Character education for children Archives

December 19, 2018December 19, 2018

Dream A World Education’s Secrets of the Heart: “A program that fundamentally changes the way children see themselves.” Dr. Michelle Windmueller, Principal

Hollywood, California – It was a joyful day as eighty plus Young Masters at Selma Elementary recently showed what they learned and graduated from Dream A World Education Inc.’s six-week Secrets of the Heart residency program for kindergarten and first grade.

This very effective program utilizes the arts to teach kindergarten students about friendship and a smile through the art of music and songwriting, kindness through the art of dance, imagination through theatre arts and storytelling and gratitude through the visual arts. The program, designed by Bunny Hull, Dream A World founder and Executive Director of Dream A World Education, Inc., has been recently modified in order to continue the Secrets of the Heart theme through to the end of the school year. Principal, Dr. Michelle Windmueller says, “The program brought something so special to Selma. It fundamentally changed the way the children saw themselves. We expect to have this program here for years to come.”

Dream A World Education’s working team of artists include actress Elayn J. Taylor, flutist and actress Diane Hsu, Kenyan born drummer and vocalist Anindo Marshall and Grammy award winning songwriter and singer, Bunny Hull.

Funding for Secrets of the Heart is provided by outside resources, corporate sponsorships, foundations and by individual donors who see the value and benefit it provides for children in their most formative years..

Secrets of the Heart is currently at Gardner Elementary in Hollywood and will then go to Cabrillo Elementary in January of 2012.

October 23, 2018December 20, 2018

Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program at Montessori Children’s House – Moorestown, New Jersey

The Friendship Seed – Teaching the art of friendship to five year olds

Moorsetown, New Jersey – Stephanie Pelly implemented the Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program for twenty eager young students at the Montessori Children’s House in Moorsetown yesterday. The program, a special addition to this quarter, began April 5th and will run through May 17th. Each Tuesday, Stephanie brings one “Secret Of The Heart” to students through story, song and creative interactive workshop. The first “Secret Of The Heart” was friendship. It all began when children took the Young Masters Pledge and talked about what a gift was – not the kind of gift you buy in a store, but the kind that you carry inside your heart. The gift of friendship. They listened to the story, The Friendship Seed and found out, not only how you make a friend – but how you keep a friend. They talked about the qualities of friendship and wrote them on their big flower poster, they discovered some of the things we all hold in common and learned how we’re all connected. The paper friendship chains they exchanged was an example of that connection they got to take home with them. It was a great day for these children as they learned what it really means to connect with someone – what it means to be a friend. After all what would the world be without friendship and what would life be without the good friends make along the way.

Montessori teachers: You can download this curriculum for FREE!

Click here to watch a little video of the day’s activities. Young Masters Discovery Program – The Friendship Seed

October 23, 2018

Children at Montessori Children’s House are learning to use their Invisible Power

Moorsetown, New Jersey – The fifth unit from the Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Curriculum continued for an enthusiastic group of students at Montessori Children’s house this week. As always the lesson begins with the YOUNG MASTERS PLEDGE. The only difference today is that three children lead the pledge, adding a few extra turns to liven things up. “Great job!” said Stephanie Pelly, who is co-creator of the curriculum. As the day began they reviewed what they had learned over the past four weeks. “Who can remember the secrets of the heart?” Miss Stephanie asked. “Friendship,” said one boy. “Imagination,” said another,”Gratitude,” a little girl chimed in. “Courage,” said one of the smallest boys. “That’s my favorite,” as he continued to confess he loved to wear his power badge.

This week children 3-6 learned they had an Invisible Power and then – then learned how to use it. “Did you know you had an Invisible Power,” asked Miss Stephanie. “No, what’s that?” one little girl asked. “You’ll find out. Let’s read the story,” said Miss Stephanie.

The children were introduced to Saphinne this week, the storyteller on the CD. In real life that’s Elayn J. Taylor. “They really liked hearing her voice,” said Miss Stephanie. By the end of the story they had learned the Invisible Power is CREATIVITY. Everything begins with an idea.

They talked about how all people are creative because everybody has ideas. Everyone has an Invisible Power. They discussed how people create artwork like Kye Fleming, the illustrator for the Little Wisdom books. They looked at what went into creating a painting Miss Stephanie brought to class. They found out how an author uses the gift of creativity when he or she writes a book and how a singer or a songwriter uses their creative gifts to share their own music. They learned, though, that CREATIVITY in many different forms.

CREATIVITY is the power you can use to create anything you can think of! They talked about famous creators like Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone and Thomas Edison, who created the lightbulb. “What about Walt Disney as a famous creator,” said Miss Stephanie as she showed pictures of all of those brilliant creators. “Think of all he created and the people who worked for him created.”

“Now it’s your turn to use your creative power, said Miss Stephanie. With limited time for the lesson, the best choice was a group project. “We’re going to practice using our Invisible Power together by creating something where everyone can take a turn adding something special.” Miss Stephanie brought out her “Peaceable Being”. “How can we make this special?” asked MissStephanie. They brought it to life together – drawing on it with markers, decorating it with stickers and adding paper cutouts. Music from the CD played in the background as they learned cooperation, how to work together, take turns and share materials. They learned what it meant to use their creativity and they were very proud of their creation.

At the end of the lesson, they passed a small globe. As each child held it in their hands they said, “I am a creator. I use my gifts.” The children are creating postcards this week either drawing themselves as a Young Master or making pictures of the Secrets of The Heart. What could be better than a group of children learning they’re born with an invisible power and gifts they can use their whole life long .

Next week is the last unit of the Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program, where they will learn about “This Little Light.” The shines inside each of them – LOVE.

Here are a couple of videos which show the Discovery program in action.

Create Something Wonderful – The Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program

What Can I Learn Today – Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program

If you’re interested in bringing the Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program to your school. The curriculum is available right now at no cost to you, by clicking here.

October 23, 2018

Love Has The Last Word – Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program @ Children’s Montessori House

Moorsetown, New Jersey – The Young Masters Little Wisdom Discovery Program at Montessori Children’s House wrapped up this week with the last book and lesson in the series. The children were now able to say the YOUNG MASTERS Pledge as a group. Several children took turns by themselves and one of the youngest little girls proudly showed Miss Stephanie she could do it all by herself. Promising to use their gifts everyday has become second nature. BravoYoung Masters! One of the children called out, “What’s today’s gift?” Miss Stephanie giggled to herself thinking how each week she pulled the SECRET OF THE HEART out of a ceramic gift box. “Oh you mean today’s SECRET OF THE HEART? That’s right that’s your gift isn’t it?” She reached in and pulled out the word LOVE. The children were getting the connection. The secrets of the heart were indeed the gifts they possessed.

“It’s This Little Light,” said Miss Stephanie, “Butaan, Phylos and EEtha are going to find out what it means to have This Little Light inside. “Did you know you had a little light inside? Well you do…everyone has a light to share.” The gift of LOVE was the today’s secret. Today’s gift. And today, the children would learn how to share that gift with their family, friends, teachers, pets and even the earth.

Since today was the last day Miss Stephanie wanted to honor each child in a special way. So one at a time, each child was asked to sit on a chair in front of their classmates. They were invited to wear special heart glasses if they wanted to. The children took turns saying three things they loved about their friend. The children expressed their kindness and compliments to each by saying things like, “I love when she plays outside with me!” “I like the way he makes me laugh.” “I like your hair” or “I love his shirt!” One little boy sat in the chair for his turn and said, “Can my friends say five things they like about me?” “Well, who doesn’t like hearing good things about themselves,” Miss Stephanie thought laughing. “Why not?”

A special certificate was presented to each child for completing the discovery program. They are indeed YOUNG MASTERS, and though they know this class is over for now, they understand there are many more gifts to learn and much more to know about using their gifts. During the past six weeks their teachers have reported the children looked forward to Tuesday when Miss Stephanie was there to teach them about the Secrets of The Heart. They now had a good idea how to demonstrate what they’d learned about – friendship, imagination, gratitude, courage, creativity and love.

The class ended, as it began with each child putting their hand on the heart and saying, “I promise to use my gifts everyday, in every way for I AM A YOUNG MASTER!” Then they all shouted “PEACE”! In a final moment the children were asked to close their eyes and remember how thankful they were as the song, “Thank You For Being Here,” was played. It was a good day for these Young Masters. A day filled with a sense of accomplishment and possibility.

Before Miss Stephanie left she noticed all the YOUNG MASTERS books and CDS were displayed in the classroom library. One child mentioned, he liked to sit down at the desk and listen to the books on the CD and look at the pictures of Buttan, Phylos and EEtha. It’s now up to the wonderful teachers at Children’s Montessori House to continue this very meaningful work along with their daily curriculum. Thank you to Denise Reid Sharp and Connie Campbell for recognizing the importance of this program and well done Young Masters!

If you’d like to see a music video of this program please view – Shine Your LIght

If you’re interested in the Young Masters Little Wisdom Curriculum. It’s available to teachers for a limited time for free. Find out more by clicking here.