Fairy tales are great stories for helping young people work out complicated moral issues in a make-believe context. Found in countries all around the world, the same story plays out in different contexts. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters is a "Cinderella" story from Africa in which kindness, generosity, honesty, and love are rewarded and selfishness is punished.
The book The Empty Pot by Demi tells a fable of a Chinese emporer who wants to find the most worthy to take his place. What does it mean to be a worthy community leader?
This predictable and repetitive story, The Doorbell Rang, has a charming and surprising ending. The children must share a plate of cookies with a growing number of neighbors, but what do they do when there are more kids than cookies? They might surprise you!
Fables teach lessons or morals through animal actions. The exaggerated human-like characteristics of animals make the moral lesson appealing. The story of the "Lion and the Mouse" illustrates that a kind deed is never wasted.
Three amendments to the Constitution extended voting rights to more citizens. Look at the language of these amendments and the effectiveness of everyone actually getting the vote. Youth discuss the purpose of voting, and they take action to make a difference, such as by making posters about the history of voting rights.
Literature and primary documents help youth understand the role of the Constitution for the United States. They overview the three branches of government described in the first three articles and learn that government officials are serving with their time and talent for the common good. With the goal to look for traits of trustworthy officials, youth use the Internet to research their own state officials. They gather data and summarize what they find.
In the book, Sam and the Lucky Money, we observe Sam as he makes a difficult decision between what he wants and what he knows is right. The children explore the benefits and costs of giving.
Based on the book The Runaway Rice Cake, the group writes a familiar story from a different perspective. The moral of the story is that when the character gives generously and from the heart, the giver is also rewarded in some way.
Through discussion of the book The Seven Chinese Brothers, learners recognize that using our talents and working together to help others has benefits greater than the opportunity cost (what we gave up to take generous action).
Readers examine the lasting effects of power, privilege, and discrimination on communities.