Definition of Cooperation for 4 - 7 year olds: Cooperation happens when two or more people help each other to make something good happen. It can also apply to animals or parts of a whole that need each other and work together.  An example of this is the human body – all the parts work together to make you healthy.

In a nutshell:

Together we can do more. 

Summary:
As winter approaches, a lazy squirrel named Cyril fails to collect food while other forest animals responsibly work hard to gather enough for the cold months ahead. Bruce the squirrel, eager to complete his storage, encounters Cyril as they squabble over the last remaining pine cone. They suffer painful consequences of not working together, but manage to learn a lesson and become friends. 

Lesson Objectives: 

1. Students identify with the squirrels’ plight and talk about what Cyril and Bruce could have done differently to avoid the consequences of their arguments. 
2. This lesson could be a segway to a science unit on forest animal behaviors and environmental responsibility to protect these animals so they have enough food and shelter to survive in tough times. 

Guiding questions: 

1. Why do squirrels have to collect food to store for winter? 
2. Why do you think Cyril waited so long to collect food to store for winter? 
3. Which squirrel do you think was more responsible? Why? 
4. Why do you think Bruce and Cyril decided to become friends at the end of the story?
5. Are there times when you’re really having fun and you don’t want to stop playing? 
6. Do you have chores at home? If so, what are they? 
7. Does this happen to you sometimes: you’re having so much fun playing that you don’t want to stop and do what your parents are asking you to do? 
8. What if you’re not ready to go to bed but it’s bedtime, or it’s time to join your family and eat, but you don’t want to stop what you’re doing? Is it hard for you to cooperate? 
9. Do you feel better when you cooperate with what you’re supposed to be doing, or better when you just do what you want to do and refuse to cooperate? 
10.  Did you ever have a fight with another kid and then make up and become friends again? Tell us what happened?