Love of Animals II
Initial Prayer
First: story telling A special present. The Spiritist educator is welcome to use props such as pictures or drawings of kittens, as well as the following illustrations created by Marcos R. B. Vargas, a volunteer from the Spiristist Group Seara do Mestre.
Dorothee
Nina and Myleen
Aquene
Second: discuss with the children (try to start with open-ended or alternative questions).
Who created the animals?
How do the animals react to the way they are treated? Do animals ever become sad or happy? Are they sensitive to the treatment they receive from human beings?
Everyone who owns a pet is the responsible for them. The owners have to care for their pets by feeding them and being kind to them.
The animals have an important role in our lives because they are also creatures of God. We are deemed responsible for the way we treat them.
We should treat all animals respectfully. We cannot abandon them on the streets when they grow old or get sick.
Ask the children: Who has pets? How do you treat your animals?
Third: suggestions of learning opportunities.
Learning Opportunity 1 (Arts): draw a kitten mask on a Bristol board. Color it and cut it. Tie an elastic band on both sides of its face. Use it as a mask.
Click here to see a template of this mask.
Learning Opportunity 2 (Cognitive, Fine motor, and Arts): decorate the face and the rear parts of the cat as shown on the blank templates. Spread some glue on the non-decorated side of each of the two parts of the cat. Build the paper cat by gluing both extremes of the toilet paper roll on each non-decorated part of the cat. Give a name to it.
Material:
Toilet paper rolls, white Bristol boards, colored pencil or markers.
Click here to see the templates for the front and rear parts of the cat.
Click here to see a sample of a paper cat made by Rafaela Sperling, one of the children attending the ‘2nd Cycle’ (9-and-10-year-olds) of the Spiritist education program at Grupo Espirita Seara do Mestre.
Learning Opp. 3 (Science): take a real and tame cat to the Spiritist group. Try to interact with it. Ask the children to interact with it. Ask them to describe the characteristics of the cat (type of fur, color and texture of fur, color of eyes, how does it communicate, how it purrs, its reactions to touch, what it eats, what it drinks, how it eats, how they feel by walking with mittens on a slippery floor, how they walk without mittens, etc). Take notes of what children are saying about it. Take pictures of this experience. Quote the children down on a Bristol board and post the pictures with the children’s quotes of this scientific experience.
Learning Opp. 4 (Drama, Music and Movement): sing a song about cats and dance wearing the masks. Suggestion: Hey Diddle Diddle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhhZ0w0iQU
Learning Opp. 5 (Early Literacy): borrow the book ‘Cats, Cats, Cats’ (written by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Erika Oller) from a public library. Read the book for the children and observe their reactions and comments about the tolerance of Mrs. Brown. Amazon Review: A tiny old woman named Mrs. Brown lives in a big house on the edge of town with no one but cats, cats, cats to keep her company. All day long, as Mrs. Brown goes about her business, the cats snooze away. But as soon as she puts down their 60 bowls of cat food and marches herself up to bed, the cats go wild. Cats throwing confetti, eating spaghetti, chasing their tales, cutting a rug, doing the fox trot and the jitterbug, these feisty felines "whoop it up until the dawn." The ever-tolerant Mrs. Brown wakes every morning to a complete mess, but simply sweeps her beloved cats into a heap so they can get their beauty sleep. Although some consider Mrs. Brown to be a little batty, she scoffs at the thought. "Oh fiddle dee dee! / I love my cats and they love me."
Closing Prayer.
Level Suggested: Preschool (3-and-4-year olds) and Kindergarten (5 to 6 years old).
Translation: Ana Claudia Monteiro Silva - Canadá.
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