Humility
Year 1: Being humble means we notice when people other than us are good at things.
Core Story:
Kangaroo Loves Races, written for Floreat (see Y1 Humility). In this story Kangaroo always wants to race, she loves racing because she always wins with her long powerful legs, while penguin always comes last. One day the animals are racing when they come across a stream. While Kangaroo is stuck, penguin glides through the water to the finishing line.
Drawing out the virtue
In the story not only is Kangaroo a show off, but he is so preoccupied with his own abilities he does not notice what Penguin is really good at. The purpose of the unit is to help children understand that humility isn’t merely about not showing off, but in actively noticing and celebrating other people’s strength.
Activity 1: Show off for your friend!
Pupils take turns to tell their Perfect Partner something they think they are good at e.g. ‘I am good at gardening because I know how to look after plants’. The partner can ask questions to find out more detail. After each partner has had an opportunity to share something they are good at, choose pupils to introduce their partner to the class. Their task is to show off on behalf of their Perfect Partner, sharing what their partner is good at, making sure they explain their answer with detail. The purpose of this activity is to encourage pupils to take an interest in each other, and to recognise each others’ strengths.
The teacher can model this with another adult e.g. ‘This is Miss Anthony, she’s so good at running. She can run for miles without getting tired or even a little bit out of breath. She is so fast she moves as fast as lightning. I think she’s probably the fastest runner in the world…’ There are some pictures at the end of the PowerPoint Y1 Humility) to give some ideas.
You could then ask the children to say who they thought was best at showing off for their partner.
Activity 2: Children lead reward time
Explain to the children that today they’re going to be the teacher, because they’re going to look out for children doing good or kind things, so they can nominate them for praise later. Model using phrases such as ‘I liked the way x did …’ or ‘When we did Maths today, x finished his worksheet really quickly’ or ‘When we played football X scored a great goal’.
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Classroom language
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Sayings
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Thank you X, for showing your humility by praising your friend.
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Pride comes before a fall.
From humble beginnings.
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Library books
The Little Peacock’s Gift by Cherry Denman
The Magic Goldfish by Demi
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
Fox and Fables by Dawn Casey
The Frog and the Ox, Aesop’s Fable