At A Part of Something Big, we believe that the fundraising experience can provide a unique and valuable opportunity to educate ourselves, our children and our communities about the possibility to impact the world we have with every purchasing decision. We have hired a specialist with a master's degree in education to create original education programs, tools and activities which are age appropriate for our children and which are specifically tied to national curriculum requirements and standards. Below, you will find several education lesson plans on a variety of topics which we have created.
We have also done extensive research and discovered a broad array of educational activities already available online and have created the links and connections from our site to get you there. In each case, we believe this content is well done and consistent with our values.
Our goal here is simple: we want our children to get the best and broadest education possible about the things we buy, the issues that concern us, and the people we care about who make them. To that end, we are building the tools and resources to help our teachers and friends provide that education in ways that will work for each of them in their classrooms, churches, clubhouses, and homes. Please suggest more topics and email us links to other great programs you have seen elsewhere so we can be of the greatest service to our community by making it easy to share the power of knowledge!
A Part of Something Big
Original Education Series:
About the Author
Hardin Engelhardt is a Reading and ESL specialist with 15 years of education experience in Maryland, California, and North Carolina. Her primary work has been at the middle school level. Ms. Engelhardt has NC credentials in Reading, ESL, and English-Language Arts. She has a Master of Arts in Education/Language, Literacy, and Culture from UC Berkeley. She is a Teach for America alum.
Life in the Rainforest
K-4 - Classroom Time Required: 1-1 ½ hours
In this lesson, students will learn about the plants and animals that live in the rainforest and their interdependence on each other, as well as human dependence and impact on the rainforest. Students will read fiction and/or nonfiction picture books about the rainforest. Students will then create a rainforest collage that illustrates the layers of the rainforest and the plants, animals, and products that come from each layer. Finally, students map the interdependence of plants and animals in the rainforest and the impact of human activity on these plants and animals using a set of cards.
People of Africa
(K-4): Classroom Time Required: 1-1 ½ hours
In this lesson, students will learn about the continent of Africa, its countries, and its rich diversity of people and cultures. Students will read picture books about Africa, create a three-dimensional physical map of Africa, and explore various African cultural groups and their traditions and lifestyles.
Links to other Africa lesson plans and resources:
PBS: Africa—Africa for Kids:
This website contains links to activities that allow children to view informational slideshows about children in Africa and how they live, learn about thumb pianos, make an African mask, and read a Swahili folktale.
The website can be found at http://pbskids.org/africa/
The companion Teacher Tools link found at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/tools/index.html contains lesson plans and resources for use in grade 3-12 classrooms.
Games Around the World
(K-4): Classroom Time Required: 90 minutes
Many of the products in our catalog come from around the world and enable our students and customers to connect with the cultures that the products come from. One way for children and families to connect with cultures around the world is to experience some of the games that are played in those cultures. Games have been played for as long as humans have lived together on earth. Different cultures have different games, but surprisingly, there are many similarities between games played all over the world. As humans expanded their capacity to travel and came into contact with more and more people around the world, they brought their games with them and introduced them to the people that they met. Just like one family’s rules for a particular game may vary slightly from another family’s rules for the same game, as games were exchanged around the world, many variations were created. In this lesson, students will try their hand at a variety of games from around the world and will explore the similarities and differences between these games and other games they may already be familiar with.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
(K-4): - Classroom Time Required: 45 minutes-1 hour
Many of the products included in our catalog are made from recycled materials or are intended to help people live a greener lifestyle. In order to educate students about recycling and other ways to help protect our planet, this lesson expands students’ knowledge about resource use and steps that they can take to live in an earth-friendly way.
Links to other Reduce/Reuse/Recycle lesson plans and resources:
Environmental Protection Agency:
Teaching Resources: This website contains lesson plans about waste and recycling for students in grades K-12, as well as links to external sites with additional environmental lesson plans.
This site can be accessed at http://www.epa.gov/teachers/waste.htm.
Scholastic: Recycling Starts with You:
This recycling education program for grades 3-5 contains turnkey recycling lesson plans and activities that address national language arts and mathematics standards, in addition to building student knowledge about recycling.
The site can be accessed at http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/recycling/.
Community Learning Network: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Theme Page:
This site is a compilation of recycling-related lesson plans on other sites.
The site can be accessed at http://www.cln.org/themes/recycle.html.
Global Knowledge Game
(K-4) Classroom Time Required: 15 min. plus (as long as you'd like!)
Many of the products in our catalog come from around the world and enable our students and customers to connect with the countries and cultures that the products come from. This game provides a fun way for children to build their global literacy and feel a greater connection to our world.
Links to other lesson plans and resources for building global knowledge:
Global IQ Quizzes from International Education Week:
This website contains links to interactive quizzes that test and build students' global knowledge. Additional questions for use in the classroom game could be drawn from this site. The site can be accessed at: http://iew.state.gov/quiz.htm.
United Nations Cyber Schoolbus:
This website contains informational materials for students and curriculum for teachers about all of the countries in the world and issues that affect the global community. The site may be accessed at http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/.
