Hello readers and thank you for stopping by my blog Be The Difference. I am a children’s book author and mother to three young children. I am dedicated to spreading the important messages in my books to children around the world. I strive to make a difference in my own home by spending time teaching my children character traits using age appropriate activities and quality children’s literature. I am sharing these lessons with you, week-by-week so that you can do the same. Let’s provide our children with tools they can use when they go out into the world and face difficult situations. Let’s give them a chance to grow up to be Problem Solvers! I would love to connect with you and continue this conversation—please see links at the bottom of this post— Maria Dismondy
What is Honesty?
Honesty is when you speak the truth and act truthfully.
What is honesty? Many children understand a definition of honesty to be “don’t lie”. But a complete definition of honesty also means that an honest person doesn’t do things that are morally wrong. If something you do is breaking the law or you have to hide it because you’ll get in trouble, you are probably not being honest.
What is honesty? – Honesty is in what you say
Honesty is speaking the truth. Lying is not honest (also called dishonest) because you are saying something that isn’t true.
What is honesty? Honesty is in how you act
When you do something you know is morally wrong, or when you have to hide your actions because you know they are wrong, you are not being honest. Being honest means you act in a way that you know is the right thing to do.
What is being honest with yourself?
A big part of honesty is what you say and how you act toward others. But another part of the definition of honesty is whether you treat yourself the same way. Being honest with yourself means you really know why you are acting in a certain way or whether what you tell yourself is true.
From www.talkingtreebooks.com
Book I am using with this lesson:
How I used this book to teach the trait Honesty
Ruthie loves little things–the smaller, the better. When she finds a teeny tiny toy on the school playground, she can hardly believe her luck. There’s just one problem: it belongs to somebody else! Ruthie insists the toy is hers, but deep down, she knows better. How could one little toy turn into such a great big problem?
Book: Read or listen to the book with your child.
Discuss: Ask your child what it means to be honest. Depending on the age, you can either dig deep and make connections to a time when your child told a lie versus telling the truth. Or, if your child is younger, I would suggest you start with examples like those in my Honesty Sort. Basic statements that give examples of truth or telling lies. Make a T-Chart to show the two separate categories. If this is the first time your child has ever one a sort, you can begin with an easier topic: items that are orange, items that are black. Give examples like a cat, a spider, tires, oranges, sunsets, flowers, pumpkins, candy corn.
Craft: A coloring page to enhance your lesson on honesty.
Activity: Here’s a FREE compare and contrast activity to complete with elementary aged students when following up with this book.
Product I’ve created to go along with this lesson: Honesty Sort in my Tpt Store Be The Difference
Video to teach honesty skills from Sesame Street!
Music to inspire and teach this trait: The Truth Song
To find out more about how you can teach character to your students or children:
https://www.pinterest.com/mariadismondy/character-development/
Learn more about the #TakingCareThurs initiative here: http://journaloflaura.weebly.com/what-is-takingcarethurs.html
Continue this conversation on character by joining our Private Facebook Group here https://mariadismondy.com/resources/
Visit my TeachersPayTeacher Store to see products to help support character education: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Be-The-Difference