Team Member Memory Boxes

1. Begin a class discussion about how people who live in caring communities treat each other. During the discussion, make a list of student constributions on a classroom white board using Crayola Dry Erase Markers. Ask students to brainstorm traits of effective, caring team members, at school, at home, and around the world. Chart these on the white board for easy student access.
2. Organize students in pairs in preparation for creating a unique display to remind others to care! Provide students with Crayola Ultra-Clean Markers, construction paper, and an empty tissue box. Decorate the paper with markers. Then cut construction paper to fit the sides of the tissue box. Glue the paper to the box.
3. Distribute at least 6 index cards to each pair of students. Invite teams to design colorful index cards with words and symbols of at least six of the traits on the class list. Create 3-D symbols with Crayola Model Magic® compound. Use them to add dimension to the cards, to decorate the box, or as stand-alone sculptures. Find out how these traits are expressed in several other languages and cultures. For example, students could sculpt the Japanese symbol of honesty (shoujiki).
4. Arrange student displays in a way that captures the attention of others. If possible, arrange for a show at a local library or other community facility.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.

LA: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

SS: Compare ways in which people from different cultures think about and deal with their physical environment and social conditions.

SS: Identify and practice selected forms of civic discussion and participation consistent with the ideals of citizens in a democratic republic.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Possible classroom resources include: On the Town: A Community Adventure by Judith Caseley; What is a Community from A to Z? (AlphaBasiCs) by Bobbie Kalman

Working as a whole class, ask students to share examples of how they have experienced respect, courtesy, generosity, kindness, gratitude, etc. in their own lives. Create a list of these examples and post them in the classroom for ease of access.

Encourage students working in small groups to investigate several aspects of a caring community, such as respect, courtesy, generosity, kindness, gratitude, etc. Ask the groups to develop team definitions for each aspect and create a team chart. The chart may be organized as a bulleted list or graphic organizer. Students include examples of each caring community concept on their charts. For example, generosity could be connected to a statement and illustration of doing small favors for classmates without being asked; connected to kindness might be a statement and illustration focused on reading to younger children.

Individually, students create pledge cards stating how they will practice each of the identified "caring community" ideals during the school year. Students should write the ideal on the card, include a brief statement of what the ideal means and an example of how he will practice it. The student will add an illustration of how he practiced the ideal after the act.