There are so many important values that are inherently part of our humanity regardless of our culture or religion such as respect, love and humility.
One activity I love to do with lower elementary students is a 'values pick'
HOW TO HOST YOUR OWN VALUES PICK
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Get a pile of iceblock sticks
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Write values onto the iceblock sticks with pen (e.g. service, respect, love, caring). You may wish to have duplicates.
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Place the values in a box.
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Children close their eyes and pull out a stick with a value on it.
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Child writes their value down on the class value list. To make a class value list get a piece of paper. You may wish to prewite the names of the children onto the list. Beside the name the child writes the value they have picked.
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Later that day or week the child can write a reflection on the value or how they have used it. Alternatively children can draw or talk about their value.
SENTENCE STARTERS
You may wish to use sentence starters similar to the following to help with the reflections:
(Love - or whichever value) is when .......
A time I used (Love) was when ......
I have seen someone use the value (Love) when ......
I think (Love) is important because .......
TROUBLESHOOTING
As I was in a public Montessori class I often had weird cohort numbers for example one year I had 16 5 and 6 year olds and many fewer older children because of this I concentrated on 'values' that were easier for them to understand and placed these in the box. Other years where I had more of an even number of children in each cohort I would have a wider range of values in the box because the older children could articulate the more sophisticated values.
If the children did not know what the value was I would have pieces of paper that explained what the values were.
I found the 'value pick' a great way to start discussion. As I often had duplicate values sometimes you would hear children say 'I got love too' ' Oh you got respect - I've had that one before!' What a great way to start discussion.