Title – Trusting Daily
By – Mildred Melendez-Hernandez
Primary Subject – Other
Grade Level – 6-9

Overview:

Students discuss how trust plays a role in their lives all day, every day, and draw a picture of a world with trust and a world without it.

Preparation/Materials:

• blank white paper (one sheet for each student)
• crayons or markers

Procedure:

Ask students, “What do you think it means to trust someone?” Prompt them to think of all the times they trust someone in a typical day. For example, they trust that:
• Their parents will wake them on time in the morning.
• No one will run a red light on the way to school.
• The teacher will tell them correct facts.
• Their friends will play games by the rules.
• No one will take the papers from their desk when they go to the bathroom.
• The cook in a restaurant will prepare food cleanly.

Then ask children to notice how many ways other people trust them. For example:
• Their parents trust them to eat the lunch they packed, or to buy nutritious food at the cafeteria.
• Their parents trust them to clean their rooms if told.
• Their teacher trusts them to return art supplies in good condition.
• Their teacher trusts them to deliver a message to the office without goofing around on the way.
• Their friends trust them to keep secrets.

Next, say, “Imagine what life would be like if you couldn’t trust people.” Walk them through a typical day, as before, this time asking, “What if you couldn’t trust them to do what they are supposed to? “

Have students draw a picture of a world where everyone is trustworthy, and next to that, draw a picture of a world where no one is trustworthy. Have children discuss their pictures – why they chose what they did.

Display the artwork on a bulletin board entitled, “Trust Means the World to Us.”

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