These Learning Links provide ten quick-and-easy, five-minute mini-lessons to promote student thought and dialogue about service and civic engagement. You may use as many of them as you wish, and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of time, talent, and treasure for the common good) and to reinforce the lesson focus. These Learning Links also promote the development of character traits, civic engagement, and student leadership. As appropriate to your grade level, it is recommended that students play an active leadership role in presenting these mini-lessons to their classmates.

1. READ: Stella made a furrow in the dirt of the school garden. She dropped in some carrot seeds. She covered up the seeds with dirt. Then she picked up her watering can and wet down the soil. 
Lucy said to her teacher, “Ms. Wilson, Stella is planting all wrong! She planted the seeds too deep, and she's drowning them with water.”
Stella looked up to see Lucy standing next to their teacher. Stella and Lucy were planning partners. They were working together on the root vegetable section of their garden. (Root vegetables are ones that grow under the ground.) But, Lucy spent most of the time complaining about Stella and her classmates. Stella wanted to like Lucy, but it was really hard.
Ms. Wilson looked at their work. There were neat rows marked with signs that read Carrots, Beets, and Potatoes.
“This looks good to me, girls. Lucy, remember that everyone does things differently. It doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as everyone is helping, I am happy. We can do a lot by working together.”
DISCUSS: How do you think the other students in the class felt about Lucy's comments? When we volunteer our time during our Earth Day event, why is it important for everyone to do his or her part?
2. READ: Jessica liked to help her grandfather build things. Together they once made a bookshelf for her room. Another time they made a small table to put by her bed. While they worked, her grandfather told her stories about the days when he was Jessica’s age. He talked about climbing trees and woodworking with his father.
He told her that the beautiful woods in the back of his parents’ home had burned to the ground. Some careless camper had left a campfire unattended. In less time than it would take to do twenty math problems, the beautiful woods were gone. “It’s too bad that something that takes so long to grow, like a tree, can disappear so quickly,” Grandpa said with sadness in his voice. “We need to take good care of our trees,” he said. “If we do, we’ll be taking care of our world.”
DISCUSS: Why do you think Grandpa felt so sad when talking about the trees? What natural thing would you be sad to lose? What are we planning to take care of during our Earth Day event that will also help us “take good care of our world”?
 
3. READ: For Earth Day, Alyssa’s class had been asked to pick up the trash on the playground. Alyssa didn’t want to it. “I didn’t put it there!” she exclaimed. “Why should I have to pick it up?
DISCUSS: If you were Alyssa’s teacher, what would you say to her? What do you think you could say to her that might convince her to help anyway? How could we encourage our classmates who don’t want to be a part of our Earth Day event(s) to help?
 
4. READ: Jacob sat alone by the side of the building. His teacher asked him why he was sad. Jacob said, “I’m upset because Aaron told me the way I planted my flowers was stupid.” Planting flowers was a part of the class’s Earth Day project.
Jacob’s teacher looked at the flowers Jacob had planted. “They look fine to me,” she told Jacob.
Jacob felt better. He went back to work. When the project was finished, everyone came back to their seats. The teacher said, “I want you to know that I am very proud of everyone. Everyone did their very best. I want you to know that because you did your very best, everything looks beautiful!”
DISCUSS: Do you think some kids are better at doing some things than others? Is that okay? Why or why not? Why is it important to always support each other? Why is it important to work together to do our very best during our Earth Day project?
 
5. READ: An elderly man sat on a park bench. He had a bag of seeds and was feeding the birds that gathered around him. He paused and watched as a young girl rode past on her bike. He noticed that she had stopped. She got off her bike to pick up what looked like a candy wrapper. Placing it in one of the park’s trash cans, she got back on her bike and rode away. The man thought to himself. “I wonder why that young girl did that.” When the man finished feeding the birds, he stood slowly and stretched. As he reached for his cane he noticed that someone had carelessly left a paper coffee cup under the bench. Slowly, he bent down and picked it up. As he left the park he put it in one of the park’s trash cans.
DISCUSS: Why do you think this young girl stopped to pick up the wrapper and put it in the trash can? Why do you think the elderly man was surprised at what the young girl did? Do you think that what the young girl did reminded the elderly man to help keep the park free of litter? Do you think that what we do during our Earth Day event might “remind” others to do the same? Why or why not?
 
6. READ: The word heart and the word earth have something in common. Do you know what it is? That’s right, they share the same letters! They are just arranged differently in each word. We know that everything that is alive has a heart. Do you know that the human heart beats more than 3.5 billion times in an average person’s life-time? That’s a lot, but our heart is needed to keep us alive and healthy. Without a heart, we wouldn’t be here. Native Americans of long ago talked of the Earth’s beating heart. Even today we still say that the Earth is alive just like you and I are.
DISCUSS: Why is having a heart so important? In what ways is our Earth alive?How is our Earth Day event going to keep our Earth alive and healthy?
 
7. READ: The teacher askedeight year old Andrew to find a partner to work with him during their Earth Day event. This year the class decided to fix up the school’s courtyard. Andrew and his partner would be in charge of planting flowers on Saturday. Andrew asked Ayden to help first. “I’m not good with flowers. They make me sneeze,” Ayden confessed.
Next Andrew asked Tasha, “Sorry,” she said. “Last year I was stuck doing a whole lot of things. Not everyone showed up as promised. I’m not doing that again.”
Then Andrew asked Clayton. “Nope, I won’t have time on Saturday. My Rocket Football team has a game.”
Growing anxious, Andrew approached, Lonnie. “Well, last year I offered to help. But no one called me to tell me when and where we were going to meet. When I finally found out where the meeting was, I went. But, no one would listen to my ideas. So I don’t think I’m interested.”
Andrew felt that Blake was his last option. If he was going to find anyone at all to be his partner Blake was his last hope. Blake responded, “Sure I’ll do what I can to help. I’m not real good with flowers, but I’ll give it a try.”
DISCUSS: Andrew’s friends had all kinds of reasons for saying “no”. Most people who are willing to help are like Blake. They are willing to do what they can even though they are not sure how good they will be at it. Why is “giving it a try” a good attitude to take when asked to help? How can we be sure that everyone feels included and important to the success of our Earth Day event?
 
8. READ: Jon and Jorie were twins. They were both in the 3rd grade at Gradelevel School. They both had Ms. Orlanda for their teacher. One Friday, Ms. Orlanda gave the class a weekend assignment. She called it Improve the Earth. Each student was to do at least one thing that would make the Earth better.She asked them to write a report on what they did and how they felt about what they did. Jon knew right away what he would do. Mrs. Wright, an elderly widow who lived next door, needed to have her leaves raked. Jon made plans to rake her leaves on Saturday.
Jorie was struggling to come up with an idea. She had made plans to play with her friend, Jessica, on Saturday. She also planned to go shopping with her mother for a new pair of gym shoes. As Saturday neared, Jorie was still without an idea. She grew more and more unhappy. She even began to hope that Saturday would never come. She complained to her mom, “What can I do?”
Her mother reminded her of all the trash in the street in their block. “Why don’t you take a trash bag and gloves from under the sink? Then go pick up all the trash around the block?” Mom offered.
As much as Jorie hated the idea of giving up part of her Saturday to spend it picking up smelly old trash, she agreed to do it. Finally the job was done. As Jorie sat down to start writing about what she did, she realized that something strange had happened. She was actually feeling good about what she did. She wondered what it was that changed her mind.
DISCUSS: Were you ever asked by your teacher or your parents to do something to help out and you did not want to do it? But you had no choice. Then later after you did it, you felt differently? What do you think changed Jorie’s mind? What do you think changed your mind? Do you think there are kids in our school who do not want to help us in our Earth Day event? How could we encourage them to participate, anyway?
 
9. READ: Ms. Chan asked her third grade class to suggest projects they could do to celebrate Earth Day. Gina was the first to respond. “We could rent a crane to knock down that old building next to the school. It would make a great play area.”
Hans suggested that the class could collect pop bottles and cans. They could turn them in for the refund money and buy more four-square balls for the playground. April said that the class could pick up the trash along the beach. It was only a mile from the school.
Anita suggested that the class place a recycling basket next to the wastebasket in their classroom. Everyone could throw his or her old papers in it to be recycled.
Dakota offered to have his uncle come to the class. His uncle could talk about water pollution in the stream that ran behind the school. “Maybe he could tell us some things we could do to help keep the stream clean,” Dakota suggested.
Brian thought it would be a good idea to make a new classroom rule that the last person to leave the classroom should always turn off the lights.
DISCUSS: In what ways do all of these ideas show that Ms. Chan’s class understood the idea of an Earth Day? Do you think all of these ideas were good ideas for Earth Day? Why or why not? How will our planned Earth Day event help take care of our Earth?

10. READ: The steady drip of water. It can be very annoying …drip …drip… drip. We try to ignore it but we can’t. It bugs us! We may even try to turn the faucet tighter. But it does not stop. It continues to drip...drip...drip. Dripping water is very wasteful of our natural resources. Some dripping faucets can waste up to 3,000 gallons of water a year! That’s the amount of water it takes to fill 42 bathtubs to the brim! It can also be very expensive. One dripping faucet can add $15.00 a month to your family’s water bill. But many people still think that it’s just not worth repairing a dripping faucet.
DISCUSS: Did you know that such a little thing like a dripping faucet can cause so much waste? Sometimes it is the little things that make a big difference. If you turn off the water while brushing your teeth you can save 240 gallons of water a month. As we think about our Earth Day event what other “little things” can we do to make a big difference? Why is it so important that we do what we can to care for our environment? Why is it always “worth it” anytime we can save our valuable natural resources?

Reflection plays a very important role in promoting student learning. The following suggested activities are ways to help students reflect on their learning after they have participated in a service event.  Choose one or more of the activities most appropriate to the service event and your students.

ACTIVITY ONE:
Provide each student with a cutout of a green, orange, yellow, and blue gum ball (a circle). On each green gum ball have the students write what they did during the Event activity.  On each orange gum have them write what impact they felt they made because of what they did. On the yellow gum ball have the students write a word that represents how they felt. On the blue gum ball have the students write something that they might do in the future to be helpful. Have students share their “gum balls” with a partner.  After their sharing, have the students come to the display area and place their four gum balls inside the outline of a glass topped gum ball machine.  (NOTE: Each gum ball should be displayed so that what is written on it can be easily read.)  Should the “Gum ball Machine” not be “filled up,” encourage the students to add additional blue gum balls as they think of additional activities they could do to be of service.

ACTIVITY TWO:
Have the students share what chores they are responsible for doing around their home.  Record these responses on a display board for all to see.  Have the students look for commonalities and differences.  Lead the students in a discussion that explores why doing these chores might be helpful to everyone in the family; how they contribute to the “common good” of the family.  Now, lead the students in a discussion about the Event and have them explain what it is they did during the Event.  Record their responses next to their “chores” responses on the display board.  Lead the students in a discussion that explores the importance of doing their “chores” as a member of the community; why taking part in the Event might be helpful to their family, school, and/or community.

Ask the students how they feel about doing their “chores” around the house.  Record their responses on the display board. Then encourage them to share how they felt while being involved in the Event and have them compare their “chore” feelings with their “Event” feelings. Note similarities and differences and encourage them to draw some conclusions.

ACTIVITY THREE:
Draw a clock face on the display board without its numbers and Label it “What Time Is It?”  Randomly, read the statements below and instruct students to raise their hands if they know what time it is (hour)?  They are to determine the correct time by the clue found in the statements.  Once a student correctly identifies the time (hour) from the clue, they are to share something from their experience with the Event.  Capture one or two key words or phrases that “summarize” the student comments and record these key words/concepts, along with the correctly identified number in the appropriate hour position that the number occupies on the clock face.  (Note: Use the ‘time cues’ suggested or ones that might be more appropriate to your present classroom academic instruction.

Time Clues:

 

1. How many people are flying an airplane when a pilot is flying solo?    
   (1 o’clock)
2. How many people are there singing in a duet/How many people does it take to tango?    
   (2 o’clock)
3. The minimum number of legs you need on a chair in order for it to stay upright/The right side half of a figure eight/Number of blind mice who ran after the farmer’s wife.   
   (3 o’clock)
4. The number of “downs” you get to move the football 10 yards/The number that is called out when a golfer is concerned that someone might be hit by the golf ball.    
   (4 o’clock)
5. The number of digits that make up a hand or a foot/Number of players on a basketball team that can be playing on the floor at the same time   
   (5 o’clock)
6. A half-dozen/The highest number one can shake on a single die   
   (6 o’clock)
7. The number of days in a week/A half of a decade plus two         
   (7 o’clock)
8. The figure of some race tracks/The shape of a snowman           
   (8 o’clock)
9. Three triples/One year short of a decade/A baseball team         
   (9 o’clock)
10. The highest score for an Olympic diver/A decade    
    (10 o’clock)
11. The last hour of the morning before noon/The hour before midnight     
    (11 o’clock)
12. Eggs are usually sold in this quantity/How old is the oldest pre-teen in the world?    
    (12 o’clock)

 

Once the numbers and key words/phrases have been placed on the clock, label the clock “Time for Philanthropy.”  Ask the students to summarize what they heard in the way of key words and phrases.  Asking “Do you have time for philanthropy?” might be a good question when considering helpful acts of kindness and justice.

ACTIVITY FOUR:
Show the students a variety of pictures of various candy bars (or have a variety of candy bars on display).  Ask the students to think about their favorite candy bar.  Have them share what it is about their "pictured" candy bar that appeal to them.
For example:

 

1. How do they feel while they are thinking about their favorite candy bar?
2. How do they feel while they are actually eating their favorite candy bar?
3. How do they feel after they have actually eaten their favorite candy bar?
4. Do they think that they might eat another of those candy bars in the future?
5. Do they think they might try a different kind of candy bar in the future?

 

Have the students think about and share with the class how eating their favorite candy bar and their having been involved in this most recent service project might be alike.  Conclude this reflection by having the students share their favorite part about this service project and explain why.