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: There is a famous song. Its title is "Dry Bones" or "Dem Dry Bones." This song has been used as a way to teach the parts of the skeleton. Two brothers wrote the tune and the words. James Wedlon Johnson wrote the tune and  J. Rosamund Johnson wrote the words. The words go something like this
   
   ….Your toe bone connected to your foot bone, Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone, Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone, Your leg bone connected to your knee bone, Your knee bone connected to your  thigh  bone, Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone, Your hip bone connected to your  back bone, Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone, Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone Your neck bone connected to your head bone…. Etc.
   
   Discuss: Why is it important that all our bones be connected? What would happen if they were not connected? Why is it important that we all work together on our service project? What might happen if we do not work together?
   
    
2. Read: Everyone in Mr. Axion’s class laughed as we watched the zoo keeper try to put a live octopus back into its box. It seemed that whenever he got one of its arms in the box another one popped out. The zoo keeper told the class that the octopus uses its eight arms to do many things besides crawling out of boxes. He said that the octopus makes good use of its arms. It uses them to play as well as to get food. They help the octopus move around. They also are used to help take care of its young. Then he told us something very interesting. He said that an octopus has three hearts! When the zoo keeper left to go back to the zoo with his animals, Mr. Axion asked the class some questions.
   
   Discuss: Let’s pretend for a minute that we are in Mr. Axion’s class. How would you answer the following questions Mr. Axion asked his students: “If we had eight arms to use during our service project, what do you think would happen?”  “How do you think life would be different if we all had three hearts instead of just one?”  “How can we make the best use of our one heart and two arms during our service project?”
   
    
3. Read: McGruff the Crime Dog tells us to “help take a bite out of crime.” If your TV could talk to you it would probably tell you that it wants to “help take a bite out time.” Your time. We all know that watching too much TV can take a big bite out of our time. It can rob us of time together with our family. It can cut into our meal and exercise-times. It can swallow up our playtime. Sometimes it gets in the way of our doing our school work and other things that we are supposed to be doing. People who study our TV watching habits say that most young people in the US will spend more time in front of the television (1,023 hours) than in their school each year (900 hours). We need to remember that there are many more important things to do than just watching TV. Seventy (70) national organizations support TV-Turnoff Week. During this week everyone is asked to reduce their TV watching. Turning off the television gives everyone an opportunity to think, read, create, and do. It gives people a chance to re-connect with their families. It gives people a chance to greet their neighbors. A good TV-Turnoff Week motto is: Turn off your TV and turn on your life.
   
   Discuss: Can you think of things we could do if we didn’t watch so much TV? In what ways might reducing our TV watching help us accomplish our goal for our service project? In what ways might we be able to re-connect with our families and our communities during our service project? Mottos say things in very short phrases or sentences.  What might be a good motto for our service project?
   
    
4. Read: I’m sure that everyone knows what a little ladybug looks like. But do you know that at one time people used to ask the ladybug for good weather. In parts of the world children were even told that human babies were brought by ladybugs. Some people counted the spots on the backs of ladybugs. If they had fewer than seven spots it meant a big harvest in the fall. Some believed that if a young woman caught a ladybug in her hand and it crawled across her hand that she would be married within a year. Years ago, doctors believed that ladybugs could be used to treat measles. Ladybugs as tiny and as cute as they are, are very useful. They are especially well liked by gardeners because ladybugs love to eat bugs that damage plants.
   
   Discuss: Sometimes people think that because we are little we can’t do much. To them we’re just cute. How could what we do during our service project help show people that like the ladybug we may be cute but we are also very useful?
   
    
5. Read: Cooperation means working together to do something  instead of working separately or in competition. To be successful, most projects require everyone to cooperate. Here are nine ways we can show cooperation. We can listen carefully to others. That way we can be sure we understand what they are saying. We can share when we have something that others would like to have. We can take turns when there is something that nobody wants to do or when more than one person wants to do the same thing. We can compromise when we have a serious disagreement over something. We can find ways to agree. That way everyone feels better about the decision. We can each do our part. That way we know the job will get done. We can show our appreciation to others for their help by thanking them. We can encourage everyone to do their best. We can help make people feel needed. Working together is a lot more fun than working alone. We need to be sure that we don’t isolate or exclude anyone. Everybody has something valuable to offer. Nobody likes being left out.
   
   Discuss: Why is it important for us to cooperate during our service project? Of  these nine ways that we can show cooperation, what do you think might be the  hardest thing to do? Why do you think so? How can we make it easier?
    www.goodcharacter.com/YCC/Cooperation.html
   
    
6. Read: Most athletes only dream the athletes’ dream. It’s the dream of scoring the winning basket with time running out on the clock. It’s the dream of driving in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded. It’s the dream of scoring the go-ahead goal at the buzzer. It’s the dream of acing the final serve to win the tennis match. The dream of kicking the soccer ball father than anyone. Occasionally, these dreams do become a reality for some. But it does not happen often and usually not always to the same athlete. That’s because in most sports, winning is a team effort rather than an individual effort. The slogan, There is no ‘I’ in team! encourages individuals to play as a team and not for individual glory. To be a team everyone needs to be working together doing what needs to be done. In that way everyone has a chance to be a part of the athletes’ dream.
   
   Discuss: What might be some of our dreams for our service project? In what  ways does our service project need to be a team effort?  What do we need to do in order to experience and celebrate the thrill of our team’s accomplishment on  this day?
   
    
7. Read: There have been many times in our history when people have said “it couldn’t be done”. Or they said it was "crazy to even try". Only later were they proved wrong. Examples: “People can’t fly in heavier than air machines, that ridiculous. “People will never be able to talk to each other over tiny wires (or through the air)”. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home”.  “Be a recording company for the Beatles? No way! We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
   
   Discuss: Do you think there are people who are saying that what we have planned for our service project can’t be done? How can we avoid feeling crazy and ridiculous for even trying to accomplish the things we set out to do for our service project? How might our accomplishments during our service project be of encouragement to others to try the “weirdly impossible”?
   
    
8. Read: We can learn a lot about life by watching the eagle. Parents of young eagles (eaglets) watch over them very attentively until they have grown all their feathers. The parents then “stir up the nest”. This means that they make things less comfortable in the nest. They toss out all the soft nesting material. Then they force the young eagles to stand on their own feet in order to strengthen their muscles and talons getting them ready for eagle life. When young eaglets are old enough to fly, they do not realize they are able to fly. In fact they are still terrified of falling out of the nest. They like being where they are and having someone take care of them. We could say that they are in their “comfort zone”. The eaglets have spent their whole lives trying their best not to fall out of the nest. While other birds coax their young out of the nest with food, this is not true for eagles. When the day comes that the parents decide it’s time, they push the young eaglets out of the nest for their own good. The mama eagle physically pushes them out of the nest while the daddy eagle circles nearby waiting to catch them if they are so afraid that they forget to open their wings and start gliding. The good news is if they don’t glide quickly, daddy eagle will gently catch them before they hit the ground and return them to the nest. The bad news is, in a few more days the mama eagle has to push them out of the nest again until they finally learn to fly. To survive, young eaglets eventually need to become eagles in their own right.
   
   Discuss: We all experience fear at some time or another. We may be afraid that we can’t do it; that we won’t measure up; that others might not like us; that we aren’t good enough.  What might be some of the “comfort zones” that kids don’t want to leave during our service project? How can we gently push them out of their “comfort zone” so they won’t be afraid to “soar with us” during our service project? What assurance can we give them that we will “catch them” should they become afraid? How might our involvement in our service project help us become responsible people?
   
    
9. Read:
   For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
   For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
   For want of a horse the rider was lost.
   For want of a rider the battle was lost.
   For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
   And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
   
   This rhyme talks about horses, riders, kingdoms, and battles so it probably was written a long time ago in England. Much later, Benjamin Franklin put a version of this rhyme in his book entitled, Poor Richard's Almanac. Still later, during World War II, this rhyme was framed and hung on the wall of a supply headquarters. Often it is used to remind people of the importance of little things. All actions, big or small, have consequences. What may seem unimportant can have a major impact on how things turn out. Today, this rhyme is often used to encourage people to make an effort, even if that effort appears not to be important. Who knows? Maybe it will be very important!
   
   Discuss:  How might we use this rhyme to promote student involvement in our service project? How might we use this rhyme to encourage those who feel they have nothing to offer? How could we help them to see that their effort could be very significant?
   www.rhymes.org.uk/for_want_of_a_nail.htm
   
    
10. Read:   Two men looked out from prison bars.
                        One saw mud, one saw stars.
    Most athletes will tell you that their biggest challenge often is not the physical challenge but the mental one. One athlete put it this way, “I have to visualize myself doing what I need to do. If I can’t do that I am won’t reach my potential. It’s known as the principle of vision, to see that the best is available to you and to be convinced that it’s possible for you to attain it.”
    
    Discuss: As we think about our planned service project(s) what “vision” comes to your mind? Why is important that we believe that what we are attempting to accomplish is possible? What are some things we could do mentally during our service project to stay focused on the “stars” How can we be of encouragement to someone who is looking only at the “mud”?