|
Supplement your Project Wisdom library of timeless messages with
additional weekly broadcast messages and lesson plans dealing with
current and calendar events or pressing issues. These online materials
integrate character education into all grade levels or academic
areas and will be available to every educator on your campus at
any time. Each registered user also receives a weekly Just For You
morale booster written just for educators. A one-year, schoolwide
subscription is available for FREE for a limited time with the purchase
of each binder program.
Want to preview the Educator Resource
Site?
You can do a Sneak Preview
without a Member Login.
(Some areas will be restricted.)
Go to Educator Resource
Site.
Special ERS Message:
Grandparents' Day
Good morning, (name of school). This is (name of narrator) with
a few words of wisdom.
There’s an old saying that goes like this:
If nothing is going well, call
your grandmother.
Grandparents can have a special place in our hearts, and you don’t
have to have a biological grandparent to experience some of the
love and wisdom older folks can offer.
Grandparents' Day was founded by Marian McQuade. She wanted to encourage
us to care about and respect the elderly by visiting nursing homes,
contacting our own grandparents, or even better, adopting a grandparent.
For many people, growing older can be a lonely experience. Some
don’t have families to visit. Others aren’t physically
able to get around. You can help by organizing a group visit to
a nursing home where you can share your talents, like singing or
poetry reading.
You can also contact the people in your life who grandparent you.
Send them a card, or call, or visit. You’ll probably discover
that you both have a lot to gain from making time for each other
on Grandparents' Day.
With something to think about, this is (name of narrator). Make
it a great day . . . or not. The choice is yours.
Copyright 1992-2008 Project Wisdom. Inc.
[ Back to Top ]
Worksheet:
Grandparents' Day
Grandparents' Day was founded to help foster relationships between
the young and the old.
1. Read the quote below.
Describe in your own words what it means and how it relates to Grandparents'
Day.
In every conceivable manner, the family is our link to
the past and the bridge to our future. Alex Haley
2. Read the quote below.
Describe in your own words what it means, and give an example of something
a grandparent or elder has taught you.
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
George Santayana
GLOSSARY
conceivable - Possible; likely
doomed - A sad end; a terrible fate
[ Back to Top ]
Lesson Plan: Grandparents'
Day
Character Traits: Respect, Caring
Concept: Students will explore the idea that the elderly
have a lot of love and wisdom to offer young people.
Grade Levels: 6 - 12
Subjects: all
Materials: Suggested activities for art classes may require
materials for creating a drawing, painting, or poster.
Directions: Read or ask a student to read aloud the Project
Wisdom message that accompanies this lesson plan. Distribute and
have the students complete the worksheet. Ask for volunteers to
share responses to the following questions.
Discussion Generators
1. What does
the author mean by "link to the past"?
2. What does the author
mean by "bridge to the future"?
3. What have you learned
from your grandparents?
4. What would you like
to teach your grandchildren when you are old?
5. Why do people need
to learn about events from our past?
6. Give an example of
a valuable lesson you learned from a grandparent or elder.
7. Why are grandparents
good people to ask for advice?
8. What can you teach
your grandparents?
[ Back to Top ]
Follow-up
Activities for Subject Areas
Art
- Ask students to create a small collage of words
and images cut from newspapers and magazines that represent their
thoughts and feelings about a special grandparent or elderly person
in their lives, or that represents what they believe the elderly
have to contribute to our society. Make sure the students include
whatever positive values they have learned from this person.
- View with your students
the painting by Frieda Kahlo (1907-1954) My Grandparents, My
Parents, and I (Family Tree), 1936. Discuss the general idea
of a family tree and specifically the family tree depicted in
the painting. Ask the students to describe how they see the relationships
in the painting. Is there respect and caring evident? Is there
kindness? How does Kahlo portray herself? Why? Ask the students
to make a piece of art using their own family trees.
*Possible Internet resources, August 2005:
My Grandparents, My Parents, and I (Family Tree) by Frieda
Kahlo can be found with a general Internet search, or try the
following: www.rememberwomen.org/ Library/Arts/kahlo.html.
Social Studies
- Go to the Social Security
Administration Web site, www.ssa.gov/history, with your
students. Review selected aspects of the history of Social Security
in the United States. Discuss what life was like in the U.S. for
many Americans before Social Security. Discuss with your students
what they expect from Social Security in their old age. What values
do we support in our nation that made Social Security a reality?
Is the Social Security system a good way to care for our elderly?
*Possible Internet resources, August 2005:
Life Before Social Security can be found with a general
Internet search, or try the following: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4567019.
-
Respect toward the elderly was once considered
an act of good citizenship. The following tip ("Ideas for
Activities with Elderly People") was taken from a 1961
publication titled Teen Guide to Homemaking, by Marion
C. Barclay and Frances Champion. "Find out what the aging
person has wanted to do all his life, but never had time or
opportunity to do, and encourage him to do it if possible."
Ask students to use this as the starting point for an interview
with an older person and to write an essay.
Language Arts
- Have the students write a short story describing
why a grandparent or other special older person is important to
them. What wisdom has that person imparted? What is the most special
character trait or quality this person possesses? How has that
character trait or quality impacted that person's life? How can
those qualities impact the student's life?
[ Back to Top ]
Want to preview
the Educator Resource Site?
You can do a Sneak Preview
without a Member Login.
(Some areas will be restricted.)
Go to Educator Resource
Site.
|
