The focus of December lessons was to help students understand themselves (4th grade) and others (3rd grade, 5th grade).
In Third grade guidance, we read Is There Really a Human Race?, by Jamie Lee Curtis. Though most of us know her as a movie actress, she is surprisingly a very talented children's book author. Her books seem to convey the concerns, imagination and thinking processes of young children and are wonderfully illustrated by artist, Laura Cornell. They all contain little "life lessons" that are equally important for both children and parents. Through the course of this lesson, the students were able to learn and define the words diversity, tolerance and empathy and understand the relationship between them.
This book was inspired by Jamie Lee Curtis's young son who heard the term "human race" at school and thought it was really a foot race. The "race", of course, is a metaphor for how we live our lives. The story shares lessons of cooperation, respecting others, making good choices, learning from mistakes, and making the world a better place.
We concluded our lesson by working in groups to have a "pep rally" for the human race. Our cheerleaders opened our pep rally by performing a cheer to some of the words from the book. The coaches explained their "game plan" so that our students can run the best race possible. Some of their strategies included respect others, be kind to everyone, try your best, and help others. The referees explained how to make various unfair situations fair, and the fans performed short skits demonstrating how they can encourage each other.
Check in with your child and ask how they are doing in their "human race". Find out what they think is going well and where they think they can improve. Help them brainstorm ways to make small improvements whether it's sharing more with their little sister, "talking back" less to you, or being more patient with a friend who isn't as athletic or academically talented as your child. Talk to your children frequently about the importance of respecting others and being tolerant of all people and remember that they will learn the most from watching you.
This lesson demonstrates the following standards and competencies:
Personal/Social Domain - Standard A: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and interpersonal skills to help them understand self and others.
- GC:PS-A2.4 Recognize, accept and appreciate ethnic and cultural diversity
- GC:PS-A2.3 Recognize, accept, respect and appreciate individual differences
Career Domain - Standard A: Students will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions
- GC:CD-A1.4 - Learn how to interact and work cooperatively in teams.
In fourth grade, the students learned about multiple intelligences or the 8 different ways that people can show they're smart. This theory, developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University, proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of potential in both children and adults. The multiple intelligences are Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic, Logical/Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic.
The students took a survey to understand which of the intelligences were dominant for them.They were also able to make the connection that intrapersonal intelligence was necessary for students to synergize, think win-win and sharpen the saw. The students also made connections with the three learning styles: auditory, visual and kinesthetic and through the powerpoint viewed careers that were suitable for the intelligences.
We summarized the lesson by concluding that students learn and show they are smart in many different ways and they can enhance their learning by focusing on their own learning styles and intelligences.
This lesson covered the following standards and competencies:
Academic: Standard A: Students will acquire the attitudes, knowledge, and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.
- GC:AD-A2.4 Apply knowledge and learning styles to positively influence school performance
Career: Standard A: Students will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions
- GC:CD-A1.5 Learn to make decisio
Our 5th graders learned how to build bridges to diversity. We discussed how stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination can build walls between people and how developing the character trait of tolerance can help build bridges.
After watching a brief video segment, "Not all Kids are the Same", the students learned about perspective or point of view and discovered that our culture influences our perspective. Because we come from diverse cultures, we won't always see things the same way, but we can have tolerance for different points of view.
In this video, the mothers of four different cultures told their duaghters to play with children who were just like them. During recess, as the the diverse groups were jumping rope with their own groups, the four girls were not able to join in. They began jumping rope together and had a wonderful time. When each child was asked by their mothers whether they played with children just like them, they all said yes. Our students were able to discern that the mothers and daughters had different perspectives of what "playing with children who are just like you" meant. The mothers' intent was for the children to play with children of the same ethnic background while their children looked beyond ethnic differences and saw the common interests that made them alike. We used the analogy of a Venn diagram to demonstrate that though there are differences among various cultures, there are also commonalities that can bring us together. Focusing on that common ground helps develop tolerance.
Habit 5, Seek First to Understrand before being Understood, can help students strive to look at other perspectives and understand others. Parents can help their children develop this quality by asking them how they think others feel in certain situations.
We ended the lesson by brainstorming ideas that help build bridges to diversity and some of the suggestions included sitting by someone at lunch that you normally don't sit with, playing with someone different at recess, trying to find a connection or something that you have in common, and asking someone about their family or customs. The students concluded the lesson by completing a writing prompt explaining how they would build their bridges to diversity.
Standards and competencies included in this lesson are:
Personal/Social Domain - Standard A: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and interpersonal skills to help them understand self and others.
- GC:PS-A2.4 Recognize, accept and appreciate ethnic and cultural diversity
- GC:PS-A2.3 Recognize, accept, respect and appreciate individual differences
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