March's Virtue is Forgiveness...Two New Book Choices!

As those of you who have attended our recent PD sessions know, after using the lessons for our original Forgiveness book, "I Forgive You" by Nicole Lataif, with our students, we were not happy with our book choice.

We are happy to report that we found two fantastic books to address March's Catholic Virtue of Forgiveness and are sharing the full lesson plans with you!

"The Bad Birthday Idea" by Madeline Valentine shares the story of two siblings.  When the older brother accidentally breaks his sister's birthday present before she even receives it, he learns the importance of apologizing and making amends.  His gracious sister offers her forgiveness and their relationship is healed.

March Forgiveness 2: The Bad Birthday Idea





Our other choice to demonstrate the Catholic Virtue of Forgiveness is "Horrible Bear!" by Ame Dyckman.  When a bear inadvertently breaks her kite, the young girl is furious.  Her anger at the bear spills over into her home, and she herself accidentally breaks a toy.  The story culminates with an apology and forgiveness on both sides.

March Forgiveness 3: Horrible Bear!

February Book and Lessons Added

The secondary book for February's Catholic Virtue of Charity is "Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie" by Laura Rankin.

In this relatable story, Ruthie finds a special treasure on the playground and lies about it's ownership when confronted by another student.  The internal feelings of discomfort are highlighted, as well as a great connection back to January's Virtue of Courage!

February Honesty 2: Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie

The original book list

Many people have asked for a complete book list with authors. This will come in handy if you are looking to purchase a few or order all of them to have at your school!

Now you can access the original list of books in our collection in one place!

https://bit.ly/2MU5Vqb

New Books and Lessons Added!

We are excited to share additional lessons with you for the months of November, December, and January!

As Kindergarten teachers, we often have the same children for two years in a row, or know that the previous teacher has already taught the lessons using the original book for each virtue.  While we certainly believe that children would continue to benefit from re-reading the original story in subsequent years, we also recognize that some teachers want to teach the virtue using a brand new book.

Our secondary book for November is "Tilt Your Head, Rosie the Red" by Rosemary McCarthy.  You may recognize Rosie from our June text, "Being Me!" The five-day lesson plans can be accessed using the following link:  

November Peacemaking 2: Tilt Your Head, Rosie the Red 

Our secondary book for December is "Every Which Way To Pray" by Joyce Meyer.  This text features characters from "Field of Peace," which is our original text for November.  The five-day lesson plans can be accessed using the following link:  

December Humility 2: Every Which Way To Pray

Our secondary book for January is "It Will Be Okay" by Lysa TerKeurst.  This sweet story of friendship and courage highlights the importance of trusting that God will always help us through challenging situations.  The five-day lesson plans can be accessed using the following link:  
January Courage 2: It Will Be Okay

June's Virtue is Charity

June's book is "Being Me" by Rosemary McCarney.  In this story, a young girl helps at a food bank and runs into one of her classmates there.  She spearheads a canned food drive, where each child contributes in their own special way.



June: Charity

May's Virtue is Compassion

May's book is "How to Heal a Broken Wing" by Bob Graham. It is a tender story about a boy who finds a bird with a broken wing. There are many people around, but no one stopped to help the bird, except for the boy. He and his parents take the bird home and nurse it back to health. Once the bird is well enough, he sets it free.














May's Virtue: Compassion

April's Virtue is Justice

When we began looking at this month's Virtue we found that choosing a book was difficult. The difficulty began with actually defining Justice for children and then finding an age appropriate read aloud that communicated the definition.  

We decided early on that this month would focus on Social Justice and wanted to create lessons that helped children understand the idea of basic human rights. We are fortunate to have many of our human rights met, so helping children to see that we can help others around the world enjoy what we have, was the goal. 

We found "Listen to the Wind" by Greg Mortenson, a book about a man who helped build a school for a village in Pakistan. It is written from a child's point of view and has beautiful artwork. It communicates how the villagers contributed to bettering their own community by assisting in the building of a school. Going to school is a basic human right, so having a school built is Justice.

If you have other book suggestions that you have found helpful in teaching Social Justice for young children (4-6 yr olds), please comment below, we would love to hear about other stories for this Virtue.




April: Justice