Imaginative Arts: Patience & Compassion

Imaginative Arts

Freckles was not given a real name at the orphanage.  The children at the orphanage call him Freckles
because of his complexion.  If you were Freckles, nameless, hand-less, and without parents, how would
you feel?  How did others treat him because of the way that he looked? Think of someone that you
know of that might look or act different.  Remember that all of God’s children are special and have a
desire to be loved. Imagine how you are going to show compassion towards that person the next time
that you are with them or see them.  

Young Freckles finds curiosity in plants and sets about collecting specimens in the swamp.  Imagine that
you are Freckles and go around your neighborhood with the help of an adult to collect samples of plants
to identify and label.  You could also imagine that you are the swamp angel. Go out bird watching and
see if you can get some pictures of them, then go home and identify and label the pictures that you took.  

Check out this link to learn more about what the Limberlost is.
Link

What is it like to grow up in an orphanage?  Peter Kamau helps to explain what it is like and what he felt
like.  He says that he was never taught what love is, so how can he show it.  He was just a number in
the orphanage. He wasn’t called by his name.

Peter's Story

More Resources:  

“Those Who are Different” by Elder Marlin K. Jenson

Ensign

Coloring page of a swamp forest

Coloring Page

The movie “The Girl of the Limberlost”

Movie

You might have access to this in better quality through your library or through another venue.  

Geo_Quest: Patience & Compassion

Geoquest

Midwestern United States

There are so many parts of the world that we have never been to, food that we have never tried, and
many unique and diverse cultures that we don’t understand.  Let’s go on a learning vacation. Pack
your brain and your enthusiasm for learning, and let's fly on a computer to the Midwestern United
States.

What is the Climate Like?

What kinds of plants and trees grow there?

The Prairie

Tornadoes

What Foods are Most Popular?

Memorize the states that are in the Midwestern area.

Worksheet for the Midwestern area.

What historical people grew up in that area? Choose one of these people that you want to learn more
about, or find someone else that is from that area that interests you.  

• Thomas Edison
• Henry Ford
• Ernest Hemingway
• Mark Twain
• Walt Disney
• Abraham Lincoln

What historical sites are in that area? Look up some of these places.  They are truly amazing!

• Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.
• Chimney Rock, Nebraska.
• Gateway Arch, Missouri.
• Badlands National Park, South Dakota.
• Mackinac Bridge, Michigan.
• Como Park Conservatory, Minnesota.
• Cave of the Mounds, Wisconsin.

Eureka: Patience & Compassion

Plants and Trees

You are taking a stroll down a dirt pathway on a warm sunny day.  You can hear the birds chirping and
smell the flowers as a light breeze carries their scent into the air.  All around you are trees of different
sizes. Some that are taller than your house and older than your grandma and some so small that your
little foot could snap and break them.  Have you ever wondered about trees? How do they grow, how
do they become so big and strong, and how many kinds of trees are there? Follow this link to find out
more about trees.

There are pages and pages of information here.  I suggest that you read the chapters that seem the
most interesting to you.  Plants and Trees

Here is a more simple teaching about trees. KidZone: Plants and Trees

Friday April 27th is Arbor day.  Arbor day is a day in which we celebrate trees and all they do for our world.  People usually make an effort to plant trees on this day. Highland City, UT has a special activity just for this day.  Check out this link for more details. Plant a Tree

Plants and their children.  “What a plant lives for”

Plants and Their Children

Consider preparing some earth to plant a garden in this year.  If you don’t have room in your backyard
you could make a garden in pots on your porch.  A lot of plants can be started indoors during the
month of April in Utah. They are then transferred to the outdoors at the end of May.  

You could memorize the different parts of a plant. Parts of a Plant  

Here is a coloring page that can be labeled Color and Label

More Resources:

Tree Song

Planting Trees in Haiti

Poem about Trees

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

Leadership: Patience & Compassion

These two principles are so closely related that they are being studied together. Make sure to read both.

Compassion

Have you ever been telling someone about something you are very excited about or something that
is difficult in your life only to find them staring at their phone and giving an occasional half hearted,
“uh huh”? How did you feel? On the other hand, maybe you were having a really rough day and
someone went out of their way to be kind. Maybe a loving hug made you feel better.  
Have you seen someone down trodden and in need of assistance and desired to help and lift them up?
Maybe someone in your family was sick and you wanted to help make them feel better. Compassion.
Having a desire to help and comfort others. Taking the time to listen to someone. Taking the time to
love someone.

This book can help younger kids to understand compassion. After watching this you could ask your
children how bear’s friends showed compassion towards him.

If you want to learn more about how to be compassionate you could look at this link.

You could also do your own Google search on the word compassion and see what you find.

Christ is one of the greatest examples of compassion. His love for everyone is unbiased. He gave his
very life for all of us, young and old, poor and wealthy, male and female. Read Mosiah 15:9. I encourage you to read this visiting teaching message centered on the compassion and kindness of Christ. You could just read a few of the paragraphs.  

How can you become a more compassionate person?

Parents, here is a link to a family home evening lesson that you could do on compassion.

More Resources:

Here are more resources that might inspire you and that you can study from according to how you feel
prompted. Feel free to add to them.

• Children's song about compassion
• Movie about a family that see compassion in thousands of people that want to help with research for childhood cancer.
• Conference talk on compassion.
• The newly released movie “wonder” is a beautiful story that helps increase compassion for others.
• The compassionate young boy -a story.
• Story from “The Friend”.

Patience

Sometimes we think of patience simply as being able to wait a long time for something.  It is so much
more. Elder Uchtdorf explains patience in this video

You can use this video to help younger children understand patience better.

We often find ourselves in a such a hurry that we forget to be kind.  We live in a world where it is so
easy to get what you want and to get it quickly.  Here is a song that can help to remind us of the
important things in life when we feel tempted to lose patience.  We need to be patient with others as
God is patient with us.

This week practice patience with your friends and family.  Practice patience with yourself. You will
notice that as you try harder to act in compassion and patience that your home will be a safer and
more loving place.  Everyone in the home can influence how each day goes.

As individuals or as a family you could make a heart chain as a reminder of successes in being patient.  

• To make a chain link heart, cut a strip of construction paper 2 cm wide and 30 cm long. Fold it in half. Staple it 0.5 to 1 cm above the fold to make the bottom point of the heart. Open the paper so it makes the shape of the letter “V.” Bring the outside edges of the V together to form the upper curves of the heart. Staple these ends together 0.5 to 1 cm from their ends to complete the heart.
• Start your chain with one heart-shaped link. On it, write “God loves you.” Tell your children one of the ways God shows His love for us is by being patient with us.
• Each time you or someone else shows patience or compassion, add a heart to the chain and write the thing that was done on the piece of paper.  

Here is poem that could be memorized as a reminder to be patient:

“The caterpillar knows it is going to be a butterfly, it is patient in its journey.  Not all of us are born with
the natural instinct. We do not come into this earth, knowing we will grow wings.  But give yourself time.
You must first learn to climb. -Belle Jar

Imaginative Arts: Gratitude

Finishing up our month on studying gratitude:  What have we learned?

Perhaps you have created a gratitude tree?  Please bring your gratitude tree with you to share for opening on Wednesday.  If you don't have a gratitude tree, it's not too late to make one this week.   Or prepare a personal record of gratitude and what you have learned this month to share with your class.  (If you would like to see an example,  here is a link to see how our gratitude tree is looking)   This inspirement assignment could be done in any way that you would like.   It can be done personally or as a family.  It can be a picture or a collage or a collection of quotes,  whatever works for you.

Have you seen examples of gratitude in stories you have read and activities in which you have participated?   Please prepare to share something you have learned about gratitude with your class on Wednesday:  It could be a character from our family book this month or a specific part of the story that relates to gratitude for you.  Or maybe you listened to general conference and learned something about gratitude from one of the speakers.   Please prepare to share an example of gratitude that you have found interesting or helpful for you.

Have you found gratitude in art or music?   This is our week to share feeling that inspire you to have gratitude.   What kind of music inspires gratitude for you? What does gratitude feel or look like?   Maybe you can create art or music of your own that inspires gratitude?  Explore art that inspires gratitude.  Maybe look up images of something for which you are especially grateful.   Find some  music that may create feelings of gratitude.  Please prepare to share what you have discovered. 

Post in the comments examples that may help to inspire others:

Geo-Quest:Gratitude

Australia - Let's explore the land down Under!

The smallest continent and a place with much diversity,  Australia holds much for us to discover. 
What can we find in the water and on land; in the people who have lived there anciently and people who have found a home there more recently.  Contributions have been made from every corner of the earth including Australia.  Please post your findings,  I'm excited to find out more about Australia.

Eureka: Gratitude

Science and math lens (nature):  For Gratitude,  we will be studying water. 

– What are properties and uses of water that you can discuss? What examples of water can you find in the scriptures?

– Explore  Libraries of Hope, Ocean and Sea Life link here .   Also consider the Universal Flood and the impact it had on the earth today.  See attached file from pgs 20,21 of the UM summary book.  

–  After you have searched what you can learn about this months principle; please post  to the blog your favorite finding by Saturday evening. 

 ​

 water, UM chpt. 7,8.pdf

​--

Leadership: Gratitude

– Word study our principle of the month and other related words.  (a possible resource could be: A Meeting with the Principle pg 30;)

– Let your word study guide you to find examples of this principle in your life
and other resources available to you.  Questions you might ask: How does gratitude affect you spiritually?, physically?, mentally?, emotionally?, financially?

– Get a poster board or large sheet of paper and draw an outline of a tree. See if you can add leaves of Gratitude to your tree everyday.  Plan to bring your tree to show our group on the last week of the month.

– By Saturday night please post to the blog something you felt was most impactful for you in your study of Gratitude. Please share how or where others could also learn more.