Diversity Lessons

In the month of March I visited classrooms for lessons on Diversity. Please see the lesson below for how 1st graders evaluated how we are different and alike. Students then completed a worksheet all about them, to help them think about how they are unique and special, and would like to be included and accepted for who they are no matter what!

In 2nd grade students listened to the story Chrysanthemum. Every time the main character, Chrysanthemum, was made fun of in the book students took turns crumpling a large heart. Together we identified that Chrysanthemum was being made fun of due to her "funny" name. We discussed how she has no control over what her name is. At first Chrysanthemum's name is something that she absolutely loved about herself, but then she began to resent her name due to the other student's unkind actions towards her. We identified that this is similar to diversity--we are different in so many ways, many of those differences are out of our control. This diversity is something to celebrate, and accept, rather than make fun of and "wrinkle hearts" with our words and actions. After the book discussion, students placed band-aids on the wrinkled heart to symbolize that they will commit to helping heal any wrinkled hearts with their words and actions, as well as commit to not wrinkling hearts in the first place.

Check back soon to learn more about my Diversity lesson in 5th grade!