GivingTuesday is a global day of giving celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. It’s a day that generosity is elevated after two shopping events: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. On the day people around the world are talking about where they will give, teach one of these K-12 lessons to raise awareness with your students that they have something valuable to give - their time, talent, or treasure.
Since GivingTuesday is a social event, here's a meaningful way to share your students’ generous hearts:
You don’t have to adopt a new curriculum. Learning to Give's standards-aligned lessons inspire students to use their hearts and minds to impact their community and themselves.
In response to a read-aloud story about improving a community with individual gifts of time and talent, students explore talents and interests of their own and others. They practice listening and responding with respect.
In response to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s challenge to a middle school to spark discussions and action of personal action, in this lesson we explore what it means to be the best with the talents you have. Students practice listening and responding with respect.
In response to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s challenge to be the best with the talents you have, students explore talents and interests of their own and others. They practice listening and responding with respect.
Students define philanthropy and discuss the joy of giving, as well as various ways to give through nonprofits in the community. They learn how GivingTuesday uses the power of social media and combining efforts with others to make a big difference.
In this lesson, students learn that we all have ideas and talents to make the world a better place. This is an opportunity to demonstrate and feel the impact of kindness, inclusion, and listening on a caring community.
In this lesson, the students learn to use their voice to say something to make the world a better place. This is an opportunity to demonstrate and feel the impact of kindness, inclusion, and listening on a caring community.
Students gain empathy and use language to describe the mixed feelings that come with being new to a community. They watch and discuss video clips and compare character traits.
At the beginning of the year we get to create our classroom community. We get to decide how we will learn and grow and play with each other for the rest of the year. This is a new beginning for all. As we start to d
Building a caring and inclusive classroom begins with an understanding of where students are at not just academically, but emotionally. Many students today have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences that affect their ability to regulate their emotions. By teaching children
Students investigate, plan, and facilitate a service-learning project that benefits refugees in their community.
This lesson leads the learners to investigate and expand their understanding of caring and to determine those things or people that they care about.
Learners relate enlightened self-interest to caring by discussing a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville about the American tradition of democracy.
Students read about the actions and projects of people their age who stick their necks out for the sake of others.
Learners reflect on their experience with performing an act of kindness from the previous lesson. They compare their experience to the message in a folktale, and write about the impact of a single small act of caring.
Through pictures, provocative questions, group discussion, and video, students explore what a refugee is, what his or her life is like, and how people can help them feel welcome and get the tools they need to survive in a new home.
Students listen to the voices of refugees in the words of a poem by W. H. Auden. They explore the poetic imagery and then write their own poem using voice, imagery, and rhyme.
Students will decide on a service-learning project and create posters to advertise the event.
Depictions of hunger in excerpts from Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist provide concrete images of hunger as learners determine its causes and decide whether to support a change in U.S. public policy related to the issue.
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to The Group of Seven, a group of artists whose intent was to establish a national identity, a sense of pride and original style for Canada, inspired by the environment. This was a philanthropic endeavor for the common good of all.
Students get outside and play in nature and recognize the beauty of diverse living things in their environment. Their service project is to take action to protect nature and share nature with someone else.
Students get outside and play in nature and recognize the beauty of diverse living things in their environment. Their service project is to share nature with someone else in a creative interaction.
Students will find and discuss examples of philanthropy in poems and quotations. They will define and design statements on the theme of philanthropy using the poetic conventions of metaphor, simile, and personification.
Add service to your teaching calendar by aligning lessons and service-learning projects to monthly events and themes. Select a month to find lessons, project ideas, and more! As you build a community and classroom culture of giving, teach these themes and lessons to build a common vocabulary and motivation to give.
