Devotions for Young Children
In this faith-based Christian unit, students explore the concept of philanthropy and learn about the nonprofit sector. They brainstorm how they can use their talents to collaboratively create a faith-based devotional for younger children. This unit has a strong youth voice in determining needs and age-appropriate content.
In this two-session lesson, students explore the concept of philanthropy and brainstorm how they can use (and develop) their English Language Arts talents to create faith-based devotionals for younger children.
Students bring together their investigations of different preschool and early childhood centers and share their research on literacy and faith development and come to a consensus on the plan for their devotional project. They examine sample devotionals and brainstorm their topics and theme ideas. Students complete pre-writing activities and collaboration before starting their first drafts.
In this lesson, a representative from the partner early childhood organization visits the class, and students learn about the role of nonprofit organizations in the community. They continue to follow the writing process to revise and edit their devotions. Students pair up with a younger student to get input on the age-appropriateness of the writing.
Students work collaboratively to bring their individual devotions into a collective devotional booklet that is printed and published online. They also create an audio version. Students serve on different teams determined by collaborative planning to make the final version.
Students hold a demonstration of their finished project on a field trip to the partner early-childhood center they determined in Lesson One. They make contact with directors of local organizations to offer share their devotionals with more young children in the community. They distribute the final product to churches and schools associated with the same faith-based community. They evaluate and celebrate the successes of the entire project.