Aim to learn to think first before we act and not just follow our feelings

Aim
* to learn to think first before we act and not just follow our feelings
* to think about the consequences of our actions

Materials
* Picture cards of cartoon characters
* Traffic lights with the words, feel, think, do
* Story – “ Think Before You Act”
* Large pictures of the story
* Extra story – Think before you Speak
* worksheets
* key word – consequence

Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Story – “ Think Before You Act”
3. Discussion
4. Activities – worksheets, storyboard, charades, memory game
5. Conclusion
6. End with a Prayer

1) Introduction
* Show pictures of a boy who does things without thinking first and talk about the consequences. If we don’t think before we do something, the consequence can be bad.

What are the consequences of each picture?
1. pushing someone into water in a swimming pool
2. sneezing in someone’s face
3. Walking in the house with dirty shoes
4. throwing empty cans on the ground
5. calling someone names
6. running across the road on a red light
7. wiping dirty hand on your clothes
8. breaking a bat in anger
9. taking all the cookies for yourself
10.smashing the keyboard in anger
11.running across the road without looking
* Use the traffic lights to explain the problem. The correct order is red (stop), yellow (get ready to go) and green (go). When we have an impulse (strong feeling) to do something, it is wise to stop and think a little before we act. In each of the pictures the boy acted upon his impulse (feelings) and acted immediately

STOP – FEEL
GET READY – THINK
GO – DO

2) Tell the Story
* This story is called “Think First!” It is about a boy called Göran. One day he was throwing mud at his wooden fence in the garden, for shooting practice. His mother heard the sound of the mud and the mess it was making on the fence. She called him in to ask what he was doing. She explained that he must think first before he does something. The fence will have to cleaned and might have to be repainted, which will give a lot of extra work for his parents and cost money to buy paint. He used the clay in a way that could damage the fence. We must use things in the correct way. She points out that the fence also belongs to the family. He must learn to respect people and their property. From this Göran learns a lesson about thinking first and respecting other people’s property

3) Discussion
* Use the worksheet to discuss the story to learn about the importance of thinking first.

4) Activities
* worksheet – circle the right answer, fill in the missing words and colour the picture
* storyboard – write text under each picture to tell the story, draw the missing picture, colour the pictures
* charades – using picture cards. Which picture are you demonstrating?
* memory game – to reinforce the lesson

5) Conclusion
Ask each child what they could learn from today’s lesson. Refer to the lesson aims:
* to learn to think first before we act and not just follow our feelings
* to think about the consequences of our actions

6) End with a Prayer