The Cloud Fable

This is a Fable from the Independent Fourth Reader, by James Madison Watson. It is about a cloud who has to sacrifice himself for the people who needed water--likened to the Atonement. Good for Easter and spring weather perhaps?

Fable Verse: Fox & the Crow

The Fox and the Crow 
    (after Aesop) 
  
A coal-black crow sits in a tree, 
A morsel of cheese in his beak has he. 
A fox slinks by as sly as you please, 
And cunningly plots how to get the cheese. 
  
“Oh how I admire your feathers so spry, 
The sheen of your tail and the glint of your eye, 
The elegant curve of your beak sharp and long - 
But would I could hear your sweet voice raised in song!” 
  
At this the crow’s flattered and quite taken in; 
To impress the fox further he will now begin. 
He throws back his head, and rasping and raw,
He utters a raucous, cacophonous “Caw!” 
  
With beak all agape, the cheese tumbles out, 
The fox snaps it up in his long pointed snout. 
“Sing, Crow, your vanity, long as you please. 
You keep your song, and I’ll have the cheese!”

  Paul King

Fable day: friendship

Fables:

Lion and the Mouse - help others

Lion and the Bullocks - stay true to your friends (protect each other)

Songs/finger plays:

Little Mousie

Going on a LioN Hunt

Yoga poses: 

Child's pose (mouse)

Cat/cow (bull)

Lion?

Games: 

Sharks and Minnows (lion and bullocks)

Duck, Duck, Goose (bull, bull, lion)

Activities:

Cut paper friend people attached (write closest friends names and something nice about them and one way they can help them)

Make a lion

Snacks:

Season: spring, summer, autumn

Fable Day: North Wind and the Sun

Focus: agency vs. force (gentle and kind...let people choose)

Yoga poses: flower, tree, mountain (then have the wind blow each and see which move); sun, sunrise/sunset; sun salutation

Song/finger play:

Sundial

Games:

Mother May I

Race (blowing ball across the floor, or sailboats across water)

Activity/craft:

Making sailboats to blow/race in water

Sculpting with clay

Season: spring, summer, autumn

Fable Day: The Bundle of Sticks

Virtue: Be Wise
Habit/Motto:  Begin with the End in Mind
Story: Bundle of Stick Fable, or Ant and Grasshopper fable. (or other fable that could be geared to winter)
(did a yoga/movement story about building a snowman and putting sticks in for arms. And other winter library books.)

Song/Finger Play: 
Once There Was a Snowman
B-I-N-G-O --SNOW version (I made this up something like: In the winter time there's snow, which falls to the ground. S-N-O-W. It may sound lame, but it helped the boys learn to spell snow.)

Yoga Pose: star, waterfall (for snow fall), warrior, elephant (like collecting sticks)
[story about snow falling down (waterfall, doll), building a snowman and collecting sticks for it--or a fire--or skating on the ice (warrior)]

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) paper snowflakes (also make snowflake tree)
B) popcorn chains
C) make a stick tree or star
D) Pinecone ornaments

Share: place ornaments on a group tree (can get back after christmas)

Snacks: 
homemade marshmallows

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Letter: O
Words: snow, cold, oh, go
Number: any
Shape: hexagon (for snowflakes) or star
Season: winter

Fable Day: Christmas

Virtue: Be Kind
Habit/Motto:  Win-Win
Verse: Tis Better to Give than to recieve (Acts 20:35)

Story is based on Story of St. Nick (instead of Aesop fable)

Song/Finger Play: 
When We're Helping, We're Happy
Any Christmas Song!!

Yoga Pose: tree, star, candle, dancer?

(movement ideas for made up story: snow angel, skating, etc. )

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex

A) Play pass the bag game (sit in circle, when music stops take a candy out, or give everyone a candy, etc.)

B) write little notes to each other to put in their bags

C) origami stars

D) salt dough ornaments

E) stocking guessing game (put something in a bag: children one by one put hand in and guess what's inside)

F) Make a shoe and put things in them (like the shoe tradition)

Share: 

Everyone have their own bags-- to put things in from the day and to collect things from others

Snacks: 

bags of goodies (each different then they can all share some with each other)

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Letter: C
Words: Christmas, Cold, care, coin
Number: any
Shape: triangle (tree or star of david)
Season: Winter

Fable Day: The Fox & the Grapes

Virtue: Be Humble (or Be Wise/Be Positive)
Habit/Motto: Synergize (Problem-solving: ask for help--two heads are better than one--teamwork)

Song/Finger Play: 
1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little ___________ (grapes)

Here Comes the Fox

Yoga Pose: Yoga (Y letter emphasized), Zero (0 number emphasized), Tree (where grapes were) Other animals that helped the fox get the grapes

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) make grape/toothpick towers to eat

B) make art using fox animal tracks, or try to create animal tracks (kids native wildlife track guide is helpful)
C) Scavenger hunt outdoors (looking for tracks in a forest/park area) 

Share: 

Snacks: 
grapes! (shared in one bowl--to emphasize teamwork)

grape jelly and PB sandwiches

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Letter: Y (yoga, yes/you-can do it, yipee, yell) G (grapes, get, go-and ask, grab)
Number: any
Shape: circle (grapes), triangle (bunch of grapes)
Season: summer, autumn harvest

*focus on thumbs up for "positive" focus (which can look like a turtle with the other hand as a shell over it)

Fable Day: Tortoise & the Hare

Virtue: Be Wise/Be Humble/Be Positive
Habit/Motto: Slow & steady wins the race/Try, Try, Try Again/Focus on the End Result
Verse: "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." (Alma 37:6)

Song/Finger Play: 
Little Bunny Foo-Foo (finger play)
Tim the Tiny Turtle (finger play)

Yoga Pose: Turtle, Frog (pretend it's bunny), Tree (where bunny napped)

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) Group Race (emphasizing they importance to all finish, not competition) and make homemade award medals
B) Cloth Origami (bunny made out of a rag)
C) Read You Are Special

Share: Have an awards ceremony with everyone getting a medal and say something nice about each child.

Snacks: 
Make turtles: PB, chocolate and pretzels
Carrots (all bunnies love them)

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Letter: T or R
Words: tortoise, turtle, track, tree, two; race, run, rabbit
Number: two
Shape: circle (turtle shell)
Season: spring, summer, autumn

*focus on thumbs up for "positive" focus (which can look like a turtle with the other hand as a shell over it)

Fable Day: Three Bullocks & a Lion

Virtue: Be Kind / Be Involved (kindness, unity)
Habit/Motto: Do unto others as you would have others do to you

Song/Finger Play: 
When We're Helping We're Happy

We're going on a lion hunt
Ring Around the Rosie

Yoga Pose: Lion, Cow/Cat (Cat stretch, sometimes called cow), sun salutation series

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex

A) Lion hand art: put strips of paper around thumb of hand to make the mane
B) Sunshine art: give circle and lines shapes (paper, foam, cloth, etc. and have them create suns or lions)

Share: Have them tell about a friend they have and what they like about them. Or what they enjoy doing together.

Snacks: 
use strips of something to make a mane around a circle (carrot sticks or celery sticks around a cucumber slice/cracker/Or little container of PB with raisin eyes..whatever.

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Letter: L
Words: lion, lunch, lonely, lost
Number: any
Shape: circle/lines, like the sun

Fable Day: The Fox & the Stork

Virtue: Charity & Love (kindness, sharing, helping, consideration, unity)
Habit/Motto: Do unto others as you would have others do to you

Song/Finger Play: 
When We're Helping We're Happy

Where is Thumbkin

5 Little ______ to Give
5 & 5 Make Ten


Yoga Pose: Table (eat on), Chair, triangle, telephone (call friend over to eat)

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) Put everyone's handprints on one big poster with the golden rule/"Helping Hands."
B) Choose partners and make cards for each other (so everyone gets one)
C) Weaving/Braiding a friendship bracelet (working together/weaving makes a stronger rope)

Share: Have the children make something for another person, and exchange them (like friendship bracelets or cards) or have each child write tell one thing they can share with someone.

Snacks: 
One things they can split to share with each other: sliced apples? or 

Various snacks, so they can each share different things with each other and enjoy the variety sharing brings

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Letter: H
Words: hand, help, hello, hi
Number: 2 (working together) or 5, 10 (all fingers on helping hands)
Shape: triangle (for stork's beak)

Fable Day: The Plane Tree

Fable: The Plane Tree

Virtue: Grateful
Habit/Motto: Be grateful for what you have. Focus on the positive; don't cry for what you lack.

Song/Finger Play: 
We're Climbing up a Tree
Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree
Squirrel, Squirrel (if you do squirrel as one of the travellers in story)

Yoga Pose: Tree

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) Hand trees with thumbprint leaves
B) Finger paint the scene
C) Build a bigger tree with tissue paper
D) Do a maze to find their way home, like the mouse

Share: Retell the story using their art or have them choose another animal to tell the story of...and tell what that animal could be grateful to the tree for.

Snacks: 
Nuts and berries (or a trailmix)

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Letter: T
Words: Tree, Thank You, Tall, Travel, The
Number: Three (why: animals in story, same start letter)
Shape: tall rectangle or cylinder (tall tree)

Fable Day: The Ants & the Grasshopper

Fable: The Ants & the Grasshopper

Virtue: Smart - Diligence ("dilig-"ants")
Habit/Motto: FOCUS - First Things First (work before play...but I say work can be play)

Song/Finger Play: 
Ants Go Marching 1 By 1 (numbers, counting) or
5 Little Ants Fingerplay (simple number)

Yoga Pose: Grasshopper

Craft: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) Basic Thumbprint Ants (ex: create a basic picnic scene on large paper and have the children put the ants on the scene with thumbprints)
B) Detailed Thumbprint Ants (put three fingerprints together to make each ant. Add eyes and 6 legs too)
C) Build: Egg carton Ants (curled paper legs/antenae and draw eyes)

Share: Retell the story using their ants and the grasshopper pose

Snacks: 
Ants on a log (celery, peanutbutter, raisins)
Grapes, melonballs or powerballs with toothpick legs
Edamame/Beans (pop the soy beans out of pod and pretend they are ants on the scenery or put them in threes to make a bigger, complex ant--similar to craft, but with food)

Letter: G
Words: Grasshopper, grass, green, grow, good
Numbers: 6 (why: six legs)
Shape: any