“Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind… It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others. Through them the brightness of your light can be shed upon the whole earth.” –Bahá’u’lláh
The last two concepts we studied from the quotation were: deeds and distinguishing ourselves from others. I actually tied them together, emphasizing the importance of good deeds. We did a lot of role playing on this one. Sometimes I would come up with a problem or issue, and have the children show a deed that would resolve the situation or distinguish themselves from others, and sometimes the children would come up with scenarios.
They were having so much fun role playing I was eager to take a few pics to send parents. A picture or two in, and the idea of creating another book -- this time with "real life" images -- popped into my head.
You may remember that not too long ago we used our class work to create an e-book using a free online resource called SnackTools. This time I created a pdf Word file with the pictures and text and downloaded it into the SlideSnack app featured on the site. The fun thing about this app is it allows you to record audio which syncs with your slides.
Oh the places you can go with apps like these...
Obviously...
The most tangible activity to connect children to the concept of good deeds is performing them! We happened to have a service project at a local preschool lined-up around the time of this lesson. Here's a service activity a friend of mine organized a group to do for their local firefighters. A quick look around your neighborhood can stir up lots of ideas.
But, if it isn't easy to coordinate something for the whole class, each child can be encouraged to come up with good deeds they might do for the week. And something like these Good Deeds punch cards are a fun way to keep the children motivated to keep up the good works.
Family members punch a hole in the card each time the child performs a service. The next week, bearers of fully punched cards could be rewarded a little treat, or, if all the children add their cards together and they have more than X number of holes punched the class gets to ______.
I put together something a little more rudimentary-looking, (excuse the photo, our camera broke the other day...), and threw in a couple of other things to do, too. Using Word, I made a simple 3-column table. One column labeled "Memorization", the second "Understanding" and the third "Practice/Example". Each time the child recites the quotation from memory they are awarded a sticker in the "Memorization" column. A sticker is put in the second column each time they demonstrate an understanding of a single concept or the quotation as a whole. And in the last column the parent/child records good deeds carried-out during the week.
The table-chart is a nice idea if families have time to complete it within a week; the "Good Deeds" punch cards might work better for busier families (are there any other kinds?) or busier times of the year.
The punch cards can also easily go beyond the family -- school teachers can punch a hole, neighbors can punch a hole...And don't worry if you don't have a color-printer, etc to print any out. Take some white or colored paper, cut it into rectangles, and have the kids decorate and personalize their own punch cards.
