Summary
In this story three monks travel to a village where everyone keeps to themselves. The three monks later decide to make stone soup, causing all the villagers to become curious of what they are doing. The villagers later helped the monks by adding ingredients to the stone soup. “As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave more. And as this happened, the soup grew richer”. By sharing and working together the entire village was able to make the soup bigger and better.
Theme(s):
Sharing, Kindness, Teamwork, Community
Personal Response
I thought this story was wonderfully composed as throughout it the monks and villagers displayed the importance of sharing and helping others. Although the soup the monks began to create started off not being anything special, with teamwork and help from the villagers, the soup turned into something great! This shows the importance of community and teamwork, and it is necessary for all people to develop these skills. This story was able to highlight the importance of these topics wonderfully.
Teaching Ideas
This book can be utilized within the classroom to discuss the importance of working together and building community. After reading the book students can perform an activity and build a tower out of cards individually. The student will then realize that this task is difficult. Next the students will be put into groups to perform this task. From this activity students will develop understanding that working together is more beneficial by sharing more ideas and having help from others is essential.
Recommended Reading Level
Grade 03, Grade 04
