These "LEAGUE Learning Links” provide ten quick and easy 5-minute mini-lessons to help promote The LEAGUE’s vision and scheduled events in your classroom. You can choose from among these mini-lessons and use as many of them as you would like and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of ones, time, talents, and treasures for the common good) and to promote those philanthropic acts that have been identified as supporting The LEAGUE events. These mini-lessons will also help ensure a deeper understanding of character traits, civic engagement, and promote student leadership. It is recommended that students be encouraged to play as much of a role as possible and appropriate in presenting these lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: Frederick’s school had a playground, but some of the equipment was old and broken. The school put up an orange plastic fence and told the children to stay out. Frederick and the other children played in the grass in the front yard of the school during recess. After school, Frederick tore down the orange fence and played on the playground. The teacher saw him do this and came outside. He asked Frederick why he did not follow the rules. Frederick said angrily, “The rule isn’t fair. This is the only playground I have.”
   Discuss: The rule at Frederick’s school was made to keep children safe. Could the school have done something else to keep the children safe and still keep the playground? What else could Frederick have done besides break the rule? Do you ever think rules aren’t fair? What rules don’t seem fair to you? What choices do we have when we think rules aren’t fair?
2. Read: When I was in second grade and someone called me names or teased me, I used to respond, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.” But it wasn’t true really. My body wasn’t hurt by unkind words, but my feelings were hurt.
   Discuss: Have you heard someone say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me”? Do you think this saying is true, that words can never hurt you?” Have you ever had your feelings hurt by words? As we think about acts of kindness on King Day, what can we do to be sure our words will never be hurtful?
3. Read: The schoolyard was filled with girls and boys laughing and talking to each other, waiting for the school day to begin. Yolanda noticed a small girl standing alone in the school yard. Yolanda had never seen this girl before and thought she must be a new student. The girl looked sad and a little frightened. Yolanda remembered when she was a new student in the school and felt very shy about talking to others. She could imagine how the new girl might be feeling. Yolanda probably didn’t realize it, but what she was feeling is called empathy. Empathy is being able to imagine yourself in someone else’s place. Yolanda walked over to meet the girl. Her name was Naomi. Yolanda told Naomi how hard it was on her first day of school, but that she had made some good friends since then. By the time the bell rang, Naomi seemed less frightened. Yolanda saw Naomi on the schoolyard the next morning before school, but this time she wasn’t standing alone. She was standing with a group of girls. Yolanda felt happy when she saw this and hoped that she had helped Naomi to make new friends. As the bell rang, Naomi looked up and saw Yolanda across the schoolyard. She gave a small wave and a big smile. Yolanda waved back.
   Discuss: What do you think Naomi was “telling” Yolanda when she waved and smiled? How do you think Yolanda felt about that message? Why? How did Yolanda figure out that Naomi could use a simple act of kindness? What can we do to feel empathy for others, like Yolanda did?
4. Read: In our discussions about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we have been talking about how to be kind and treat others fairly. One of the ways to do this is to be listeners. Being a good listener takes practice. Here’s one way to remember the steps of good listening. Close your eyes and think about the colors in a traffic light. That’s right, there is red at the top, yellow in the middle, and green at the bottom. The red light tells you to stop what you are doing or saying to listen to the person talking to you. The yellow light tells you to be careful to look at the person who is talking. The green light  tells you the person talking has the “green go light.” The talker should have time to finish what he or she is saying before you get the “green go light” to talk.
   Discuss: Can you think of a time when you felt like you didn’t have a chance to talk? Did it feel like you were being treated kindly or fairly? Have you ever talked when it was someone else’s turn to have the green light? How might using the traffic light idea help you to be a better listener?
5. Read: Do you remember what a fable is? It’s a story that is intended to teach a lesson. Do you remember the fable of “The Lion and the Mouse”? (Ask students to briefly retell the story, or read the following summary.) One day a very hungry lion caught a little mouse with his big paw and was ready to eat him. The mouse pleaded with the lion for his life, saying that in return for his freedom one day he would help the lion. The lion laughed hard and said, “How can a little mouse like you help a big lion like me?” The mouse responded, “I may be small but I can help.” The lion let the courageous mouse go free. A few days later, the mouse came upon the lion caught in a hunter’s net. The lion was roaring ferociously because he couldn’t escape the net. The mouse began to chew through the ropes of the net with his sharp teeth. After a lot of hard chewing, the mouse chewed through enough of the ropes for the lion to break free.
   Discuss: What act of kindness did the lion do for the mouse? What act of kindness did the mouse do for the lion? In the fable, both the lion and mouse learned something. What do you think each one learned?
6. Read: Most people like to hear birds singing. Did you know that very one of them has a special voice. The robin sings robin songs. The crow sings crow songs. The pigeon sings pigeon songs. All except for the mockingbird that is. The mocking bird mocks the songs of other birds. In other words they copy the songs that they hear. They sing the songs of other birds rather than their own song.
   Discuss: During our King Day event we will all be asked to do similar things. We may all be asked to look for ways to show kindness; to show fairness; to be helpful. Sometimes it really important to do things that everyone else is doing. But sometimes we should not be doing what everyone else is doing. What are some things we should not be doing just because everyone else is doing them? How can we be kind, fair and helpful all together as well as individually?
7. Read: We all know that there are no two snowflakes alike. They are all different. We all know that no two fingerprints are alike. They are all different too. But do you know that there are no two footprints alike either? Everyone is unique. Everyone is special.
   Discuss: Why is this important to remember this especially during our King Day event? What we do with our hands and where we go with our feet are up to us. We need to decide where to leave our fingerprints and our footprints. Why is it important that everyone become involved in leaving his or her fingerprints and footprints all over our King Day event?
8. Read: Have you ever seen a Where’s Waldo book? Have you ever looked for Waldo? It can be hard to find him. He is always well hidden in a picture full of hundreds of people. These people are all busy doing something. Waldo wears a red and white striped shirt and a hat. He carries a wooden walking stick and wears glasses. Sometimes he even loses things. And the book asks us to find these items in the picture as well.
   Discuss: During our King Day event there will be many of us doing many different things. What will people find us doing? Why is it important and fun to all be on the same page working together to make the world a better place?
9. Read: Tony was a turtle. He was born on a warm beach. He loved to swim. He spent most of his days in the water. He liked it there because no one bothered him. On land he was shy. He would often hide in his shell. One day a little boy found him on the beach. The little boy poked at him with a stick to try to get Tony to come out of his shell. But Tony just buried himself deeper into his shell. The little boy complained to his mother. “Why won’t he come out of his shell?” he asked.
   “If you’re nice to him maybe he will come out of his shell,” she replied.
   The little boy picked Tony up and carefully placed him near the water. Tony poked his head out of the shell. He saw the water and the little boy and smiled.
   Discuss: Why do you think Tony smiled at the end of this story? Why is it important to be nice to people? How are we trying to be nice to people during our King Day event? What are some things we can do help people come out of their shell all year long and smile?
10. Read: Josh’s mother told him that he could invite some of his friends to his birthday party. On Saturday, Josh would turn seven years old. He was excited! He told me that I would be invited to his party. I was excited. I love parties. When Saturday came we played some games. And Josh opened some presents. Then Mrs. Russell announced that we were going to eat. That’s my favorite part of a party! First she told everyone that they had a choice of hotdogs, hamburgers, or Sloppy- Joes. Next she said everyone had a choice of potato chips. There were barbecue chips, vinegar chips, vegetable chips, or regular chips. Then she said everyone could choose his or her drink. She had root beer, orange drink, lemonade, white milk or chocolate milk. When we were finished eating, Mrs. Russell announced the desert. She said that we could choose between chocolate cupcakes with white frosting, vanilla cup cakes with chocolate frosting, and yellow cup cakes with caramel frosting. And she said that we could choose between vanilla, chocolate, butter scotch, blue moon or bubblegum ice cream. Wow! What a lot of choices. I was really full by the time my mom picked me up.
    Discuss: Usually even if we have many choices, most of us chose the thing that we like the best. Sometimes we do like to try new things. During our King Day event we will have some choices to make. During our King Day event what might be some things we can do that we like doing? What might be some new things we can try to do? Why is it important that whatever we decide to do during our King Day event that we have fun doing it?

Reflection plays a very important role in promoting student learning. The following suggested activities are ways to help students reflect on their learning after they have participated in a service event.  Choose one or more of the activities most appropriate to the service event and your students.

ACTIVITY ONE:
Have the students cut out a snowflake. Remind students that no two snowflakes are alike, so all snowflake designs will be acceptable. Have the students, using a crayon or marker; write a word on their snowflake that represents how they felt while participating in the Event activity.  When each student has completed placing their “feeling” word on their snowflake, have them each share their word with the class. After everyone has had an opportunity to share, place all the snowflakes on display to simulate a snowman and titled the display e.g. “Building Together”, “A Magical Snowman”, etc. Share that just as it takes lots of snow flakes to build a snowman it takes a lot of helping hands to make a LEAGUE Event a success.

ACTIVITY TWO:
Give the students an 8 ½” x 11”-sheet of multi-colored construction paper, a pair scissors, a glue stick/paste and a variety of old magazines and newspapers.  Tell them that they will have a designated amount of time to go through these magazines and newspapers to cut out pictures and /or words that could be used to describe their involvement in the recent Event.  Once they have cut out pictures or words, tell them to place their name somewhere on the construction paper and then glue the pictures and/or words they cut out to the construction paper being careful not to cover up their name.  Display these in the classroom and if time allows have each student share the contents of his or her collage with the rest of the class.

ACTIVITY THREE:
Give each student two pop sickle sticks and a cut out of a happy face and a sad face. Have them attach/glue each face to one end of each of the pop sickle sticks.  Tell the students that they are going to be asked to “vote” on a series of questions and they can register their “vote” by holding up one of their two faces.  (NOTE: You may choose to add that the students can hold up both faces, if they are unsure of their answer/or if they feel that their answer could be both a happy face and a sad face.)

Questions:

1. How did you first feel about doing this Event?
2. How did you feel while you were doing this Event?
3. How did you feel after the Event was over?
4. How do you think what you did made other people feel? 
5. How do you think the ‘face of our world’ would look if no one did these things?
6. How do you think the ‘face of our world’ would look if everyone was giving and sharing?

From the student’s votes create a one-dimensional block graph on a display board or use actual building blocks to show how students responded to each of the questions.  Discuss what the graph would tell someone who might be looking at it for information about the Event.

ACTIVITY FOUR:
Arrange the class into four groups. Have one group mime some of the activities they actually did during the Event, while the rest of the class tries to guess the activities.  Have the second group mime how they felt while being involved/working in the Event, while the rest of the class tries to guess their feelings.  Have the third group mime how they would feel if they were the ones being helped/received the cards, etc., while the rest of the class tries to guess their feelings.  And finally, have the fourth group mime different activities they might be able to do the next time that would also be helpful, while the rest of the class tries to guess the activities.  Discuss with the class how well they thought they did in identifying the various mimes and what they learned from doing this activity.