Family. Wants. Needs. Jobs. Education.

These were the focus points of their lessons as 8 IMLPs, myself included, took to Sparks Elementary School in Stamford, CT to teach the 6 first grade classes there. 

Walking into the building, we were surrounded by memories of our youth… the colored in snowmen from Mr. So-and-so’s class taped on the wall, the cut out construction paper traced-hands with names on them put on the hallway cork board outside of Mrs. Whats-her-name’s office, the miniature water fountains outside the bathrooms and mystery meat lunches being announced over the school PA system… ah, those were the days.  Putting aside the nostalgia, we bravely took to the classrooms, armed only with our wits… and step-by-step lesson plans complete with activity books, posters, hand-outs, and everything we could possibly need.  Okay – so it wasn’t quite as challenging of work as we’re used to everyday, but boy was it fun.

The first lesson was about Families.  Here we got to talk about different types of families, how they work together, different jobs in the families, and how everyone has to do their part to make it work… even if sometimes it’s not fun (like doing chores).  The first graders were very interactive and eager to participate, which really made it fun.

The second lesson was on Wants vs. Needs. Here we talked through what a “want” is and what a “need” is and how many things may seem like needs, but can really be done without (like TV, cars, and toys).   This lesson was neat in that we got the children very involved, allowing them to draw, color, and play a wants vs. needs flashcard game.

The third lesson was about Jobs.  Here we told the kids what we did for a living and went on to show how important jobs are.  Taking it another level, we talked a bit through how education allows them to get good jobs.  We made it fun by having the children talk about jobs that they’ve done or that people in their families do.  We even got to use a large poster that students could come up to and point out people doing jobs on.

The fourth lesson got the children to design their own city.  The children put buildings wherever they wanted on a map and then got to explain why they did it the way they did (everyone put the candy store next to their house so that they could go there every day).  From this, we talked about how the city works well thanks to a bunch of people doing different jobs for each other and helping each other out.  We also got the kids thinking about what they want to be when they grow up and had them create their own business in their city.

The last lesson tied things up by talking about how good jobs allow you to get money, which helps your family and allows them to satisfy their needs and (after satisfying their needs) their wants.  It worked to show the class that a good education is the key to a good job.  Once again though, we got to make it a fun, interactive lesson by making it into a game of charades wherein people acted out jobs and got paid for them if “they did a good job” and someone guessed what they were.

Overall, the day was a riot.  These kids were so eager to participate and so much fun to teach.  They caught onto the lesson ideas quickly and were really smart too.  The whole day, in fact, was a fun time and a rewarding experience.  Just to see their smiling faces and fuel their energetic spirits was well worth it.  I think I speak for all of the IMLPs involved when I say it really was a great day.