Living Well Together
Primary 2 · Social and Religious Studies
Living Well Together
Lesson 1 of 3
12 min
Let's begin
It is Monday morning. Habimana is carrying the teacher's box of chalk to the board.
The box slips. It hits the floor. Every stick of chalk breaks into little pieces.
Habimana looks around. Nobody saw him. Right now there are two roads in front of him. Which one will he take?
Road one: Habimana pushes the pieces under the cupboard with his foot. He sits down. He says nothing.
Road two: Habimana goes to the teacher. He says three things.
Habimana takes road two. The teacher is not angry. She thanks him. Then she shows the class that broken chalk still writes! They use the small pieces all week.
Now look at road one again. If he had hidden the chalk, he would sit there all day with a hot face, watching the cupboard, waiting to be found out.
So here is the idea. Honesty means your words say what really happened.
A lie is like digging a hole. Then someone asks you a question, so you must dig a second hole to hide the first one. Then a third. Soon you cannot remember where all your holes are.
The truth is light. You say it once. You put it down. It is finished.
Honesty is easy when it does not cost you anything. Honesty is real when nobody saw you and you tell the truth anyway.
Umutoni finds a shiny red hair clip under a desk. It is beautiful. She would love to keep it.
But it is not hers. So she holds it up and asks, "Whose clip is this?" Keza jumps up — she has been looking for it all morning.
If it is not yours, do not keep it. Give it back, or give it to your teacher so it can find its owner.
At break, Uwase has 6 groundnuts in her pocket. Byiringiro has nothing at all.
Uwase counts them out: 3 for Byiringiro, 3 for me. Now they both have something to eat.
That is sharing: giving away part of what you have, so that another person has some too.
Sharing is not only about food. You can share:
Sharing does not mean giving everything away until you have none. Uwase kept 3. She just did not eat all 6 in front of a hungry friend.
Mutesi runs past Keza's desk. Her muddy shoe lands right on Keza's drawing. The picture is ruined.
"I am sorry!" says Mutesi. "I did not see it. It was an accident."
Keza's chest goes hot. She wants to shout. Instead she breathes in, and counts slowly: one, two, three, four, five.
Then she says, "It is all right. Please look where you are going next time."
They sit down together and draw a new picture. By the end of break they are laughing.
Forgiving means letting go of your anger after someone says sorry.
Staying angry is like carrying a stone in your pocket all day. The person who feels the weight is you.
Tip
Before you open your mouth, ask yourself two quick questions:
Is it true? Is it kind?
And when someone hurts you by mistake, breathe and count to five before you speak. Five seconds is usually enough to turn a shout into a smile.
Say your answer out loud first, then tap Show answer to check.
You spill water on your friend's exercise book. Nobody saw you. What are the three steps of a good sorry?
Answer: Say what happened. Say sorry. Put it right — for example, dry the page or lend her yours.
Gatete has 8 pieces of sugar cane. Mugisha has none. Gatete shares them equally between the two of them. How many does Mugisha get?
Answer: 4. Gatete keeps 4 and gives 4 away. Sharing means both of you have some.
You find 500 Frw on the classroom floor. It is not yours. What is the honest thing to do?
Answer: Give it to your teacher, so it can go back to the child who lost it. If it is not yours, do not keep it.
Ishimwe steps on your foot by mistake and says he is sorry. Your foot still hurts. What do you do?
Answer: Breathe, count to five, and say, "It is all right." That is forgiving. Staying angry only makes your own day heavy.
Why is telling a lie called "heavy"?
Answer: Because you must carry it. You have to remember it and hide it, and tell more lies to cover it. The truth you say once, and then it is over.
What you learned today
Quick check
A good sorry. Put the steps in order.
Tap the cards in the right order.
