Books and BlanketsThird Grade

Teacher Name

M. Dyksen

Lansing Christian School

Deep Hope:

What if we learned about God’s wonder-full world and used that wisdom to work together to help build a better world?

Essential Learning Targets:

I can serve my school community and promote a love of reading by collecting and selling used books.

I can work to serve others by comforting those who are hurting by making blankets.

Essential Curricular Outcomes:

Collaboration• I can engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners…building on other’s ideas

and expressing their own clearlyWriting • I can write an informative text to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly• I can develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing• I can use commas in addressesMath• I can recognize perimeter as an attribute of a plane figure and distinguish between linear and area measures• I can understand concepts of area and relate to multiplication and division• I can fluently add and subtract within 1000 Social Studies-Economics/Citizen Involvement• I can explain how scarcity, opportunity cost and choices affect what is consumed• I can identify incentives that influence economic decisions• I can describe how entrepreneurs combine natural, human and capital resources to produce goods and

services• I can participate in projects to help or inform othersSpeaking and Listening• Report on a topic… with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an

understandable pace.

Habit(s) of Learning:

Joy Filled Collaborating & Gracious Communicating:

The students collaborated and communicated almost constantly throughout the process... creating posters for

advertising together, preparing skits, sorting books, helping kids find books at the sale, counting our profits, making a

blanket as a group... nothing was done on an individual basis.

See God’s Story:

We noted that there is sin in our world. Sin has led to idolization of technology (a competing story), often causing kids to read less. We wanted to be a part of God’s restorative story by encouraging a love of reading and books within our community of Lansing Christian School while at the same time raising money to help others in the greater Lansing community.

We also saw that sickness in our world is a result of the fall. We can’t cure it, but we can provide comfort to sick kids by making blankets for them. We are trying to help “Build a Better World” as our part in God’s Story.

We are participating in the restoration of God’s world (His Story) by encouraging

a love of reading at our school and by providing

comfort for sick kids.

Storyline:

Build a Better World

Throughlines:

COMMUNITY BUILDER: Understand and build community.

I Corinthians 12:12: “Just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”

SERVANT WORKER: Bring joy and healing to others through service.

I John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Formational Learning Experience:

Real needs:

• Kids need books to learn

• Sick kids need comfort

Real work:

• Sorting books

• Advertising

• Collecting money

• Making blankets

Real people:

• Lansing Christian students

• Sick kids

Formational Learning Experience:

• Students were invited, through deep hope and storyline, into the Restoration process.

• We examined our essential learning targets for the unit.

• Students understood that we were helping in the restoration of God's world by helping our school community and the broader community of kids in our city.

Invite

• We made posters to advertise for book donations.

• We collected and sorted books.

• We discussed our supply of books and demand to set prices.

• We brainstormed ideas for incentives to buy.

• One of our middle school students, who was a recipient of a Linus Project blanket just a few months earlier, came in and shared with the students what it was like to receive a blanket when she was sick.

Nurture

We performed skits for each classroom to advertise the sale.

(Watch our skit here)!

Empower

Preparing for the book sale: Writing letters, making advertising posters, preparing skits

We wrote business letters to JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby to ask for a good price on fleece.

Empower

Sale Day! We took money and made change, kept our inventory neat, put out new books, and helped customers find books.

Empower

After the sale, we counted

money and determined our profit.

Empower

Measuring and making the blankets

while listening to

audiobooks!

EmpowerWe also found the perimeter

and area of our blankets.

Student Reflections:

Teacher Reflections:

How were the deep hope and essential learning targets realized?

Students used their academic learning to improve the lives of others (both those they know and do not know) and thus played a part in God’s Story of Restoration.