Dove Wings
Play the song “I Think You're Wonderful”. When the song is finished talk about all the ways you can be wonderful. You can be a wonderful teacher, parent, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, mom, dad, neighbor, friend, employee, etc. Ask the students to think about all the ways they are wonderful to so many different people. Give each student the body of a dove. Have them trace and cut the body of a dove out. As the student lists all the ways they are wonderful the teacher writes those words on the body of the dove. Next have the students trace their hands (they may need help) and cut them out. These are the wings to the dove. Ask them to list all the wonderful kinds of people in their lives. Their responses are endless ... mom, day, uncle, aunt, grandfather, mailman, cousin, brother etc. Then have the students glue the hands to the body of the dove to show how these wonderful people are connected to them. This activity may take a few days and may be with some help from home. Other songs by the Grammer's that could be used with this project are Teaching Peace and With Two Wings. When this activity is complete you can hang the doves in your classroom or hang them up on stage for an assembly program.
A Wonderful Flower
A Lesson for Grade levels K-1 (Could be modified for preschool)
Each lesson should take about 30 minutes.
Day One: Brainstorm on a chart what a friend is or what friends sound like when they are talking to each other. Sing and teach students I think You're Wonderful. Write the lyrics out on chart paper for the students to follow along. Discuss the words from the song. Check the brainstorming sheet to see if any lyrics from the song match the things that they thought of for showing friendship. Point that out to students.
Day Two: Sing song and role-play things students could say to each to make them feel good. Use lyrics from the song and ideas students came up with on Day One (chart).
Day Three: Play and sing song. Using magazines and large poster board, have students find pictures of people who are showing friendship and kindness. Students work in cooperative groups of 3-4 or in pairs. Cut out pictures and glue onto poster board. A variation would be to give groups of students a circle that is going to be the center of the flower. Write the word Friends in the middle. Have students cut out petals and think of describing words for friends (wonderful, caring, appreciative, loyal, etc) and write those words on the petals. Glue the petals around the center of the flower. Add stems/leaves and hang on bulletin board that looks like a garden of friendship.
Day Four: Students sing and read lyrics from song. Then students share posters they made on day three with other students in their class.
