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Love for what is ours, understood as the involvement and identification of the child with his country, is a concept that refers to the love for the motherland, for the native place. The individual’s emotional link to his motherland involves its constant defence. Love for what is ours is determined by the subjectivity of those who feel such emotion.
When an individual perceives that his motherland suffered some kind of attack or offense by a third party, this feeling can acquire ideological and political connotations that, in essence, it does not possess. Historically, wars have been decisive points in the history of this concept, when it has been appealed to as an element of cohesion to face what is threatening our own, the motherland.
Because of the age of the children we are working with, the activities where the child gets in contact with the social and natural world, are favorable frameworks to develop different feelings in the child, among those, special importance is to be given to the love for the country. The contents will allow us to form in children feelings of love towards their school, their country, the symbols and heroes of their motherland. The child must know that the defence of his motherland in presence of certain aggressions is very important, to have feelings of belonging towards his native country, that contributes to education.
For the child the real concept of nation is not easily acquired, but the child can understand things that later will be related to the manifestation of this feeling, and can be taught to respect and love from very early stages.
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Summary of the activity: The children will visit a part of the city. If the visit is not possible, an imaginary or virtual visit can be done, or a video showing parts of the city could be used.
In the first part of the activity the teacher prepares the children for the visit, the second part is the field trip, where the children will observe the city, its parks, buildings, historical avenues, places, statues, etc. The third part consists of a conversation on what was observed. After, they will draw, sculpt and build things on the subject: “Our City”. Finally, the drawings, pictures, sculptures and constructions about the city will be shown in an exhibition for all children and parents in the school.
Objectives: To get the children to feel pride for the city they live in, which has beautiful places.
Procedures:
• Walk
• Observation
• Conversation
• Practical actions
• Exhibition
Material Resources: Camera, or camcorder, video tapes or CD with images of the city, building blocks, coloured pencils, temperas, drawing paper, clay, color cardboard.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The teacher will start the activity asking the children to tell the name of the city where they live; then, he will say that there are other cities and will invite them to remember the name of other cities they know.
“Now I’m going to invite you to take a walk through the city, it is necessary that you observe well the parks, monuments, buildings and houses, its avenues, in order to comment, draw, build and sculpt what was seen. Also, whoever wants can take pictures of the city to put in an exhibition with pictures, drawings, sculptures and constructions.”
2nd Part
The field trip. It is important that the teacher directs the children’s attention towards the more important places: Monuments, avenues, parks, museums, etc.
3rd Part
To start a conversation the teacher will show a picture of the visited place, and will ask the children to express themselves on what was observed in this place; if this stimulation is not enough, he will ask them: What have you seen? What have you liked most in that place? Why is it important? etc.
This will be done with every visited place.
The teacher will summarize the activity telling the children that those beautiful places belong to their city, which has to be loved and taken care, defended if somebody wants to damage, or destroy it. In the conversation he will express:
“This and others are the big and beautiful cities of our country”.
“Our country is very big and very beautiful, it is our motherland, the place where we were born, and therefore, it should be loved and defended as well as our city.”
During the development of the activity, when referring to the country, he will use in a vague way the term “Motherland”, although without demanding their assimilation or repetition.
4th Part
The teacher will invite the children to draw, construct, model using as basis the places visited or any other place of the city they know.
If any child needs help, the teacher will remind them what was seen, their shapes, colour, etc (he will describe the place).
He will make suggestions to those children that need help.
5th Part
The children, together with the teacher, will put together an exhibition of pictures and objects created together. Also, they will invite their parents and other teachers of the school.
The rest of the school and the parents will be invited to visit the exhibition.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They improved their knowledge on the city they live in. |
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They manifested feelings of pride for their city. |
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They showed interest in making works about the city. |
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They reported their experiences during visits to the city. |
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ACTIVITY No 2
"MY COUNTRY"
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Summary of the activity: Pictures, slides or video tapes will be shown, the children will appreciate the beautiful countryside and cities of the country. A map of the country will also be shown. The teacher will talk to the children about the importance of loving their country and finally, a game using the pictures will be played.
Objectives: To make the children feel pride for their country, that has beautiful places.
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Observation
• Game
Material Resources: Slides, pictures or films about some regions of the country, map of the country.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The teacher will show a map of the country, and will locate in the map, the province and the city where they live, he will talk and show pictures of the beautiful countryside and cities of the country.
He will also talk about the country, prairies, woods, rivers, mountains and coast, according to the characteristics of the country they live.
The teacher will say: “All these beautiful places that I have described and shown you, form our great country, our Motherland”. He should draw the children’s attention to the beauty of these places and ask them whether they have ever visited them.
He will let the children express themselves freely and later he will ask:
Do you know the name of the country we live in?
After, he will tell them that the cities, countryside, the open spaces, the rivers and the beautiful places they have seen belong to our country.
“Our country is very pretty, isn’t it? Why do we say that it is a very pretty country?”
He will let the children express themselves and summarize by saying that our country is very beautiful because it has beautiful places in the countryside and in the cities, as those he has shown them. Besides that we should love it, as it is our motherland, because here they live and have their parents, brothers, friends, school, home.
2nd Part
To finish, a game will be played with the pictures. They will be put face down on the table; the children will come and get them following the teacher ‘s instructions and after they will say whether it is a landscape of the country or the city and why it is pretty.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They manifested feelings of pride when talking about the beauty of the observed places. |
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They recognized those places as belonging to their country. |
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They knew how to differentiate the landscapes of the country and the city. |
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ACTIVITY No 3
"THE SYMBOLS"
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Summary of the activity: The native symbols of their country will be shown to the children, they will talk about them and will listen to the national anthem and they will be taught how to sing it.
Objectives:
• To familiarize the children with the symbols of the motherland: Flag and national anthem.
• To indicate their characteristics and some of the places where we can always find the flag and where the anthem is sung.
• To highlight the respect that we should have to these symbols.
Procedures:
• Conversation
• Observation
• Listening
Material Resources: The national flag (or its reproduction) and the lyrics and melody of the national anthem.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The teacher will say to the children:
“Every country has a flag, ours is very pretty.” (He will show and ask the children to describe it)
“Every school should have a flag and always when having a national day, we must raise the flag.”
Do you know how to raise the flag and how to salute it?
The teacher will teach the children the form of raising and saluting the flag.
2nd Part
It will start with a conversation. The teacher will explain that every country has a national anthem too. It must be sung or listened to always when there is an important public act, for example when celebrating an important anniversary (give examples). At school the children must learn the national anthem and sing it when it is needed.
The teacher will invite the children to listen to the national anthem (either played or sung), the children will stand when listening to it, being very quiet in a respectful way.
The teacher will demonstrate to the children the correct position when listening to the anthem in any place.
3rd Part
The teacher will teach them how to sing the national anthem. It is important to remember that at this age there is no criterion to its exact reproduction, it is enough to sing some verses, even if incomplete.
The important thing is to familiarize themselves with these symbols.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They learned how to salute the flag with respect and admiration. |
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They listened to the national anthem with respect. |
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They showed positive feelings for the country’s symbols. |
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They learned the lyrics and melody of some verses of the national anthem. |
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ACTIVITY No 4
"MY COUNTRY'S CORNER"
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Summary of the activity: The creation of an area in the classroom called: “My country’s corner”. In this corner we will have pictures of illustrious men and women, a vase with flowers, which will be replaced every day, an album to put the country’s symbols and pictures of these men and women according to their anniversaries.
Objectives:
• That the children honour the illustrious men and women of the country.
• That the children feel admiration and respect for these people.
Procedures:
• Practical actions
• Conversation
• Explanation
Material Resources: A small table, a tablecloth, a flower vase, flowers, an album for pictures (the vases should not be made of glass, because they are a potential danger for the children).
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The teacher will remind the children what was said in previous activities about the illustrious men and women of the country:
“From all that we have learned about these people, you have realized that we have to love and respect them, to remember them with admiration and respect, therefore, we are going to create in class a place that will be called: “The Motherland’s corner”, which will serve to honour these great people.
It is necessary that we gather pictures of these illustrious men and women for the corresponding anniversaries, to put them in the album we are going to make.
2nd Part
The children and the teacher will set up the Motherland’s corner. The teacher will explain to them that they will bring flowers for them, and put them in that pretty flower vase every day.
In this corner the national flag (or its reproduction) and an album with the pictures of the illustrious people will be placed.
Whenever an important date is celebrated, we will put the picture of the hero that carried out the heroic deed, and the flowers will be put also for his date of birth and death.
This is a way of demonstrating respect, admiration and to pay homage to these people.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They manifested respectful feelings. |
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They cooperated in the setting of the country’s corner. |
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They brought flowers, pictures of illustrious people, etc, for the country’s corner. |
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They manifested sincere feelings of love for their country. |
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ACTIVITY No 5
"A NATIONAL ACT"
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Summary of the activity: The activity consists of the preparation of a workshop with stories and poems with the theme: “The Motherland”. Some will be selected to be recited and told by the children in the next national day activity.
In the first part, the children will work with the teacher to prepare the workshop and for this, they will search for and with the help of their parents at home will create poems and stories they will tell and recite, the second part of the activity will be the exhibition of all the work and finally, the national act.
Objectives:
• To encourage children towards artistic literature.
• To awaken emotions and feelings towards the nation through artistic literature.
Procedures:
• Recitation
• Stories
• Observation
• Creation
Material Resources: Stories and poems, flag and national anthem, decoration for the class.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The teacher explains to the children the activity and as the activity is homework they should ask their parents for help.
A group will be formed to search for or create poems and another one for stories that can also be copied or created by the children. It will be short poems and stories that must deal with: the country, its history and traditions.
Later, in class, each child will say their poem or story. If necessary, this activity could be done in several sessions, in such way that no child ends up without participating. If a child does not want to say his poem or story, he will be encouraged to do so; if in spite of this, the child still does not want to do it, the teacher will read it on the child’s behalf.
If a child does not have a story or poem, he will be helped in class, in order to do it.
2nd Part
After reciting all the work, some will be selected to be recited and told in the national activity. The class will be decorated with the help of the children and parents that want to participate.
3rd Part
A small solemn act will be carried out to inaugurate the country’s corner, the children will sing the national anthem, will tell a story and recite poems dedicated to the motherland and to the men and women that know how to love and defend it.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They completed the given task. |
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They created good stories and poems. |
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They needed help to tell his stories or poems. |
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They showed the required solemnity during the inauguration of the country’s corner. |
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They needed help to properly behave during the inauguration of the country’s corner. |
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ACTIVITY No 6
CRITICAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE BLOCK
"THE ILLUSTRIOUS MEN AND WOMEN"
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Summary of the activity: First, they will talk about the country’s illustrious men and women, their feelings, behaviour and facts that made them worthy of that reconnaissance, finally, they will visit the monument of a hero.
Objectives: To develop in children the feeling of respect and admiration for the country’s illustrious men and women.
Procedures:
• Observation
• Conversation
• Visit
• Stories
Material Resources: Pictures of illustrious people, flowers.
Development of the activity:
1st Part
The teacher will talk to them about one of the country’s illustrious men and women.
It is necessary to focus the children’s attention in three questions:
Who is he?
What did he do?
What did he fight for?
2nd Part
They will visit the monument of one of them.
First, they will talk about the place to be visited and the objective of the visit will be:
• To know the monument.
• To talk about his life and bring flowers for him.
• To tell a story about this person’s life.
3rd Part
They will visit the monument or statue.
The teacher will explain to the children, who is this person, why he is considered an illustrious man, what he did in benefit of his motherland, how he lived, how he died, how he was when a child. He will narrate in a simple way the life of that person. The children will ask any questions they want to. Finally, in a very respectful and solemn way they will place flowers in the monument.
4th Part
The children will make a report about the life of the person whose monument they saw during the visit. The teacher will help, through questions, those children that need help.
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CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT |
Observed conduct |
YES |
NO |
Comments |
They have acquired knowledge on the life of this person. |
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They have acquired the notion of nation. |
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They manifested respectful feelings and admiration. |
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They placed the flowers in the monument with solemnity and respect. |
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