Please read the Overview before using this Plan.

F f Letter F introduces Daniel Chester French and the importance of families.

MATERIALS: Construction paper with hole punched in top, yarn for necklace

Penny with picture of the Lincoln Memorial

For discussion on families, ask children to bring pictures of family members, including pets.

Mirror for faces

Snacks—Fruit items

GETTING STARTED:

Welcome. After each person says his or her name, the group responds, “Welcome, (name).” For a child who is attending for the first time this year, add name to the letters that have been posted and to the attendance sheet, and make a nametag during or after the session. Leave an empty seat for someone who is not present today or who has not joined the group yet.

The Letter of the Day:

Talk about the Letter.
Give the Letter necklace to a person with that initial.

Talk about the things that the children have brought for the Letter, and/or Letter grab bag.

SPECIAL PERSON: Daniel Charles French (1850-1931)

There was a little boy named Daniel. He was shy and very, very quiet. He spent a lot of time sitting and just looking. Daniel’s family and friends worried about Daniel. They say, “What will ever become of him? He never says anything. He spends a lot of time sitting and looking at things.” If they had asked him, he would have told them, “I’m looking because I like to see into the heart of things. I looking to see what makes them live and breathe and be.”

One day Daniel spent the whole afternoon looking at a frog. He noticed how shiny the skin was, and how it was a little lumpy here and there, and how its feet were webbed, and how its neck went in and out when it said “ribbet.”

As Daniel walked home, he went by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home. (See Session E) It was a big house, and on one side there was a huge garden. He looked over the fence and saw something he wanted to know more about. So he jumped over the fence, went right through the rows in the garden, and found a turnip growing. He scratched away the dirt. He looked at it very hard. Then he looked some more, and before he knew it, the turnip was in his hand. He noticed its shape and its color and its size and how it smelled. But he never noticed that Mr. Emerson was standing behind him, until Mr. Emerson went, “Hm-mgh!” Daniel jumped up and said, “Hello.” “

“What are you doing?” Mr. Emerson asked.

“I was looking at your turnip, and the next thing I knew, it was out of the ground and in my hand. It’s wonderful. The roots go out this way, and it’s kind of round, and the tip is green and bushy. Have you ever looked at a turnip, Mr. Emerson?”

Mr. Emerson shook his head. He looked, and sure enough, it was wonderful. Mr. Emerson let Daniel have the turnip. As Daniel walked home, he took out his pocketknife, and began to whittle. By the time he got home, he had the most perfect frog made of that turnip! He was quite proud of it, and set it on the table.

When his stepmother came home, she asked who had made the frog. When she realized that Daniel had made the frog, she said, “Daniel, I think when you’re sitting so quietly, you’re watching, aren’t you?"

“Yes,” he said. “I’m learning things about the world, and seeing the heart of everything.” His stepmother brought him blocks of clay, and he made things out of snow and ice in the front yard. People loved to go by and see what Daniel Chester French was making.

Daniel Chester French became a sculptor. He made many statues. One was the monument to Thomas Starr King (Letter K) in San Francisco, California, (1891)

In 1922, he made a statue of Abraham Lincoln, a great leader, sitting in a big chair.

Many people come to see the statue. Now, on the back of penny, in the middle of the penny is a building, and in the middle of the building on the penny, is a tiny picture of the statue that Daniel Chester French made.

AFFIRMATION: We are always learning for ourselves.

Discuss families. Who is in their family? (Be sure to include pets.) Have children bring pictures of members of their families. Define family broadly, such as people who live together and are usually related in some way. Ask each person to talk about his or her family.

Start with a real or stick figure of a person in the center of a paper. As each person in the group talks about his or her family, add figures to the collage: siblings, parents and partners, pets. Focus first on who lives with the children in the household. Accept the description of relationships, and extended families can be included. (Grandparents and generations are included in more discussion under Session G.)

Daniel’s family encouraged him as he learned. Talk about some of the things that we learn in family, such as eating right foods, brushing teeth, taking care of ourselves, and riding bicycles. What specific things have the children learned from their families?

THE LETTER F IN CHURCH

Flowers: Pictures of various flowers, how we use flowers in the church, such as for worship services, Flower Communion, dedication of babies and children.

A-B-C

Animals: Fish, fox, frog.

Body (add to Body Picture): Feet, finger, face

Face. Each person feels the parts of his or her own face.

Look at pictures of faces and think about how a person is feeling.
Have a person make a facial expression and guess the feeling behind the face. Pass a mirror and as each person looks into the mirror, have them say something nice about what they see.

Feet: Have the group stand in a circle. Start with the singing or chanting, and the movements:

"I put my right foot in, I put my right foot out.

I put my right foot in and move it all about.

"I put my left foot in, I put my left foot out.

I put my left foot in and move it all about.

"I put both feet in, I put both feet out.

I put both feet in, and move them all about."

Stand in a circle, and look down at feet, and say together, "Thank you feet."

Calendar: Friday, February, Fourth of July

Note the date of the session and any special events for the day, including birthdays.
Note items beginning with that letter
Note events between today and the next session.

CLOSING: Gather around the Special Place where the things related to the letter have been placed. " We give thanks for the Letter F. We have shared and learned about special people and animals and ourselves and our church. May we leave in love and peace. Next week we will meet again. Our letter will be ____ and our leader(s) will be ____________________." Make sure that people take home things that need to go.

VARIATIONS FOR OLDER CHILDREN

Daniel Chester French: Collect pictures or visit a statue created by Daniel Chester French.

For listing and locations, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Chester_French