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sin título
One
says that a hardworking person is the one that applies himself to
work. This is a quality that can be educated from an early age, either
in the early childhood center or in the family.
In
the early childhood center this quality can be worked on in all the
activities and processes in which the children participate, we can
also plan activities with this specific aim, for example, collective
works with a social aim, small tasks, work in nature (care of plants,
little animals and the surroundings of the early childhood center).
Tasks can be programmed, which in some educative systems can be called
shifts or duties, through which the child helps his educator to tidy
up the class, to hand out materials, etc.
These
activities can foster the development of diverse contents, such as
the relations of cooperation and the feelings of admiration and respect
for the work of the adults. It is important to emphasize that the
work at this age does not mean the necessity to create a product but
that it has as a main target to contribute to the integral formation
of the children.
The
activities offer the children ample possibilities of doing different
actions, of using diverse tools and to take care of them, in addition
when doing tasks of this type they get used to having responsibility
in their fulfilment and get to understand the necessity of typical
tasks at home and in the early childhood center, such as, to help
to lay the table cloths and the napkins, to help to clean the tables
and chairs, to tidy up the toys and to order them, to clean the class,
to organize the class and the toy place, to maintain the corners clean,
etc.
For
this purpose, we need in a very special way the contribution of the
family, in order to provide a systematic influence and the educational
consistency that ensures the fulfilment of the proposed objectives,
for this reason, from the first days of the course it is necessary
that the parents know what their children must achieve and how they
can collaborate.
In
a general sense the activities at this age will be directed so that
the children feel pleasure just for giving help, for their work and
for being useful, so it is necessary to make them understand that
work is not the same as play and that they have begun an important
task that they must complete.
An
important aspect that we always have to consider is the example of
the adult that constitutes the fundamental method in the moral and
working education, the way in which one acts, the sensitivity and
the pedagogical tact that one has to have to deal with children that
will be the key to the success of our work. The contact in the real
situations is the best route to approach these contents and assess
the development reached by the children.
The
diligence, as a characteristic of the personality, makes the tenacity,
the care and the patience possible in the child, indispensable things
to make the school tasks, and a hardworking child usually makes his
works in a beautiful and pretty way. The diligence, in the adults,
is the source of a creative worker, because almost all scientists
and inventors are hard-workers.
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ACTIVITY
No 1
"THE CICADA AND THE ANT"
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Summary
of the activity:
The educator will read the story "The cicada and the ant"
and after that, he will ask questions to the children, in a second
part they will hold an ethical conversation on the subject of diligence.
The third part of the activity consists of the projection of a film,
or videotape or an exhibition of pictures on the life of the ants.
Objectives:
To develop in the children knowledge about diligence
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Observation
• Explanation
Material
Resources: Story book, pictures or video film or CD,
video equipment or a computer.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will read the story: "The cicada and
the ant"
There
was once a cicada that was all day long comfortably seated under the
shade of a tree and sang and sang with joy throughout the summer.
However, its neighbour, the hardworking ant worked without rest under
the hot sun, carrying seeds and grains.
Between
a song and another, the cicada asked the ant:
"Why
don’t you stop working? You could sing with me!"
The
tireless ant answered: -"No, I can’t; I am gathering the
provisions for the winter because it will be very cold and then there
will be nothing to eat!"
"The
summer is very long and there is enough time to gather provisions.
With this heat it is very tiring to work!” the cicada laughed.
The
cicada sang all the summer until the autumn arrived and soon, the
cold winter with snow came and there was nothing to eat.
One
night, the cicada hungry, knocked at the door of the house of the
ant: - "Open it, I beg, give me something to eat!” pleaded
the cicada sinking in the snow.
The
small door was opened and the ant showed itself: -"Now I recognize
you. You are the cicada. What did you do throughout the summer while
I worked?"
-"I
sang!” answered the cicada.
The
ant closed the door and said: - “Were you singing? Well, then
now you dance!"
The
educator will ask the children:
What was
the thing you liked most in the story?
What was the thing you liked least in the story?
Which character would you like to be? Why?
2nd Part
There will be a conversation on the attitude of the characters
of the story "The cicada and the ant".
The
educator will read the fable again and will ask the children the following
questions:
Is the attitude
of the cicada correct? Why?
Is the attitude of the ant correct? Why?
We
are going to talk about something very pretty that is called "Diligence".
"The
hardworking people and animals apply themselves to their work, they
are like the little ant of the fable, and we must be all like this".
The
educator will give examples of hardworking people that can be the
children’s parents, the school workers, etc.
Next
he will comment:
"Thanks
to the diligence of the school workers you are taken care of here
and you learn a lot".
"Because
your parents are hardworking you have toys, clothes, food, and it
does not happen to you like the cicada."
"Thanks
to the diligence of the construction workers (bricklayers, carpenters,
etc.); you have a cosy small house to live."
"There
are many people in the world who work for children, for example: the
doctors and nurses work so that the children who are ill get healed."
"The
teachers so that the children learn,
The builders so that you have your houses,
The farmers to plant the children’s food,
And many, many more "..........
In
this way the educator will give all the examples that he thinks are
suitable, and to end he will tell the children:
"Like
all these people who work so that the children live happily, it is
necessary that you understand that we have to respect the work of
the adults, you can also help your parents with small tasks at home,
the teacher and the workers at school, taking care of cleaning, ordering
and tidying up the work materials when you finish the activities,
etc."
3rd Part
This consists of a projection of a videotape, or by means
of a CD in the computer, or by means of pictures about the life of
ants, so that from this projection the educator can explain in a graphical
way the diligence of the ants to them.
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CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
Through
their expressions the children did not show to have understood what
diligence means. |
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They
understood the importance of others’ work. |
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ACTIVITY
No 2
"A CLEAN AND PRETTY CLASSROOM"
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Objectives:
That the children feel satisfaction for the accomplishment
of collective works.
Procedures:
• Practical actions
• Conversation
• Questions and answers
• Observation
Material
Resources: Cloth for cleaning, basin with water, cleaning
equipment appropriate to the size of the children, they can be little
brushes and toy mops.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The children will work collectively to clean and to organize
the shelves, the toys, the corners, and to decorate the classroom.
The
educator will explain to the children the objective of this collective
work and will even distribute the tasks or responsibilities taking
one for him, as his example will serve as a model to the children.
The
educator will distribute the tasks considering the skills that each
one of the children must be able to develop successfully; he will
also have to consider that these are tasks that the child can do according
to his physical possibilities or the skills needed for its accomplishment.
2nd Part
The work will be done and when all the children have finished
it, the educator together with them will observe the classrooms and
will assess the work done. In order to help the children in this evaluation
he can ask them the following questions: what did you do? How did
the cleaning work turned out? what have we got to do? etc. It is important
that he emphasizes the usefulness of this work, the help that has
been given to the educator and that the children in their houses can
help their parents in their household tasks (To order the toys, to
tidy up personal objects, to keep their bed and bedroom tidied up,
etc.).
He
will also explain that through this work we can have a pretty classroom
and that it will be necessary for everybody to cooperate so that it
always stays clean and pretty, for example, by not throwing papers
or waste to the ground, cleaning and tidying up the work table when
the activity is done, because in this way they help everybody and
the person who cleans the classroom.
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CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They
fulfilled the tasks entrusted in the collective work until the end. |
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They
showed conducts of respect and cooperation towards other people's work
(to take care of the cleaning of the centre, etc.). |
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They
recognized the help given to the workers of their school. |
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They
were glad with the result of their work. |
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ACTIVITY
No 3
"THE BUILDERS"
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Summary
of the activity:
The children will take a stroll to a construction site near the
school and will observe the work that the workers do, they will
be able to talk with them and to ask them questions about their
work, finally the teacher will talk with the children about what
they observed and listened to in the visit.
Objectives:
That the children know the usefulness of the work of the
people who work as construction workers.
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Observation
• Stroll
Material
Resources: A camera or camcorder could be used in case
they want to take photos and make a film about the stroll, paper,
paintings, glue, stickers, fine cardboard, scissors, etc.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
Firstly the educator will coordinate the children’s
visit to a construction site near the school and will make sure
that there is no danger for them.
We
will talk with the children about the place to visit and what they
will observe there. Next the children will make tokens for the workers,
for example: a poster, cards, drawings, book markers, etc.
2nd Part
During the visit the following activities will be developed:
•
The children will observe the workers’ work. This will be
done from a place outside the construction work where there is no
danger for them, and later one of the workers will explain to them
the work that they do.
•
The educator and the children will thank the builders for having
allowed them to meet them and will present the workers with the
gifts made by them.
3rd Part
In the days following the visit the educator will talk
with the children about what was observed in it, about the diligence
of these people and how, thanks to their work, they have houses
to live and schools to study.
If
photos or films have been taken, they will be shown or projected
so that the children observe them before the conversation.
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CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They
expressed and imitated in their games and activities what they observed
in the visit. |
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They
showed expressions of admiration and respect towards the builders’
work. |
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They
recognized the utility of other people's work. |
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ACTIVITY
No 4
"I´M A BUILDER"
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Summary
of the activity:
This is a role play in the theme "The builders" and the
participants will be all the boys and girls who wish to take part
in it.
Objectives:
To develop in the child experiences about the construction
workers’ diligence.
Procedures:
• Game
• Practical
• Conversation
• Observation
Material
Resources: A play corner where there are the necessary
things so that the children can portray the construction workers:
crash helmets, plastic blocks of great size and some toy tools,
like wheelbarrows, shovels, bricklayer spoon, etc.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
An initial conversation will be held, in which the children
will be asked who wishes to play, and once the play group is formed,
they will choose all the toys and materials necessary to develop
it, which will be within the children’s reach.
In
the course of this conversation the educator will ask questions
to the children so that they describe their experiences about what
they saw and listened in the stroll about the construction workers’
efforts.
2nd Part
The game will start and during its development, the educator
will take part in an indirect way to make suggestions that help
maintain the game active, to enrich the actions necessary to develop
it and also to obtain good interrelations among the children. He
will also help to solve in a friendly manner any conflict that appears
and will demonstrate to those children who need it how the builders
work.
3rd Part
The activity will conclude with a final conversation,
in which the children together with the educator will evaluate how
they played, emphasizing how the builders worked.
Finally
the educator will summarize the conversation summarizing what was
learnt about diligence and how we need the work of many people to
be able to feed us, to dress us, to live in comfortable houses,
to have theatres, parks, schools, etc.
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CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They
developed the argument of the game until the end. |
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They
developed the actions corresponding to the role carried out. |
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They
made comments about the importance of the builders’ work. |
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They
knew how to solve the conflicts arisen during the game. |
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They
needed the educator’s help to solve the conflicts arisen during
the game. |
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ACTIVITY
No 5
"THE HARDWORKING BEES"
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Summary
of the activity:
This is a motion game that can be played in an outer area where
there are plants with flowers, or in an inner area where one simulates
a garden with plants and flowers. The children will simulate with
their movements the bees sucking the flowers.
In
the first part the educator will explain the rules of the game to
them, in the second part of the activity he will speak and show
pictures to them about the bees and he will explain why they are
so hardworking. Finally the children will play the game.
Objectives:
To develop in the child positive emotions about the diligence
of the bees.
Procedures:
• Observation
• Explanation
• Practical Activities
• Conversation
• Questions and answers
Material
Resources: Natural or artificial plants and flowers,
apicultural products like: honey, a piece of wax, pictures with
bees, for example: sucking the flower, landing on the honeycomb,
the larva of a bee, etc.
If
the teacher does not have a garden in the school and he cannot do
the activity in a park either, or he is going to do the activity
in a season of the year in which the plants do not bloom, he can
prepare a circuit with plants drawn on a fine cardboard or cardboard
cut out and put each one at a certain distance from the other, and
he will draw flowers in some of them and not in the others.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will explain to the children the rules of
the game: The bees will cross the footpath running, when they see
a plant with flowers they stop, they breathe in deeply and they
open their arms (as if they were wings), then on tiptoe they will
circle the plant, and finally they bend towards the flower as if
they were sucking it and like this until stopping at all the plants
with flowers.
The
winners will be the children who do all the movements (to run, to
stop, to breathe in deeply, to tiptoe around the plant, and to bend
towards it) and who in addition stop and do the movements only before
the plants with flowers.
In
the garden or park there surely are plants with flowers and others
that do not have them, if the child stops in front of a plant that
does not have flowers, he will not be the winner.
Each
child will cross the garden only once.
2nd Part
Once the explanation of the game is finished the educator
will speak to them on the life of the bees, this conversation can
be accompanied with pictures or photos.
He
will tell them that the bees are very hardworking insects, that
they live in colonies, where there are many workers, a queen bee
and several drones.
The
queen bee is the one that leads the beehive, she is something similar
to the headmistress, she is the one that lays many, many eggs, that
soon become larvae (he will show a photo or engraving of a larva)
that the working bees feed.
The
working bees secrete wax, they construct the honeycomb, they gather
nectar, pollen and water, they transform the nectar into honey,
they clean the beehive (To show an engraving of the worker in the
honeycomb), and they feed the larvae. While they fly from flower
to flower, the workers gather pollen in a special bag located in
one of their back legs (Picture of a bee where the back legs are
seen). The pollen, main food source, is necessary for the development
of the queen, the worker and the drones. The bees introduce the
pollen in the cells of the larvae when they return to the beehive
and they also turn the nectar that they suck in the flowers into
honey.
The
bee that produces honey (working) is recognized as the most valuable
insect not only by the value of honey and wax that it produces but
in addition, because its main utility is its polinization role (to
take the pollen from a plant to another so that it germinates and
has fruits) of the cultures of fruits, nuts, fodder vegetables and
vegetables, as well as non cultivated plants that prevent the erosion
of the ground fixing it and preventing it from being dragged to
the oceans.
The
drone bee lacks a sting and has no defence; it does not have a small
basket for the pollen nor wax producing glands, and it cannot secrete
jelly. Therefore it does not work, for that reason people who do
not work is called "drones".
3rd Part
The game is played and when it ends the winners will be
the children that fulfilled all the rules.
To
conclude, the educator can show honey, a piece of honeycomb, wax,
that is apicultural products that he can obtain, and they will taste
them in group, emphasizing that they are available thanks to the
diligence of the bees.
He
will ask the following questions to the children:
Why do we say that the working bees are so hardworking? What do
they do?
What does the queen bee do?
What do the drones do?
Are the drones hardworking? Why?
Would you like to be like the working bee, the queen or the drone?
Why?
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CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They
made the movements of the game correctly. |
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They
observed the rules of the game. |
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They
answered the questions suitably. |
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They
showed positive emotions on the diligence of the bees. |
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They
showed interest and willingness to be like the working bee or the
queen. |
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ACTIVITY
No 6
"THE HARDWORKING ANIMALS"
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Summary
of the activity:
In the first part of the activity we explain to the children and
we show pictures on the characteristics of hardworking animals,
in the second part a conversation will be held on the diligence
of these animals.
Objectives:
To develop in the child knowledge on the diligence of
those animals that are characterized by this quality.
Procedures:
• Observation
• Explanation
• Questions and answers
Material
Resources: Pictures or photos of the beaver, the spider,
the bee, the ant, the termite.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator presents the children with two pictures of
a bee and ants and will ask them: "Do you remember that we
spoke about the life of these little animals? Why did we say that
they are hardworking?"
If
the children do not remember everything, the educator will add what
is missing on what was spoken about these little animals in the
previous activities.
The
bee: The children describe it because they already know it.
The ant: The children describe it because they already know
it.
2nd Part
The educator will tell the children: "Now you will
meet other little animals that are as hardworking as the ants and
the bees", and he will begin to explain the characteristics
of the beavers to them.
The
beaver: The beavers live next to the rivers and lakes surrounded
by wooded zones and they work untiringly to make their burrow or
nests that consist of a species of construction formed by woods,
branches, grass and interwoven moss, and they have a central chamber
to which they enter under the water. The beaver repairs the burrow
continuously which grows in size year after year. Another type of
burrows are simple tunnels excavated in the borders of the rivers
and lakes. He also constructs dikes to dam and to elevate the level
of the water around the burrow where it lives. The dikes are constructed
with the most solid woods and trunks, and with mud, weeds and stones.
The beaver repairs and adds materials to the dam or dike in a continuous
way.
He
will ask the children: Do you think that the beaver is a hardworking
animal? Why?
3rd Part
The educator shows the picture of the termites and explains
their characteristics.
The
termites: They live in the forests, in colonies formed by reproducers,
workers and soldiers. The workers construct the nest and feed and
take care of the laying female, which has a great size, and of the
other members of the colony.
The
soldier termites protect the colony and the reproductive pair guarantees
a continued production of thousands of eggs, from which the termites
are later born, for that reason they are called reproducers.
Next
he presents the picture of the weaving spider and explains its characteristics.
The
weaving spider: It
weaves and weaves its web untiringly with a substance that it secretes,
which you can see in some corners of the walls. It inhabits forests
and gardens, and thanks to the spider web that it builds, it hunts
the insects on which it is fed.
To
end, the teacher asks the children if they consider the termites
and the weaving spider hardworking little animals and why.
Regarding
all the questions asked in the different parts of the activity,
if some answers are not correct, the educator will give the necessary
help, so that the children understand clearly the diligence of these
little animals.
|
CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They
recognized these animals as hardworking. |
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They
knew to discuss the answers of why they are hardworking |
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ACTIVITY
No 7
CRITICAL
EXPERIENCE FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE BLOCK
"WHICH
ONE IS THE MOST HARDWORKING?"
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Summary
of the activity:
In this activity the children will choose between two animals the
one that is the most hardworking, later they will discuss why they
selected it as the most hardworking.
Objectives:
To verify if the children are able to discriminate a diligence
model and to discuss their selection.
Material
Resources: Several engraving games that will contain
images of the following animals: Bee, ant, turtle, spider, beaver,
pig, cat, frog, termite, ostrich.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator explains the activity to the children. He
first presents two pictures: The cat and the ant and tells the children:
"Raise your hand if you know which of these little animals
is the most hardworking and why”.
Once
the child answers, if there are any mistakes when selecting the
little animal the educator will give the floor to another child
who has raised the hand so that he answers it.
Later
he will ask the rest of the group if they agree with the answer
given, if it is missing something and if anybody wants to say something
more.
2nd Part
The pictures of the bee and the frog are presented and
we work in the same way as in the first part; but now the children
who have not spoken will do it.
3rd Part
The pictures of the turtle and the spider are presented
and we work in the same way; but with new children who have not
spoken.
4th Part
The pictures of the pig and the beaver and we work in
the same way; but those that have not answered will do it.
5th Part
The engraving of the termites and the ostrich and we work
in the same way and those that have not answered it previously will
do it.
Finally
the educator will value with the children their answers.
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CRITERIAL
ASSESSMENT |
Observed
conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They
made the selection well. |
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They
selected with help. |
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They
knew how to discuss their selection. |
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They
discussed their selection with help. |
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