sin título

Sincerity is defined as: simplicity, purity, naïveté, veracity, a way to express oneself free of pretence. A sincere person is the one that expresses himself without deceitfulness, in a truthful and genuine way, that does not pretend.

The opposite of this quality is to pretend something that one really does not feel, for example, to say something to please others when we really do not feel it.

From an early age, it is necessary to teach the child to be sincere, this is one of the most needed qualities in our present society, it is for that reason that education, the early childhood center, must set out to educate sincere boys and men, girls and women.

However, in early childhood the children are used to imagining things that they accept as certain and that do not constitute lies, but only the difficulty to differentiate between what is perceived in reality and what is imaginary. This must be known by the educator in order not to consider as an insincere conduct what is a simple confusion of planes in his internal world.

In addition, the example of the adult is tremendously important in the formation of this value: If the child or the girl observes and is aware that parents, educators or other elderly people are not sincere, they will tend to accept those incorrect patterns as good, and they can take up insincere conducts over sincerity.

ACTIVITY No 1
"WHAT DID THE POET SAY?"

Summary of the activity: In this activity the educator will analyze with the boys and girls a verse on sincerity, and through a conversation they will try to define some initial notions onto it. In the first part the text of the verse will be read analyzed, in the second there will be an activity with the children will be made to delimit the notion of what is sincerity, in the third part there will be a narration on this content to strengthen what was already learned, and finally there will be an eevaluation meeting of everything that was listened to regarding sincerity.

Objectives: That the children know the importance of acting sincerely.

Procedures:
• Recitation
• Conversation
• Comparisons

Material Resources: Texts of verses and stories.

Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will read to the children the following verse:

I am a sincere man
From where the palm grows
And before I die I want
To throw my verses out of my soul

Jose Martí

What did the poet mean?

First, the educator will let the children express themselves freely and later he will give the following explanation:

"The poet said that he is a sincere man, and to be sincere means that he does not lie, that he expresses what he feels, that he does not pretend things that he really does not feel".

"This poet says that he is from a country where the palm grows, this country is called Cuba, there are many palms there and they are the national plant of that country."

"The poet also says that, before I die I want to throw my verses out of my soul, to make verses that leave your soul, that is, pure verses, sincere, without deceits and to let everybody hear them."

"The author was a good man that liked children very much, and he wrote stories and poems for them. In addition, he was a patriot that fought and died for the freedom of his country"

2nd Part
The educator will tell the children: “Have you understood what is a sincere person?"

"Tell me if you think that you are sincere. Haven’t you sometimes pretended a stomach-ache or a toothache in order not to come to school?"

"It is better to be sincere with your mother; I am going to tell you a story of what happened to a child who was not sincere with his mother."

3rd Part
Narration of the story "Pablo, the child who was always pretending"

Pablo is a very naughty child who had a pretty kitten called Perla, that he blames for all of his pranks.

"Pablo, why did you break this vase?" his mother asked him. "I did not do it, mother", Pablo answered, "Surely it was Perla, the kitten, I saw it climb onto the shelf where the vases are".

His mother answered "Pablo, if it was you tell me, I prefer that you are sincere with me and do not deceive me" "No, mother!” he answered her, and he created such a situation that his mother ended up punishing the cat which was not guilty by the vase being broken.

This is how concealing a small accident became the child’s greatest defect, and he got used to lying and pretending in order to obtain favours and permissions from his mother. The thing is that he no longer knew how to act sincerely; he pretended and pretended as a great artist, in order to remain in bed and not to go to school, to be released from any task that his mother gave him, for any thing...

But... as everything in this life, it happened that one good day a small cricket, that from the window frame observed everything that Pablo did and listened to the child’s lack of sincerity, got so angry to see so much deceit that it told Pablo’s mother about everything, everything that her son did.

His mother stayed quiet and she did not say anything to the child, she waited because she knew that Pablo would get up to his usual tricks soon, she already knew that he was used to pretending.

Things left in this way, the moment appeared for teaching Pablo a lesson, it turned out that one day very early his mother called him so that he went to school and she found him curled up in a ball under his blanket, moaning about a stomach-ache.

"What is going on with you, Pablo?” his mother asked him incredulous.

"Oh! I am very ill, my belly hurts a lot."

"Poor son, but today you are not going to deceive me, do not pretend any more, I already know that you have been deceiving me but that will not happen again", and she forced Pablo to get dressed.

"Mummy, it is true that I have pretended other times, but today I am really ill."

"I’m sorry, son, today I will not let myself be deceived, you pretend very well, I think I am going to enrol you in a theatre course because you have a great future as an actor."

"No, mummy, today is true", Pablo said, but his mother who learned the lesson did not give in, and she took Pablo to the school, and as the child was not pretending this time, he was sincere and after some time, it was the teacher who had to take Pablo to the hospital.

The fright was so great that from that day onwards Pablo did not pretend any more to get his own way, and he told everything to his mother.

4th Part
The educator will talk with the children about the story.

What can you tell me about Pablo’s attitude?
Is Pablo a sincere child?
Is what Pablo did correct?
Would you do with your mother just as Pablo did with his?

The answers can be recorded so that later they can be compared with what was firstly said about a sincere conduct.

CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT
Observed conduct	YES	NO	Comments
They understood the message of the verse.
They needed help to understand the message of the verse.
They knew how to correctly describe Pablo’s negative attitude.
They needed help to understand the negative attitude of the child of the story.
They know the importance of acting sincerely.
They needed help to understand the importance of acting sincerely.

ACTIVITY No 2
"CREATE YOUR OWN STORY"

Summary of the activity: In the first part of the activity the educator will invite the children to make up their own stories based on some key words that he will give them, later the children will read their stories, and finally the best works will be rewarded.

Objectives:
• To develop in the children abilities to create their own stories
• To stimulate the children to act sincerely.

Procedures:
• Conversation
• Explanation
• Following instructions

Material Resources: Tokens to reward the best stories, which can be made ahead of time by the children in previous activities. Cassette recorder.

Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will tell the children: "I want that you to create your own stories about what is a sincere conduct. It can be based on a real fact that has happened to you or to some little friend or person that you know. It can also be about cartoon characters, or about the stories that you know, or simply a story invented by you."

"I am going to give you some key words that cannot be missing in the story”.

For half of the group the key words will be: boy-sincere-mother. For the other half: girl-pretend-school.

The educator explains to the children that to pretend is the opposite of being sincere because the one who pretends, says or does what he does not feel.

2nd Part
The children will tell their stories; they can be recorded during the course of the activity so that at the end of the activity they can remember what they said.

3rd Part
A jury selected by the children will be formed and they will choose and award the best stories, and from their evaluations they do they will select the winning stories.

In order to help the children in this selection the educator will give the following guidelines to them:
• The key words cannot be missing.
• The central idea of the story must be understood clearly, it should be about sincerity or hypocrisy, according to the key words assigned to the group.

In the next opportunity or in the same activity if the educator considers it necessary, the children can draw the central ideas of the winning stories to share with their parents.

CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT
Observed conduct	YES	NO	Comments
They used the key words to make up a story with coherence.
They needed help to thread the key words and to make up a coherent story.
They kept to the central idea that was given to them.
They needed help to keep to the central idea that was given to them.
They felt satisfaction with the creation of their story.
According to their expressions, they were stimulated to act sincerely.

ACTIVITY No 3
"NAME IT WITH A WORD"

Summary of the activity: This is a game in which several stories will be read on sincerity or hypocrisy; the children will have to say if the main character is sincere or is lying, finally they will analyze these conducts.

Objectives: That the children learn to critically analyze the sincere-false conducts.

Procedures:
• Stories
• Questions and answers
• Conversation

Material Resources: Stories and tokens made ahead of time for the winning boys and girls.

Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will explain the game to the children and he will organize the group in two teams.

The red team will choose the word that describes the girl from the first story (Maria), and the girl from the second story (Daniela).

The blue team will choose the word that describes the boy (Jorge) and Jorge’s mother from the second story.

The rules of the game are:
1. - If a team does not know how to answer well, the opportunity to answer goes to the other team.
2. - The team that correctly says the words that describe the characters of the stories will be the winner.

The educator will read stories that talk about hypocrisy and sincerity, for example:
1. - Maria always pretended to be ill when her mother asked her to wash up the dishes or to sweep the house.
Maria was a _____________ girl with her mother.

2. - One day, Jorgito when was playing with his pet cat, he broke his mother’s beautiful porcelain vase, when he told it to his little friend Daniela she advised him to tell his mother that the cat had broken it, but when his mother arrived Jorgito told her all the truth and she forgave him.
Jorge is a _________________ child
Daniela is a ________________ girl
Jorge’s mother forgave him by his ____________ attitude

These two stories are only examples; the educator cab create others according to the characteristics of his group.

2nd Part
There will be a conversation to analyze the attitude of Maria, Jorge, Daniela and Jorge’s mother.

The educator will let the children express their ideas freely, and later he will emphasize Jorge’s sincere attitude, which was rewarded with his mother’s forgiveness.

CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT
Observed conduct	YES	NO	Comments
They knew how to identify the sincere and hypocritical conducts of the characters of the stories.
They needed help to identify the sincere and insincere conducts of the characters of the stories.
They knew how to critically analyze the positive and negative conducts of the stories.
They needed help to critically analyze the positive and negative conducts of the stories.
They expressed verbal interest to want to be sincere in their relations with the others.

ACTIVITY No 4
"LET'S HOLD AN INTERVIEW"

Summary of the activity: The activity consists of a communication game. The children will interview each other and they will be taught one or several texts for the interview. The game tries to stimulate communication between the participants.

Objectives: That the children learn to communicate their experiences on a subject suggested by the educator (sincerity)

Procedures:
• Interviews
• Game

Material Resources: A toy microphone or an object that represents a microphone. A cassette recorder to record the interviews.

Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will explain the game to the children and he will tell them what they have to ask, which will deal on sincere or hypocritical behaviour.

Example of interviews:
This is an interview for the early childhood center radio station _______________, you must answer the questions sincerely:
What is your name?
Where do you like to take a walk?
Which is your favourite song?
When your parents ask you to do a household task, do you do it or do you pretend to be feeling bad or any other thing in order not to do it?
If something is broken, do you blame another person or do you tell the truth to your parents?
If a neighbour or any other person does something that bothers you and asks you to give your opinion about their conduct, do you tell him the truth about how you are feeling, or do you pretend that you like it, that it does not bother you, etc.?

2nd Part
The educator together with the children will evaluate the activity. For this, they will listen to all the interviews again in the cassette recorder, and they will try to reach the most important conclusions on sincerity or the lack of it.

CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT
Observed conduct	YES	NO	Comments
When they played they followed the rules of the game.
They needed help to follow the rules of the game.
They communicated well their experiences on sincere or feigned attitudes.
They needed help to communicate well their experiences on sincere or feigned attitudes.
They expressed their intentions to be sincere.

ACTIVITY No 5
"THE MURAL OF SINCERITY"

Summary of the activity: It consists of recreating what has been learned so far from the stories and poems of the previous activities.

Objectives: To consolidate on a material plane what has been expresed verbally on sincerity.

Procedures:
• Practical actions
• Analysis of previous situations

Material Resources: Cardboard, brushes, temperas, color pencils and other art materials.

Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator asks the children to remember what was said in the previous stories and poems, and that with those ideas they have to create drawings to make the mural of sincerity. The drawings can be located in other classrooms of the center.

2nd Part
With the drawings done, the children will organize the mural of sincerity, which will be also decorated with flowers and friezes to make it more beautiful.

CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT
Observed conduct	YES	NO	Comments
They were excited to do the drawings for the mural.
They did the drawings without difficulty expressing the images from the stories and poems.
They reflected in their comments favorable attitudes on being sincere.
They needed help to draw well the essence of their experiences on the sincere or false attitude of the stories.
They raised criticism on insincere attitudes and conducts.

ACTIVITY No 6
CRITICAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE BLOCK
"THE SCHOOL GOBLIN WANTS TO KNOW"

Summary of the activity: The "School Goblin" puppet arrives and wants to know who the sincere children are and who are not, for this he will interview the children in a playful situation. This activity can serve as a critical experience to evaluate the block.

Objectives: To know how the children think and act in relation to sincere and hypocritical attitudes.

Procedures: Interviews

Material Resources: A puppet and a toy microphone or an object that substitutes the microphone. The cassette recorder can be used as in the other activities.

Development of the activity:
1st Part
The educator will tell the children that the " School Goblin" puppet will hold some interviews with them and with their parents.

The puppet appears:
"Good morning my little friends, you already know me, I am the goblin that knows everything about you at school, I am always here although you may not see me".

"I hide myself behind the door and window frames, and even in the blackboard frame. I know how you behave, so do not try to deceive me."

"I also know how you act with your mothers and fathers. So, be sincere because if not, I will find out!"

2nd Part
The puppet takes the microphone or an object that serves as microphone and will begin the interviews.

"I’m making this interview for Radio Child, the most listened to station in our city. I am going to interview the boys first:

The puppet can do the interviews individually or collectively, but the questions will be answered individually by the children.

Example of questions that the puppet can ask:
What is your name?
Which is the activity that you like most at school?
Do you prefer playing to doing the activities in the classroom?
Do you have a pet?
How do you call it?
When an object of value breaks in your house, what do you do?
What do you do when your mother asks you to do something that you do not want to do: Do you say that you do not want to do it or do you pretend to be ill, or do you do it without complaining?
Do you consider yourself as a sincere child?
Do you pretend that you like something that in fact you do not like?
Do you pretend that you feel something that in fact you do not feel, for example a headache, in order not to go to school?
Do you pretend only a few times or whenever you do not want to do something?

3rd Part
If the goblin has not been satisfied with the answers of some children he can tell the parents explaining that it is about an activity to educate sincerity in the children.

The educator can provide the parents with the interview for their consideration.

CRITERIAL ASSESSMENT
Observed conduct	YES	NO	Comments
The answers given by the children allowed us to know that they have enriched their initial notions on sincerity.
They only have some notion on what is a sincere attitude.
During the time spent on the activities they have demonstrated sincere behaviours.
They criticized those children who do not have a sincere behaviour.
They were touched when their sincere conducts were praised.