Lesson Plans and other resources from www.onehen.org can either be integrated into one subject or teachers who teach different subjects can collaborate to integrate lessons into many subjects over a school term or academic year. To reinforce the children’s learning, implement a make-a-difference project which can either be starting a small business and donating the profits to a charity, or organizing a fundraiser. Below are some suggestions for incorporating the lesson plans in your teaching and make-a-difference projects you could implement.
INTERGRATING LESSON PLANS INTO VARIOUS SUBJECTS:
1. Social Studies: The objective is to show real life in Ghana, West Africa – the colors, countryside and, most of all a range of occupations from petty trading to teaching, health care, banking and business. Compare what children and parents in Ghana do to what children and parents in your community do – find similarities and differences. Lesson Plans you could use include “My House & Yours” and “Learning About Ghana” under “Free Resources” in the Educator section of www.onehen.org.
2. English Language Arts: The objective is to provide an example of a story based on a true life; predict the story parts (setting, characters, plot problems and solutions) and identify them as they present in the story. Visit the Book Inspiration “Learn the Story” icon to watch 6 minute video of real biography of Kojo after reading the book. Do the “Kids Can Change the World” biography research activity under “Free Resources”.
3. Math/Economics: Trace out the math required for the main character to buy a hen and sell eggs and make a profit to repay his loan and build a business. See www.onehen.org. For additional activities: “Making the World a Better Place” (Gr 1-4) or “Start a Microcredit Agency” activity (Gr 5-7). See “Meet Real People” icon on onehen.org for more stories of successful entrepreneurs.
4. Community Service: Learn how one small loan changed a life, family, community & country, then undertake a class fundraiser to sponsor another micro-entrepreneur in Africa like One Hen’s main character, Kojo. See www.onehen.org for suggested fundraising activities.
5. World Resources: Identify products throughout the story that are traded locally versus regionally and globally. See www.onehen.org to use “To Market, To Market” and “This is the Orange” activities.
6. Geography: Situate Ghana within West Africa, West Africa within Africa and Africa within the world. See www.onehen.org “Where in the World” (Gr 1-4) activity.
7. Environment: Identify all the examples of reuse and recycling in the story (e.g. the hen’s wash-powder box nest, composting, etc.) See www.onehen.org “This is the Orange” activity.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKE-A-DIFFERENCE PROJECTS:
The One Hen lesson does not need to end here. Make a Difference projects deepen children’s learning and helps them practice skills in financial literacy, problem solving, taking personal initiative and giving back to others in need.
Start a Small Business Project
Give an entire grade or school seed capital to start a small business. Products that One Hen classrooms have created and sold include key chains and jewelry, book marks, greeting cards and a cocoa drink. Have student research needs in their community and around the world and vote on what organization to donate their profits to.
Fundraising Activities
You could have your classroom start a fundraiser such as a bake sale. Provide groups of students the opportunity to turn the bake sale profits into a larger profit with an additional small “business” idea. (See previous suggestions)
Below are some fundraising ideas you’ll find on www.onehen.org:
Lemonade Stand Challenge: Pick a day, or week, to operate a lemonade stand. Help your kids’ plan what the stand will look like, find lemonade recipes, and raise money to purchase ingredients. Then, open up for business! After your lemonade stand project has been completed, add up how much money they earned. Your kids can decide as a group which one of Opportunity International’s microlending regions they want to donate their earnings to – Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, or Latin America.
Henny Penny
A simple fundraiser for schools, libraries, and families. Fill Hen-shaped banks with pennies and other coins, and then donate your collection to Opportunity International to help someone like Kojo start a business.
Add a Hen Logo
Add a One Hen logo to your school/class t-shirts and increase the price by $1. Keep the majority of proceeds for your school and donate the extra dollar to Opportunity International or One Hen, Inc.
Web Game Contest
Assign each class one half hour in the computer lab to play the One Hen Web site games. Make it into a competition; the class that wins and donates the most virtual beads wins a prize.
Incentives:
Visual Representation – for each dollar your school raises cut-out a paper chicken and hang it up in your library. You can tape them to walls, hang them from ceilings or make paper chicken chains! This is a great way for students to see how much money they have raised as a school.
Principals or teachers do something after x amount of money is raised – i.e., shave heads, wear clothing backwards, etc.
Extra recess time.
