Kindergartners listened to the story "The Crayon Box that Talked" by Shane DeRolf. They learned that we should treat everyone with kindness and respect even when they are different from us. Being different is something to celebrate and we are able make a more colorful picture when we are different than if all the same color. Students related this story to their classroom: working together builds a strong and safe community that helps all students to feel that they belong.
2nd graders listened to the book "ONE" by Kathryn Otoshi and discussed how to stand up to bullying or unkind behavior. They each identified that it takes courage to stand up when they see others being treated unkind or being bullied. Students identified the character traits of each of the colors and the number 1 in the book. They thought about which color they would be, as well as what it takes to be "1" to stand up to unkind behavior. To hear this book by the author please see the video below.
3rd graders read the book "Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun" by Miranda Dismondy, a story about having the courage to be who you are. Students identified that the school and classroom environment has to utilize Habit 5: Seek First to Understand and then to be Understood in order to allow students to truly be who they are. In order to accept one another even when they are different, we have to be willing to understand who they are by getting to know them. We discussed how this is important for creating a classroom culture of acceptance and belonging.
4th graders read the book "A Bad Case of Stripes." In this story, the main character is easily influenced by others' opinions of her and she changes into what others say. We discuss how she needs to learn to be true to who she is. However, we identified that in the story the students in her class also need to create a classroom environment where she feels she is able to be herself and not what others think she should be. Students then learned "I statements" to help them express their feelings about how others are treating them and to help them stand up for themselves should they find they are being treated the same way as the main character in the story. See the image below for an example of an "I-statement."
5th Graders participated in a lesson to discuss stereotypes, appreciating differences, and peer pressure. We read the book "Hey Little Ant" as a way to understand the perspective of a situation from the boy's point of view vs. the ant's point of view. Students then looked at different "perspective" images to experience how one person sees a situation is different than another. Things that influence how they perceive something includes: life experiences, education, language, culture, etc.
Through this lesson students learn how to accept and respect other’s point of view. There are always two sides, and it’s our job to try and understand someone else's perspective, which truly is empathy: putting yourself in someone else's shoes.
6th graders received a lesson on their reputation. Students learned that they are very much able to shape how others view them by their words, actions, and choices. Students spent time thinking about and discussing what a reputation is and watched the video below, which illustrates how people will speak to our reputation when given a chance. Students were challenged to think about what would others say about them? They then created a reputation wordart on their Chromebooks to help them think about what values they have and what they would like others to say about them--how they are shaping their reputation.
