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It is said that love is a feeling that inclines the spirit towards what pleases it, it is a natural inclination towards an object or person. It also means an object of special affection for some. From this we can consider that loving is respect, esteem or affection towards people or things.
Love is on the basis of all human relations that are based on affection and attraction, for that reason it practically permeates all the positive feelings of man. There is love when one works, plays or helps another, and to be able to form an multilaterally developed individual, it is necessary to teach him and to form in him how to love.
In order to love it is necessary to understand others, for that reason understanding and love are closely united, one loves when one understands, and the lack of understanding is almost always an expression of a deficiency in love.
The child, from an early age, loves those who take care of him and satisfy his necessities, usually the parents in the initial stage. Little by little the child learns to love other things: his friends, his toys, nature, the environment in which he develops, what is no longer so directly bound to a personal satisfaction but to which one learns to love, and it is then when the educational process receives great validity.
The child does not learn to love by decree, nor can he love as if it was a curricular content, for that reason in the early childhood school the formation and the development of the love in the child are made by means of diverse activities that in their essence imply a quality to love: when a child waters a little plant and he does it with care, in that action his love towards nature is being formed. When he plays with another child and between both they make a playful action, his love for others is being formed.
Therefore, to give many and very varied activities, with implicit feelings of affection and understanding in their content, is the most effective route to form love in the children, which in the case of the human being first has to be towards parents and other relatives, later towards other children, towards their educators and teachers, towards the people who surround them, towards the community, towards the society, towards mankind.
On the basis of a peace culture there must be a great love and understanding towards the others, for that reason to make possible this pacific society and where the conflicts can be solved by means of the dialogue and understanding, it is indispensable to form in the children a great love and an infinite understanding towards others, from the earliest age.
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ACTIVITY No 1
"PLATERO AND ME"
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Summary of the activity: It is about the reading of a passage of the work "Platero and me". In the first part the educator provokes the analysis of the content, in this case the love towards an animal, in the second he reads the text of the story, in the third one he moves on to analyze the essence of what was listened, and finally the children make a plastic activity to draw Platero, the donkey.
Objectives:
• To initiate the notion of the love feeling towards the animals.
• To offer experiences on a beautiful literary content.
Procedures:
• Text reading
• Conversation
• Analysis
• Practical Actions
Material Resources: Text of the book “Platero and me” by Juan Ramon Jimenez, materials for the art activity: temperas, brushes, markers, coloured pencils, sheets of paper, etc.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator, together with the children introduces the subject by means of some previously prepared questions.
Do you have pets in your house?
Are you fond of your pets?
Why are you fond of them?
Can you tell me what love is?
What can one love?
Is it good to love others?
The educator can ask these or other questions that he considers adequate to place the children in the objective of the activity: love, more than in the details of the story as such.
Once he has managed this he will move on to the narration of the story.
2nd Part
Reading of the story "Platero and me"
Platero is small, hairy, smooth, so soft on the outside that it would be said that he was made of cotton, that he does not have bones. Only the jet black mirrors of his eyes are as hard as two black crystal beetles.
I let him loose, and he goes away to the meadow, and he caresses lukewarmly with his snout, just touching them, the pink, pale blue and yellow little flowers... I call him sweetly: Platero and he comes towards me with a cheerful little trot that seems as if he was laughing; in a kind of ideal rattle...
He eats whatever I give him. He likes tangerines, Muscat grapes, all of the amber ones, the purple figs, with its crystalline little drop of honey...
He is tender and sweet just as a boy, as a girl...; but strong and dry as a stone. When I ride on him, on Sundays, along the town’s back narrow streets, the men of the field dressed in clean clothes remain watching it:
- He has steel...
He has steel. Steel and silver from the Moon at the same time.”
3rd Part
Once the story is read the educator holds a conversation with the children in which he has to emphasize as the central ideas the following ones:
- The love that is reflected in the description of the story.
- The beauty of the text that has been read.
- Both aspects of Platero: its softness and its strength.
- How love makes one see things in a special way.
- The love towards Platero, the donkey, and towards other animals.
4th Part
Consists of an art activity in which the children will draw diverse scenes in which Platero, the donkey takes part, and that has to be let to the children’s creativity.
With the drawings one can make a collection to be kept in an album that can be called "Platero and me".
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They had at the beginning of the activity notions about love towards animals. |
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They knew how to make an elementary analysis of the literary beauty of the story. |
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They showed interest in knowing how the character of the story was. |
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They expressed favourable comments on loving the animals. |
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They have enriched their concept of what is the feeling of love towards animals. |
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ACTIVITY No 2
"I WANT IN MY VERSES"
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Summary of the activity: It consists of learning small poems that suggest in their verses references to love in its diverse facets.
Objectives: To consolidate feelings of love in the children by means of verbal forms.
Procedures:
• Recitation
• Conversation
Material Resources: Texts of the used poems, a cassette recorder.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator, after explaining the subject of the activity, suggests to the children the learning of several poems to recite in a festive activity in the classroom.
The educator has previously selected some poems.
2nd Part
In a festive activity, the children will have to recite the poems previously learned, and they will be able to explain the content of the same ones if they were asked for.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They learned the poems without difficulty. |
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They could make an elementary analysis of the content of the poems. |
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They understood that love can have many variants. |
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They could explain the content of poems. |
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They have enriched their notion of the feeling of love. |
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ACTIVITY No 3
"WHERE IS LOVE?"
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Summary of the activity: This is a didactic game in which the child must select some cards depending on the content of the actions that are reflected in the cards and with which he must make a story later.
Objectives:
• That the children recognize expressions of love.
• To form experiences with respect to love.
Procedures:
• Game
• Observation
• Conversation
Material Resources: The educator can create a deck of cards in which each one of them shows a scene of human relations, in some there is a manifest expression of love, and in others there is indifference.
Card No. 1: It shows a small wounded dog and a child helping it to heal its little leg.
Card No. 2: It shows the same wounded small dog but it shows the child walking beside it without paying attention to it.
Card No. 3: A mother who is carrying many bags after a visit to the supermarket and the child who continues playing.
Card No. 4: The mother full of bags and the child helping her with several of the bags that she is carrying.
We can create diverse scenes like these ones, at the same time we could make serialized descriptive pictures of the phases of an action, such as:
- Mother who comes with bags.
- Child playing, the mother in the background.
- Child that stops playing and asks his mother for some bags.
- Child and mother walking home with their bags.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will give the directions so that the children pick out from a box an envelope which has a pair of cards (specific situation and its antagonistic one). Once the child has the cards he must explain their content, suggesting what he would do in that situation, and making a comparative analysis of both. Later, the educator will ask him to make a story about what he sees represented in the cards. He will help those children who need it.
He will tell the rules of the game that will be:
The winners will be those children who manage to explain the content well and make an acceptable story of the same one.
2nd Part
The children will listen to a recording of the stories done in the first part, and they will reach their own conclusions of the importance of loving others.
In order to conclude, the educator will emphasize the value of the feeling of love in people’s relations, which makes possible to live peacefully and to have many friends.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They could contrast the content of the cards. |
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They made creative stories based on the cards. |
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They reflected the value of the feeling of love in their stories. |
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ACTIVITY No 4
"THE CAT AND THE LITTLE BIRD"
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Summary of the activity: It consists of a story that contains a lesson so that later the children can form their own criterion regarding the content. Finally they will learn a dance representing the story.
Objectives:
• To demonstrate that enemies can feel love towards each other.
• To extend the notions on feelings of love.
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Narration
• Dance
Material Resources: Pictures with scenes of the story, musical instruments to accompany the dance.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
In this first part the educator has a conversation with the children to make them see that enemies must not necessarily always hate each other, but that they can be affectionate towards each other.
For it he will promote a dynamic discussion in which he must try:
• That the children understand that love can even be felt by those who are not initially friends.
• That it is possible to love our enemies if we manage to understand them.
Once these intentions are achieved the educator starts to tell the story.
2nd Part
Narration of the story "The Cat and the Little Bird"
The big cat and the little bird could not be friends. The big cat was fat and sluggish. The little bird of seven colours had a small box of music in its smooth throat, and it was singing and jumping in its cage all day long.
This was what it sang:
I come to say a thing
and pay much attention
the big cat is so loose
that it does not hunt even a mouse.
One day the little bird left its cage - it also wanted its freedom - and the big cat set out to get even of its jokes. But when it was going to do this, the little bird of seven colours opened its small box of music and sang:
I come to say a thing
and pay much attention
the big cat is so good
that he does not kill even a mouse.
The big cat, touched, hugged it. The little bird later took flight and went very far away. But they say that sometimes it returns and visits the big cat. Because from that day when they hugged, they are the best friends in the world.
Once ended the story, the educator will promote a group discussion to reinforce the objectives considered in the first part.
3rd Part
The children will learn a dance in which the cat, the little bird and several mice appear, and in which all together will sing and dance as a token of friendship. The educator will select those dances that best adjust to his objectives.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
The children managed to catch the message of the story. |
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They could differentiate that enemies can become friends. |
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They expressed comments with respect to being good friends with everybody. |
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They have extended their notions about the feelings of love and understanding. |
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ACTIVITY No 5
"I HELP YOU WITH LOVE"
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Summary of the activity: In this activity situations are created for the children to portray characters who need to be helped as an expression of love. Later they will answer the educator’s questions on how they would react in these situations.
Objectives:
• To verify the formation of feelings of love towards their fellow men.
• To consolidate the notions about the different expressions of love and understanding.
Procedures:
• Drama
• Observation
• Conversation
Material Resources: The same ones of each one of the situations suggested in the different dramas.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The children, taught and directed by the teacher, will dramatize scenes with situations in which the understanding and the feeling of love are observed, like, for example:
• A disabled person in his wheelchair who wants to cross the street.
• A small child whose toy has fallen in a pool.
• An old man that is carrying a lot of bags.
2nd Part
Once each of the dramas is finished we will ask the children watching it:
How do you think we could complete those dramas?
What would we add to the arguments? Why?
Why must we help those people?
What feelings reflect the solutions that you suggest?
3rd Part
Finally the educator will ask the children: What would you do in a case like that?
Then he invites the children who wish to act what they would do in each one of the dramatized situations, if there is no spontaneous answer arising from the group, the educator will do it, and he will act the solution that is required in each situation.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They knew how to find the most appropriate solution before the different situations. |
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They understood the necessity to want others. |
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They developed spontaneous affection towards the others. |
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They commented on being affectionate with those who surround them. |
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They showed affection in the game and the daily activities of the group. |
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ACTIVITY No 6
CRITICAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE BLOCK
"MY EARLY CHIDHOOD SCHOOL"
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Summary of the activity: This is a role play on "The early childhood school"; all the children who wish will participate in it.
Objectives: To develop in the child experiences about love and understanding in his daily life.
Procedures:
• Game
• Conversation
• Observation
• Practical Actions
Material Resources: A game corner with all the necessary things so that the children can play the early childhood school: small tables, small chairs, toys and other objects, etc.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will start a conversation, in which he will ask who wishes to play, and once the group is formed, they will choose all the toys and materials necessary to develop it, which will be within reach in low shelves.
In the course of this conversation the educator, as this is a critical experience, will abstain from asking questions or influencing the game, and he will observe as they act in their respective roles of educator and students, and how they cooperate with each other in the different activities that they are carrying out.
2nd Part
The game will begin and during its development the educator will record the observed behaviours and will take part only in extreme cases in an indirect way to make suggestions to help maintain the argument alive, or to solve any conflict that comes up and that the children cannot solve by themselves.
3rd Part
The activity will conclude with a final conversation, in which the children will evaluate how they played, emphasizing how the actions among the different members from the child school took place.
Finally, and after having registered their observations, the educator will summarize the conversation stating what was learned about the activity in the early childhood classroom as an expression of the feeling of love and understanding that has to reign among everybody.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They developed the argument of the game correctly until the end. |
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They developed the actions corresponding to their roles, performing actions of mutual love and understanding. |
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During the interrelations with the other children in the game they showed relations of love and understanding. |
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Conflicts arose during the game that were solved satisfactorily. |
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They demonstrated to have defined notions of love and understanding among people. |
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