Incentives Matter!
Song and Poem
This month’s song is a great American classic! Sing along with this video. Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Has anyone been able to memorize “Can’t”? $5 vanbucks if you can recite it to me on Thursday! Has learning this poem impacted how you think of the word “can’t”?
The poem we are working on this month teaches a very important principle: Challenges and trials strengthen us!
Did you use any of the suggestions for memorization from last month? Here they are again, just in case.
- Print a copy of the poem and post it where you will see it often.
- Look up the definitions to words you don’t know. For this week, circle three words that are unfamiliar and define them (from any stanza).
- Before each meal, read the stanza that you are working on. (There is nothing magic about reading it before you eat. 😁 That is simply an easy way to remember to do multiple times a day it since you aren’t likely to miss a meal. 🍳🍔🍝)
- Read the poem out loud.
- Notice rhyming words and which lines are similar in length. Length refers not to the number of letters (some lines look much longer than others) but in the number of syllables. We’ll talk more about this in class.
And, remember to review the poems you have previously learned. How many can you still recite? (Ingenious Little Old Man, Ooey Gooey, the Vulture, If You Were Busy Being Kind and Can’t.) You can find them all listed on this document.
Good Timber
By Douglas Malloch
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
This is a poem that President Monson referred to in a General Conference talk. Read or watch this talk with a parent and discuss how the poem illustrates the principle he is teaching. (He only quotes one stanza and it is one we haven’t learned yet.) Write down a quote from the talk that stands out to you.
I Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee
Economics
So far we have touched on the concepts of needs vs. wants, scarcity and opportunity cost, the importance of choice and the role of competition in an economy.
This week, we are going to explore the role of incentives. Many people equate incentives with money – i.e., if you do this job, I will pay you this amount. That is a solid example but is only a piece of the puzzle. Incentive is defined as “a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something.”
I invite you to become an “incentive detective!” Between now and Thursday, see how many example of incentives you and your family can come up with. Make a list and come prepared to share an example with us. Be on the lookout for unintended consequences – this is the term used to describe a situation where what really happens is very different – and sometimes the exact opposite of the hoped-for outcome.
Watch the following videos to broaden your perspective on what an incentive is.
On your checklist, write down at least three scenarios in your life where you see incentives at play.
The following two videos give several examples of how people get creative in the face of certain incentives.
The Tuttle Twins
Read the Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyll Island and the Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas. Pay attention to the role of personal responsibility. Do you see incentives illustrated in either of these stories? Come to class prepared to discuss what they learned. (If you don’t have access to the book, see the links below the image that will take you to read aloud videos online.)
Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyll Island
Tuttle Twins and the Search for Atlas
Field Trip
During class we will visit the Ruth, the newly constructed theatre in Pleasant Grove. Having just participated in your own play, I thought it would be interesting to see how productions come together on a professional level. Bring your questions and your best manners!
We may run into lunch time so if you can bring a sack lunch or at least a snack to tide you over on the drive home, that would be a good idea.
Book Club
For book club this month you are invited to read a book of your choice and prepare to share it with the class. If you have not yet messaged Sister Pulley with your book title, please do.
Coach Hyrum’s Corner
This is a really helpful video for throwing a football. If you don’t understand it all, that is perfectly fine (even I was a little confused the first time I watched it) just watch and see how much you can understand. Please practice for at least 5 minutes every day (and if you don’t have a football you could even use a tennis ball or even a pair of socks or something like that, just as long as you’re throwing something 😉). If you can get a sibling or parent to watch the video with you and give you feedback while you are throwing that would help you improve (that is, as long as they understand 😝).
