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What is Hope

Lesson 5

HOPE Calabash Decoration

Learning Goals

  1. I can explain what hope is.
  2. I can identify examples of hope.
Preparation:
  1. Reflect on the progress of how well your pupils are returning the magazines with the Home Connection activities. If needed, remind the pupils and/or their parents about the activities.
  2. Think of a story about something you hoped for and worked toward (Step 7).
  3. The craft in this activity is decorating a calabash (Step 6). All children will watercolour a picture of a calabash. One calabash will also be decorated for the class. Consider how this will be done. Will the pupils who finish watercolouring first then decorate the class calabash? Or will every pupil get a chance to add a little colour and decoration to the calabash whereby you call them one-by-one as everyone is watercolouring their picture? Consider any procedure that works best for your class.
  4. Watercolouring is a valuable artistic craft for children to learn. Any time children learn something new and interesting, their excitement might lead to disorder in the classroom. If the pupils in your class have never watercoloured before, consider strategies for reducing the disorder. If you think the potential level of disorder will be unmanageable for your classroom, crayons can be used instead.
Materials:
  • Hope magazine: The Calabash Kids [Download]
  • Calabash colouring picture [Download]
  • The Hope Song [ ▷ Play ]
  • Decorated calabash for example
  • Gourd for example (if available)
  • Knife to cut gourd (if gourd is available
  • Watercolours
  • Paint brushes
  • Small container of water for every 5 pupils (to rinse paint brushes)
  • One Calabash with Hope engraved on it
  • Permanent markers
    •
Procedures
Step 1 (10 min): Introduction This step requires a gourd. If no gourd is available, skip from the part where you present the gourd seed to the explanation at the end.
Write
and
Read		 Write the I-Can statements on the board.

Read the I-Can statements as the goals of what you will accomplish today.
Present Present the calabash
Ask
  1. What is this?
    2. Calabash
  2. What are calabashes used for?
    3. Let a few pupils respond
  3. Where do calabashes come from?
    4. Gourds and/or the plant where gourds come from
Present Present the gourd.
Ask
  1. What is this?
    2. Gourd
  2. If I open the gourd, what will we find inside?
    3. Let a few pupils respond
Demonstrate Cut open the gourd.
Ask
  1. What do you see inside?
    2. Let a few pupils respond
  2. How can we make the gourd into a calabash?
    3. Scoop out the pulp and seeds and let it dry.
Demonstrate Pull out a seed from the gourd
Ask
  1. Describe the seed for me. What is the colour?
    2. Let pupils respond to each of the questions from 8 to 11 to help them describe the seed.
  2. What is the shape?
  3. What is the size?
  4. Are there any other interesting features of the gourd seed?
  5. If we plant this seed, what will happen?
    6. Gourds and/or the plant where gourds come from
Explain This is a gourd seed. If we plant it in the soil, give it water and sunshine and time, it will grow into the gourd plant. It will produce gourds that can be plucked and made into calabashes. Then we can use the calabashes to serve food, etc. We are going to read a story about a woman who plants a gourd seed. But they are special gourd seeds. Do you want to find out what happens when she plants the special gourd seeds?
Step 2 (5 min). Read The Calabash Kids
Share Share the magazine.
Read Read aloud: The Calabash Kids.
Step 3 (5 min). Comprehension Questions
Ask
  1. In the beginning of the story, why was Amina lonely and too tired?
    2. She had no one to help with her chores
  2. What did Amina do at the end of each day?
    3. She looked up to heaven and prayed for help
  3. What did the noble give to Amina?
    4. He handed her some gourd seeds
  4. What did the noble say to Amina?
    5. Plant these carefully. They are the answers to your prayers.
  5. When Amina planted the gourd seeds, what happened?
    6. They grew very fast.
  6. Then Amina plucked the gourds, made them calabashes, and let them dry on the roof. When the calabashes were drying and she went to the farm, what happened back in the hut?
    7. The gourds became children.
  7. What did the gourds do when they became children?
    8. They helped Amina with the house chores.
  8. Why was Amina astounded when she reached her hut after working on the farm?
    9. The work was done and the meal was ready,
  9. When the gourds started to climb back to the rooftop, what did Amina say?
    10. No, no. You will be the children I never had.
  10. When Amina kept the children as her own, what happened to her?
    11. She was no longer lonely, she became rich, she had comfort and happiness all the rest of her days.
  11. What does the story teach us?
    12. If you have positive expectation about the future, you will be happy.
Step 4 (15 min). Direct Instruction on Hope
Explain In the story, Amina looked up to heaven and prayed “my work is too hard. Send me help!” which shows that Amina had hope that her prayer would be answered.
Ask What does the word hope mean?
Acknowledge children’s answers even when they are not correct.
Guide
and
Read		 Refer children to the second page of the magazine. Have them point to Hannah Hope.

Read what Hannah Hope says.

Instruct children to point to the word Hope. Read the definition.
Ask What is the definition of Hope?
Believing good things will happen
Explain In the explanation below, emphasize the word believing.

The word believing means you are patiently waiting for something you really want. You are working hard and expecting that you will get it. If your school bag or school shoes get spoilt and you want a new school bag or school shoes and your parents told you they will buy it for you next month, you are believing as you work hard and wait for the new school bag or a pair of shoes to be bought for you.
Ask What are some of the things you are believing for?
Let a few pupils respond
Explain Let us learn more about what hope means.
Read
and ask		 Continue to read the rest of page 2. Before reading each section, have pupils point to the next picture. Then ask:
  1. What do you see in the picture?
After one or two pupils have described the picture, read the text.
Ask What have you learned about hope?
Let a few children respond
Step 5 (5 min). Hannah Hope Signal
Explain Just like Pam Perseverance had a signal that he made to celebrate perseverance, Hannah Hope also has a signal that she makes to show that she believes that good things will happen. Do you want to see what the signal looks like?
Demonstrate Demonstrate the hope signal. Start by putting your hands together as if you are holding an egg in both hands. Then spread your hands up as you slowly smile. Shout “Hope!” as you do it.
Guide Have the pupils repeat the hope signal a few times.
Step 6 (30 min). Calabash Watercolouring
Explain and
Demonstrate		 If pupils are not familiar with watercolouring, first explain and demonstrate how to do it as follows.

To use watercolours, you first need to dip your brush into the water to get it wet. Watercolour means that you need water to get the colour.

Demonstrate dipping a brush in the water.

Then gently rub the brush in the colour you want.

Demonstrate gently rubbing the brush in the colour.

Now you can brush the colour onto your paper to paint.

Demonstrate painting on paper.

If you need more of the same colour, then dip your brush in the water and gently rub it in the colour again.

If you want a different colour, then you need to rinse the brush very well. Otherwise, the first colour will mix with the second colour.

Demonstrate rinsing the brush well and using a different colour
Guide Share one colouring sheet and brush to each pupil.

Give one set of watercolours to every five (5) pupils.

Guide pupils as they watercolour their calabashes
Guide Guide some pupils in using the permanent markers to decorate the calabash using procedures that best fit your classroom.
Step 7 (15 min). Examples of Hope
Explain We have learnt that we need hope when we are expecting something and we are waiting to get that thing. We are working hard and thinking of all the good thing about that thing we are expecting. We are going to learn more about some examples of hope.

Give a personal story of a time that you hoped for something and you got it.
Guide Instruct children to point to the picture of the woman on page 3 of the magazine. Do not say her name yet.
Ask
  1. Who is this person?
    2. Let pupils respond
  2. How many of you have heard of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala?
    3. Let pupils raise their hands if they have heard of her.
  3. What do you know about Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala?
    4. Let a few pupils respond
Explain Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a great example of someone who had hope. She worked hard and patiently waited to achieve greatness even when it took long. We are going to read more about Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and how she had hope.
Read Read the story of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on page 3 of the magazine.

While reading the story, explain the following vocabulary word. Manage: To handle with skill. Dr. Ngozi helped to handle and save Nigeria’s money with skill so that Nigerians could live better lives.
Ask
  1. What did Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala believe would happen?
    2. She could become Director General of the World Trade Organization and other reasonable answers
  2. How did Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have hope?
    3. She patiently waited until she got what she wanted.
  3. Who wants to be like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala?
    4. Let pupils raise their hands
  4. How can we be like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala?
    5. Believe, work hard and patiently wait even when it seems like it is taking too long.
Step 8 (5 min). Sing Hope Song
Guide
and Sing		 Instruct pupils to point to the song on page 3 of the magazine.

First read the words to the song. Then model singing it.

Sing a second time, with pupils repeating a line after you.

Sing at least two more times until pupils can sing it well.
Ask What can we learn about hope from the song?
Things will get better so we should have hope.
Step 9 (5 min). Conclusion
Read Read the I-can statements from the board.
Ask
  1. Can you explain what hope is?
    2. Let pupils respond with thumbs-up or thumbs-down
  2. What is hope?
    3. Let pupils give a chorus answer
  3. Can you identify examples of hope?
    4. Let pupils respond with thumbs-up or thumbs-down
  4. What is an example of hope?
    5. Let a few pupils respond
  5. Who can make Hannah Hope’s signal?
    6. Have all of the pupils make the hope signal together.
Explain Next week, we are going to do an activity that needs some things we might normally throw away.

Present a sweets wrapper from the earlier activity.

This is a sweets wrapper. I might normally throw it away. But I am going to save it until next Friday and bring it to school.
Ask
  1. What are some other things you might normally throw away?
    2. Biscuits wrapper, pure water container, bottle cap, cartons, etc.
Explain Next Friday, bring five things you might normally throw away, like sweets wrappers, bottle caps, cartons, and other things. Make sure they are colourful – do not bring in polythene bags.

Remember to bring five things. Let’s count to five together. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

When you bring in five things you might normally throw away, be sure that they are clean. Do not bring in sticky wrappers, or dirty bottle caps. Make sure they are clean.
Ask
  1. What should you bring in next Friday?
    2. Five things I might throw away
What is Hope Lesson [Download]