Overview
Key
Understanding:
Each of us has the capacity to
experience beauty in the world around us; and, we all have
beauty within us. Sometimes beauty is obvious. Sometimes it
is hidden but we can always look for it and find it.
Appreciating beauty in all its forms and bringing it forth from
within ourselves can greatly enrich our lives. A flower is a
universally-recognized symbol for beauty.
Objectives:
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To
recognize that each of us is born with this gift.
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To identify
ways we use this gift.
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To
understand at least a small aspect of this gift
experientially.
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To see how
applying this gift can enrich our lives.
Supplies:
Pre-K – Grade 1:
A copy of
The Twelve Gifts of Birth
Treasure Chests and Treasure Cards from Lesson 1, crayons
Paper for making smiles
Grades 2 – 3:
A copy of
The Twelve Gifts of Birth
Treasure Chests
and Treasure Cards from Lesson 1, crayons or colored pencils
Copies for each child of
Beauty Activity Sheet 1.
Grades 4 – 6:
A copy of The Twelve Gifts of
Birth
Student journals from Lesson
Optional: Materials for each child to make a kaleidoscope
Beauty Activity Sheet 2.
Copies for each child of Beauty Activity Sheet 2.
OPEN LESSON
Set stage for
respect, trust, and discovery. Use cue.
ENGAGE THE LEARNER
Have students look at the
4-page section on beauty in The Twelve Gifts of Birth.
Read the text, “The second gift is Beauty. May your deeds
reflect its depth.”
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Pre K – Grade 1
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Grades 2 – 3
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Grades 4 – 6
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Talk with children
about the gift of beauty. Explain that beauty is all
around us in nature and beauty is within every one of
us. Focus attention on the boy giving flowers to the two
women. Ask “Do you see beauty in this picture? Where?
Why do you suppose he is giving flowers to the women?
How do you think he feels? How do you think they feel?” |
Ask students what
first comes to mind when they hear the word beauty?
Have them name things they consider beautiful.
Acknowledge that beauty is all around us, in nature and
within all people. Focus attention on the photo and
text. Ask students to name all the ways they see beauty
in the photo. How do they think the boy feels? The
women? |
Invite students to
share first impressions to the word beauty.
Acknowledge that there are many ways we see and
experience beauty in nature, the arts and in people.
Acknowledge that beauty is often looked for on the
surface. Perhaps discuss the expressions: Beauty is
skin deep, Beauty is as beauty does, Beauty is in the
eye of the beholder.
Encourage discussion of the way the text
and photo demonstrate beauty. Ask them what beauty
“feels” like as opposed to what it “looks” like.
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DEVELOP THE
IDEAS
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Pre K – Grade 1
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Grades 2 – 3
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Grades 4 – 6
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Help children see
beauty in the boy’s gesture, in the women’s reaction to
him, and in their friendship. Point out that we bring
out our beauty when we do loving, caring, and helpful
things and when we show appreciation for the kindness of
others. Have children think of a time when they acted
with beauty toward another person or animal. |
Tell children that
beauty is always inside of us and others but sometimes
it is hidden. Point out that we bring out our beauty
when we do loving, caring and helpful things and when we
show appreciation for the kindness of others. Have
children think of a time they acted with beauty toward
another person or animal.
Point out that we also bring out our beauty when we
create pictures, when we make music, and when we care
for the world around us. |
Begin a
discussion, explaining that beauty is sometimes hidden.
Offer examples from nature—how a pearl is hidden within
an oyster shell and how the oyster creates beauty out of
the irritation of a grain of sand. Or how beautiful,
majestic caverns exist in various places under the
surface around planet Earth. (Carlsbad, New Mexico, for
example) Stress that beauty is within each of them and
can be brought out and expressed in many ways. |
EXPERIENCE AND APPLY THE LEARNING
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Pre K – Grade 1
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Grades 2 – 3
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Grades 4 – 6
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Explain that
sharing is one way we show our beauty. Smiling is
another. Provide an activity that demonstrates both.
Have each child draw a big, friendly smile about the
size of his or her own. Keep it simple or add lips and
teeth. With their illustrated smiles in hand, have them
form a circle. Have each child hold the paper smile over
his or her own mouth. Each smile is then passed to the
right enough times so that everyone gets a chance to
hold up everyone else’s paper smile, until each child
gets back their own paper smile to keep.
Have children find the beauty card in their treasure
chest. Have them make the flower symbol of beauty above
the word, using a color they feel represents beauty. If
time allows, have children draw a picture of themselves
appreciating the gift of beauty on the back of the card.
Then have them place their card back in the chest. |
Have students find the word BEAUTY
hidden in a horizontal, a vertical, a diagonal, and a
backward way in a letter puzzle on
Beauty Activity Sheet 2.
Remind children that beauty is always present within
ourselves and others. We can always find and bring out
beauty.
After the Word Find activity, have
students make the beauty symbol on the beauty card and
write “I have” above the word. On the back of the card,
have them demonstrate beauty in their own ways. Let each
student choose one of the following:
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Depict with words or a drawing a
time they acted with beauty.
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Create a work of art that features
something they consider beautiful.
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Ask students to
recall and reflect on a time they felt beautiful as a
result of giving or receiving a loving gesture. Have
them write their thoughts and feelings about beauty in
their journals.
You may wish to play music while they are reflecting and
writing.
As a lesson extension, you might want to have each
student make his or her own kaleidoscope, using
Beauty Activity Sheet 2.
Explain that the kaleidoscope is meant to be a symbol of
beauty, to help remind them to look for and see that
beauty is always within themselves and others, and to
bring it forth in their actions. Just as with turns and
movements the kaleidoscope continues to create new
patterns of beauty, through daily actions students can
express, create, and bring forth their beauty. |
SUMMARY AND
EVALUATION
Review what was learned about beauty.
As time allows, have students share understandings. Acknowledge
that they have already been using their gift of beauty and they
will use it in many ways in the future. Remind them they will
continue to explore the use of other gifts in upcoming lessons.
CLOSE LESSON
Create a ceremonial sense of having completed an
important discovery. Use cue to end the lesson.
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Beauty Activity Sheet 1
Hidden Beauty Word Find
Can you find the
word BEAUTY hidden in this word puzzle?
Hint: There are
four places to find it.
Look forward,
backward, up and down, and on the diagonal.
These words are
hidden too:
LOVE, ROSE, TREE,
BIRD, YOU, ME, and SMILE.
Can you find them?
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Beauty Activity
Sheet 2
How to make a
kaleidoscope!
What you will need:
3 rectangular mirrors of the same size
Clear plastic wrap
Tracing paper
Cardboard
Scissors
Clear tape
Colored paper cut into tiny shapes
Instructions:
1. Place the rectangular mirrors on the cardboard.
Draw around them and cut out the shape.
2. Tape the cardboard to the 3 mirrors. With the
mirrors facing inwards, tape the 3 cardboard pieces
together to form a triangular container.
3. Cover one end of the container with cardboard,
forming a triangular base. Using a pencil, make a
hole at the center of the base.
4. Cut out the shape of the other triangular base on
plastic sheet and tracing paper.
5. Tape two sides of the plastic and tracing paper
together to make a triangular envelope.
6. Get different color papers and cut them into
different tiny shapes. Put the color papers into the
triangular envelope.
7. Seal up the envelope and use it to cover the
other end of the container with the tracing paper as
the exterior base.
8. Point the translucent end (tracing paper and
plastic envelope) to the light and look through the
peephole.
9. The mirrors reflect the shapes in a pattern. It
changes when you shake the kaleidoscope.
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