CREATING HOME
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 4: ANIMAL HOMES
BY JESSICA YORK AND CHRISTY OLSON
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/7/2014 12:44:47 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Perhaps the most radical thing we can do is to stay home, so we can learn the names of the plants and animals around us; so that we can begin to know what tradition we're part of. -- Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams is a naturalist and an environmental activist. In the quote that opens this session, she talks about learning the names of animals and plants around our homes so we can see how we fit into the "tradition" of all life with which we share the Earth. Typically, however, children's education about nature involves big or exotic creatures such as lions, bears, dinosaurs, or eagles. Films and television programs about nature also emphasize the large, the faraway, and the unusual.
When we explore nature around our homes, we can notice and appreciate the spider living in the attic, the toad under the bush in front of our house, and the house plants we love. These little pieces of nature are where we must stop, look, and listen. In this session, participants will observe the natural world close to them, learning how some animals and plants aid in the functions of our family homes.
The previous session, Session 3: Beehives focused on bees. The beehive's unique gift of community enhances our understanding of both our own family homes and our shared Unitarian Universalist faith home. This session explores other animal homes found in nature including nests, burrows, and dens. Each of these animal homes serves a particular set of functions for its inhabitants. A nest allows a bird to fly to and from home. A burrow allows a chipmunk to collect and save seeds fallen to the ground. Taking the time to observe these homes and discuss their functions will take us on another phase of our journey.
Another important element of this session is the homes we create for animals we use in agriculture. Children often do not understand the connection between their macaroni and cheese and the cow that gave the milk that then became the cheese. In this session, children will learn about human stewardship of farm animals by focusing on the homes we provide for the animals that provide us with food.
Some Unitarian Universalists do not eat animal flesh (vegetarians) or products made by or from animals (vegans). As you explore human relationships with domesticated animals and livestock, be sensitive to children in your group who are being raised with specific eating choices. Think about how you can demonstrate the spirituality humans can find in stewardship for our domesticated animals, in a way that will resonate for and not exclude a child who eats neither meat nor eggs. Such a child may belong to a family where not using animals for food is considered a highly spiritual choice. Use each opportunity as a way to teach, and to learn.
As children explore animal homes in this session, be ready for spontaneous comments as they see parallel functions in their own family homes. Feeding, growing, finding shelter, and resting are all activities that the physical home supports. Children who are already comfortable with the concept of learning from nature will have many observations as you begin to discuss these topics. Be patient, but firm, with those whose excitement spills out in discussion to make sure all have opportunities to participate.
The activities in this session call for you to show children pictures of wild animals and farm animals. Beforehand, gather old magazines such as National Geographic, calendars, and picture books. Visit the websites you will find suggested throughout this session. Download images you want to show the group.
If you are a regular nature lover you will be familiar with the terms in this session. Check out your knowledge of animal homes on the website of the Utah Educational Network (at www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=3804). You may be amazed at how much you already know, and equally amazed at how much you have to learn.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Lizard's Song | 10 |
Activity 2: Who Shares the Barn Home? | 18 |
Activity 3: Burrow, Den, or Nest | 12 |
Activity 4: Wild Animal Matching Puzzles | 10 |
Faith in Action: Audubon Bird Count — Long-term | 10 |
Faith in Action: Community Supported Agriculture — Short-term | 60 |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Farm Animal Interactive Story — It Could Be Worse | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
The term "nesting" evokes birds, but it also describes human behavior upon claiming a space. In your moments of spiritual preparation to lead this session, think about human beings in the following situations and imagine how they might "nest."
When have you had to "nest" in a new situation? How did that feel? What worked to make you feel at home?
SESSION PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As children enter, invite them to retrieve their name stones from the basket and join you at the labyrinth. The labyrinth should be spread upon the floor with the chalice in the center and matches or a lighter at hand.
If you have any newcomers or guests in your group, invite them to choose a stone from the basket to use as a name stone. You may wish to ask a participant to offer the basket of stones to newcomers or guests. Inviting new people to take part in the opening ritual is a way to practice hospitality in your Creating Home program which your participants can emulate in their family homes and your shared faith home.
Light the chalice and recite the following affirmation:
We are Unitarian Universalists,
with minds that think
hearts that love,
and hands that are ready to serve.
Say the following in your own words.
This labyrinth reminds us that we are taking a journey together. Every session is yet another portion of that journey. Each time we meet, everyone places his or her stone within the labyrinth. Each stone is a symbol that we are all fellow members of the Creating Home program.
When you place your stone, please say your name and the name of your favorite animal. Sharing with one another is a tradition in our faith community.
Instruct a participant to place his/her name stone on the labyrinth, and guide the others to do the same, one at a time.
Then, say in your own words:
If you were here with us last time, you remember we talked about the homes where bees live. Who can tell us the name of where bees live?
Remind the group that bees live in a beehive. Then say:
Today we will talk about all kinds of animals and their homes. We will talk about wild animals and the homes they build for themselves, and we will talk about farm animals that co-create their homes with humans. As we look at our chalice and labyrinth, we can think about the many kinds of animals and their homes. Think for a moment about your favorite kind of animal, the kind of home it lives in, and the sound that your favorite animal might make.
You may invite the children to demonstrate the animal sounds they imagined.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — LIZARD'S SONG (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants where they can sit comfortably and hear a story. Say:
Wild animals build their own homes that are right for them. The story we are about to share is a Native American legend. It explains why each kind of animal must have its own kind of home.
Read aloud or tell in your own words the story, "Lizard's Song."
After the story, ask participants:
Then invite children to name their favorite wild animal and describe and/or name the animal's home. You may ask why they think the animals they name live in the kinds of homes they do.
Tell the story again, this time leading the children in singing the song with some of the new animal names and homes substituted for "lizard/rock" and "bear/den."
ACTIVITY 2: WHO SHARES THE BARN HOME? (18 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, children understand that some animals have been taken out of the wild and domesticated by humans to help meet our needs for food and clothing. Stewardship of these animals is humans' responsibility, in a reciprocal relationship that yields us eggs, wool, honey, and many other products including, for many, meat. The children will identify common farm animals while learning about the homes humans provide for them and the functions these homes serve.
Ask the children to name the homes of various farm animals. Prompt or redirect as necessary to draw out the information that horses live in stables or stalls, chickens live in chicken coops, hogs and pigs live in small buildings called sties. Dairy cows live in fields and barns.
If you have brought pictures of farm animals in their homes, show these to the children.
You might ask the group, "Can a horse build a barn to live in? Can a hen build a coop to sleep in and lay her eggs?" Point out that humans need to create shelters for farm animals to use as homes. A farmer builds a barn, and many animals share the shelter of the barn. Farmers build a chicken coop and fill it with hay, and chickens build their nests from the hay and lay eggs in the coop.
Distribute Handout 1: Who Shares the Barn Home? Tell children they may color or decorate the barn as they wish, though real barns are usually red, white, grey, or brown and are even sometimes made of stone. Distribute crayons, markers, or colored pencils, and invite the children to begin coloring.
As they color their barns, bring scissors around and demonstrate how to cut the double doors of their barns and fold the doors open. If you have photocopied pictures of farm animals, distribute these now, along with scissors. Or have paper available and invite children to draw and color animals themselves.
Give each child a piece of blank paper to place behind the handout. Show them where to draw or paste their favorite farm animals so the animals can be seen when the barn doors are opened.
Help children tape or glue the pages of animals behind the handout and "close" the doors to their barns. Then, invite them to open the barn doors and show one another who shares the barn home.
ACTIVITY 3: BURROW, DEN, OR NEST (12 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, children will explore how wild animals make their homes to adapt to their environment while learning the words "burrow," "den," and "nest." Ask the children if they have ever heard any of these words to describe a wild animal's home. Invite a few volunteers to explain what these types of homes are like, and what kind of animals live in them.
You may wish to offer these definitions from Webster's Dictionary to help the children match wild animals to the correct habitats.
You can say:
Wild animals find or make their own homes. Their homes give the animals a place of shelter, a place where they can safely rest, and a place to raise their families. In these ways, wild animal homes are similar to our family homes.
Ask children for examples of wild animal homes they might find in a park or right outside their own homes. You may suggest an anthill or a bird nest. Some children may even have wild animal homes inside their family homes; for example, a skunk may have made a home in the family basement or a bird may have made a home atop a window air conditioner.
Tell the group:
Wild animals make their own homes. If we destroy their homes, the wild animals cannot live. For some animals, just the smell of humans near their homes can keep the animal from returning to care for their babies. We must keep a safe distance from wild animal homes.
Now, let's pretend we are wild animals that need to build our own homes.
Form small groups to be "families" of wild animals. You may wish to assign each group a different animal to be: rabbits that need a burrow, wolves that need a den, or geese that need a nest.
Provide quilts, sheets, large sticks, and other items to each group. As the children begin to build their homes, remind them that they are wild animals that need shelter and safety and room for all to sleep.
If you have time, close this activity by asking groups to explain how the home they have built provides shelter, protection, and room to raise a family.
This would be a fun activity to photograph for future display.
ACTIVITY 4: WILD ANIMAL MATCHING PUZZLES (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Matching animals with their homes provides a tactile activity to help children understand that wild animals build their own homes for specific functions and reinforces children's knowledge about which animals live in which kind of homes. If you have made several sets of puzzles ahead of time, invite the children to try matching the animals with their homes on their own, in pairs, or in small groups. First, show all the pictures to the entire group. Then distribute the puzzles and have children mix up all the pieces and match the cards.
You may also like to give each child a copy of Leader Resource 1: Wild Animal Matching Puzzles with all five, two-piece puzzles not yet cut into puzzle pieces. Invite the children to color their puzzle sheets and bring them home to cut, with an adult's help, and play the matching game with family members.
ACTIVITY 5: FARM ANIMAL ANTICS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite the children to form a circle, standing as they are able.
Tell the group that in order to understand the kind of shelter and care farm animals need, they can try to imagine what it might be like to be one of these animals. Ask the children to name some farm animals and list these animals on the newsprint.
Name one animal on the list and lead children in a physical exploration and discussion with these questions:
Continue with another animal until you have explored the features and needs of all the animals the children have suggested.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group in a circle around the labyrinth. Tell the children that it is now time to share a closing ritual to mark the end of your religious education time together for this session.
Relight the chalice. Invite the children to take their name stones from the labyrinth, place them in the basket, and return to the circle. Then, ask a few volunteers to help you fold or roll the labyrinth and put it away.
Next, invite everyone to hold hands and sing just the chorus to "When Our Heart Is in a Holy Place ," Hymn 1008 in Singing the Journey.
If you prefer, invite the children to recite the words to the song:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place.
We are blessed with love and amazing grace.
When our heart is in a holy place.
If you have a Word Wall, say:
The words for our World Wall today are "burrow," "den," "nest," and "shelter."
Show the group the index cards or post-its on which you have written "burrow," "den," "nest," and "shelter." Post these on the Word Wall, or ask a volunteer to do it.
Tell the group:
We are glad you joined us today. We hope you felt sheltered and safe in your faith home, here in our Unitarian Universalist congregation, as we learned together. Next time we meet we will learn more together about creating home.
Extinguish the chalice.
Distribute the Taking It Home (included in this document) handout you have prepared. Remind the children to give the handout to their parents. Thank and dismiss the group.
Related content:
FAITH IN ACTION: AUDUBON BIRD COUNT — LONG-TERM (60 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Children are learning that wild animals build their own homes for specific functions. Involving your group in a local bird count sponsored by the Audubon Society engages participants more deeply in bird “lifestyles” and habitats, while reinforcing the Unitarian Universalist principle of caring for our Earth
Each year, the National Audubon Society conducts a national Christmas Bird Count. This bird count is done at different times across the United States in the last month of the year. The bird count helps Audubon Society keep track of where bird populations are changing and where research needs to focus.
To find out when and where near your congregation the next bird count will be, go to the Audubon Society website http://www.audubon.org and do a search for “bird count.
Children are usually welcomed on the bird count, as long as enough adults accompany them. Your local Audubon Society may have specific rules about children.
Instead of or in addition to attending a bird count, the group may be able to help your local Audubon Society promote the Christmas Bird Count. The children could make posters to display or flyers to distribute about the bird count.
To explore the responsibilities and choices humans have in co-creating farm animal homes, guide children to explore Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Use this website (at journeytoforever.org/farm_csa.html) to learn more about Community Supported Agriculture. Explore why it is important for the health and safety of our food, both vegetable and animal. To simplify children’s learning, pick one kind of animal such as chicken or dairy cow. Learn about how that animal is housed and cared for in accordance with the principles of CSA.
Most states have some form of CSA. Although Community Supported Agriculture began in Japan, it has spread across England and into the United States. Community Supported Agriculture is based on buying shares into small and usually organic farming businesses. Once shares, or partial shares, are purchased, the community member picks up their “share” of the produce, meat or honey. There are usually central pick up centers. Websites with more information about CSA are listed in the Resources section under “Leader Resources.”
Aid children in making posters to educate others in the faith home about CSA. Help the group think of taglines that explain CSA and why it is important, such as “Nourish Your Body with Healthy Food” or “Community Supported Agriculture Helps Us All." Write these taglines on a black board, white board, or posted newsprint and invite children to copy the words for their posters. Children can draw or cut pictures out of gardening or animal magazines to decorate their posters. Display the posters on a social action bulletin board or in the entry of the worship center.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
As you clean up the learning space, think about ways that animals have provided for your life.
TAKING IT HOME
Perhaps the most radical thing we can do is to stay home, so we can learn the names of the plants and animals around us; so that we can begin to know what tradition we’re part of. – Terry Tempest Williams
IN TODAY’S SESSION…
We spent a wonderful time getting inside animal homes of all kinds. We explored farm animals and our relationship with animals that we have taken out of the wild to provide food. Humans provide farm animal homes for rest, shelter and a place for growth. We also talked about how wild animals make their own homes that provide the same functions. We talked about how we can observe wild animal homes from a distance, but we must not disturb them.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about…
Many families have animals as pets, and many provide shelter for wild animals by having a bird house, a tree where squirrels nest or a place where spiders build their webs undisturbed. Discuss the animals that live in or around your home. How do you provide shelter for animals?
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER: Try…
A Family Game
A fun way to help children learn and remember the various kinds of homes that animals have is to play a game in which one person says “I’m a … and I live in….” The other person (or people) shout out as quick as they can where they think the given animal lives. You can make the game as simple as “I’m a squirrel and I live in a tree” or as complicated as “I’m a manatee and I live in the Florida Everglades.” The person who gets the animal home right gets to propose the next animal. If the child posing the question doesn’t know what sort of a home their animal lives in, an adult may need to referee the answers.
A Family Adventure
Take a walk and help your young child identify animal homes in your area. From an ant hill to a dog house, it is good for children to experience how animal homes differ as well as the features they have in common. If you have time, visit a zoo and discuss with children what happens when wild animals are removed from their wild homes. When humans choose to move wild animals for educational purposes, we must then take responsibility for the animal’s shelter and care.
FAMILY DISCOVERY
The internet has resources for both children and adults to learn about animal homes. You can find kid-friendly info on animal homes (at www.kidport.com/RefLib/Science/AnimalHomes/AnimalHomes.htm), a game in which kids help animals to find their home (at funschool.kaboose.com/preschool/amazing-animals/games/game_animal_homes.html?trnstl=1), and detailed descriptions of a few different kinds of animal homes (at www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/houses/).
Likewise, there are a variety of books for children on the subject, including Animal Homes (Kingfisher Young Knowledge Series) edited by Angela Wilkes and Belinda Weber (Houghton Mifflin, 2003)
Adults can find out more about Community Supported Agriculture (at www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa) and get information about CSA in your area (at www.organicconsumers.org/csa.htm) on the web.
See “cage free’ housing of chickens that are used for meat and for egg production on the National Humane Society (at www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/farm/cage_free_hsus.pdf) website.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: FARM ANIMAL INTERACTIVE STORY — IT COULD BE WORSE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Polish Jewish folktale children will hear in this activity rests on the silly image of farm animals living with humans in human family homes. Children practice identifying farm animals and their sounds, and gain a different perspective on how we humans make sure domesticated animals have appropriate homes.
In this fun and participatory story, a farmer lives in a house with his wife, their children, and the grandparents. The house isn't big enough for all of them. So he asks the rabbi for advice. The rabbi tells him to bring animals into his home too. First chickens, then goats, then cows, or whatever you like. The situation goes from bad to worse. After the rabbi suggests he take all of the animals out of the house, the farmer finds his home very peaceful.
Classifying animals into types such as zoo animals, farm animals, and wild animals is important for children. A wild animal lives differently than a farm animal. A captive wild animal, such as a zoo animal, lives differently than an animal in its natural habitat. Each has a different kind of relationship with humans.
Children love to play roles and to act out animal sounds. Before you present the story, assign roles to all the children as directed in the story, "It Could Be Worse." Allow the children who will be goats, chickens, or cows to discuss the type of home the animal lives in and the sound the animal makes.
Read the story through once. Then, tell the children you will read it again, but this time they will act in their roles. Point out the areas of the meeting space that you want to become the barn, the family home, and the rabbi's home. Tell the children who are pretending to be animals that when the farmer lets them into the house, they can make their animal homes inside the family home and make the noises they think the animal would really make.
After the second reading, ask the children who pretended to be the humans in the story how it felt to hear the animal noises in a human home. How was it to imagine sharing a bed with chickens, or a goat? Point out that farm animals have homes that humans build such as a pig sty or a dairy cow barn.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 4:
STORY: IT COULD BE WORSE
Adapted from a Jewish folktale from Poland
In this fun and participatory story a farmer lives in a house with his wife and children and the grandparents, and it is so noisy that he thinks he will go crazy. The rabbi advises the farmer to bring his animals into his home, too. First chickens, then goats, then sheep. The situation goes from bad to worse. Finally, the Rabbi suggests that the farmer take all of the animals out of the house. When he does so, the farmer’s family finds the home very peaceful.
Assign, or let children choose, the roles of the farmer and his wife, the rabbi, a child, two grandparents, a chicken, a goat, and a sheep. If the group has more children, cast multiple chickens, goats, and sheep. Invite the children taking animal roles to practice their animal parts now, so they will be ready to act them when their animal is mentioned in the story.
It Could Be Worse
A long time ago, there was a family that lived happily in a small, quiet house in Poland. One day they learned that the grandparents were coming to live with them. The child was very excited about this, and so were the parents. But the parents worried because their house was very small. They knew that when the grandparents arrived, the house would become crowded and much noisier.
The farmer went to ask the rabbi what to do. The rabbi says, “Let them come.”
So the grandparents move in. They have a lot of furniture, which goes in the living room, where they sleep, and in some other rooms, too. It is crowded and noisy in the house so the farmer goes back to the rabbi: “I did what you said, Rabbi. Now my in-laws are here. And it is really crowded in the house.”
The rabbi thinks for moment. Then he asks, “Do you have chickens?”
“Of course I have chickens,” says the farmer.
“Bring them into the house,” says the rabbi.
The farmer is confused, but he knows the rabbi is very wise. So he goes home, and brings all the chickens to live inside the house with the family. But, it is no less crowded and noisy. In fact, it is worse, with the clucking, and pecking, and flapping of wings.
The farmer goes back to the rabbi. “I did what you said, Rabbi. Now with my in-laws and the chickens, too, it is really crowded in the house.”
The rabbi thinks for moment. Then he asks, “Do you have any goats?”
“Of course I have goats,” says the farmer.
“Bring them into the house,” says the rabbi.
The farmer is confused, but he knows the rabbi is very wise. He brings all the goats from the barn to live inside the house. It is no less crowded and noisy. In fact, it is much worse, with the chickens clucking and flapping their wings, and the goats baa-ing and butting their heads against the walls and one another.
The next day, the farmer goes back to the rabbi. “I did what you said, Rabbi. Now my in-laws have no place to sleep because the chickens have taken their bed. The goats are sticking their heads into everything and making a lot of noise.””
The rabbi thinks. He looks very puzzled. Then he says, “Aha! You must have some sheep.”
“Of course I have sheep,” says the farmer.
“Bring them into the house,” says the rabbi.
The farmer knows the rabbi is very wise. So he brings the sheep inside. It is no less crowded and noisy. In fact, it is much, much worse. The chickens are clucking and flapping their wings, the goats are baa-ing and butting their heads. The sheep are baa-ing, too, and one sat on the farmer’s eyeglasses and broke them. The house is loud and crazy and it is starting to smell like a barn.
Completely exasperated, the farmer goes back to the rabbi. “Rabbi,” he says, “I have followed your advice. I have done everything you said. Now my in-laws have no place to sleep because the chickens are laying eggs in their bed. The goats are baa-ing and butting their heads, and the sheep are breaking things. The house smells like a barn.”
The rabbi frowned. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time. Finally he said, “This is what you do. Take the sheep back to the barn. Take the goats back to the barn. Take the chickens back to their coop.”
The farmer ran home and did exactly as the rabbi had told him. As he took the animals out of the house, his child and wife and in-laws began to tidy up the rooms. By the time the last chicken was settled in her coop, the house looked quite nice. And, it was quiet. All the family agreed their home was the most spacious, peaceful, and comfortable home anywhere.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 4:
STORY: LIZARD’S SONG
Adapted from a National Park Service website; used by permission of Wind Cave National Park.
In this Native American legend, Lizard sings a happy song about his home: “Zole, zole, zole, zole, zole, zole, rock is my home.” Bear wants to learn the song. Lizard shares the song, but Bear keeps forgetting it. Bear insists again and again that Lizard re-teach her the song. Finally Lizard tells Bear that the reason she can’t remember the song is that “rock” is not her home, “den” is her home. Bear goes off singing the adapted song, which she doesn’t forget.
For the tune to Lizard’s song, you may use “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Change the last line from “rock is my home” to “den is my home” for Bear’s song. Before you begin reading or telling the story, invite the group to join in when you sing:
"Zole, zole, zole, rock (den) is my home."
Note: Zole is pronounced “zoh/lee.”
Lizard's Song
There was a lizard who lived on a rock. He was very happy living on his rock. All day long Lizard would sing "Zole, zole, zole, rock is my home. Zole, zole, zole, rock is my home."
One day a bear saw him sitting on the rock and heard him singing. She wondered why the lizard was so happy. So she asked him, “Why are you so happy?”
Lizard said that he was happy because he was at home and the rock was a great place to live. “Oh,” said Bear. She went back to her home and thought "I wish I knew that song, so I would be as happy as the lizard."
The next day, Bear went back to Lizard’s rock. She asked Lizard to teach her the song. Lizard said he would be very happy to teach it to her. He sang "Zole, zole, zole, rock is my home, zole, zole, zole, rock is my home." That made Bear feel good again. She went home. But on the way, she forgot the song.
The next day, she went back to Lizard and asked him if he would teach her the song again. Lizard said he would be very happy to teach the song again. He sang "Zole, zole, zole, rock is my home, zole, zole, zole, rock is my home." Again Bear went home, and again she forgot the song.
So she went back to Lizard one more time. This time, Lizard was asleep on his warm rock in the sunshine. What could Bear do? She decided to pick Lizard up and put him in a bag. Then she could take Lizard to her home. After his nap, he could teach Bear his song.
On the way, Lizard woke up. He did not know where he was. He knew he wasn’t at home, on his rock. He was very scared. He didn't know what to do. He decided to sing his song so he wouldn't be so frightened. He sang "Zole, zole, zole, rock is my home, zole, zole, zole, rock is my home."
When Bear got home, she opened the bag. “Where are we?” asked Lizard.
“This is my home,” said Bear. “I’m sorry if I scared you when I brought you here.”
Now Lizard saw that Bear didn't live on a rock. Now he understood why Bear couldn't learn the song. He told Bear that she couldn't learn the song because she didn't live on a rock. Bear was disappointed.
“But,” Lizard said, “I can make you a song that you can learn and remember.” He sang "Zole, zole, zole, den is my home, zole, zole, zole, den is my home." Bear learned that song very easily and she was very happy.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 4:
HANDOUT 1: WHO SHARES THE BARN HOME
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/home/barnhome.pdf) for printing.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: WILD ANIMAL MATCHING PUZZLES
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/home/puzzle.pdf) for printing.
FIND OUT MORE
Find out more about Community Supported Agriculture (at www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa) and get information about CSA in your area (at www.organicconsumers.org/csa.htm) on the web.
Learn about issues regarding the housing of chickens that are used for meat and for egg production on the National Humane Society (at www.humanesociety.org/) website.