Eco Kind Curriculum character strengthening

LivingwWarmth
Sep 20, 2024
7 min read

Pacey, Twinkl, Amnesty International book guide, UN SDG book guide, Action for Children

Regulate ourselves: Social skills and mutual respect.

School links: positive relationships, personal, social and emotional development.

The Golden Rule is part of the RE guidance because it helps us be respectful and tolerant of others. The Golden Rule is the observation that most faiths and beliefs share the same core value of treating others how we would wish to be treated ourselves. You can find out more, find learning tools, learning resources, and a golden rule poster.

Kind hands are mindful of how we behave and make others feel.

Kind words are mindful of we speak and use manners to show gratitude.

Kind thoughts are mindful of how we think and remember to love.

Make dependable friends: Kindness and tolerance.

School links: mutual respect, tolerance and cultural development

Supportive families are empowered by empathetic, nurturing adults.

School links: Animal BABIES in the stories need food and safety, just like human babies (Y2). MUTUAL RESPECT is shown between characters who LISTEN and work as a TEAM with one another’s interests at heart. Find out more about hierarchies of actualisation.

Supportive families:

Caring relationships & Cooperative communities

Mister Seahorse. Activities: Colouring

Esther the Wonderpig. Activities: Cut out storyboard and characters, discussion

Guess How Much I Love You. Activities: Hare ears, colouring, dot to dot, maze, matching, wordsearch, writing

Songs: The Just Like Me song. Songs: The Sharing a Shell song.

Songs: Ziggy Marley and Frances England have nice songs about being a family.

Sharing friends work together in cooperative partnerships.

School links: The INTERDEPENDENCE of life as well as symbiosis is demonstrated In stories set in habitats such as the OCEAN (Y2). MUTUAL RESPECT is shown between characters who LISTEN and work as a TEAM with one another’s interests at heart.

Cooperative Partners:

Consent and not controlling our friends

Institutions

Kind Leonard's Teddy. Activities: Crafts, recycling posters and letters, teachers notes, teachers notes

The King Who Banned the Dark. Activities: Activity pack, crafts

Beyond the Fence. Activities: Primary teaching notes, more primary teaching notes

This Moose Belongs to Me. Activities: Teaching notes, more teaching notes

Songs: Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land has teacher's notes with lyrics (the link opens a Word document).

Caring rescuers compassionately nurse sick animals back to health.

School links: The Citizenship guidance suggests learners ‘realise that people and other living things have needs, and that they have responsibilities to meet them’ (KS1). Children help animals meet their BASIC NEEDS for HEALTH AND HYGIENE (Y2) by showing RESPECT, along with PROBLEM SOLVING and CREATIVITY. Animals have similar BODY parts to humans and similar urge to stay HEALTHY.

Caring Rescuers: Recognising what we have in common and looking after one another

•Mutual Respect and Tolerance

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•Childcare resources: Twinkl, Pacey, Early Education, Gov.uk

•Golden Rule posters: Interfaith, Scarboro Missions, Scarboro Missions

•Equality Act: Let Toys Be Toys, ESOL UK Childcare session 6, Islington Council book lists, Ofsted, Respect Me, Save the Children

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•How To Heal a Broken Wing. Activities: Colouring, pigeon craft, colouring and facts, lots of primary activities including songs, discussion

•Izzy Gizmo. Activities: Science crafts, bookmark, counting and reading games, primary recycling activity pack based on the sequel

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•Songs: Izzy Gizmo songs.

Expand our circles of compassion: Empathy and individual liberty.

School links: individual liberty and spiritual development ADD SKILLS

Equal playmates connect and share ideas.

School links: Fury MAMMALS find out they have the right to play and express themselves freely. INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY is at first denied. However, characters later develop more inclusive LEADERSHIP styles and institutions, like a DEMOCRACY.

(a linking mindset). This is contrasted with friendships in which somebody feels superior or threatened (a ranking mindset).

Peaceful individuals stand against stereotypes and live their values.

School links: There are examples in some stories of HERBIVORE, carnivore and omnivore characters (Y1) and FOOD CHAINS (Y2). Herbivore/ plant-based food options are promoted by Eco-Schools. Plant-based non-food materials could also be mentioned in science. The main characters in the stories want other characters to TOLERATE their INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY and right to choose how they live their lives.

Peaceful Individuals:

Letting our friends be gentle and happy

•Individual Liberty

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•Pacey, Twinkl, Early Education, Gov.uk, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

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•I Am Henry Finch. Activities: Fingerprint birds in a tree, fingerprint birds

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•How To Be A Lion. Activities: Lion mask, colouring, drawing, writing and primary lessons , crafts, activity pack, comprehension

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•T. Veg: The Story of a Carrot Crunching Dinosaur. Activities: Cut out dinosaurs and plate

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•Keith Among the Pigeons. Activities: Activity pack with masks, colouring and placards, worksheets and lesson plan

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•Songs: Nick Cope has songs about being yourself, and Yolanda has a happy dancing song with resource pack.

Tell a new story: Peacefulness and rule of law.

School links: the rule of law, moral development and ethics.

Compassionate decision makers choose to follow their hearts.

choose whether to maintain power over smaller animals through force and bullying. The alternative is to appreciate the intrinsic value and variety of life, trusting to let it be.

School links: Living and dead things (Year 2) is relevant to these stories which are often about MINIBEASTS and children showing LEADERSHIP in their care. Eco-Schools encourage the creation of insect habitats. The RSPCA recommends children ‘think about animal’s needs and develop a sense of care and responsibility towards them’. The RULE OF LAW and ‘PREVENT’ discourage violent behaviour and give us the right to be SAFE.

Compassionate decision makers: Protecting minibeasts

•Rule of Law

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•Smacking, Pacey, Twinkl, ESOL UK Childcare session 5 and 6, Early Education, Gov.uk

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•Hey, Little Ant. Activities: Cut out and stick ant body, teaching resources

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Horton Hears a Who. Activities: Discussion and gardening, teaching ideas, also a film

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•Songs: Nick Cope and Philip and Hannah Hoose both have songs about ant protection.

Nonviolent changemakers set a good example.

find a more joyous life when they resolve conflict by trying to understand one another and communicate. The narratives place value on human flourishing, rather than heroics and sacrifice. This shows that masculinity (or femininity) does not have to hurt, and that people and cultures can behave and change in any number of ways.

School links: The children STAY POSITIVE in the face of adversity, gaining in their sense of self and showing others what is possible. The RULE OF LAW and ‘PREVENT’ discourage violent behaviour and give us the right to be safe

Non-violent Changemakers: Not fighting/ anti toxic masculinity/ gentle boys/ prevent

•Extremism, Radicalisation, Terrorism

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•Pacey, Twinkl

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•The Sunflower Sword. Activities: Crafts, gardening and peace pledge

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•The Knight Who Wouldn't Fight. Activities: Colouring, spot the difference, drawing and educators guide, lesson plan

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•Ferdinand. Activities: Crafts, discussion, module

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•Zog, Zog and the flying doctors. Activities: Activity sheets with wings, activity sheets with doctor bag, colouring and maze, comprehension, teaching notes

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•Songs: The Mosaic Project sing 'Fighting is Not the Solution', and made a curriculum book and free download colouring book.

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•Videos: Science ships are better than pirate ships playlist.

Feel a calling: Responsibility and sustainability in a democracy.

School links: democracy and active citizenship in the wider world. Resileince

•Coming from Gratitude- The Trouble with Earth

•Honoring Our Pain for the World- Yellow Lily, Trouble with Dragons

Conservationists use their hands to make a change.

go out regenerating OCEANS, planting community GARDENS and growing their communities into life-sustaining systems.

School links: The stories are set in non-European COUNTRIES (KS1). MATERIALS (Y1) are sorted to clean beaches, as could be done for an Eco-Schools marine topic. PSHE guidance suggests teaching the importance of protecting the environment. The Citizenship curriculum recommends learners understand what HARMS the environment and ways people look after it (KS1) and study simple environmental ISSUES (KS1). In KS2 Science, children learn that environments can change and sometimes pose dangers. Children in these stories know their rights under democracy. They share their opinions freely, SPEAK OUT and AIM HIGH.

Democracy in Practice

•Phoenix Education, Infed

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•Clean Up! Activities: Colouring drawing and finding, primary pack, primary packs

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•Nelson's Dangerous Dive. Activities: Whale worksheets, teaching notes

Conservationists:

Marine conservation and litter picking

Campaigners use their voices to make a change.

act and hold adults accountable for FOREST protection. They demand respect for their future, nature and the majority world.

School links: These stories relate to how PLANTS grow (Y2), physical geography, continents and a non- European country (KS1). The Eco-Schools Award includes raising money for ‘environmental, wildlife or animal welfare charities’ under the Global Citizenship topic. In KS2 Citizenship, guidance it is suggested learners take responsibility for environmental actions around school and meet people who contribute to society ‘such as environmental pressure-groups’, learning how economic choices affect the environment. Children in the stories know their rights under DEMOCRACY. They share their OPINIONS freely, SPEAK OUT and AIM HIGH.

•Local and Central Government

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•Twinkl: Department for Education, National Curriculum

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•The Girl Who Planted Trees. Activities: Activity notes, crafty activity pack

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•There's a Rang- Tan in my Bedroom. Activities: School resource pack

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•The Great Kapok Tree. Activities: Rainforest lesson

•Jane Goodall. Activities: Many, many more including story time, more videos

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•Greta and the Giants. Activities: Colouring, teachers notes

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Dare. Activities: Colouring, drawing and writing

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•https://globallearninglondon.org/secure/app/uploads/2021/10/Creative-Communities-Resource-20211025.pdf

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•Songs: David Gibb's Sunflower song has teaching notes with lyrics. Sarah Pirtle also has many gardening songs and music for 'building a culture of peace' with lyrics and activities.

Campaigners:

Community gardening and forest conservation

Voters participate in elections.

learn what happens in an election and how voting can make a difference to GOVERNMENT. Good to know how things work manage anger engagement

School links: Learners could participate in school decisions to practice British Values. Children in the stories know their rights under DEMOCRACY. They share their OPINIONS freely, SPEAK OUT and AIM HIGH.