Tapestry of Faith: Moral Tales: A Program on Making Choices for Grades 2-3

Taking It Home: Working Together

Part of Moral Tales

Drops that gather one by one finally form a sea. — Persian proverb

IN TODAY'S SESSION...

We focused on the theme of cooperation. The children acted out an Aesop's fable about an old woman who taught her children that they would be stronger in life if they worked together and appreciated one another. The story used the metaphor that while one stick can easily break, a bundle of sticks is strong. Your child made a bundle of sticks, with one stick representing each child in the Moral Tales group. Children will also bring home some loose sticks that you can use to retell the story together.

As this was the final session of Moral Tales, we did some special culminating activities to remember all that we have learned and to honor the contributions of every individual in the group. You will want to ask your child about this. If they brought home a mini-version of our Moral Compass poster, use it to talk with your child about what they have learned.

Keep the Moral Compass somewhere visible. When a difficult problem arises, you can point to the compass and ask, "What ways of being are written on this compass that could help us solve this problem with goodness and fairness?"

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER.

Let your child retell the story, "The Bundle of Sticks," to the family using the craft sticks. Talk about ways in which each individual in your family makes the family bundle stronger. Make note of all the ways that your family already works cooperatively, and brainstorm together some ways that you could be more cooperative. You may wish to adopt the question, "Are we acting like a bundle of sticks or individual sticks right now?"

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. TRY...

As you go about your week practice including everyone in discussions of how to solve problems. You can introduce this in the form of a game called Cooperative Musical Chairs. This game is played like regular Musical Chairs, except that when you take away chairs, no one is out and everyone tries to find a way for all the people to fit on the remaining chairs. To make it more cooperative make sure everyone has a chance to suggest ways to best arrange the people. Gently make note of when you are working cooperatively and when not.

See other cooperative games in The Cooperative Sports and Games Book by Terry Orlick (New York: Pantheon, 1987) or The Second Cooperative Sports and Games Book by Terry Orlick (New York: Pantheon Books, 1982).