Core Story
Alfie’s Busy Day, written for Floreat (see R Self Control and Dignity ) This story follows a Reception child through a typical day at school. At various points in the day there are times when he needs to ‘press pause’ and consider what he must do to act with dignity.
In this unit the first part of Activity 1 contains an introduction to the virtue which should be completed before reading the story.
Drawing out the virtue
Introduce the lesson by praising pupils who are sitting beautifully on the carpet saying ‘Thank you x, for sitting on the carpet with such self control and dignity’ ‘X is showing his self control and dignity as well’. You could ask the other children what they notice about how the children you praised are sitting. Explain that in this lesson you are going to talk about what it means to choose to act with dignity. The purpose of the lesson is to introduce the words ‘self control’ and ‘dignity’, show pupils examples of what they look like in contexts they can relate to, and teach them that they can choose to act with dignity.
Activity 1a: Choosing self control and dignity
Show children the images on the PowerPoint R Self Control and Dignity . Ask them which children/child in the images has chosen to act with self control and dignity. The emphasis is on self control and dignity being a choice children can make.
Activity 1b: Alfie’s Busy Day
Before reading the story Alfie’s Busy Day teach the children to touch two fingers to their temple and make a silent ‘press pause’ gesture. Explain that you or they can use this gesture when they need to stop and think. Read the story. The pause icon on the slides shows where children should make the ‘press pause’ gesture and the teacher can facilitate a discussion about what is happening in the story and what the characters should do in each instance to remember their self control and dignity.
Activity 2: Bacteria
This activity is a response to a need identified by Floreat Early Years teachers to explicitly teach new pupils about how to prevent germs spreading.
Project the image of the bacteria from the PowerPoint onto the board. Work through the rest of PowerPoint with the class.
Explain to the children that you are going to show how bacteria can spread. Choose one child and cover their hands in flour, chalk or glitter to represent the bacteria that is on their hands after they have coughed or sneezed. Ask the child to do a task such as going to fetch something for you or handing something out. The class will be able to see the ‘bacteria’ has come off on everything the child has touched.
Ask the children what we could do to prevent bacteria from spreading.
Use a tissue when you sneeze, and wash your hands.
Model this for the children and show them exactly where the tissues/soap can be found and how to wipe their noses and wash their hands properly.
Explain to the children that they do this to help themselves to stay safe and healthy and to help to look after others.
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Classroom language
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Press Pause. How could you show your dignity?
Thank you for waiting/walking with such dignity.
X looks very dignified today with his shirt tucked in.
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Library books
The Dog and His Reflection, Aesop’s Fable
Oh No George by Chris Haughton
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers
The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle
Little Beauty by Anthony Browne