(Mingle with all peoples with love & Kindliness) Prayer Begin the class with opening prayers, and then help the children finish memorizing the prayer presented in Lesson 13. They should be able to recite it in its entirety in the next class. You could start the lesson today with the "Unity Prayer": O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them, O God, in their endeavour, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God! Leave them not to themselves, but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge, and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord." Here is the Unity prayer in Maori In pdf Music / Song Moving on to the next activity, the children can learn to sing the following song and review the songs they have learned in previous lessons: Link to Music sheet God’s Creatures The creatures of this big world Whether they walk or fly, or fly Are part of God’s creation Like you and I CHORUS: That’s why we treat them with kindness Remember when you do, you do To care for God’s creation Brings blessings to you The dog on our front doorstep He is our faithful friend, our friend We also thank our milk cow And bees in the wind CHORUS The donkey carries his burden The kitty purrs on our lap, our lap And the bird sings sweetly When we take our nap CHORUS OR (as in the copy of grade1 lesson book we have the following song): In Japan - listen HERE In Japan, Afghanistan, Peru and Zanzibar With bongos and marimbas, banjos and guitar People are singing, haven’t you heard A new Day is dawning, we have brand new words “The world is but one country,” we’re learning this today “And all mankind its citizens,” these words will show the way For all of us to fully learn our talents and worth So we can build a new world order, here on earth We have all been likened to leaves upon one tree Flowers in one garden, waves upon one sea Brilliant shining stars, radiant candles, rays of light Birds singing in the garden day and night Make the nations one, let religions all agree Be occupied with service to all humanity Nothing less than unity can satisfy our minds So tell the world about the oneness of mankind In Japan, Afghanistan, Peru and Zanzibar With bongos and marimbas, banjos and guitar People are singing, haven’t you heard A new Day is dawning, we have brand new words OR We are drops - Listen HERE or HERE We are drops (we are drops) [echo] Of one ocean (of one ocean) We are waves (we are waves) Of one sea (of one sea) Chorus: Come and join us (come and join us) In our quest for unity [together] It's a way of life for you and me We are flowers (we are flowers) Of one garden (of one garden) We are leaves (we are leaves) Of one tree (of one tree) (Chorus) All the earth (all the earth) Is one country (is one country) Man is one (man is one) Can't you see (can't you see) (Chorus) [Teach hand gestures to go with the song, children can help make them up as well] Memorization of Quotation The next activity is to memorize a quotation from the Baha'i Holy Writings. God created all of humanity to live together as one family. If we are to do this, we cannot let differences come between us. Instead, we should mingle with people of every religion, race, nation and class with love and kindness in our hearts. To help us remember this, let us memorize the following quotation of Bahá’u’lláh: “Blessed is he who mingleth with all men in a spirit of utmost kindliness and love.” Listen HERE. Picture Cards used for Memorization of Quotes & Prayers for Grade 1 lessons Link to Download here Story You can now tell the children the following story, which will illustrate the virtue of Unity. Here is a link to a pdf file with all the stories in Grade 1 Illustrated. Link to Illustrated Stories for Grade 1 There are many ways to make the story come alive. It's always nice to act this story out with props - Having pictures as you go through the story. Having the class act out or tell the story. Use puppets. Game Now you can play the "The Hidden Qualities" game which is in the lesson. Colouring HERE is a Pdf with all the colouring sheets for each lesson Here you will find all the colouring-in images with quotes for the New Grade 1. On each A4 sheet there is 2 pictures. It has been found that an A4 size colouring often takes longer than what we had time for, hence has halved time & your have less photo copies to do. Extra ideas Link for Lesson 16 Have a look at Rebekah's great Children's class ideas for Lesson 16 HERE Have a look at Wairarapa's Baha'i Children's Class Blog for a Lesson 16 on Unity HERE Closing Prayers |