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Activities for Primary Grades
1. Who am I and what am I like?
(a) A "Who am I?" book
Children begin a book about themselves, with a self-portrait on the
cover. Personal pictures, prose and poems can be collected in this
book. As children learn to write they can put personal details, questions
about themselves and answers to questions in it too. If resources
are limited a book can be made for the whole class with a page or
two for each child.
(b) A circle for talking
Children sit in a circle that includes the teacher and 'any visitors.
The teacher puts the following statements:
What I like best about myself is ...
I'd like to be ...
My favourite game is...
I think my name means...
I would like to learn about . . .
I feel happy when ...
I feel sad when ...
I want to become more ...
Someday I hope ...
With each statement, each child has a turn to answer. Time is shared
equally and listening is very important (so interruptions are restricted).
Children can "pass" if they want to, and each person stays in her
or his place until the activity is over. Answers can be entered later
in the "Who am I" book(s).
(c) The lifeline
Each child stretches out a piece of yarn. This represents his or her
own life. They then hang drawings and stories that detail the important
things that have happened to them on this line. This can be done in
chronological sequence, or in any order that the child may want. It
can also be extended into the future.
(d) Me on the wall
Trace the outline of each child on a large piece of paper (best done
lying down). Have the student paint in physical details, and then
write personal and physical qualities (name; height; weight; what
the child would most like to learn or do at school) on a label which
is then attached to the paper. Pin these up around the wall, allowing
all students to learn about each other as well as themselves.
(e) Me and my senses
Have children discuss in the circle, or use a role-play to explore
the following statements: Hearing helps me to
Seeing helps me to
Smelling helps me to
Touching helps me to
Tasting helps me to
Rephrase the questions, where appropriate, to suit the needs of children
with disabilities (e.g., "Not being able to see (very well? at all?)
I'm still me, and I can . . ."). Get each child to invent an instrument
to help them smell, or touch better. Have them describe, draw or dramatize
it.
(f) Wishing-well
Arrange the students in a circle. Suggest that it is the edge of a
wishing-well. Propose that each child in turn makes the following
wishes (this can also be done in small groups or pairs):
If I could be any animal, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a bird, I'd be - - - because
If I could be an insect, I'd be---because
If I could be a flower, I'd be---because . . .
If I could be a tree, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a piece of furniture, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a musical instrument, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a building, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a car, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a street, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a State, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a foreign country, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a game, I'd be - - - because . . .
If I could be a record, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a TV show, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a movie, I'd be - - - because
If I could be a food, I'd be - - - because
If I could be any colour, I'd be - - - because
2. How do I live with others?
(a) My puppet family
Each child makes a family of puppets that includes one of him or herself.
These can be very simple. For example, cardboard cut-outs, Coloured
and fixed to sticks or clay or mud figures. The figures are named
and their relationships described and explained. Each child then devises
a ceremony (a wedding, for example) or a festival, which is shown
to the others in the class. The puppet family can be extended to include
other people who live nearby. Children can dramatize something they
do regularly with those people in order to bring them together. Extend
the activity to include individuals from anywhere in the world.
(b) Imaginary friend
Have the children sit or lie down with their eyes closed, and quiet.
Tell them to breathe in deeply and then breathe out slowly. Repeat
two more times. Now tell them to imagine a special place, a favourite
place, anywhere in the world (or even out in space). Say that they
are walking in that place-in their imagination-feeling and hearing
and seeing what is going on there. Lead them to a house, a building
they can visualize, where they go in to find a special room. The room
has a door in one wall that opens by sliding up. The door slides up
slowly and as it does so it reveals a special friend they have never
met before-first feet, and finally the face. This friend can be old
or young-anything. This friend is always there, and whenever they
need someone to talk to, to turn to, they can visit him or her again
if they wish. Close the door, leave the house, and come home to the
class. Let the children share what they have imagined, in a speaking
circle, or in pairs or groups.
(c) Letters and friends
Set up a letter exchange with another class in another school or even
another country. Initiate this exchange by sending poems, or gifts
from the class. This may lead to a day visit later if the distance
allows, and a chance to meet the children of the other community.
Investigate the twin school: how big is it? What games are played
there? What do the parents do? What are the differences and similarities?
(d) Buddy
Teachers should arrange for their students to have a senior buddy
from an upper class. An activity should be arranged to encourage children
to seek out the help of their buddy if they have a problem. Ways should
be devised to encourage the senior buddy to take an interest in his
or her small colleague by showing games and helping with activities.
(e) The talking circle again
Pass around the following questions:
What I like best about friends is ...
Co-operation and helping others is important because ...
If I could teach everyone in the world one thing, it would be ...
I am different from everyone else because ...
I am like everyone else because ...
(f) Moon people
Talk about "moon people". How "moon people" will wear "moon trousers"
("moonsaris", etc.), have "moon pets", and so on. Children will elaborate
the similarities at length and usually take great pleasure in doing
so. The process can be made more graphic and more immediate in many
ways: by dramatization, craft-work, or whatever is appropriate. Bring
the activity down to earth by repeating if for "earth people", "sea
people", "sky people", "forest people". Then do it for people who
live in other countries.
(g) The washing machine
Have the children form two parallel lines close together, and facing
each other. Send a child from one end between the lines ("through
the wash"). Everyone (where this is culturally appropriate) pats him
or her on the back or shakes his or her hand while offering words
of praise, affection and encouragement. The result is a sparkling,
shining, happy individual at the end of the "wash". He or she joins
a line, and the process is then repeated from the first end. (Running
one or two people through daily is more fun than washing everybody
in one big clean-up).
The importance of class-room climate, and the need for participation
and co-operation cannot be emphasized enough. The children's suggestions
and opinions are also very helpful in creating the best classroom
atmosphere. Be open to their help and provide necessary changes.
Trust
The following activities can be used with any age--group. They will
place most students in situations of unfamiliar dependence. Surviving
the risks involved calls for trust, and a group prepared to co-operate
and work together.
Trust begins with teacher/student relationships. Putting students
at ease involves:
Letting the students know that the teacher is just as human as they
are;
Explaining each and every activity thoroughly;
Explaining unfamiliar words and ideas (concepts);
Providing information (not just about specific activities but also
relevant issues touching students' lives).
The teacher should spend, where appropriate, a few minutes of the
day with his or her home class discussing news items from the press,
radio, TV, or local talk. This will provide many opportunities to
look at human rights issues in a less fraught or formal way. It can
be an education in itself.
Blind trust
Divide the class into pairs. Have one student blindfold the other
and have the sighted member of the pair lead the "blind" one about
for a few minutes. Make sure the leading child is not abusing the
power to lead, since the idea is to nurture trust, not to destroy
it. The "leader" of the pair should try to provide as wide a variety
of experiences as possible, such as having the "blind" partner feel
things with his or her feet or fingers; leading with vocal directions,
or even playing a game. After a few minutes have the participants
reverse the roles and repeat the process so that the "leader" is now
the led, and the "blind" partner is now the sighted one. Once the
activity is over, allow the students to talk about what happened.
Discuss how they felt-not just as "blind" partners, but their feelings
of responsibility as "leaders" too. This can lead not only to a greater
awareness of what life is like for people with sight (or hearing)
disabilities, but to a discussion of the importance of trust in the
whole community. This can lead in turn to a discussion of world. society
and how it works, and how it can fail to work too.
Working out some class-room rules
Since this next activity has a direct effect on class-room climate,
it can be a very significant one. It is a clear demonstration of a
teacher's willingness to involve students in how the class-room is
run, and her or his own trust in its members. It also makes students
think about what rules are desirable and what are possible in class,
how they might be observed, and the teacher's own role in having to
hold the ring.
In practice, this can be done a number of ways: as a brainstorm (paring
down the results in subsequent discussion); in small groups that then
present their findings to a plenary session of the whole class; or
as individual assignments that the teacher collates for class consideration
later. Whatever technique is used, conduct the activity in terms of
rights and responsibilities. Determine what students think is basic,
and ask for some account of what has to happen to realize each right
in practice (for example: "Everyone should feel safe in this room-therefore
no-one should hurt anybody else or hurt their feelings").
A good way to begin is by asking students what they "want" (the list
may become quite long). From this list ask them to choose what they
think is really needed. They should end up with something shorter
and much more trenchant. Finally, ask them to choose from their "needs"
selection what they think they have a "right" to expect, as members
of society. Ask why they have chosen as they have. Such a discussion
will illustrate the students' notion of what is right and what is
wrong. Once a list of basic rules is agreed, have it displayed for
class-room reference.
Two things can pose problems: students or the teacher may break the
rules-and/or the class-room rules may not be compatible with the rules
of other teachers or the school administration. In the first case,
more discussion is called for. This requires careful consideration
of why things are going wrong. Order achieved by general consensus
rather than simple control is always harder to get. The process of
reaching this consensus calls for compromise and careful negotiation.
Such a process is the educating element. In the second case, students
may have to accept the difference between in-class and out. Alternatively,
efforts can be made to have the entire school adopt some or all of
these rules.
Working out your own human rights and your own responsibilities
Having arrived at some class-room rules, it is a natural next step
to consider the same sort of thing on a universal scale. (a) Planning
for a world community Ask the class (as described in the first chapter)
to imagine it has the job of planning the rules of the whole world
community. As planners, they do not know who they will be when they
join that community themselves; whether, that is, they will be male
or female, rich or poor, young or old, disabled in some way, or a
member of any particular race, ethnic group, culture or religion.
Again, this can be done in practice as a whole class; or in small
groups; or as individuals who report back later. And the same sequence
from "wants" to "needs" to "rights and responsibilities" will help
define the minimum human standards that are being sought.
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