Learning to Give, Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE
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Purpose:
The learners will explore the concept of credit cards and the role they play in purchasing "goods" and "services." The learners will then be introduced to the Giving Game and its "credit" card, and draw some comparisons and conclusions concerning the concepts behind these two types of cards. The learners will be encouraged to participate in the Giving Game.
Duration:
One Forty-Five Minute Class Period
Objectives:
The learner will:
- explore credit cards and develop a basic understanding of their use.
- understand the concept of "passing on" a act of kindness.
- explore the Giving Game (www.givinggame.org) and participate in the Giving Game.
Service Experience:
Having decided to participate, the learners will be encouraged to perform at least one kind act, leaving the Giving Game Card with the recipient of the kind act, and recording their kind act on the Web site at www.givinggame.org. Additional Giving Game Cards can be obtained and utilized to continue learner involvement.
Materials:
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Miscellaneous credit cards
-
Giving Game Cards for the class
-
How to Play the Giving Game (Attachment One)
-
Parent /Guardian Letter (Attachment Two)
Teacher Preparation:
Teacher Note: Before teaching this lesson, read and understand the Giving Game by accessing the information on the Giving Game Web site: www.givinggame.org. Share this site with your learners as appropriate.
Prior to distributing the Giving Game Cards to the learners, record the learner’s name along with his/her particular Giving Game Card ID in order to maintain a record of who receives which card. This will allow you to enter information on the web site for those of your learners who don't have Internet access at home or for those whose families who are unable to help. It will also allow you to periodically go back and track where the cards have traveled and the acts of kindness that have been done. To assist you in entering Internet data, you may wish to ask a student from a higher class level or an adult volunteer to help with this recording
process.
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Ask the learners to share some of the things they would like to purchase, have purchased, and/or are purchasing right now. Be sure that learners list both "goods" and "services" and that they can distinguish one from the other while realizing that both can be purchased i.e. a skateboard, an article of clothing, a ticket to an event, a music lesson, a bicycle repair, a video game, etc. After a list of purchases has been identified, have the learners share some of the ways they might use to make these kinds of purchases. They might suggest: "working for it," "trading for it," "asking for it as a gift for a birthday or holiday," "paying cash for it," "writing a check," "using a credit card in order to pay for it later," etc. Tell the learners that today you are interested in finding out what they know about credit cards and that they will be introduced to a brand new kind of "credit" card...one that they probably have never heard about before!
- Show the learners some credit cards and ask the learners to share the names of the credit card companies that they are aware of/have seen advertised on the TV or heard about.
- Share some of your experiences (personal or second-hand) using credit cards and encourage the learners to share what they know about credit cards/what experiences they might already have had with them.
Be sure that the learners understand that:
- Credit cards must be applied for.
- Recipients of credit cards must be approved in order to receive a card.
- Credit cards come with dollar limits regulating how much can be spent using the card.
- Monthly payments are required to "repay" the credit card company for the use of the card in making purchases.
- Credit card companies charge interest rates if the credit card bill is not paid in full at a pre-determined date.
- Credit cards can be lost or stolen if care is not given to keeping them safe.
- Introduce the Giving Game "credit" card. Have the learners examine the card and draw some comparisons to other "credit cards" they have seen or used.
- Introduce and talk through the "rules" for using this type of "credit" card found on the reverse side of the card. If possible, show the class the Giving Game Web site at www.givinggame.org.
- Provide the learners with the description of how the Giving Game is played (Attachment One). Review this to ensure their understanding.
- Talk about how the rules for this Giving Game "credit" card are the same /different from other credit cards.
Teacher Note: A Venn Diagram would be a recommended way to visually show the similarities and differences between a typical credit card and a Giving Game "credit" card.
- They must be "applied" for (the recipients of the cards must want to be a part of the game).
- All interested recipients of the Giving Game "credit" Card are automatically approved. Free of charge!
- There are no required ‘monthly payments’ and the card can be used whenever and for whatever kind act its "owner" chooses.
- There are no requirements for the type/number of kind acts what can be done in order to be able to give away the card.
- More Giving Game "credit" Cards are available upon request. Printed copies from the Web are free of charge!
- The object of this "credit" card is to give it away, as a result of doing a kind act for someone, not to keep it hidden away in a safe place.
- Tell the learners that they will also receive a letter to take home to their family (Attachment Two) that will explain the Giving Game and that will ask their family to help them participate in the game.
- Tell the learners that in order to get started they need to begin to think about ‘kind acts’ they might do. Brainstorm some ideas by having the learners share some of the acts they are thinking of doing. Be sure to emphasize that the object of this card is to give it away as the result of doing a kind act.
- Have the learners role play some of their ideas for kind acts to model the behavior. Have them role-play doing the act and then giving the card to the recipient of their "act of kindness." Have that person do another act and pass the card on so that the learners understand how the card travels with the kind acts (the philanthropic term is serial
reciprocity or the process that occurs when one person gives to another, by means of time, talent or treasure, and thus causes a continual chain of giving to occur [in a linear rather than circular pattern]).
Assessment:
Teacher observation of learner participation in the discussion of credit cards and learner understanding of how the Giving Game card differs from other "credit" cards.
School/Home Connection:
The learners will be given a letter to share with their family (Attachment Two) about the Giving Game. Families will be encouraged to assist the learner in selecting and reporting their act(s) of kindness online.
Extension:
Periodically during the school year, provide a "sharing time" venue that gives learners a chance to reflect, if they wish to do so, on the kind acts that they performed and how they are feeling about the game. A bulletin board of art work depicting "kind acts" or reflective journal writing pieces can be suggested as a way to recognize and share what learners are doing and feeling.
Bibliographical References:
Giving Game Web site: www.givinggame.org
Lesson Developed and Piloted by:
Dennis VanHaitsmaCurriculum Consultant
Learning to Give
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
How to Play the Giving Game
Teacher Note: Be sure to remind the learners that once they give their Giving Game Card away, they may request additional cards and repeat the process as many times as they choose to do so.
Handout 2Print Handout 2
Parent/Guardian Letter
Dear Family,
Today, we talked about "winning" and "losing" in our classroom and we decided that no one really feels good about losing (unless, of course, they are on a diet). We all decided that winning is more fun. We also talked about how there typically are winners and losers in the games that we play, but today we discovered a new game. One in which everyone is a winner!!! The name of this game is the Giving Game and this is how it is played (see www.givinggame.org).
First—Perform a kind act for someone else, such as paying for a cup of coffee or soda for the person behind you in line. The act of kindness can be done secretly or be known to the person.
Second—Leave a Game Card with your kind act. Each Game Card has a unique ID number. Cards have instructions on the back so the person receiving the kind act knows how to play the Giving Game.
Third—The Web site can track the Card(s). Since each Game Card has a unique ID number, you can register your Card(s) at the site, allowing you to record your kind act stories and read the stories of others. As your Card travels from one kind person to another, you can see what's happening, who's involved and which cities and countries it reaches!
Our hope is that everyone in our class will be able to play in this game, at least once.
As a family member, your role will be to:
1) encourage your child to participate.
2) record the GGID # on the back of the Giving Game Card for later "tracking."
3) help your child decide on a kind act that s/he can do .
4) help your child understand and give the Giving Game Card away to the person who receives their kind act.
5) if you have access to a computer and Internet, help you child log onto the www.givinggame.org Web site and record his/her kind act, OR,
6) help your child write about or illustrate their kind act and send this to his/her teacher for recording on the Web site.
7) decide if you or your child would like to continue to play the game by obtaining vinyl or printed Giving Game Cards from www.givinggame.org.
8) continue to support/encourage your child in doing kind acts.
We hope that you will enjoy helping your child play this Game in which everyone is a winner!
Respectfully,
Unit Contents:
Overview:Giving Game—Put It on the Card! Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Giving Game—Put It on the Card!
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