A picture of a leaf might mean you would rake leaves to show kindness. Do not write on all of your strips. Leave some strips with nothing on them. 1. Start with one colored strip. Place glue on one end and make the strip into a circle. 2. Choose another strip for the second link. Place the second link through the first link. Make a circle and glue the ends as you did for the first link. 3. Make and add more links until your paper chain is as long as you want it. Character-Trait-of-the-Month Program Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth L Hamilton Kindness #4 Ages 7 and Up For more information, visit www.character-in-action.com