How can friends help each other? Explore opportunities to share while learning about human differences and similarities.

• 1.

  Imagine if all birthdays were on the same day? What if everyone was a good ball hitter and no one could catch? The more you get to know people, the more you learn about what makes them unique, yourself included. Here’s one way to share your different talents with each other.

• 2.

  Find an interesting texture to do a rubbing, such as bricks, wicker seats, or bumpy bathmats. Place paper on the surface and rub with Crayola Twistables®. The texture will pop on the paper. Attach the textured paper to a recycled file folder with a Crayola Glue Stick.

• 3.

  Lay your hand on the textured paper and trace around it. Cut it out with Crayola Scissors. Inside your hand, outline your name in block letters using a dark color. On the fingers, write some of your best talents, such as strong muscles (to lift heavy items) or a cheerful smile (to greet guests).

• 4.

  Share what you wrote with your classmates. Who could use computer help? Who is good at tying bows? Interlace the fingers of two hands. Glue them together. Punch holes in each pair to connect them with other pairs using brass paper fasteners. Hang completed chain around the room so you can look for a partner when you need one.

Standards

• LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• LA: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grade level text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
• LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.
• LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• SS: Show how learning and physical development affect behavior.
• SS: Explore factors that contribute to one's personal identity such as interests, capabilities, and perceptions.
• SS: Identify roles as learned behavior patterns in groups situations such as student, family member, peer play group member, or club member.
• SS: Give examples of the role of institutions in furthering both continuity and change.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss; Whoever You Are by Mem Fox; It's Okay To Be Different by Todd Parr; The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane Derolf
• Switch sides! Students work in teams to create hands. Students partners create the hand for the other member of the group and identify what they see as their partner's strengths. How do these compare to the hands the owners made?
• Encourage students to develop a welcome program for new children in your school. This might include a buddy system; a questionaire, prepared by students, about the new student; and some handouts explaining school culture.
• Invite the school's music teacher to work with the class to identify songs that celebrate diversity. Students learn how to sing a variety of these songs and prepare a program for parents and the public.