Opening Activity about Prejudice
Opening (10 minutes)
Gather in a circle and light the candle or chalice. Say something like, "At our first session, we talked about racial justice and racism. These were words some of you had never heard. So far we have been doing things to help us understand racial justice, which is about being kind and fair to all people.
"We talked in the last few weeks about the beauty of all the kinds of people in the world, and all the different kinds of families. We can see on the map that our country is composed of people from different parts of the world. We know that there are many different languages and foods. We know that there are many different ways of dressing and playing, and many different ways of seeing the world. We call this diversity, and we cherish our nation’s diversity."
If your congregation has little or no racial diversity, you may want to say something like, "Yet, when we look around us, in our own town, we find that most of our neighbors are the same as we are. Many of our schools and churches have the same people as our neighborhood. When we look around us, we find very few African Americans, Asian Americans, Latin Americans, or Native Americans (or Canadians) in our neighborhoods, churches, and schools. So we don’t have many chances to experience the diversity of our world.
"To understand why we are separated from some of the wonderful diversity of people, we have to understand another hard word, ‘prejudice’. Prejudice is an invisible wall between people. Prejudice keeps African Americans, Asian Americans, Latin Americans, Native Americans, and European Americans (Canadians) apart. Prejudice is a form of racial injustice. Today we are going to learn a little more about prejudice and how it affects us all–even people like you, who may never have heard the word ‘preiudice’ before."
If your congregation is racially diverse, say something like, "We have a wonderful world of diversity in our church, too–a rainbow race with people who are African American, Asian American, Native American, European American, Latin American–just like our city, and our country, and our world.
"Not all churches and schools and towns have a rainbow of people. In many communities in our country, people are separated from each other by color. To understand how this happened, you need to understand a hard word, ‘preiudice’. Prejudice is an invisible wall between people. Prejudice can keep African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Latina/Latinos, and European Americans apart. Prejudice is a form of racial injustice.
"Today we are going to learn a little more about prejudice and how it affects us all–even people like you, who may not have heard the word brejudice before."
Focusing (10 minutes)
Bring out the snack. Say something like, "Today we are beginning with a snack, Ugli fruit." Hold it up and wait for reactions. Ask questions like, "What is it? Have you ever seen one? Have you ever tasted one? What do you think it tastes like? Do you think you’ll like it?" Pass one or two around and let the children feel and smell the fruit. Encourage reactions from reticent children.
Cut up the fruit. Elicit comments as the children try it. Say something like, "Do you like it? Does it taste like you thought it would? Does it remind you of another fruit? What was your favorite part of snack today? Why?"
Say something like, "Sometimes we don’t think we are going to like something different– a new food, or game, or people who are different from ourselves. But when we taste the food, or play the game, or meet and live with the people, we are glad that we did. We grow when we try new things."
"When you first saw the outside–the skin– of the fruit, you may have thought,’Ugh–I’m not going to eat that!’ That was prejudice–you made up your mind about a new experience without even giving it a chance. If you refused to eat the fruit, you’d only miss out on a piece of fruit. The fruit doesn’t have any feelings; it doesn’t care. But when someone looks at a person and says, ‘I don’t like the color of his skin,’ or,’What funny hair she has!’ and refuses to get to know them or play with them, that’s prejudice, too. When a person develops a prejudice against another person, feelings are hurt, and everyone loses."
Exploring (15 minutes)
Reintroduce the word "prejudice" by writing the first part of the word on a card or newsprint. Say something like, "Today we have been talking about the word ‘prejudice’. It’s a long word, so let’s break it into parts so we can understand it better. ‘Pre’ means before, and ‘judge’ means to give an opinion about something. Add ‘pre’ to what you think, and you are saying what you think about someone or something before you even know that someone or something.
Prejudice means to be unfair to someone before you even know that person. Did anyone pre-judge the fruit? Did you think you wouldn’t like it before you even tried it?
"Have you ever had an experience where someone prejudged you? That is, when someone put you down or wouldn’t let you do something just because you were a girl or a boy, or too young or too small? Have you ever seen someone being unfair to someone else when they didn’t even know them?"
If it is helpful, use an example from your own experience. Use this example if you don’t have another one: "I know someone who started to wear glasses in the first grade. Do you know anyone who started to wear glasses then? Well, she was the only person in her class wearing glasses, and that made her different. What do you think happened to her? First of all, she could see the teacher and the blackboard, and that was good. But some of the other first-graders thought she looked funny, so they called her names and wouldn’t become her friend."
Elicit responses about this instance of prejudice to help the children understand the concept. Expand the discussion to include instances of racial prejudice. Use examples from your own experience or from news articles. Help the children identify the prejudice in each example. Take out some baseball cards. Invite the children to show any cards they have brought in. Point out that professional baseball teams are "rainbow" teams, with players of many colors — black and brown and white (point to appropriate cards).
Say something like, "But did you know that years ago, only whites were allowed to play baseball in the American and National Leagues? That meant that you couldn’t play for the New
York Yankees or the Cincinnati Reds or any other Major League team unless you were white.
What do you think about that?"
Invite responses.
Introduce the story Teammates by saying: "Today we are going to read a true story about real people. It’s about racial prej udice, and about justice and fairness. Let’s see what happened in the history of baseball to give us the rainbow teams we have now."
Read the story and show the illustrations. Invite reactions and discussion.
What is prejudice?
Goal:
To explore the concepts of prejudice and racism and understand that racial prejudice is wrong.
Preparation:
Purchase an Ugli fruit at your local grocery store. If you can’t find ugli fruit, buy another one that is unusual looking but good tasting, like kiwi, pomegranate, jicamo, or prickly pear.
Find a copy of the book Teammates, by Paul Golenbock in your local library.
Pre-read Opening, Focusing, and Exploring and adapt as appropriate to your situation.
Activities:
Conduct the Opening, Focusing, and Exploring as you’ve adapted to your situation.
Have your snack of ugli fruit. (Focusing)
Read Teammates and discuss.
What does “sacred” mean?
Goals:
To begin to see the sacred in the beauty and mystery of nature.
For parents:
In Sharing Nature With Children, Joseph Cornell wrote: “The unutterable beauty of a blossom…the roar of wind in the trees: At one time or another in our lives, nature touches you…and me…and all of us in some personal, special way. Her immense mystery opens to us a little of its’ stunning purity, reminding us of a life that is greater than the little affairs of humanity. I have never underestimated the value of such moments of touching and entering into nature. We can nourish that deeper awareness until it becomes a true and vital understanding of our place in this world.”
Activities:
1. Read: a story book about trees (from your local library). Here are some to look for:
The Tree in the Ancient Forest by Carol Reed-Jones
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry
The Season’s of Arnold’s Apple by Gail Gibbons
Once There Was a Tree by Natalia Romanova
A Tree Is Nice by Janice Udry
Mighty Tree by Dick Gackenback
When Dad Cut Down the Chestnut Tree by Pam Ayers
Trees by Harry Behn
2. Bark Rubbing
Choose a nice day to take a walk around the park, your neighborhood, or the woods around your house. Bring along several sheets of white paper and pencils. Make bark rubbings of as many different kinds of trees as you can find. Pick up as many different leaves as you can find on the ground. When you get back inside, see if you can identify what kind of tree the leaves and bark rubbings you took come from. A good tree identification book borrowed from the library is fun to look through. Or use the web if you don’t have ready resource for tree identification.
Here’s one site: http://forestry.about.com/library/tree/bltredex.htm
3. Adopt a tree
Choose a tree in your yard, woods, or neighborhood to adopt as your family tree. In choosing the tree, tell your family that you’ll be watching it for a whole year, drawing pictures and telling stories about the way it changes. Once you’ve chosen your tree, take a few minutes to feel it, smell it, look at it and listen to it. Take a picture of your tree. Make a bark rubbing. Collect leaves from the ground. When you get back inside, identify your tree and learn all you can about it. If you read the story The Tree in the Ancient Forest, consider a comparison between the “ancient tree” and your family tree. Revisit your tree each month. Discuss or record changes with drawings or photos. Collect samples of leaves or fruit or bark that falls from your tree throughout the year for your wonder and beauty table. Make up stories using the tree as the protagonist: what do you think it would be like to be your tree?
4. Wonder and Beauty Table
Set aside a special place in your house to put your bark rubbings and leaves. Encourage your family to add things from nature to this table throughout the year.
5. Be Careful Consumers of Paper Products
Make a list, or a collage of pictures, of all the products in your house that come from paper. Talk about how much you use paper products. Here are some questions to think about:
How often are we using paper plates and cups? Paper towels?
Are we throwing out paper that could be recycled?
Are we intentionally buying recycled paper products?
Is it possible for our family to plant a tree?
Background for "What is a Saint?"
Dictionaries and encyclopedias define a "saint" in several ways: an official Christian saint, canonized by the Roman Catholic Church; a person who displays to an extraordinary degree the qualities of holiness and goodness; and the members of certain religious groups who have so designated themselves (the Puritans, for example, and the Mormons, who are officially known as"The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints").
Roman Catholics observe the days for all the saints in their liturgical calendar. All Saints’ Day was established to honor those martyrs who were unknown and thus had no feast days of their own. Anglicans also observe All Saints’ Day, often with a Great Procession of Saints in the service. Protestants have traditionally not included All Saints’ Day in their calendar. The "communion of saints" is referred to in the Apostle’s Creed in some Christian churches.Although All Saints’ Day is a Christian festival,and the resources listed here deal with Christian saints, the eastern religions also honor saints.
Unitarian Universalists honor a wide variety of people who have exhibited " qualities of goodness." There may be Unitarian Universalist heroes and heroines important to your congregation, such as founders or ministers.
This session includes short stories of Samuel Joseph May, Elizabeth Blackwell, Whitney Young, and Amos Peck Seaman as samples of Unitarian Universalist "saints." Stories of your local Unitarian Universalist heroes and heroines also would be important to tell. Stories need to be told in language appropriate to first and second graders with emphasis on the qualities of "goodness" as identified in our Principles and Purposes.
What is a Saint? Do we have them?
Goal:
To become familiar with the idea of a “saint.” To learn about some of the deeds of the Christian saints and to appreciate the qualities of living that we consider important.
Preparation: Read Background
Materials:
felt rectangle (approximately 9” X12”) and smaller assorted color felt pieces
Dowels 1/8” or 1/4” wide, and 91/2” long
Scissors
Paper, poster board or cardboard, pencils (for making patterns)
Glue
Yarn to trim ends of dowels for banner
Activities:
1. Learn about some of the Christian saints on the internet (www.abcgallery.com/saints.html) or www.domestic-church.com (click on “saints” button, then “symbols” for symbols of different saints) or with children’s books such as: The Children’s Book of Saints by Louis M. Savary, Francis, the Poor Man of Assisi by Tomie DePaola, Jeanne d’Arc by Aileen Fisher, Patrick of Ireland by Wilma Pitchford Hays, or Saints, Signs and Symbols by W. Ellwood Post (for symbols of different saints).
2. Talk about the symbols that are associated with well-known saints like St.Valentine—heart, St.Nicholas—Christmas tree, St.Patrick—shamrock.
3. Read one or more stories of Unitarian Univesalist “saints.”
4. Ask kids to think of someone they know who does especially good things. What sign or picture might stand for the things that person does? (ie: knitting needles for grandma)
5. Make a banner to honor the person you have chosen:
Draw the sign or picture that symbolizes the person you chose on the poster board or cardboard. Cut the picture out to use as a pattern.
Trace the pattern on the 9” X 12” piece of felt, then cut felt pieces to fill it in. You could use the pattern to cut a single piece, or cut several pieces of different shapes and colors. Glue the shapes on to create your symbol.
Turn over the top edge of the banner and stitch, or glue, so you have a 1/4” pocket along the entire edge. Let dry. Insert the dowel.
Decorate the ends of the dowel with yarn.
Are All Churches the Same?
Goals:
To become aware of how houses of worship differ in appearance
To understand the similar purpose of different religious communities
Materials for making your own church:
Large corrugated cardboard boxes, such as TV or appliance cartons and several sheets of corrugated cardboard
Several shoeboxes
Carpet squares, cloth scraps
Colored cellophane or tissue paper
Construction paper, poster paint, markers
Activities:
• Do an internet search of pictures of different places of worship: churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques; some links to try: Sacred Sites, AlltheWeb Picture Search (click on "Pictures" to start), Historic American Buildings search, UU architect, Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings
• Drive around your town, city or county and take pictures of all the houses of worship you find. Make a poster of your photos.
• Play “I spy” when you’re driving around town, or on a long trip. Who can find the most houses of worship?
Discussion Questions:
How were the places of worship you saw different?
Was there something about them that helped you know what they were?
Did you have a favorite building?
Was there anything about any of the buildings that you really liked?
Discuss what happens inside a house of worship and how these activities are similar despite the differences in the buildings.
Project:
What would a church building look like if you could make it? List ideas. Encourage kids’ thinking with questions like: What kind of outside would it have? Bricks? Shingles? Glass? Would it have a steeple? A bell? Would there be stained-glass windows? Clear ones? None at all? What would the front door look like? Dark? Bright? Painted?
Using the boxes and other materials you have collected, construct a church building. Insofar as possible, incorporate the features mentioned in your discussion. Begin by turning the cardboard carton on its side, so that the top becomes a set of doors. Attach two other sheets of cardboard to form a roof. Use small boxes to make a steeple if the children want one. Draw windows with black markers and fill in with colored markers to make a stained glass effect. Or cut flaps in the cardboard so they can be opened. Tape scraps of material inside for drapes or curtains. Paint the outside of the box to resemble painted clapboard, or draw bricks on it with markers. Paint the doors. Put carpet samples or bright colored construction papers inside for floor covering. Let imagination and the resources you’ve collected be the only limits to your creativity!
Background for Shabbat/Sabbath
This session engages the children in exploring the roots of the day of worship and rest–Shabbat/Sabbath. The Bible (Genesis 1 and 2) says that God created day and night, earth and sky, the sun, moon and stars, trees and plants, birds and fishes, and all the wild and gentle animals that lived on earth. When all other creations were finished, God created man and woman and called them Adam and Eve. And on the seventh day of creation, God rested from all work, and all that was created rested, too. It was the first Shabbat,the first Sabbath. It was a very peaceful and holy time.
It is likely that the Sabbath was observed before the writing of the Genesis story in sixth century B.C.E. (Before the Common Era). In agricultural societies of that time, the seventh and final day of the week was observed as a day of rest. Since the formulation of the Genesis stories from oral tradition in the fifth century B.C,E., the origin of the Sabbath has been linked with the story of creation in which God rested on the seventh day. The Jewish Shabbat is observed each week on Friday night and all day Saturday–from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. Early Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath on Saturday, but Gentile Christianity gradually shifted the Sabbath to Sunday, honoring the day of Jesus’ resurrection.
This concept of the Sabbath is one of Judaism’s major contributions to the culture of the western world. Jews remember the Sabbath, and they are obeying the fourth of the Ten Commandments which says, "Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any manner of work for the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." This concept is explored more fully in Session 23 on Shavuot.
This session uses the book The Creation by Steven Mitchell. Before the session, obtain a copy of it and familiarize yourself with the story.
Conversation and Story for Sabbath
Tell the children,"The Sabbath is a very old Jewish celebration. Long, long ago, when the Jewish people worked hard for many hours everyday planting in the fields and caring for their farm animals, the seventh day of the week was set aside so they could rest from their work and worship their god. For the Jews, the seventh day was their day of worship and they called it Shabbat. Do you know what day of the week Jewish people worship’" Pause for answers and comments.
Continue by saying, "Yes, the Jewish Shabbat began at sundown on Friday and ended at sun-down on Saturday. Today Jews celebrate Shabbat in many different ways. Some customs include setting the Friday evening Shabbat table in the home with the best dishes, with wine, with sweet braided bread called challot and with candle-sticks. A blessing, or special words, is spoken to mark this time as holy before the meal is eaten.On Shabbat morning, the family attends services in the synagogue. On Saturday evening a special blessing is said thanking God for the Sabbath and a new week has started.
"But others observe Sunday as their Sabbath,their day to rest and worship their god. Who are these people! What is their religion called?" Pause and invite responses.
Introduce the story, The Creation. Say, "Making the seventh day of the week a day of rest and worship comes from an old, old story of how the world was made. We think that when this story says a ‘day,’ it is really talking about a long period of time–maybe even thousands and thousands of years! This is the story."
Read the story, The Creation.
The Very Short Rule: A Story from Palestine
WHEN JESUS CAME INTO TOWN, someone who knew him was sure to pass the word around. A plan would be worked out for him to be at a certain place when evening came and the day’s work was done. Then men and women who had to work during the day could gather and listen to what Jesus had to say.
Sometimes they would find him in the house of a friend. And the number of people who would come might fill the whole house and the street outside, too. Other times they would follow Jesus to the lake. He and some of his fishermen friends would step into a boat. They would anchor it near the shore. The people would sit on the rocks and grass near by, and Jesus would stand up in the boat and talk to everybody.
Often they would go home after listening to Jesus, and they would remember just one little story or one short sentence that Jesus had said. But that little bit they remembered a long, long time, because somehow they liked to remember it.
Sometimes there were men and women who listened to Jesus who were very much discouraged. Some were so poor they did not get enough to eat. Some had sick children to take care of at home. Some were old and crippled and always in pain. Some felt that nobody cared for them. They were always given the meanest jobs to do and they were always being scolded because they did not do them well enough.
There were others who felt it was scarcely worth while trying to be good at all. No one as ever pleased with what they did no matter how hard they tried.
These people went regularly once a week to the synagogue on the Sabbath. They heard the Bible read to them, but they could not remember all that they heard, so they did not do all that they were told they ought to do. They knew they were not praying as often as they were told to pray, but it was so hard to remember the words to say. They knew they were not giving as much as they were told to give to the synagogue, but they had so little to live on, how could they give more. They admitted that they did some work on the Sabbath while the teachers said they should never do any work at all on that day. But the hours in the week were not long enough to get everything done that had to be done to keep the children from starving.
Such people as these were naturally discouraged. They felt all the time that their teachers were not pleased with them. If their teachers were not pleased, then probably God was not pleased either. This thought made them feel even more discouraged.
One day as Jesus was sitting in a boat and the people were squatting on the rocks along the shore, one of these discouraged men asked a question.
"I am a shepherd," he said. "I have to spend long hours in the open fields. When eating time comes, I cannot always find a brook where I can wash my hands before I eat. It is the rule, is it not, that a man should always wash his hands before eating? Do you think, Jesus, that I am a bad man because I have to eat my lunch without washing my hands?"
"Certainly not," said Jesus with a smile. "You are not a bad man simply because you eat without washing your hands when you are in the fields and cannot do so. Unwashed hands cannot make a person bad anyway. Goodness and badness are inside of you, not in your skin." Then another man spoke up and asked another question.
"There are many of us here, Jesus, who have never learned to read. We have not gone to school. We have not been able to study the laws in the Bible. We can’t remember all the laws the preachers in the synagogue tell us about. There seem to be hundreds of laws the preachers say we must follow if we want to please God. But we simply cannot remember them all. Do you think, Jesus, that we are bad because we can’t remember all the laws? Our other teachers seem to think we are no good just because we don’t know much." Then Jesus could encourage these people. He would say:
"For many years, our teachers have been adding more and more laws to the ones that are in the Bible. They have meant to help us but what they have really done is to make living a good life so hard that none of us can be counted good.
"I say to you, friends, that being good is not just obeying a large number of rules. You could obey every single one of the rules the teachers have made, and still not be really good. Whether one is good or not depends on how one feels inside in one’s heart. Do you feel hateful or loving toward others? Do you feel angry or patient with the person who hurts you? Those are the things that count."
"That kind of talk sounds good, Jesus," said a man who had been busy all day long hauling stones for building a road. "But I wish you would tell us in just one sentence what is most important so that we can’t forget." Jesus smiled at this and said:
"Your wish reminds me of what someone once said to Hillel, that great teacher of ours of whom you all have heard. The story is told of how a man one day said to Hillel: ‘Tell me, Master, what all the laws put together mean and tell me so simply that I can hear it all while I stand on one foot.’ " At this everyone laughed.
"Hillel gave the man a very good answer and a very short one," said Jesus. "Hillel said: ‘Never do to anyone else the kind of thing that is hateful to you. This is all the laws put together. All the rest is just an explanation of that one short rule.’ " Then Jesus added his own thought.
"I would say this rule in just a little different way. I would say it this way. Do those things to others that you would like to have others do to you."
"That’s a good rule," said the workman who had asked the question. "I could have stood on one foot easily while you said that."
