Don't Laugh At Me

AT ME

LAUGH

DON’T

operationrespect.org

DON’T LAUGH AT ME

OPERATION RESPECT’S SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING CURRICULUM

Writer: Laura Parker Roerden

Content Advisors: Molly McCloskey, Mark Weiss and Peter Yarrow

Grateful thanks for their generous contributions of time, energy and talent:

Executive Director, Engaging Schools Larry Dieringer

Graphic Design Milton Glaser

Senior Content Advisor Linda Lantieri

Project Director/Co-Founder, Operation Respect Peter Yarrow

Don’t Laugh at Me 2nd Edition 2016

Editor Elizabeth Kolodny

Printer McGraw-Hill Education

Designer Sue Pearsall

Photographer Sol Romano

The activities in this guide were adapted from materials by Morningside Center for Teaching Social

Responsibility (formerly Educators for Social Responsibility, Metropolitan Area) and Engaging Schools

(formerly Educators for Social Responsibility) and their Resolving Conﬂict Creatively Program (RCCP);

Engaging Schools’ Adventures in Peacemaking Program (AIP); and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching

Tolerance Program, and Challenge Day. Activities were drawn from Resolving Conﬂict Creatively: A Teaching

Guide for Grades Kindergarten Through Six by Peggy Ray et al. (Board of Education of the City of New York

and Educators for Social Responsibility, Metropolitan Area, 1993, 1996); Early Childhood Adventures in

Peacemaking by William J. Kreidler and Sandy Tsubokawa Whittall et al. (Educators for Social Responsibility

and Work/Family Directors, 1996, 1999); School-Age Adventures in Peacemaking by William J. Kreidler and

Lisa Furlong (Educators for Social Responsibility and Work/Family Directors with Project Adventure, 1995); and

Elementary Perspectives: Teaching Concepts of Peace and Conﬂict by William J. Kreidler (Educators for Social

Responsibility, 1990). Adapted and used with permission.

Operation Respect, 199 New Road, Suite 61, #397, Linwood, NJ 08221 www.operationrespect.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................2

HOW DON’T LAUGH AT ME IS ORGANIZED ........................................................................................4

EXPRESSING FEELINGS UNIT ......................................................................................................................8

The Don’t Laugh at Me Song ...................................................................................................................9

Feelings Temperature ................................................................................................................................ 15

How Would You Feel If...? ....................................................................................................................... 22

The Torn Heart ............................................................................................................................................. 28

Peace Place ...................................................................................................................................................36

BUILDING COMMUNITY UNIT ................................................................................................................... 42

This Little Light of Mine Song ..............................................................................................................43

The Caring Being ........................................................................................................................................49

Ridicule Free Zone – Constitution of Caring .................................................................................54

Conscious Acts of Caring ...................................................................................................................... 62

RESOLVING CONFLICT CREATIVELY UNIT ....................................................................................... 67

Down by the Riverside Song ...............................................................................................................68

Walk in Another’s Shoes ......................................................................................................................... 74

Conﬂict Escalates ....................................................................................................................................... 85

Slowing Down the Escalator with “I” messages ........................................................................... 91

Understanding Bullying ...........................................................................................................................99

Upstander ..................................................................................................................................................... 107

CELEBRATING DIVERSITY UNIT ..............................................................................................................114

If I Had a Hammer Song ..........................................................................................................................115

Human Bingo ...............................................................................................................................................122

Cross the Line ................................................... ………………………………………………………………………………..128

Family Quilt ................................................................................................................................................. 134

MUSIC ....................................................................................................................................................................139

Dear Friends,

At Operation Respect we believe that all young people deserve, and have the right, to learn in a safe, respectful

and caring community. For those of you who have already begun work to create such an environment, the Don’t

Laugh at Me curriculum can add extra passion and new dimensions to that effort. For those of you unsure of

where to start, but who know that such a community of learning is what you seek, Don’t Laugh at Me is the

perfect way to begin. First published in 2000 and revised in 2016, Don’t Laugh at Me lessons are based on the

Resolving Conﬂict Creatively Program developed by Educators for Social Responsibility, now known as Engaging

Schools, and teach life long social, ethical, and emotional skills.

With music and other integrated arts activities included in each lesson, links to Common Core Standards, and

grade level speciﬁc modiﬁcations, Don’t Laugh at Me engages students in experiences and learning through four

cornerstone themes:

1. Expressing Feelings

2. Building Community

3. Resolving Conﬂict Creatively

4. Celebrating Diversity

Together the lessons of these themes build essential skills for reducing bullying and conﬂict, establishing

a peaceful, supportive learning environment, and engaging young people in active participation in their

community.

The curriculum includes nineteen (19) 45-minute classroom sessions focused on instruction in social-emotional

learning skills that have been identiﬁed by research to be lynchpins of successful programs. Each lesson includes

integrated arts, Common Core State Standards, and suggested curricular connections. Lessons are written for

implementation in Grades 2-5 with modiﬁcations included for Grades K-1 and Grades 6-Adult.

When you use this curriculum you will be teaching core social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies to

young people such as respect, communication and active listening, perspective taking, creative conﬂict resolution,

appreciation of diversity, and the healthy expression of feelings. Respect can become a unifying principle in

your school’s culture—while at the same time teaching life long skills that contribute to a young person’s future

happiness and success.

A caring, respectful community functions with a sense of clearly shared purpose, ideals, and vision, as if each

individual were a gear operating in a well orchestrated and integrated machine. Because we can see how our

individual accomplishments contribute to the whole, a sense of pride and belonging is nurtured, self-efﬁcacy is

fostered, and we feel invested in the shared—as well as individual—outcomes of the community. Each person,

and the whole community, feels empowered.

In order to experience a community as caring, all people within it need:

• to experience a sense of belonging

• to feel emotionally and physically safe

• to experience both autonomy and inﬂuence

• to have a sense of shared purpose and ideals

• to have a feeling of accomplishment and pride

• to feel valued and respected

• to feel that each of them can make a difference

• to feel empowered

These are values we all hold for the students we serve, for their families, and for ourselves within the school

community, and can serve as a guide to decision making at the school and classroom level.

Using the lessons of Don’t Laugh at Me does not mean that ridicule, name-calling, teasing, bullying, and

other unkind behaviors will magically disappear overnight. What it does mean is that when someone in your

classroom forgets and slips into old disrespectful ways of treating someone else (and this is bound to happen!)

the new tools being learned in the Don’t Laugh at Me project, such as using “I” messages, using the Peace Place,

intervening in bullying or prejudice, will be available as an alternative. Children will be building a repertoire of

more skillful behaviors and options that can be used to defuse a conﬂict, to solve a problem, or just to establish

healthier or more fulﬁlling relationships. As teachers guiding students through this process, we encourage you to

be gentle, forgiving, and patient with children’s progress with these skills.

• Success in Don’t Laugh at Me means progress and growth, not perfection.

• Each child is encouraged to feel his or her feelings, whether they be anger, sadness, resentment, jealousy, fear,

joy, excitement, etc.

• Everyone in the classroom will work together to help children ﬁnd constructive (not destructive) ways to

express their feelings and needs.

• Forgiveness and compassion for one another are key elements to making progress in the programs.

• Individual and group successes and breakthroughs with new skills are to be shared with the class and

celebrated.

We look forward to learning more from you as you use these lessons. Please join us on our Facebook page and on

Twitter to share your experiences, suggestions, photos, videos and more!

With all our best wishes for your success,

The Operation Respect Board and Staff

USING THE DON’T LAUGH AT ME CURRICULUM

Don’t Laugh at Me is organized around four SEL cornerstone themes:

1. Expressing Feelings

2. Building Community

3. Resolving Conﬂict Creatively

4. Celebrating Diversity

Each theme and lesson builds on those that happen earlier in the sequence creating a cohesive

ﬂow and logical path from introduction to conclusion. Rather than a sequence, think also of these

themes as a continuum, a circle or a kaleidoscope of themes that interact with each other and

ﬁnd themselves woven into the fabric of the daily life in your classroom and school. Respect,

diversity, caring and other core concepts, for instance, are reinforced throughout the lessons with

particular emphasis in certain themes.

GETTING STARTED:

Think about the best way to implement Don’t Laugh at Me in your classroom and/or school.

(Operation Respect provides professional development services including workshops and

professional coaching www.operationrespect.org/get-help/). Collaborate with colleagues to

build a plan for implementation that works for your setting, your strengths, and your challenges.

Some options for implementation that have worked for others include:

} Begin the school year (or any time in which you ﬁrst start using the curriculum) with one

lesson of direct instruction per day for a month. This provides the best possible continuity

and sequence for building a caring community and developing your students’ social –

emotional skills. (If you cannot do one lesson per day, we recommend two lessons per week.)

} Integrate Don’t Laugh at Me into your existing Morning Meeting or other class meeting

schedule

} Integrate Don’t Laugh at Me into your existing advisory period or program schedule

} Begin with a school wide assembly to introduce the Don’t Laugh at Me song and your

goals for the school-learning environment. (This could also be done at Back to School

night.) Talk about your commitment to a respectful, caring community and tell students

that you will be learning together how to ensure your school is a ridicule free zone.

} Implement Don’t Laugh at Me with your school counselor through classroom guidance

activities.

We strongly recommend following the lesson plans in the order they are presented as many

of the skills are progressive and depend on both growing competency in student’s skill and

awareness, the evolution of a sense of community and the increasing emotional safety of

participants in your classroom.

As you think through these possible structures, it is important to consider your classroom/

school rituals, routines, management strategies, and commitment to a respectful, bullying free

community. Your students will look to you for cues, so don’t be afraid to say you’re sorry, or you

hadn’t thought of something before, or you had an experience like this too.

ANATOMY OF A LESSON

To help you quickly get the information you need for planning, each lesson includes:

Lesson Title and Description

What to Know – a brief summary of background information and/or teaching tips for a successful

lesson

Objectives – a list of student outcomes for the lesson

Common Core Standard Alignment – including anchor and grade level speciﬁc standards

Preparation and Materials

Gather Together/Warm-Up/Bell Ringer Activity – typically 5-10 minutes in length

Main Activity – typically 20 minutes in length and including integrated arts components

Additional Integrated Arts Components – per lesson

Closing Activity – typically 5 minutes

Grade Level Modiﬁcations – suggested modiﬁcations for use with Grades K-1, Grades 6-12, and

adult populations

Curricular Connections – optional extensions to connect the lesson to your core curriculum

Handouts

INTEGRATION OF THE ARTS

Central to the effectiveness of this curriculum is the Don’t Laugh at Me song and video, along

with many other songs such as “This Little Light of Mine,” “If I Had a Hammer,” “Blowin’ in the

Wind,” “Down by the Riverside” and other classics as offered by Operation Respect founder

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary. Also included are other ways to explore the curricular

themes using drama, movement, poetry, literature, and the visual arts. By giving students

multiple entry points into these topics, you’ll help them develop and practice core social and

emotional competencies and express themselves in a variety of ways. The arts have long been a

tool to connect the heart and mind and we integrate them here for just such a purpose.

FACILITATION TIPS AND GUIDELINES:

Your students will learn as much - if not more – about expressing feelings, creating a caring

community, resolving conﬂict, and celebrating diversity from how you manage your classroom,

engage them in learning, and treat them, their families, and your colleagues, as they will from the

experiences within these lessons. Take time to reﬂect on your own feelings, beliefs, and behaviors

as you prepare for each lesson. It is important to model the skills you hope for children to learn in

everything you do – from how you facilitate your daily lesson plans to how you respond to your

student’s feelings during an intervention to how you manage and express your own feelings in

their presence.

} Build a feelings vocabulary within the classroom that you use to solve problems, analyze

characters in literature and history, and express emotions powerfully.

} Promote reﬂection through journal writing, classroom discussions, and the integrated arts

activities.

} Provide outlets and strategies for students when they are frustrated, angry, overexcited,

or sad. Work with your school counselor and other colleagues to develop plans

for restorative justice strategies when students fall short of the caring community

expectations.

} Match pairs and groups thoughtfully. Switch between random, student selected, and

teacher assigned pairs and groupings regularly so that students are comfortable working

with all of their classmates and “used to” the routine of working together effectively.



Keep groups small at ﬁrst (begin with pairs) until students develop skills to work in

groups of three or four.



When random groups are appropriate use counting off strategies or line up strategies

(and then counting off) by birthdate, height, bedtime, number of siblings, etc.,



When students get to choose their own groupings ask them to ﬁnd someone with

whom they haven’t worked recently, someone they think might have a skill they don’t,

someone whose name is at the opposite end of the alphabet from theirs, etc. Remind

the students of expectations for accepting an invitation to partner with someone else

and expectations for inclusion.



When you assign groups yourself, consider learning styles, strengths, and challenges.

To the extent possible given your classroom demographics, ensure diversity across

racial, ethnic, and gender lines or any other cultural variable particularly important in

your community.



Discuss behaviors which make working together effective and ineffective – shared

responsibility v. one person doing more than others, arguing v. expressing opinions with

respect, interrupting v. allowing time for all in the group to speak and participate.

} Provide a conducive space for the activity. Many of our lessons work well in circles or in

small groups. Others require movement and will need open space in which to do so.

} Foster inclusion and diversity through your classroom materials, examples, wall art, multi-

media, language, etc. Seek out learning to help develop your cultural competence and

practice your skills. Replace activities that exclude such as “Doughnuts with Dad” in favor

of “Special Person day” or even “Dudes Do Doughnuts” which allows a student to invite

any signiﬁcant male ﬁgure in his life.

} Take a stand against bias and bullying immediately. Model being an upstander by

intervening to prevent exclusion, helping children to take another’s perspective,

empowering children with language to stand up for themselves when hurt by another’s

words or actions, and by looking out for patterns of behavior which might require more

intensive intervention.

} Engage families in every way possible. Share the Don’t Laugh at Me resources and lessons

through your regular communication and consider homework that reﬂects the lessons.

Invite families to learn and sing the songs together and to practice each of the skills at

home.

Please visit www.operationrespect.org for additional resources, research, music, and video

content.

THEME 1: EXPRESSING FEELINGS

The Expressing Feelings theme pays attention to a vital part of classroom life— our roller

coaster of emotions, interaction with the emotions of others and how we manage or regulate

them. This theme has come to be called emotional intelligence.

Children and youth need help recognizing and naming their feelings and ﬁnding ways to ex-

press them appropriately. As they become more ﬂuent in the language of emotions – able to

interpret their own and others’ behavior – they will also learn to empathize with others given

ample opportunity to practice responding to one another’s feelings in a caring way. They will

eventually require little prompting from you. Slowly, the shift to a more caring culture in your

classroom, school and community will become apparent.

} Lesson 1: The “Don’t Laugh at Me” Song – Theme Song

A lesson to introduce participants to the Don’t Laugh at Me song

} Lesson 2: Feelings Temperature

A lesson to help students identify how they feel and how those feelings are inﬂuenced by

the moods of others and the events around them

} Lesson 3: How would you feel if…

A lesson to teach students how to identify and articulate their own feelings and respect

the feelings of others

} Lesson 4: The Torn Heart

A lesson in which students explore the effect of “put-downs” and “put-ups.”

} Lesson 5: Peace Place

A lesson to teach calming down strategies and create a “Peace Place”

LESSON 1: THE

DON’T LAUGH AT ME

SONG

This activity introduces participants to the Don’t Laugh at Me song

and explores how and why it is the theme song for the “Expressing

Feelings” theme and the cornerstone for the Operation Respect

project.

WHAT TO KNOW

“Music touches us emotionally, where words alone can’t”

– Johnny Depp

Operation Respect started with a song called Don’t Laugh at Me

written by Steven Seskin and Alan Shamblin. This song has traveled throughout the world. It has

been translated into many languages and been sung by millions. We believe it is an anthem for

creating respectful, safe, compassionate environments for children.

The founder of Operation Respect, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary, ﬁrst heard this song when

his daughter, Bethany, brought it to him at a folk music festival in Kerrville Texas, and when he

heard it, he was moved to tears. Peter then brought it to Paul & Mary—with whom he had sung

for 37 years. Peter, Paul and Mary were known for singing songs that touched the hearts of the

people listening to them. Early in their career, they sang “Blowing in the Wind” and “If I Had a

Hammer” at the 1963 Civil Rights March in Washington D.C where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his

famous “I Have a Dream” speech. They decided to add “Don’t Laugh at Me” to their repertoire

and in one of their ﬁrst on stage performances they sang it for 6,000 school principals at an

educational conference where they were given a long, standing ovation. After the concert, a

number of principals approached Peter and told him that they needed that song in their schools

because they said, “What the song says is what we want to teach our children.” Peter said that

he would make sure that they would have the song in their schools, but that he was even going

farther. He was working with Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) to create resources to go

along with the song and Operation Respect and our Don’t Laugh at Me materials are the result.

We believe that music reaches peoples’ hearts and that when people open their hearts, they

can become closer to each other, create a caring community and treat each other with kindness

and respect. Children and adults alike remember the way they were touched when they heard

certain songs, how the lyrics and melody together made them feel and these memories of some

special songs last a lifetime. Musically, the “Don’t Laugh at Me” song is the centerpiece of our

Operation Respect efforts in schools, summer camps and elsewhere, and it is the “theme song”

for our Feelings unit, the ﬁrst of four cornerstone themes in our curriculum. We hope that you’ll

sing this song frequently enough so that you’ll know the words by heart and that you’ll return

to this song often, as you do the work of this program, to ﬁnd the inspiration that will help you

to work together to create safe, caring and respectful classrooms, schools and communities for

yourselves and for all of us.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. notice that the song expresses the feelings of a variety of children;

2. be able to express their own feelings when they listen to the song;

3. be able to articulate the meaning of the chorus and message of the song; and,

4. make classroom agreements.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5- Demonstrate understanding of ﬁgurative language,

word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

1. The Don’t Laugh at Me song and video

2. Brightly colored card stock or construction paper, glitter glue, scissors, and a variety of

buttons, pompoms, feathers or other decorative art items.

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: A Word Whip (5 Minutes)

Welcome the students and introduce this quick Word Whip activity. Go around the room and ask

each student to contribute a word that comes to mind when they hear the word “school.”

Go around the room a couple of times. Chart the words as the students go.

Process by asking:

“How do these words make you feel?

(Are they negative? Positive? Happy? Sad? What do these words say, if anything, about our

feelings about school?)”

MAIN ACTIVITY: The Don’t Laugh at Me Song (20 minutes)

Introduce the song very simply saying:

“I’m going to play a very special song for you now. It’s entitled Don’t Laugh at Me. Let your mind

become open to the music and the words of this song. Don’t try to understand or analyze it. Just

let yourself listen.”

Then say:

“I’m going to play the song again and this time I’d like you to be aware of the feelings and

thoughts you are having as you listen to it.

I’m going to ask you to raise your right hand if the song is making you feel happy at that moment,

to raise your left hand if the song is making you feel sad at that moment, and raise both hands if

you’re feeling both sad and happy at the same moment.”

After the song, discuss as a group:

} How many of you thought that this song was sad? Please raise your hands.

} How many of you thought that this song was happy? Please raise your hands.

} H ow many of you thought this song was both happy and sad? Please raise your hands.

} A s k : Who is right? Is this song happy or sad?

} What were some of the lyrics in the song that made you feel happy?

} What lyrics made you feel sad?

} Did you have other feelings while listening? What were they and what were the lyrics at

that time?

} Let’s list the feelings you experienced when you listened to the song. (Chart the feelings.)

} Explore a couple of the feelings charted: How many of you felt that feeling during the

video? [show of hands] When in the song did you feel that feeling? (Leave the chart up.)

Summarize the points made by the participants.

Now show the video of the “Don’t Laugh at Me”.

First, tell the children that the song in this video is sung by the group Peter, Paul & Mary. Tell them

a little bit more about the group than what was stated above:

“Peter, Paul & Mary, who you see singing in the video, recorded the classic children’s song, “Puff

the Magic Dragon” and many other very popular songs in the 1960’s and 70’s. They were the #1

singing group in the United States in the early 60’s. Peter, Paul & Mary believed that music could

bring people together in ways that could help them solve important problems in the world. They

used their music to create a fairer, more just society. This trio supported the work of, and sang

in marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s;

they worked for peace, for equality for women, for a safe and sustainable environment and for

many other important goals. Today, their music is still sung by students and adults in schools and

summer camps, in churches, synagogues and mosques, and in gatherings where people come

together to join their hearts in an effort to advance peace and understanding. Peter Paul and Mary

are considered a very important part of America’s legacy of folk music, a music that continues to

inspire people of every generation.”

Now, show the students the video.

Ask:

“How was watching the video different than just listening to the song? Did you have any different

feelings while you watched? When?

How do you think the people in the song and the video want to feel? What actions by others could

help them feel that way?

What do you think we might learn from this song?”

Summarize and explain:

“As we meet together, we are going to look at how we treat each other and how that makes us

feel, but for now we are going to look at the feelings we have in a variety of situations because

if we learn to name our feelings, we can learn how to manage them, which we call “emotional

intelligence.”

INTEGRATED ARTS: Hands Around the Classroom (10 Minutes)

Now have students identify one feeling they would like to have in the classroom. Have students

draw an outline on brightly colored card stock or construction paper around each of their hands

and cut them out. Students should write their names on one hand and a word for a feeling that he

or she would like to feel in this classroom on the other hand. Decorate the hands with glitter glue

and buttons or pompoms, feathers, etc. and post around the classroom.

CLOSING (2 Minutes)

Do a go round of one commitment each student can make to help others have the feelings they

want in the classroom. Be sure to include your own.

GRADE LEVEL ADAPTATIONS

K – 1

For the main activity give each student two index cards. Have them draw a smiley face on one

and a sad face on the other. Have students hold up the cards instead of raising their right or left

hands to show how they feel listening to the song.

For the Integrated Arts activity, students may need a little help tracing their own hands. Pair

students to help one another. Or, as an alternative, have students trace their hands, but rather

than cut them out, simply have them decorate the paper surrounding their hands.

Display projects so they surround the chart with hands touching, if possible. The hands can be a

couple of inches away from the chart, making a circle or a larger rectangle.

6-12 AND ADULT

Give ﬁve index cards to each person. The second time students listen to the song or watch the

video have them record feelings they think the people featured in the song are having –one

feeling per card. When they are ﬁnished, collect all the cards and hand them randomly back out

(5 per student). If it’s a difﬁcult feeling, have students write on the back of each card something

nice they could say to someone having that feeling to help him or her feel better. If it’s a positive

feeling on the card, what might they say to that person to help them continue to feel good?

Integrated Arts: Instead of Hands Across the Classroom, have students individually or in small

groups write poetry, a rap, song lyrics, etc. that are inspired from the Don’t Laugh at Me song.

Share these creations widely or use them as anthems for your program as it develops.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: Read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. This story shows how the things people

say to one another have real effects. Because of the teasing, Chrysanthemum doesn’t want

to go to school, which is what happens to children when they are teased, excluded, or bullied.

Ask students to notice how Chrysanthemum feels about her name at the beginning, middle

and end of the story. Ask students to evaluate the adults’ response to how the other children

are treating Chrysanthemum. If they were in Chrysanthemum’s shoes, how would they want

adults to respond? Have students create a tri-fold out of construction paper. Students can draw

and/or write what’s happening in the story at the beginning, middle, and end, focusing on how

Chrysanthemum is feeling.

2-5 Literacy: Read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Have students imagine they are in

Chrysanthemum’s class and have been a witness to the way Chrysanthemum is being treated.

Have them write a letter to one of the students who is teasing Chrysanthemum, expressing

their thoughts and feelings about the student’s actions. What would they like to see happen

differently?

K-5 Literacy and Arts: Read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell. Discuss with students

the way Molly Lou feels about her “shortcomings.” Have students choose one of the sayings Molly

Lou’s grandmother shares with her to help her face problems. Choosing from a variety of art

materials (watercolors, pastels, crayons, markers, etc.), have students illustrate what that saying

means to them. Have them include the saying in writing as part of their design.

Here is a link to Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon being read aloud.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcLmweup7Wo

6-12 English and Media Arts: Have students record PSAs to be read over the PA system of your

school to end bullying and disrespect.

6-12 English and Music: Show students the Baby Jay version of the Don’t Laugh at Me song. Have

them create their own version of the song or have them simply write rap lyrics that relate to your

school.

6-12 Integrated Arts: Expand your Self-Portrait project to all classrooms and decorate your halls

with feelings words that reﬂect how everyone would like to feel in your school.

This activity helps participants learn to more precisely identify how they feel and how those

feelings are inﬂuenced by the moods of others and the events of one’s day.

WHAT TO KNOW

According to research, being able to name your feelings, what causes them, and how they impact

your life builds emotional intelligence over time, which can enhance self-management and

performance.

By incorporating regular “Feelings Temperature” taking in the classroom, you’ll not only help

young people develop these important competencies, but also help establish readiness to learn.

We suggest that you begin and end each day with a “Feelings Temperature” check.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. be able to identify how they are feeling;

2. learn and use words for their feelings;

3. use the Feelings Temperature Scale to check in on themselves and with each other; and,

4. identify the causes of their feelings.

COMMON CORE ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6 -Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

LESSON 2: A FEELINGS TEMPERATURE

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} “This Little Light of Mine” lyrics posted or copied for students

} Hang 10 sheets of paper around your classroom labeled 1-10 (one number per sheet).

} Put a line that shows a scale from 1 to 10 (vertically like a thermometer) on chart paper or

the board with the following:

1 1098765432

NOT AT ALL A LITTLE SOME VERY MUCH LOVE

1 1098765432

FEELING

VERY BAD

FEELING

BAD

FEELING

GOOD

FEELING

VERY GOOD

} Put a line that shows a scale from 1 to 10 (vertically like a thermometer) on chart paper or

the board with the following:

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER (10 Minutes)

Introduce the lesson:

“Today we’re going to continue to explore our feelings and learn a way to evaluate how we’re

feeling in the moment that we can use anytime we need.”

Do a go-round where everyone answers the question:

“If your feelings right now were a weather report, what would that weather report be?”

You go ﬁrst to model it. “Sunny, with some clouds in the sky” or “Cloudy with a chance of rain.”

Process: “What did you notice doing that activity?” “Why might it be helpful to know how we feel

before we begin class?”

MAIN ACTIVITY: A Feelings Temperature (15 Minutes)

Explain the lesson:

“Now we’re going to learn how to do a ‘Feelings Temperature’ check by using a scale from 1 to 10.”

Explain that scales are just a way of measuring something.

Start by measuring on a scale of 1 to 10 how much you like certain things. Point out the numbers

posted around the room and the scale you have written on chart paper or the board (1 is not at

all and 10 is LOVE). As you say each thing, students will move to the number that best represents

how much they like that thing.

“How much do you like. . .?”

} Strawberry ice cream (Notice where others are.)

} Playing a board game (Notice where others are.)

} Playing soccer (Notice where others are.)

} Listening to music (Notice where others are.)

} Drawing or doing some sort of artwork (Notice where others are.)

Process: “What did you notice while you were doing this activity?” (Go-around) Summarize

comments.

Now we’re going to do a similar activity measuring feelings. This time we will use the scale for

which 1 is “I’m feeling very bad” and 10 is “I’m feeling very good.”

1 1098765432

FEELING

VERY BAD

FEELING

BAD

FEELING

GOOD

FEELING

VERY GOOD

Ask:

} “If you had to put your weather report at the beginning of this lesson on the scale, where

would it be on the scale?”

} “Now, after doing the activity about how much you liked or disliked certain things, how do

you feel?”

} “Has anyone’s mood changed since we took our weather report at the beginning? How?

Any ideas why?”

Bring everyone back to his or her seat and do a go-round:

“Come up with a feeling word, other than bad or good, to go along with the number on the scale

that you said described how you felt. “ (Feel free to pass if you do not want to share.)

CLOSING: Integrated Arts Music and Our Moods (10 Minutes)

Hand out the lyrics to This Little Light of Mine (students will also work with this song in later

lessons). Play the song and have students sing along. Take a Feelings Temperature when you are

ﬁnished.

Process:

“How are you feeling now? Did anyone’s mood change again? Why?”

End by explaining that you’ll be taking a “Feelings Temperature” in your classroom as an ongoing

practice so that you can become better and better at talking about feelings. You’ll also be

learning more about managing feelings and words for different kinds of feelings.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K - 1

Copy the lyrics for “This Little Light of Mine” onto large chart paper. Use a pointer to help

students track the words of the song as you sing. Then pass out the lyrics on sheets of paper.

Have students decorate the song and add it to their journals/folders/binders of materials they use

frequently. Students can later use the lyrics sheet to “spy” and highlight high-frequency words.

Depending on the layout of your classroom, it may work better to use a number line labeled

1-10 on the ﬂoor (masking tape works well for this) instead of hanging numbers 1-10 around the

classroom. Be sure to leave large enough spaces on the number line for several students to be

able to cluster in one area.

Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

Grades 6-12 and Adult. Use the activity as outlined, but substitute a body mapping project for the

Integrated Arts Infusion Closing. Assign participants working in pairs to a particular emotion for

which they will illustrate physical signs and symptoms or the body language.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: The Way I Feel by Janan Cain is a fun book that teaches feelings vocabulary and

helps kids see ways to use words to describe their feelings. Ask students to “rate” how the

characters are feeling as you read the story aloud.

K-1 Literacy: Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis is a great

rhyming story with engaging pictures that shows children the often transient nature of our

feelings. Point out to students that even our most powerful emotions don’t usually have a hold

of us for long. Have students make their own books “Today I Feel…” books, modeled on Curtis’

book. (See Handout 1.)

K-5 Music: Sing Laurie Berkner’s song “The Story of My Feelings.” Have students add

additional verses. Have students sing the song for another class. This you tube video plays

the whole song, but it features a 30-second ad. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z95-FmhPj-Y

K-5 Literacy and Arts: Provide, or have students collect, one large container for each student

(2-liter soda, juice bottle, half-gallon milk carton). Using a variety of materials (paint, colored

paper, small items for gluing, yarn) have students decorate the bottle to look like a person,

without the facial features. Allow bottle projects to dry. At another session, have students use

various colors of paper to create several pairs of eyes, noses, and mouths that show variety of

emotions. Provide students with a few pieces of Velcro to put on their bottle project where the

facial features will go. Have students put Velcro on the backs of all the eyes, noses, and mouths

they have created. Students can choose which kind of emotion they want their “buddy” to

express by changing the facial feature. Keep the extra features in a bag. Display the buddies on a

shelf and allow students to change the expressions daily. (NOTE: This same activity can be done

with two-dimensional materials as well.)

2-5 Literacy: Have students write a persuasive letter to an adult of their choice (parent, principal,

legislator) for why taking a feelings temperature each day would help them in their lives. Send the

letter!

K-5 Literacy, Art, and Technology: Assign students a number to represent a number on the

feelings scale. Have them use a computer program (Microsoft Power Point, KidPix, etc.) to create

a class slideshow. Each student can create an illustration through the program to demonstrate

how someone might feel at their scale number. (4=calm, 6=irritated, for example). Each student

can narrate a script or type a caption to go with their illustration. Enlist the help of the technology

teacher if possible to put it all together. Share the slideshow with families through email

attachment or during school conferences.

Grades 6-12 Science: Have students try to map the physical sensations of various emotions in

their bodies. They can then research the physiology and brain chemistry of emotions towards

better understanding the somatic experience they are having.

Grades 1-5 Math: Have students graph the daily Feelings Temperature read to represent the

entire class’s experience. Show change over time by mapping a weeks worth of data. What

conclusions can they draw from the mapping?

Grades 6-12 Literature and History: Take a temperature read on a ﬁctional or historical ﬁgure.

Plot what inﬂuences led to the feelings.

Grades 6-12 Arts: Draw or paint self-portraits that portray one’s emotional landscape (the range

of emotions you experience regularly). Title your piece of art.

HANDOUT 1: This Little Light of Mine Lyrics

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In my brother’s heart, I’m gonna let it shine,

In my brother’s heart, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In my sister’s soul, I’m gonna let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

All around the world, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

HANDOUT 2: Feeling Temperature

Today I feel

and I

This activity helps participants identify and articulate their own feelings, while also recognizing

and respecting others’ feelings in response to the same situation.

WHAT TO KNOW

Naming feelings is a foundational skill of social and emotional learning. We know from research

that naming feelings is the ﬁrst step toward managing or regulating them. Or, as the RULER

Project at Yale University likes to say, “If you can name them, you can tame them.”

Encourage your students to realize that others may have different feelings in the same situation

and that no feelings are “right” or “wrong.” Each person has a right to feel his or her feelings

exactly the way he or she feels them.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. be able to identify and name their own feelings and the feelings of others;

2. understand and appreciate that feelings vary across people even in the same situation; and,

3. explore feelings raised by the Don’t Laugh at Me song/video.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Comprehension and Collaboration:



CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.3 - Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and

use of evidence and rhetoric.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} Art supplies: markers, crayons, construction paper, glue stick, magazines, scissors

} The “Don’t Laugh at Me” video or song

} Signal bell or other way to note beginning and end times

} Timepiece with a second hand

} (Optional) This lesson is best done with desks in a horseshoe design, if possible, so

participants can see one another, as well as watch the video.

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: DLAM Feelings (10 minutes)

Introduce the lesson: “Today we are continuing to explore feelings and learning how what we say

and do can inﬂuence the way another person might feel.”

LESSON 3: HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF…?

Ask students to take a piece of paper and fold it in half. Have them draw a picture (one on each

half) of two feelings they have while listening to the Don’t Laugh at Me song. Have volunteers

share their picture.

MAIN ACTIVITY: How Would You Feel If. . .? (20 minutes)

Pair students and introduce the activity:

“We are going to do an activity with our partners that has to do with naming our feelings. Say ‘hi’

to your partner and then stand back-to-back.”

Assign one partner as “A” and the other as “B.”

“I am going to ask you a series of questions, one at a time, which will begin with the phrase, ‘How

would you feel if...?’ Think about the question for a moment. Then I’ll ask you to turn around and

name the feeling with your partner. You can talk a little bit about that feeling if time permits.”

Explain that you will be starting with partner A answering and partner B listening. Demonstrate

how you will signal it is time to stop talking and go back to back again.

“Then you will turn again to face one another so that partner B will answer the same question and

partner A will listen.”

Feel free to use the questions in any order and quantity. Follow the same partnering procedure

for each question:

} “How would you feel if you got the winning hit or score or goal in a school sport or at

recess? Now, turn around and tell your partner how you would feel.” Signal at 30 seconds

and ask the partners to go back to back again. Repeat question and ask them to face one

another again. Partner B now answers. Signal at 30 seconds that they are done.

} “How would you feel if, every time your parent or guardian came up to school, the

students made fun of them because of the way they looked or talked? Now, turn around

and tell your partner how you would feel.”

} “How would you feel if no one wanted to sit with you at lunch/play with you? Now, turn

around and tell your partner how you would feel.” Signal at 30 seconds and ask the

partners to go back to back again.

} “How would you feel if someone helped you solve a problem? Now, turn around and tell

your partner how you would feel.”

} “How would you feel if someone you admire called you a name? Now, turn around and tell

your partner how you would feel.”

} “How would you feel if someone told you they were sorry after they tripped you? Now,

turn around and tell your partner how you would feel.”

} “How would you feel if someone asked your advice about a problem? Now, turn around

and tell your partner how you would feel.”

} “How would you feel if someone you really like asked you over to his or her house to hang

out? Now, turn around and tell your partner how you would feel.”

End the activity by saying, “Ok, please thank your partner and go back to your seats.”

Now process the ﬁrst question:

“The question was: How would you feel if you got the winning hit or score or goal in a school

sport/recess? How many of you would have positive feelings? [Show of hands.] Look around.”

“How many of you would have negative feelings? [Show of hands.] Look around. What does that

tell us about feelings?”

Now explore the feelings.

What are some of the negative feelings that came up? What are the positive feelings?

Chart all the feelings under the title, “Feelings.” This is the ﬁrst step to building a feelings

vocabulary.

Continue debrieﬁng in this manner the “How would you feel if. . .?” questions you covered and

charting the feelings as time allows.

INTEGRATED ARTS: Make a Feelings Rainbow (15 minutes) (Handout #1)

Have your students select one feeling word to illustrate in colors and images they draw or cut

from magazines to paste on construction paper. Ask for volunteers to share their art and describe

why they chose the images and colors they did. (Alternatively, ask the children to have a small

group sharing and conversation in their table groups or post the artwork around the classroom

and do a gallery walk to get participants out of their chairs.) Display their work in the shape of a

rainbow somewhere in your classroom.

CLOSING: Make a Rainstorm (5 minutes)

Have the group sit or stand in a circle around you. Explain that the goal of this activity is to

work together cooperatively to simulate the sound of a rainstorm. Begin by rubbing your hands

together in front of one person in the circle; that person then imitates your motion. Continue

around the circle, until everyone is now rubbing his or hands together at the same time. The

second time around the circle, snap your ﬁngers in front of each student to indicate he or she

should switch from rubbing hands his or her hands to snapping his or her ﬁngers. Everyone else

will remain rubbing hands until you pass them snapping your ﬁngers, indicating that he or she

is to begin to snap. The third time around, make a loud pattering sound by slapping your thighs,

indicating as you go around the circle for students to join you. Now go around the circle one

more time and stamp your feet. This is the height of the rainstorm. Direct the subsiding of the

storm, going around and changing the pattering to slapping your thighs to snapping to hand

rubbing to complete silence. Pause for a moment of silence.

Process with a quick go-round:

“What one word describes how you feel right now.”

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K – 1: Bring students together in a group. Tell students that today they are going to learn and

practice some new words to describe their feelings. To begin, ask students to do a quick

brainstorm to name as many feelings as they can in 1-2 minutes.

Pair students. Have students sit cross-legged facing each other. Present the questions and have

each student comment on how they would feel.

} How would you feel if two or three of your classmates said hello to you each morning?

} How would you feel if someone helped you clean up after an art project?

} How would you feel if you asked some children if you could play at recess and they said no?

} How would you feel if someone said they liked a drawing you made?

} How would you feel if you were really looking forward to visiting a friend and they had to

cancel your plans?

} How would you feel if someone bumped into you and you fell over?

} How would you feel if that person came over to see if you were okay?

Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

Grade 6-12 Follow the instructions for grades 2-5, substituting the following questions:

} How would you feel if a teacher used your paper as an example of how to write an

excellent paper?

} How would you feel if someone you really wanted to go with invited you to the school

dance?

} How would you feel if someone spread a rumor about you throughout the school?

} How would you feel if an adult you look up to told you they were proud of you?

} How would you feel if someone posted a picture on social media of a party most of your

friends were at, but that you weren’t invited to?

} How would you feel if your best friend invited you to go the movies with them?

} How would you feel if you were suddenly asked to perform in a play or sing a song or play

an instrument in front a lot of people?

Adults - Use the procedures and questions as outlined in the original activity, but modify the

directions for the activity by asking them to answer the questions based on how they would have

felt at the age of ten:

Look back and remember when you were 10 years old. What was it like when you were that

age? Where did you go to school? Who were your friends? What did it feel like walking down the

hallways of your school? Consider including these questions:

} How would you feel if every day when you came home, no one was there, but there was a

note that said, “I love you and your favorite dessert”?

} How would you feel if you had only one friend and they were unpopular too? (Repeat).

Now, turn around and tell your partner how you would feel.”

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-5 Literacy: During read-aloud, ask students to share times when they felt similarly to characters

in the story. After brainstorming feeling words onto a chart as a whole class, assign each student

one “feelings” word to write and illustrate for a class book or ask students to write in their journals

using the prompt, “Today I feel because…”. See bibliography for suggested read-aloud books.

K-5 Math: Prepare a feelings bar graph or tally chart titled How We’re Feeling Today. List ﬁve or

six feelings along one side of the graph or chart. Have each student color one bar and make a

tally mark in the appropriate category to represent how he/she is feeling. Discuss the chart in

whole group. Analyze the data for trends and patterns over time.

K-12 Literacy and Social Studies: Create a word wall of feelings vocabulary identiﬁed by your

students. Reference the word wall in conversations related to characters in literature and people

in history, and for their writing assignments.

Grades 2-5 Integrated Arts: Play “charades” using feeling words only. Ask the participants

what kinds of feelings were easiest/hardest to guess/act out? Have them think of a time when

someone did not understand or know how they felt. What happened? How did they work it out?

Grades 6-12 Literacy: Have students write letters from one character in a novel to another

character explaining how that character feels based on plot events that are happening.

Grades 6-12 Literacy and Social Studies/History: Ask students to chart feelings for historical

ﬁgures involved in a conﬂict or major historical moment. How are the slaves feeling who have

been emancipated? How are the former slave owners feeling? How are the allies and supporters

like the Underground Railway workers feeling?

HANDOUT 1: How Would You Feel If…

Name

Label your feeling word and describe your picture:

This is a lesson in which participants empathize with someone who is being or feeling put-down,

towards laying the groundwork for group agreements and commitments to “put-ups.”

WHAT TO KNOW

The ability to empathize with others is recognized as an emotional skill that is linked to more

positive social interactions, academic achievement and career success. As children grow in

their ability to name and recognize their own feelings, they can and should be encouraged to

recognize the emotional experience of others.

As a regular practice, ask children to notice the body language and facial expressions of their

peers in response to their own actions. This works for positive as well as negative interactions.

For example, if a student gives a compliment to someone or does something nice, say, “Look

at Greta’s smile. How do you think she’s feeling? How does it feel to you to know that you

helped make that happen?” This practice helps children recognize their own power in being an

“instrument of inspiration.”

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. learn about empathy;

2. develop a common language around put-downs, put-ups, and thumbs-down, thumbs-up

behavior;

3. become aware of actions that constitute put-downs and put-ups; and,

4. become more aware of how words and actions can hurt or heal.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and

publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

LESSON 4: THE TORN HEART

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.5-Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays

of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

} Anchor Standards for Language-Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5- Demonstrate understanding of ﬁgurative language,

word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} A large paper heart (red paper is often used) with the words “I am important” written on it

} T a p e

} A story about a child or young person who is put-down by parents, siblings, teachers,

and/or peers. Sample story is included or one can be created.

} “Don’t Laugh at Me” song – audio and/or video

} Computer/Internet Access or...

} Art materials: scissors, glue, markers, construction paper (optional: magazines for cutting)

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER: Alliterative Attributes (10 minutes)

“Through the Don’t Laugh at Me program, we’ll be looking at how we treat each other as a

classroom (or school) community and how we can make sure everyone feels safe, cared for, and

welcome. Together we’ll explore how to make sure everyone is respected in our classroom and

no one is laughed at. And we’ll be looking out for ways we can share our learning and caring with

others in our school, our city, and our global community.”

“Let’s begin today with a fun activity that will get us in the right frame of mind for working and

learning together.”

Alliterative Attribute Game: The game will travel around the classroom and works best if

children are seated in a circle. Have the ﬁrst person say his or her ﬁrst name and one attribute

(explain what that is) that begins with the same letter. For example: My name is Calli and I am

COURAGEOUS. The person next to “Calli” says, “Her name is Calli and she is courageous.” Then

that person says his or her own alliterative phrase. “My name is Rocky and I am REAL!” The game

proceeds around the circle, with each student repeating the Alliterative Attribute from the person

beside him or her and sharing his or her own.

MAIN ACTIVITY: The Torn Heart (15 minutes)

Introduce the lesson:

“Today we are going to learn how the way we treat one another can affect the way we feel about

ourselves. What do you think a “put-down” is? (Put-downs, either with words—name calling and

teasing—or with actions, like excluding someone, make someone feel badly about themselves).

What are some examples of a put-down? (Do not record or write down any of the put-downs or

those behaviors may be reinforced.)

Show the students the large paper heart you have made.

“I am going to read a story called The Torn Heart, about a boy named Jimmy. This heart

represents Jimmy’s heart. I’ll need your help. Whenever you hear a put-down in the story, I want

you to give me a “thumbs-down” sign. When you do that, we will see what happens to Jimmy’s

heart.”

For each put-down, you will gently rip a piece off the heart and drop it to the ground.

IMPORTANT: Be mindful of the students who are highly empathetic or experiencing situations

in which such put-downs might be common. Acknowledge for them that it is sad to see what is

happening to Jimmy’s heart. Remind them the story was written to teach people how to treat one

another more kindly.

THE TORN HEART

One Tuesday morning, when the alarm clock rang, Jimmy did not get out of bed. Ten minutes

later, his mother opened the door to his room. “Come on,” she said, “You’ll be late for school

again. You’re a lazy kid.” (rip)

“But Mama, I’m sick,” Jimmy said. “Why do you always act like a baby?” (rip) Jimmy’s

mother said, “You’re always sick on PE day. Just get up and get ready. Your brother’s already

dressed. (rip)

Jimmy quickly put on his clothes and went to the kitchen to get something to eat. His older

brother, Lucas, had just ﬁnished. “I’m leaving, Mama,” Lucas said.

“You wait for Jimmy,” their mother said.

“That loser (rip) is always late,” Lucas said. “I don’t want to miss the bus.”

The boys made it to the bus just in time, with Jimmy following behind his older brother. As

the doors of the bus closed and it started rolling, Jimmy remembered that he had left his

homework in his bedroom.

Jimmy asked the bus driver if he would wait while he went back to get his homework, “What

are you, kid, a moron? (rip) This isn’t a taxi. Anyway, that’s what you get for being late.” (rip)

When Jimmy got to school he told his teacher that he had left his homework at home. She

said, “That’s the fourth time this month, Jimmy. Have you really been doing your work? I’m

beginning to think you’re lying. (rip) I’m afraid I’m going to have to talk to your parents about

this.”

Jimmy liked to play sports, but he did not like PE class, where he was the smallest of all the

boys. That day in PE they were supposed to play basketball. The teachers asked the kids to

divide themselves into two teams, the Lions and Tigers. Within a few minutes, there were ten

boys in each team, with only Jimmy left. (rip)

The captain of the Lions team said: “We don’t want him—he’s no good.” (rip)

“He’s no Tiger. He’s more like a scaredy cat,” (rip) said the captain of the Tigers. And the other

boys laughed. (rip)

Finally, the teacher assigned Jimmy to the Lions team, but he sat on the bench for the whole

time because the captain never put him in the game. (rip)

That day after school, Jimmy’s brother, Lucas, was playing soccer with his friends in the ﬁeld

near their house. Soccer was his favorite sport, so Jimmy asked Lucas if he could play, too.

“No way, Lucas said. “You’d ruin the game.” (rip)

Their mother heard this and said: “You should let your brother play with you, Lucas.”

But Mama, he’s too slow,” (rip) Lucas said. “And he always in the way.” (rip)

INTEGRATED ARTS PROCESSING:

} How do you think Jimmy is feeling right now?

Have students create frozen body “sculptures” of how they imagine Jimmy is feeling. Use a put

up to “un-freeze” each student and ask him or her to describe his or her “sculpture. “

Discuss:

} Why is Jimmy feeling that way? What might be the effect on him of being treated this way

day after day?

} What could his mother have said that might not have hurt his feelings? How could she

encourage him to get up on time?

} Go over places in the story where the put-downs occur. “What could that person say

instead that wouldn’t be a put-down?”

“If each person in the story tried to be more positive, we could put this heart back together. Let’s

try doing it with this tape.”

Read the story again, but this time, have students offer some put-ups for Jimmy in the places

where there are put-downs. Record the put-ups on your script as students offer them. Then

attempt to tape the heart back together.

In pairs, ask students to discuss the following questions:

} How do you think Jimmy is feeling now?

} “How did we do? It doesn’t look the original heart. Why not?”

} Sometimes people say, “sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never harm

me.” Do you agree? Why or why not?

Guide students in understanding that the story seems to show that words can be very harmful

and are not easy to repair.

“How can we use this story to work on making our classroom a place where we try to notice put-

downs and support each other in positive ways?” Record student ideas on chart paper.

INTEGRATED ARTS (5 Minutes)

Have two student volunteers act out the version of the Torn Heart with all of the put-ups. Ask:

How might this version of the story, the version where Jimmy receives put-ups, affect his day?

What do you imagine the rest of his day might be like?

CLOSE TOGETHER: A New Chorus to “Don’t Laugh at Me” (10 Minutes)

We’ve been singing the “Don’t Laugh at Me” song, which—like the Torn Heart—reminds us that

put-downs are painful. Let’s try a version of the chorus that Peter Yarrow sometimes sings to help

us think about how put-downs can be replaced with put-ups:

Please smile with me, please be my friend.

Please accept me for who I am.

No one’s out and no one’s in.

Some day we’ll all have perfect wings.

Don’t Laugh at Me.

Go around the group having each child say one kind thing they can commit to doing that day for

someone they care about. Stress that it must be something that they know they can do that very

day. Model the activity by beginning with a commitment to something you will do.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Change the “torn” heart to the “worn” heart. Instead of ripping pieces off during the story,

crumple the heart for each put-down. When students offer put-ups for Jimmy, unfold the heart

and try to smooth out the wrinkles. The heart will still demonstrate that hurtful words stay with us.

Amend some of the put-downs from the story to more age-appropriate language. (For example,

change loser to slowpoke.)

Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

Grade 6-12 Use the story as provided in the 2-5 curriculum or enlist student volunteers to help

rewrite a version of the Torn Heart story for your grade level. Be sure they do not use names of

any students in your classroom or actual incidents that have happened to them. The torn heart is

an effective tool because it is dramatic and exaggerated on purpose. It is not meant to be a real

scenario. Here are some additional processing questions to use with secondary students:

What are some reasons people might use such put-downs? What do they gain from it? Are there

other ways people might gain that very same thing without hurting someone else?

Adults Do the activity as described. Debrief the activity additionally:

What are some reasons people might use such put-downs? What do they gain from it? Are there

other ways people might gain that very same thing without hurting someone else?

How many of you have been hurt by put-downs at some point in your life?

Explain the rationale: This activity gives young people a way to talk about what’s going on for

them and helps form a common vocabulary for talking about ridicule. It can give teachers and

parents a point of entry to hear what children are feeling and be a motivator for more caring

behavior. Learning to stop using put-downs and start using put-ups takes practice both on the

teacher’s part, as well as the children’s.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: A good book to read aloud is Stand in My Shoes: Kids Learning About Empathy

by Bob Sornson. Have students draw a picture and write or dictate about a time when they

wanted someone to empathize with them.

K-5 Literacy: Have You Filled A Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. This story provides a visual,

similar to the torn heart, that teaches the effect of kind words and actions on other people. It

encourages readers to be “bucket-ﬁllers” by taking steps to make someone else’s day. Have

students write and draw in journals to share ways that they “ﬁlled” someone’s bucket.

K-5 Literacy and Arts: Have students draw pictures of themselves when they hear put-ups.

Have them glue their picture inside a large red heart. Encourage students to write or dictate

some put-ups they like to hear on this heart.

2-5 Literacy: Read The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. Have students write a letter to

Wanda’s teacher letting her know how the other students have been treating Wanda and

making suggestions for how to make it stop. Focus student’s ideas on what they would want

their teacher to do in a similar situation.

K-12 Literacy, Art and Technology: Have students work in small groups to create a “Put-Up”

Word Cloud using technology or art supplies. Show these word clouds as a gathering or

closing for any activity to remind students of the power of positive words.

6-12 Media Literacy: Have young people explore issues of gender stereotyping and the role

of the media by brainstorming a list of put-downs related to gender stereotyping and explore

where they learned these things. Then have students think of the things they love to do and

how it would feel not to be able to do them or to be ridiculed because they do them. What

ways could your school become more inclusive to all young people and their unique ways of

expressing themselves?

6-12 Media Literacy/Math: Young people can look at song lyrics and TV shows for incidences

of put-downs to answer the question: “How pervasive are put downs in our culture?” How

many examples of put-ups can they ﬁnd? This could be turned into a math activity charting

and comparing percentages of incidences found across several sources by aggregating each

student’s research.

6-12 History: Students can analyze speeches of major historical ﬁgures on both sides of a conﬂict

to understand the use and power of put-ups versus putdowns in scapegoating groups, enemies

and allies.

Have students write poetry or their own song lyrics that express their feelings about put-downs

and encouraging put-ups.

This activity helps participants learn calming down strategies and brainstorm how to set up and

use a “Peace Place”—a special place to go when someone needs to calm himself or herself or is

feeling upset or angry.

WHAT TO KNOW

Daniel Goleman, in his seminal 1996 book Emotional Intelligence: Why it matters more than IQ,

coined the phrase “emotional hijacking” for the effect of an intense emotion like anger or fear

to hijack or inhibit the thinking part of our brain. Knowing how to self-regulate, or interrupt this

process, is not only a core emotional competency, it is critical to young people’s ability to access

their thinking brain, restrain unwanted behaviors in and out of the classroom, and attend to the

learning at hand. The strategies presented here for calming down initiate physiological responses

that calm the body and interrupt the “ﬁght, ﬂight or freeze” response that is at the heart of

emotional hijacking.

Establishing a Peace Place in your classroom gives your students a way to manage their feelings

without your direct intervention. It helps them learn to recognize their feelings and empowers

them to come up with strategies to calm themselves down. It will take time for your students to

learn how to use the Peace Place effectively.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. be able to identify situations in which their emotions lead them down a path to harmful,

inappropriate behavior;

2. be able to identify alternatives to that behavior;

3. learn calming down strategies; and,

4. work together to set up a place in the classroom where they can modify their behavior and

feel better as a result.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

LESSON 5: CREATING A PEACE PLACE



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

Materials that will make a Peace Place feel comfortable to a range of students: a rug to demark

the area, drawings, photos of nature, ﬂowers, plants, stress balls, picture books, etc.

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: Feelings Pantomime (10 Minutes)

Stand in a circle and ask participants on cue to quickly pantomime feelings. As they do, they

should look around at the other participants’ pantomimes.

Begin: surprise, happiness, excitement, disappointment, frustration, anger.

Ask:

What did frustration or anger feel like in your body? What did you notice about how others looked

when they acted out that feeling?

Introduce the lesson:

Today we’re going to learn some strategies for calming down and create a way to help us calm

down in our classroom when we are having difﬁcult feelings that might get in the way of our

learning or productive behaviors.

MAIN ACTIVITY: Calming Down Strategies and Setting Up a Peace Place (20 Minutes)

Begin with a quick brainstorm and charting of feelings that children have when they are ready to

learn (focused, curious, calm, etc.) and then when they do not feel ready to learn (anxious, angry,

scared, etc.).

Explain that there are ways to calm down when you’re feeling upset or angry that rely on

mechanisms built into our bodies. Deep breathing, stretching, and tensing and releasing our

muscles all help to bring calming.

Introduce Three Strategies for Calming Down

Practice each of these strategies a few times. Begin by asking students to rate how relaxed they

feel on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being VERY relaxed and 1 being VERY tense). Check in after each

activity again. Was there any change? (www.gonoodle.com and www.BrainPop.com have fun,

free video content to use for these strategies)

1. Deep Breathing: A fun way to learn deep breathing is to pretend to blow up a balloon.

Participants can hold their hands together in front of their mouths. On the count of ﬁve (1,

2, 3, 4, 5) they will blow all their air out and expand their hands to simulate an imaginary

balloon being blown up. Then for a count of ﬁve they will inhale. Hold their breath for

a count of two. And then begin again to blow up their imaginary balloons. Encourage

students to do this as quietly as they can even though they are taking large breaths.

2. Stretching: Have participants reach towards the sky and extend upwards on their toes,

stretching their entire body. Hold this stretch for the count of 5 and then release. Shake your

body before stretching again.

3. Tense and Release: While seated, have participants raise their shoulders and clench their

ﬁsts, holding the tension for a count of ﬁve.

Now Brainstorm about your Peace Place.

Do a go-round in which each participant completes the sentence, “A special place that I ﬁnd

peaceful is. . .” Discuss, if necessary, what a peaceful place is.

Begin by sharing your special place.

Explain that in today’s activity you will discuss setting up a special place in your classroom, which

will be your very own Peace Place.

Ask:

What is the value of having a special, peaceful place?

Reﬂect back and summarize what volunteer students share.

Explain:

“The goal of our classroom Peace Place is to provide a little corner or area for any of us to go

when we are too upset or angry to focus, work or learn—or when we are beginning to feel that

way. This is not like a time-out when being asked to go somewhere separate from the group may

feel like a form of punishment. Going to the Peace Place is not a punishment. It is a place to go to

calm yourself down and get ready to go back to work and join the group.”

Brainstorm:

“What are additional ways, other than deep breathing, stretching, and tensing and releasing that

you can calm yourself down when you’re angry or upset? These may be things you can do in the

Peace Place to help yourself calm down.”

Write down all the students’ contributions on chart paper. Some ideas to include are: draw, read,

write in a journal, write to a friend, think of people you care about, distract yourself with a puzzle,

hug a stuffed animal, squeeze a stress ball, close your eyes and picture a place you love to be, etc.

(Note: as time goes on add to and reﬁne this list. Post it in your Peace Place.)

Now brainstorm what should be included in the Peace Place.

“If the Peace Place is to be a good place to go to calm yourself down when you’re upset, what

things will we want to include in that space (stress ball, stuffed animals, pictures of nature, an hour

glass timer, etc.)? Where should our Peace Place be? How should we decorate it?” Be sure to keep

the discussion focused on how these decisions support the Peace Place being a good place for

calming down.

Discuss: When and how will we know that it is ok to go to the Peace Place?

Here are some possible guidelines:

} Going to the Peace Place is voluntary and only for when you truly need it.

} You have to tell the teacher you are going (this could be an agreed upon non-verbal signal).

} One person at a time.

} Set a time limit of perhaps ﬁve minutes and use a timer.

Explain that someone does not have to be angry, worried, sad, or upset to go to the Peace Place.

Sometimes a ﬁve minute break at the right time can be helpful in managing one’s feelings or be a

time to think about something that is bothering you before reacting.

CLOSING TOGETHER: Pair/Share (5 Minutes)

In pairs have the children share: “One thing I’m looking forward to about having a Peace Place

is...” Ask for a few volunteers to share what was said in their partner groups.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Follow core instructions for grades 2-5.

Grade 6-12 Follow core instructions for grades 2-5. When establishing the guidelines for your

Peace Place, give students ownership for being as concrete as possible about the intended uses

and rules for the Peace Place. Have students create the guideline poster themselves using the title

“In our Peace Place, we agree…..” Have each student sign the poster. You can also have students

ﬁll out the Top Five sheet for how they envision themselves using the Peace Place in class. (See

handout 1.)

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: Read When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang. Ask: “Have you

ever felt the way Molly is feeling? What do you think about the way she handled her feelings?

What would you say to Molly about using a Peace Place?”

Create a class journal for students to record their experience of using the Peace Place. This can

be available for students to use during a regular journal writing or writers’ workshop time. The

journal can be shared at future class meetings or during a read-aloud time.

2-5 Literacy: Read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.

Ask: “Have you ever had a day like Alexander’s? What did you do? How would having a Peace

Place help?” Have students write a letter to Alexander offering him advice for setting up and

using his own Peace Place.

2-5 Literacy: Have students write a persuasive letter to their parents, advocating for a family

Peace Place in their home. Included in their letter can be the purpose of a Peace Place,

suggestions for how it would look in their home, and the beneﬁts to their family of having it.

K-5 Integrated Art (Group or individual project): Make Peace Jars. Materials needed: Different-

sized soda bottles or food jars with labels removed. Water to ﬁll bottles and jars, vegetable oil,

funnels, different colors of glitter, food coloring. Activity: Have students choose an empty bottle

or jar and ﬁll it three-fourths full with a combination of water and oil. The more oil used the slower

the liquid moves, which can be more effective for calming down. Students add one or two drops

of food coloring and a cup or so of glitter.

When jars are done and sealed tightly, allow students to practice using their calming down jars.

To use the jar for a calming strategy, vigorously shake it. Children then watch the glitter sink to

the bottom while breathing deeply.

IMPORTANT: Spilled vegetable oil is not easy to clean up. Caution students to be careful -and

have clean-up materials handy!

K-5 Literacy and Technology: Work with your technology teacher to help students create a

“How-To” presentation for setting up a Peace Place. This could be a slide show or video and could

be shared with parents, the community, or posted on the web.

6-12 Science Extension: Link this activity to a study of stress and our bodies’ biochemistry

during ﬁght, ﬂight, or freeze. Likewise, study the physiology of how calming strategies such as

deep breathing, tensing and releasing, meditation, and other ideas interrupt that cycle. Use of

biometrics such as mood cards, dots or bracelets can help students experiment with the effect of

their emotions on their bodies and the importance of being able to read their own internal signs

of stress (tensing of your body, clenching of your jaw, sweating, etc.) as a guidepost that it is time

to take a break.

HANDOUT 1: Peace Place

Name Date

List ﬁve reasons you might use the Peace Place in our classroom.

TOP FIVE

THEME 2: BUILDING COMMUNITY

The Building Community theme moves the process from one of individual feelings (Theme 1) to

learning, playing and living together as a group. The lessons of this theme establish your class and

school as a Ridicule Free Zone and ratify that commitment through a Class Constitution.

When children and teens play and work together cooperatively, they learn to appreciate the

different contributions of each member of the community. Rather than “winning” at the expense

of someone else “losing”, they discover that they accomplish more when they work together.

} Lesson 6: “This Little Light of Mine” – Theme song

A lesson to introduce the theme of Building Community using the music and lyrics of This

Little Light of Mine

} Lesson 7: The Caring Being

A lesson to explore positive and negative behaviors and social interactions

} Lesson 8: Ridicule Free Zone

A lesson building on previous explorations of positive and negative behaviors towards

committing to making the classroom and school a Ridicule-Free Zone.

} Lesson 9: Conscious Acts of Caring

A lesson to examine kindness and caring in action

LESSON 6: THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE

In this activity participants explore and prepare for the lessons of the cornerstone curriculum

theme of “Building Community” through the song “This Little Light of Mine.”

WHAT TO KNOW

“This Little Light of Mine” is a gospel song that came to be an anthem of the civil rights

movement in the 1950’s and 60’s. Often mistakenly believed to have been sung on plantations

during slavery, it was originally written by Harry Dixon Loes around 1920 as a children’s song.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Zilphia Horton adapted the song and taught it to Pete Seeger.

The song is famously tied to Civil Rights leader, Fannie Lou Hamer. While being detained by police

on her way back from attempting to register to vote with other members of her community, she

began singing this song.

The song, which has simple, repetitive lines with only one change per verse, lends itself to learning

quickly and singing along, perfect for bringing people together with a common cause. People

sang this and other spirituals during the Civil Rights Movement as a way of expressing unity as

they fought for equal rights and freedom for everyone.

We chose this song to introduce our cornerstone theme of Building Community because we

believe there is a “little light” inside each of us that makes each of us special. For some, it is a

light that makes them kind and friendly, that shows that they are really curious, or that they love

animals, music, art or the outdoors. For others, their very special light is a commitment to helping

others, making sure that people are treated fairly, and doing their part to make sure that justice

and freedom are preserved. Each person sharing his or her “light” helps to us to appreciate and

respect the little light that is different in each of us and bonds us together in “common” unity.

OBJECTIVES:

Participants will:

1. learn and explore the song This Little Light of Mine;

2. create new verses for the song that are meaningful to them; and,

3. be able to express their thoughts about the light that is within them that others may not see.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3- Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language-Knowledge of Language



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 - Apply knowledge of language to understand how

language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style,

and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} picture of Superman

} “This Little Light of Mine” lyrics posted or copied (one for each student)

} Colored construction paper

} 12” x 18” white or manila construction paper

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: Kryptonite and Superpower (5 minutes)

Hold up a picture of Superman. Ask students what some of Superman’s superpowers are.

Have a couple of volunteers share (x-ray vision, super-strength, etc.). Ask what Superman’s

super-weakness is (kryptonite).

Say:

“Everyone has things that they are really good at and things that they struggle with. Take a

moment to think about some of those things for yourself. Then we will go around and share

one “superpower” and one “kryptonite” each.” Give students examples that include academic

or performance-based strengths like being good at math or basketball or drawing and their

opposites. Give students examples of interpersonal or intrapersonal skills as well (being patient,

having a good attitude, being friendly, being a good listener, etc. and for the “kryptonite”

examples, being impatient, not listening, forgetting to wait your turn, etc.

Process: What special lights or superpowers that have been suggested by your fellow students

do you think are most important to you in terms of your feeling happy at school? What kryptonite

suggestions make you feel most unhappy or sad?

Sum up that there is great diversity in our strengths and weaknesses.

“Isn’t that awesome? We have so many super-power lights surrounding us that can make us

feel good about ourselves and each other. It’s awesome to know that some of our kryptonite

weaknesses are alike and that we all have them. It’s so good to know that we all have strengths

and weaknesses. That understanding brings us together and makes us a better, stronger, more

caring community.”

Main Activity: “This Little Light of Mine” (10 Minutes)

Tell students that to begin the second unit, “Building Community” they are going to be learning a

new song, “This Little Light of Mine.” Give a brief history of the song as provided in the “What to

Know” section.

Listen to Peter Yarrow and his daughter, Bethany, singing “This Little Light of Mine.”

Process:

As you listen to the words what does it make you think?

How do you feel when you listen to the song?

Have students sing each verse together.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In my brother’s heart, I’m gonna let it shine,

In my brother’s heart, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In my sister’s soul, I’m gonna let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

All around the world, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Pair students and ask: “How can this song help us to appreciate each other more, feel closer to

each other, feel more understanding and empathetic towards one another. What would our class

be like if each of us could appreciate everyone else and help each other to “let our light shine?”

Share responses.

Create new pairs of students and ask: “Who in your life helps your little light to shine? What do

they do that helps your light shine?” Share responses.

Give each pair a sheet of paper and pencils. Have each pair come up with one or two new verses.

Some examples might be: “right here in my school,” “when I’m doing homework,” “when I’m with

my friends,” etc. Record student ideas on chart paper. When you sing the song, add in student

verses.

INTEGRATED ARTS: Candles (15 minutes)

Go-round: “Each one of us has a little light inside of us. What’s your little light that you bring to

yourself, your friends, your family, our class community, our school or the world?”

Using the art materials you have prepared instruct students to create their “little light” art project.

Students will use construction paper to represent a candle and a ﬂame. Have students draw

either a picture of themselves, head to toe, or a large drawing of their hands. Students will glue

the candle so their hands are holding it. Above the picture, students write “My little light is….” and

add their own idea.

Bring students together to share.

CLOSING: Pass the Light (10 minutes)

Pass an object that symbolizes a light (an unlit candle, a “ﬂameless” candle, a picture of the sun, a

ﬂashlight, etc.).

Ask: “How do all of our little lights contribute to building our community?”

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Instead of pairing students to write down ideas for new verses, have students do a quick

pair share and then share with the whole group. Alternatively, you could create new verses as a

whole class. For the candle art project, have students dictate their idea for “My little light is….” as

needed. Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

6-12 Instead of doing the integrated arts “candles” project, have students in pairs choose a

version of the song online that they like (there are gospel versions of the song, rap, hip-hop,

country, etc.) Then have students create their own music video to that version of the song using

footage they shoot at your school or in your community. This can be done as a homework

assignment or in conjunction with a music class. Use class time to help students get started.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: Read I’m Like You, You’re Like Me by Cindy Gainer. Ask students, “How are the

children in these pages building community? How do they show they care about one another?

Are they having fun together? How are the children similar? How are they different?”

K-1 Science and Literacy: At a learning center place materials for students to explore light: prisms,

kaleidoscopes, transparent papers, colored acetate, ﬂashlights, mirrors, glitter paper. (Be sure

to set ground rules for where ﬂashlights can be shined- not in anyone’s eyes!) Allow students to

explore freely and make their own discoveries about the way light behaves. Have students write

and draw their observations in their regular journals or science journals.

K-5 Literacy and Art: Give each student a 6” x 18” piece of white or manila construction paper to

be folded into three sections. In each panel have students show how they let their “light” shine. In

the ﬁrst panel have students show themselves at home, in the second, at school, in the third in the

world. Have students label pictures as appropriate for their grade level.

2-5 Literacy: Have students respond to these prompts in their journals for one-two weeks: How

have you shown your “little light?” Have you seen anyone else showing their “little light?” In what

ways has this made our classroom community stronger?

K-5 Music: Use percussion instruments to keep time with the song “This Little Light of Mine.”

Maracas, blocks, triangles, hand drums and clapping can be used to keep a steady rhythm or to

mix up the beat a little. For your kinesthetic learners, incorporate marching or dancing moves. Let

students take the lead!

6-12 Literacy and Social Studies: Read Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Boston

Weatherford or arrange for a screening of the half hour documentary about Fannie Lou Hamer’s

important, yet unsung role as a hero of the Civil Rights movement. This video about Fannie’s

life gives a brief overview of her brave move during the civil rights movement to register to vote

and how she went on to testify for Congress and run for political ofﬁce herself. Discuss women’s

rights as they relate to the civil rights movement. And of course, don’t forget to mention her very

special use of the song “This Little Light of Mine” in her very historic work.

6-9 Science: Have students build an inﬁnity mirror. Though it will look like a tunnel of inﬁnite light,

turn it around and discover that the mirror is only a couple inches thick. What properties of light

does this activity reﬂect? How does “passing on our light,” augment it?

HANDOUT 1: This Little Light of Mine Lyrics

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In my brother’s heart, I’m gonna let it shine,

In my brother’s heart, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

In my sister’s soul, I’m gonna let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

All around the world, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

LESSON 7: THE CARING BEING

This lesson sets the stage for creating a ridicule free zone and developing classroom agreements

in the next lesson by helping children identify positive and negative behaviors and how they

effect their classroom and school community.

WHAT TO KNOW:

Involving young people in creating ground rules or agreements for acceptable behavior helps

them follow them. If everyone knows what is expected of each other and has both input and

agreement with these community norms, then your classroom will be a more productive

learning community. By including everyone in the decision making process, you will also lay the

groundwork for participation in the democratic process.

As a group spends more time together, they will likely evolve in ways that will need to be

reﬂected in your group agreements. Create structures for returning to your group agreements to

revise, and allow young people to frequently recommit to, the agreements. Explore community

responses for times when agreements are broken. As the class evolves into a caring community,

these group agreements and norms, driven by caring and concern for each individual, are

important structural supports to our common-unity.

OBJECTIVES:

Participants will:

1. be able to identify what we say, what we do and how we behave when we are being

supportive of each other: “put ups”;

2. be able to identify what we say, what we do and how we behave when we are treating each

other in a negative way: “put-downs”;

3. explore group agreement about the ways that the group will treat each other and how the

group will go about reminding each other not to engage in negative behavior; and,

4. set goals for increasing positive behaviors and decreasing negative behaviors in class.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.5-Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays

of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and

communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or

appropriate.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS:

} Markers, tape and mural paper (1 per 4-6 students) or chart paper (several pages per 4-6

students)

} Miscellaneous art supplies for decorating their Caring Beings

} Signal bell or other way to note beginning and ending times

} Prepare an outline of the “Caring Being” before the lesson. You can either trace an outline

of a student on mural paper or create a shape that will represent “Our Caring Being.”

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: Play Mirrors (5 Minutes)

Pair students and have them sit face to face (sometimes it helps to have students sit knee-to-

knee). Silently, Person A will start to move his or her hands and change facial expressions while

Person B reﬂects them with his or her own movements, as if they were their mirror image. After a

minute, switch so Person A now reﬂects Person B.

Process: “What did it feel like to do this activity? What was difﬁcult? What was easy?”

MAIN ACTIVITY: The Caring Being (10 Minutes)

Introduce the lesson:

“Today we are going to talk about how we are doing so far in creating a classroom where people

feel welcome, safe, and valued. As we have worked on the DLAM project so far, let’s reﬂect back

on some things we say or do that make our classroom the best possible place to be. We call these

thumbs-up behaviors.”

Brainstorm a list of “thumbs-up” behaviors that you have all seen in your classroom (or school).

This can be done as a whole group “popcorn style,” or in a “pair-then-share” format. Record

students’ ideas on chart paper. Ideas may include sharing, listening, waiting my turn, giving put-

ups, helping others learn, supporting others when they are having difﬁculty, etc. Remind students

to not name names, but just explore behaviors. Feel free to include your own observations as you

chart.

Introduce the “Caring Being” model you have created. Tell students that the Caring Being will

help the class to explore how to behave toward each other in class.

Break students into small groups of 4-6. Give each group mural paper or several pages of chart

paper (enough for a student to lay down on) and markers. If using chart paper, have each group

tape it together to draw their own outline of a student. This outline will be called your group’s

Caring Being.

Give the small groups ﬁve minutes to brainstorm and write inside their Caring Being any

behaviors, feelings, put-ups they would like to have in their classroom going forward. On the

outside, they should write any actions, feelings, put-downs they would like to see stopped in your

classroom.

INTEGRATED ARTS: Caring Being Gallery Showing (10 Minutes)

Have students name and decorate their Caring Being using miscellaneous art supplies. Hang the

Caring Beings and have students do a gallery walk.

Process: “What did you notice about the Caring Beings?”

OUR CLASS CARING BEING (5 Minutes)

Now as a large group record ideas and themes from the gallery walk on the Caring Being in front:

“What are some of behaviors, feelings, put-ups you’d like to encourage in our classroom?” (chart

the answers, grouping similar things)

“What are some of the behaviors, feelings, put-downs, that we’d like to stop in our classroom?”

(chart the answers, grouping similar things)

Discuss: “How can we help each other act as Caring Beings?”

CLOSING: If The Caring Being Could Talk (5 Minutes)

Do a go-round and have each child complete the statement, “If ‘Our Caring Being’ could talk, it

would tell us. . .”

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Without telling students exactly what they are for, have students work in small groups to

create the outlines for the Caring Beings in a class period before this one. Set aside the outlines

until the lesson. Keep students in the same groups for the lesson. You could also do one Caring

Being as a whole class.

Have students dictate their ideas if needed. Alternatively, have students draw pictures to illustrate

their ideas and then share with the group.

Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

6-12 and Adults Instead of brainstorming a list of thumbs-up behaviors to begin the main activity,

have students in pairs explore the question: “Some ways our classroom has improved since we

started this program include. . . “ Have pairs report out and chart ideas or generate and project a

wordle that captures key ideas and phrases of reporting to post in your classroom later.

Have students name their Caring Being anything they would like and use any shape they want to

represent what they would like included and not included in their classrooms. Process by asking:

“How might changing our classroom in these ways effect the larger world?” Otherwise, do

activity as outlined.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy and Art: Gather art materials, paper bags and index cards. Read Leo Lionni’s It’s

Mine! Ask students if they can make connections between the story and the discussions you have

had around group agreements. Have students create frog puppets using the paper bags and art

materials. Students write or dictate one group agreement suggestion for the frogs to follow on

their island. Glue the suggestions onto the paper bags. Students can use the puppets to role play

their suggestions a few at a time during a class meeting.

2-5 Literacy and Art: Read Is There Really a Human Race? by Jamie Lee Curtis. Ask, “What does

this book teach us about helping one another? What does it teach us about working together?

Which of our group agreements can you see in action in the story?” After you read the story, have

students design their own book jacket for this story, including the blurb and review quotes.

K-5 Integrated Art: Gather 12 x 18” white or manila construction paper, waterproof black markers,

and watercolor paints. Have student use markers to sketch out a picture that reﬂects how they

feel about working to create a caring community in their classroom. The picture can be of them

or of something that shows how they are feeling (a mountain, a sun, etc.). Once the sketch is

done, students use the watercolors to ﬁnish their piece of art.

K-5 Music: Pick a traditional melody, such as “Miss Mary Mack” or “Skip to My Lou,” or a current

pop melody and have students change the words to reﬂect their new class agreements. For

example, for “Miss Mary Mack” it might go something like: “We use put-up-ups, not put down-

down-downs, we make our school-school-school, the best around-round-round!” Teach the clap

pattern and have students do this in pairs as a reminder whenever you feel your class needs it.

6-12 History: Look at Gandhi as an example of social reform in India and the power of caring and

nonviolence. Link this study to the ﬁlm Gandhi starring Ben Kingsley.

6-12 Creative Arts: What song or piece of art would be a good one to be the anthem of your

Caring Being? How might you spread the spirit of your classroom’s commitment to caring across

your school? Across your community?

LESSON 8: THE RIDICULE-FREE ZONE - CONSTITUTION OF CARING

This lesson builds on lessons from the Expressing Feelings theme and creation of the Caring

Being to help students make their classroom and school a Ridicule Free Zone by writing a

Constitution of Caring.

WHAT TO KNOW

Research) shows that thinking compassionately about other people not only makes you happier,

but also healthier. A commitment to caring is a choice that young people can make and a

discipline to practice in your classroom. You can help support this by building structures that

support kindness, such as creating with your students a Ridicule Free Zone class (and school!)

and a Constitution of Caring. You can also positively reinforce caring behaviors by noting them

when you see them.

Kindness also feels good. Take a “Feelings Temperature” as a way to help young people notice

how their caring acts and support of one another shifts their moods in positive directions.

Having a Ridicule Free Zone does not mean that ridicule, name-calling, teasing and other

disrespectful ways of treating one another will magically disappear overnight.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to:

1. Deﬁne what a Ridicule-Free Zone is and what it means to create a Constitution of Caring;

2. Create a Constitution of Caring; and,

3. Make commitments to a Constitution of Caring.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.



} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

MATERIALS

} Your class Caring Being from the previous lesson

} Strips of scrap paper and plastic Easter eggs or similar (1 per student in your classroom)

} Art supplies, including glitter glue or sharpies

} Ridicule Free Zone and No Ridicule poster samples

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER- PUT-UP EGGS INTEGRATED ARTS (10 Minutes)

Take a Feelings Temperature before beginning. Have each student record his or her answer.

Carefully assign each student someone else in the class. Have each student write a put-up on a

strip of paper and decorate it using art supplies for that friend. The students will then fold their

strips of paper and put it in the plastic egg with the name of the person they wrote the put-up

for written in glitter glue or with a sharpie. Remind students that put-ups are positive statements

we make to one another. Some possibilities might be: “I like you just the way you are.” “You help

solve problems on the playground,” “You always help out when someone needs something.” The

put-ups should be as sincere and speciﬁc as possible.

Have students exchange their eggs and read their put-ups. Take another Feelings Temperature.

Process: “How did it feel to write put-ups for your partners? How did it feel to receive a put-up?

How (if at all) did your mood change as a result?”

Summarize students’ comments. Share with students that research shows people who are kind

and compassionate to others report feeling happier and are healthier.

MAIN ACTIVITY: Our Ridicule Free-Zone and Constitution of Caring (20 Minutes)

Explain the lesson:

“Today we’re going to check in on our Class Caring Being so that we can make our classroom a

‘Ridicule-free Zone’ and write our ‘Constitution of Caring.’

Referring to your class Caring Being, do a go-round:

} What’s one thing that we’re doing well to act as Caring Beings?

} What’s one thing that we still need work on to act as Caring Beings?

} Do you feel our classroom is a “ridicule-free zone?” Is our school? If not, what is keeping it

from being one? Why might creating a ridicule-free zone be helpful?

Discuss what it means to have a Ridicule-free Zone (RFZ). If your classroom or school is free of

ridicule, what does it have instead? Brainstorm a list of qualities with participants.

Explain the next step:

“A way of thinking about our class community of caring more deeply is to think of it in terms of

our rights like the way the Constitution of the United States is written.

Explain that the Constitution is a group of agreements that was created by the founders of the

United States in 1787.

“We’re going to create our own Constitution of agreements in this classroom.”

Explain that you will begin with a similar ‘preamble’ or beginning as the Constitution, which

begins with “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, . .”

Break your class into small groups of 3 or 4 children and give each group chart paper. Give

the groups ﬁve minutes to brainstorm agreements they can make to create a ridicule free

zone in your classroom where everyone acts as a Caring Being. At the top of the chart paper,

have students write: “We, the class of X, in order to form a ridicule free classroom promise to.

. .” Circulate among the groups helping children to reframe the statements as agreements as

needed. This will become your Class Constitution of Caring.

When students have ﬁnished, have each present their ideas to the larger group.

Now together create one document combining elements of each of the group’s work. As a whole

class, work to craft statements and create consensus among the group about which elements to

include in your larger class “Constitution of Caring.”

When you are ﬁnished, have the students read it out loud, taking turns reading each line.

INTEGRATED ARTS: Ridicule Free Zone Signs (10 Minutes)

Have students in pairs create Ridicule Free Zone signs to decorate the classroom and halls of your

school. What words do they want to put on their signs to remind them of the rights they have in

your classroom? Put one RFZ sign prominently on your classroom door.

Ask students if they want to design a ritual for remembering that when they enter your

classroom, they are now in a RFZ (students might rub the RFZ sign as they walk in, or create a

hand signal for entering the room, etc.)

CLOSING ACTIVITY (5 MINUTES) INTEGRATED ARTS: This Little Light of Mine

Sing “This Little Light of Mine”—our theme song for the “Building Community” theme. With the

song playing softly in the background, ratify your Constitution by having all of the students sign

it. If you have access to a prop like a quill style pen, this might be a way to make the ceremony

feel special. Post your Constitution where everyone can see it.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Take a Feelings Temperature before starting the gathering. For the gathering, give pairs of

students a half sheet of paper. Give students a few minutes to write or dictate a compliment for

that person. Call time and have students share what they have written. Take another Feelings

Temperature after the activity. Point out any changes in students’ feelings you notice.

Do the main activity as a group, using one chart in the front headed “We, the class of X, in order

to form a ridicule free classroom promise to. . .” at the top.

For the main activity, follow the instructions in the core lesson until the discussion of the

Constitution. Say, “During this session, we are going to think more deeply about our commitment

to being a caring classroom community. A way of doing that is to write a statement declaring our

commitment. We’ll call that statement our Constitution.”

Elicit any background knowledge students may have about the United States Constitution.

Explain, simply, that the Constitution is a group of agreements that was created by the founders

of the United States in 1787, and that our country still has this group of agreements. Share the

preamble of the Constitution “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, . .” and tell students their classroom constitution will begin in a similar way. Show

them a chart with “We, the class of X. , in order to form a ridicule free classroom promise to. . .”

written at the top.

Follow the lesson as written for the rest of the activity.

6-12 Follow the instructions as listed, but instead of the “Ridicule Free Zone” solicit ideas from

your class for what to call your classroom, using the RFZ as an example. For the integrated arts

portion of the activity, have students in pairs pick different ways to communicate their RFZ. One

pair can make a poster; another write a rap; another write a PSA; another create a short video

with cue cards and a favorite song, etc.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1: Art and History: Explain to students that when the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 there

were only thirteen states. Read Betsy Ross by Alexandra Wallner. Give students art materials (red

and white construction paper, one color cut into strips, blue rectangles, white crayons or paint)

to create their own original American ﬂag. Discuss: why would it be important for there to be a

Constitution or set of agreements for these thirteen states?

K-12: Literacy, Drama, and Social Studies: Have students memorize and recite the preamble to

the Constitution, as if they were trying to convince their peers to adopt it/agree with them. Ask

students to consider the emotions (as actors do) of the people who were writing and adopting

the constitution: what did they care about most?

Grades 2-5 Literacy and History: Books such as Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean

Fritz and If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy are excellent

launching points for teaching about the U.S. Constitution.

Grades 2-12 Literacy, Civics and History: Explore with students the Preamble to the Constitution

of the United States: We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,

establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the

general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain

and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Create a chart separating the

individual ideas (establish justice, promote the general welfare, etc.).

Assign students to groups of 3-4. Give half of the groups Handout 1 and half of the group

Handout 2. Have students work with their groups to discuss and record what they think the three

ideas on their papers mean. Come together and share ideas. Record ideas on the larger chart.

Grades 2-5 Art, Civics and History: Divide class into 6 groups. Have groups choose one of

the ideas from the preamble of the Constitution to illustrate. Give students mural paper, black

waterproof markers and paints (gauche watercolors work well, if available). Have students

illustrate their idea incorporating the text as part of their mural in their own way.

6-12 Literature: Explore the role of insiders and outsiders in literature. What societal norms,

values, rules and structures support these dichotomies? What is the price of these norms, values,

etc. to individuals? To society? While nearly every novel has characters that relate to this theme a

few good options include: The Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gatsby, The Outsiders, and To Kill a

Mockingbird.

Grades 6-12: Media Arts/Literacy: Have students create an RFZ or anti-bullying video. In it, have

them explore messages that help your school become a place where it’s safe to be different and

to be yourself. Show this video or another more representative of your classroom as a way of

getting the conversation started.

Grades 6-12: History: Debate the role of republicanism as it is presented in the Constitution.

Should public policy be created by the majority or by representatives of the majority who are

better informed? How about the public policies of your school?

HANDOUT 1: Ridicule Free Zone Constitution of Caring

form a more perfect union

establish justice

insure domestic tranquility

WE THE PEOPLE…….IN ORDER TO

HANDOUT 2

provide for the common defense

promote the general welfare

secure the blessings of liberty

WE THE PEOPLE…….IN ORDER TO

LESSON 9: CHILDREN’S CONSCIOUS ACTS OF CARING

In this lesson participants record moments of kindness, caring, and compassion through written

stories, photography, poetry, songs and/or video and, in so doing, reinforce positive behaviors.

WHAT TO KNOW

Research shows that reinforcing positive behaviors is an effective way to develop these behaviors

in children. We recommend that you integrate this activity and others like it into the routines of

your classroom as a way of creating a caring classroom culture.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. identify caring behaviors;

2. create a community cultural norm of caring; and,

3. reinforce caring behaviors towards creating a caring

classroom culture.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of

Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and

publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} Art supplies: markers, crayons, scissors

} Slips of paper with the name of each child in your classroom

} Soft ball or other way to indicate who is the speaker in a circle

} Cameras, video equipment (optional)

} “Don’t Laugh at Me” song (optional)

} For this lesson, students will be recording and displaying acts of kindness and caring they

witness. You can use index cards or construction paper. Or you may decide as a class (or

school) to use templates such as your school mascot, a ﬁsh (with a hook for “catching”), a

smiley face, etc.

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: Feelings Echo (5 minutes)

Gather students in a circle and explain the game:

“We’re each going to have a turn to ﬁnish the sentence, ‘I feel cared for when….’” One person will

start with the soft ball and then pass the ball around the circle. If you are not ready to share an

idea, you can pass and we’ll come back to you.”

Continue until every student has contributed once.

Explain that today the class will discuss kindness, caring, and friendship. During the next several

days they will ﬁnd examples of it in the classroom and school community.

MAIN ACTIVITY: Conscious Caring (20 Minutes)

Have students work in pairs. Explain that you will be starting with partner A responding to the

question and partner B listening. Then partner B will answer the same question and partner A will

listen. Have students respond to the following prompts:

} A time when someone was kind and caring to me at school was _________________.

} A time when I was kind and caring to someone at school was ___________________.

Ask for a few volunteers to share their stories with the whole group or, if you have time, have each

pair share.

Now have pairs combine into groups of four. Give each group a sheet of paper on which they will

explore what kindness “looks like” and “sounds like.” Have the groups brainstorm what they “see”

when they witness kindness and, on the opposite side of the page, indicate what they “hear”

when they witness kindness. Give the groups no more than 5 minutes per side with a signal of

when to switch. (If groups need some help, some examples of what kindness looks like includes

smiling faces, drawing a picture for someone, holding a door, etc. Kindness sounds like: saying

thank you, giving compliments, laughter, “do you want to play?”)

Have a group reporter share the group’s work with the whole class.

Summarize key points and discuss:

“What, if anything, keeps us from being kind to one another?”

Explain the “Caught Being Kind” activity:

For a period time (several days to a week), students will be roving reporters, “catching” incidents

of kindness, cooperation, and caring that happen at school or documenting actions of caring they

themselves perform. All children should write and illustrate with artwork, photos or video about

the act of caring they performed or witnessed. To ensure full participation, each student can be

assigned a certain number of examples to record.

Set a time period for the activity and then schedule a gallery showing, inviting other classrooms

to join you. (This activity also works well as a family homework assignment.)

INTEGRATED ARTS (10 Minutes)

Art: Break students into groups of four to do cooperative art activities. Each group will create one

piece of art that addresses one of the following questions (they can choose): If kindness were an

animal, what animal would it be (make one up)? If kindness were a superhero, what superhero

would he/she be (make one up)? What does kindness look like?

CLOSING: Electric Hand Squeeze (5 Minutes)

Close the session by having all the students stand in a circle holding hands. Start the “electricity”

by squeezing the hand of the person on your right. That person passes it on by squeezing the

hand on her right. After the pulse has gone through the circle, go around a second time with a

more difﬁcult pattern (for example, do two short squeezes, or a long one following by a short

one). Kindness—like the “electricity” in this activity—is infectious. So pass it on! (Have students

wash their hands before and after this activity to spread only kindness, not germs.)

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 For the Main Activity, after students have answered the ﬁrst two questions, have pairs return

to the group. As a whole group, complete a T-chart titled Kindness. Label one side of the T,

“Looks Like” and the other side “Sounds Like.” Have students share ideas for what kindness looks

and sounds like in action.

Grade 6-12 and Adults This activity can be done as is for grades 6-12 and adults.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-5 Art: For a period time (several days to a week), students will be roving reporters, “catching”

incidents of kindness, cooperation, and caring that happen at school or documenting actions

of caring they themselves perform. All children should write and illustrate with artwork, photos

or video about the act of caring they performed or witnessed. To ensure full participation, each

student can be assigned a certain number of examples to record.

K-5 Literacy: Swimmy by Leo Lionni provides a great launching point for discussion about

teamwork and cooperation vs. competition.

Build students’ vocabulary by creating a glossary with deﬁnitions for new words such as caring,

compassion, kindness, etc., as they come up in the program.

Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson illustrates the way one act of kindness can

have an enormous impact.

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney is an adaptation of Aesop’s fable that demonstrates no

one is too small to repay a kindness.

K-5 Math: Acts of kindness and caring can be tallied or graphed each day for one or two weeks.

K-12 Media Literacy: What do superheroes teach us about cooperation vs. competition? What

messages do they send about using force rather than peaceful cooperation to get what we need?

Challenge students to create a superhero who draws power from his ability to cooperate or show

caring so well.

6-12 Social Studies/History: Who were the allies of targeted groups during major historical

movements and what impact did their caring have? (i.e. the Underground Railroad during slavery

or those who helped Jews escape during WWII, etc.) Have students create ﬁctionalized versions

of a day in the life of one of these allies towards better understanding their motivation, risks, and

rewards.

6-12 English/Literacy: Explore themes of culture and how it is created through reading the Lord

of the Flies, which features a group of boys stuck on an island who try to govern themselves with

disastrous results. Create alternate plot lines for how the novel could have been had caring been a

central value.

6-12 Social Studies/Civics: Have students map conscious acts of caring in your community.

What good deeds have resulted in educational programs, scholarships, and resources for the

disadvantaged in your area?

HANDOUT 1: Conscious Acts of Caring

KINDNESS

LOOKS LIKE

KINDNESS

SOUNDS LIKE

THEME 3: RESOLVING CONFLICT CREATIVELY

Conﬂict is an inevitable part of being part of a group. The lessons of this theme build

understanding of how conﬂict escalates and develop new skills to ﬁnd solutions that work for

everyone.

Conﬂict resolution builds on the other skills you have been developing through the previous

themes. These skills do not come naturally to us and need to be learned through practice and

careful guidance. The pride and self-conﬁdence children and youth develop help your classroom,

school and community function more smoothly, reducing incidents in which you need to

intervene.

The goal of conﬂict resolution is to help those engaged in conﬂict ﬁnd solutions that work for

everyone.

} Lesson 10: “Down By the Riverside” – Theme song

A lesson to introduce the theme of Conﬂict Resolution using the music and lyrics of Down

By the Riverside

} Lesson 11: Walk in Another’s Shoes

A lesson to explore a different point of view or perspective

} Lesson 12: Conﬂict Escalates

A lesson to explore how conﬂicts escalate or worsen

} Lesson 13: Slowing Down the Escalator with “I” Messages

A lesson to learn how to use “I” messages to de-escalate conﬂict.

} Lesson 14: Understanding Bullying

A lesson to help participants deﬁne bullying and learn the difference between bullying

and conﬂict

} Lesson 15: Upstander

A lesson to teach participants how to respond when they witness bullying

In this activity participants explore and prepare for the lessons of the cornerstone curriculum

theme of Conﬂict Resolution through the song “Down by the Riverside.”

WHAT TO KNOW

“Down by the Riverside” is an African-American spiritual that dates back before the American

Civil War. Songs were a major part of how geographic information was conveyed for the safe

travel of slaves to the north during the times of the Underground Railroad. The reference to the

riverside in the song, though originally referring to the River Jordan in the Bible, was believed to

be a coded way to refer to the Ohio River, where slaves could ﬁnd safe passage north. Spirituals

provided more than just a physical map to safety, but also provided much of the inner, emotional

support that slaves needed to feel protected and resilient in such difﬁcult times. The songs told a

story of freedom that later helped inspire black churches and communities in their political quest

for equality and civil rights and became rallying cries for white allies.

The broad theme of the song is to cast off aggression in the form of societal or group aggression

or, in a larger sense, war among nations. Singers still sing this song at gatherings around the

world where wars are being fought and people yearn for, hope for, and pray for, peace. We have

selected it as the theme song for our third cornerstone curriculum theme “Resolving Conﬂict

Creatively” because “laying down our sword and shield” is the beginning of using new skills to

reduce conﬂict and to peacefully resolve problems. Peace is not only the laying down of weapons

like swords and shields, or guns and bombs, but ﬁnding a positive place in our hearts that allows

us to put a painful past behind us, grow beyond the pain and the hurt and learn to accept, trust

and even love each other as people and countries.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. learn and explore the song Down By the Riverside and its history;

2. be able to express their thoughts about what it means to “lay down our sword and

shield”; and,

3. explore their own commitments to positive actions they can take in their communities.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

LESSON 10: DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3- Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Knowledge of Language



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 - Apply knowledge of language to understand how

language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style,

and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} Video or audio of Down By the Riverside by Peter Yarrow and Bethany Yarrow

} Handouts of the lyrics

} Black markers and heavy card stock

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER (5 Minutes)

Watch (or listen) to Peter Yarrow and his daughter, Bethany, singing “Down By the Riverside”

Process: Do a quick go-round where everyone contributes one word that came to mind while

listening to the song.

Now ask some additional questions:

What do you think this song is about?

How do you feel when you listen to the song?

Explain that this song introduces one of our cornerstone themes for the Don’t Laugh at Me

program: Resolving Conﬂict Creatively.

“How many of you have had a quarrel, an argument a conﬂict or an unfortunate misunderstanding

with a friend or a parent? (Ask for a show of hands.) That’s right. Pretty much all of us!

Explain that another word for these kinds of situations is “conﬂict” and that conﬂicts are hard

and can make us feel angry or sad. But conﬂicts do not have to damage relationships and

they can actually help us to understand one another better. If we ﬁnd ways to talk about our

different points of view, in a caring, respectful way, listen carefully to each other and stay open

to understanding what the other person is saying, we can begin to “walk in each other’s shoes”

and create the basis for resolving conﬂict peacefully – and sometimes understand better how and

why the conﬂict occurred. We can even learn how to avoid a conﬂict in the future. We can even

learn to say, “I’m sorry.”

“This song that we just heard called, “Down By the Riverside” is really about ending war but we

can also think about it in terms of ending the conﬂict between people like all of you and me.”

MAIN ACTIVITY: (15 Minutes) (Integrated Arts)

Give a brief history of the song as provided in the “What to Know” section.

The swords and shields of conﬂict between people are many but some of the most upsetting

ones come about when the parties who are in conﬂict do not listen to each other, when they

make it impossible for one party to have his or her story heard. Then the other party needs to

be heard, and then some healing, some understanding and some “peace between people” can

be created.

This next exercise is about “laying down our “weapons” of disrespect, weapons that continue

(prolong) conﬂict and can keep it from being resolved.

Suggest that there is a conﬂict in which there is a misunderstanding between two children but

that because of this misunderstanding, there has been a break in the friendship between these

two students.

Explain that one child thinks that the other one “dissed” or “disrespected” her because she

walked away when she was trying to talk to her.

Explain that the child who walked away actually was feeling sick and felt a little bit dizzy, that

she/he was not dissing the other student, but had to leave to go to see the school nurse who

realized that the student had a headache and a fever. When she returned to school after being

sick her friend was angry and refused to talk to her.

ROLE PLAY

Ask two children to come up to play the parts of the children who are now trying to resolve their

conﬂict. Each child sits in a chair and faces the other.

In private, tell each student to talk continuously, look away, hum, put her ﬁngers in her ears, etc.

while the other student is trying to share her side of the story.

Then, ask the student who walked away to tell what had happened from her point of view (she

was sick and feeling dizzy, she needed to go to the nurse, etc.)

Then tell the student who felt disrespected when her friend walked away to tell her side of the

story and have the other student do the same things to show that she is being disrespectful and

not listening,

ROLE PLAY, PART 2

Ask for two new volunteers. This time, let each party listen intently while the other one tells her/

his story, narrative.

Ask each student how it felt to have that exchange.

Ask each student if they are ready to say, “I’m sorry. We really had a misunderstanding. I’m glad

we talked about it.”

Ask the “observers” of the two role-plays for their observations and insights. Explain that what

they have just seen is a little “play” in which both parties in a conﬂict, “laid down their swords and

shields”, allowed themselves to NOT try to win an argument, but listened to the other person’s

story. Peace came about because they listened and learned that there was a misunderstanding.

(If there is time, end by asking the students for examples of situations that they have encountered

that could have brought “peace” between people if they had allowed each other to listen to the

other person’s point of view or that they did resolve by laying down their own swords and shields.)

“What would happen if everyone laid down our “shields and swords” in our school?” In our

community? In our world?”

CLOSING: Write a New Verse (10 Minutes) (Integrated Arts)

Have students work in a new pair to write a new verse for something you’re willing to do to make

your classroom a more peaceful place starting with “I’m gonna. . .” Write the new words in black

marker on a white piece of heavy stock (in the style of a cue card.) Hold up everyone’s cue cards

and look around the room.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Adapt the information about the song to a version like this, based upon the background

knowledge of your students:

“Down by the Riverside” is an African-American spiritual that dates back to the days of slavery

before the American Civil War. The reference to the riverside in the song was believed to be

a coded way to refer to the Ohio River, where slaves could ﬁnd safe passage north. Spirituals

provided hope and strength for people in such difﬁcult times.

People sang this song over the years during movements for civil rights and to end wars.

The broad theme of the song is the hope that people will work at ﬁnding ways to get along better

and solve their problems peacefully.”

Grades 6-12 and Adult Do the lesson as outlined. Consider modifying the role-play to reﬂect a

situation in which each student is partially “right” and each is partially “wrong.”

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy and Art: Read Todd Parr’s The Peace Book. Have students create their own peace

books. Start each page with “Peace is…” and have students write or dictate and draw illustrations.

K-5 Art: Using mural paper, have students work together to paint a long, blue river. Give students

construction paper and markers to draw something they could “lay down” by the riverside that

would help create peace. (Laughing with friends, making someone a card, asking someone to

play.) Glue pictures onto the painting of the river.

K-5 Art: Read The Children’s Book of Peace: Children Around the World Share Their Dreams of

Peace in Words and Pictures by Jolene DeLisa. Make a version of the book as a whole class. Have

children write and draw or paint their ideas about peace.

2-5 Literacy: Read We Are All Born Free Mini Edition: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

in Pictures by Amnesty International. Have students write in their journals about one or two of the

rights and why they are important to them.

2-5 Literacy, Math and Art: Read aloud Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes or Sadako by

Eleanor Coerr. Teach students to make origami paper cranes. Encourage students to make

paper cranes for a particular goal or wish, as Sadako does. If there is interest from students

and a common goal, make 1000 paper cranes as a class and display them in the classroom.

Alternatively, you can start a chain of paper cranes to be added to when students take steps to

be peacemakers. These ideas can be adapted to a school-wide initiative. This is a good activity

for 100-day celebrations.

6-12 History: Look at the body of African American spirituals and the coded messages they

contain regarding the Underground Railroad. PBS has some terriﬁc curricular materials including

primary resources for exploring this theme.

6-12 History/Social Studies: Listen to the song in English, Hebrew and Arabic (link to Peter

Yarrow and David Broza version). Discuss its application to the Israeli – Palestinian conﬂict.

Consider and discuss additional cultural/social conﬂicts in the context of the song.

6-12 English: Provocative ﬁrst hand accounts from slaves who escaped to the north are available

online and through a book called When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the slave narrative collection.

The narratives contain more than 2,000 interviews conducted from 1936 to 1938 with elderly

former slaves. In what ways do these stories help us understand the role of spirituals in keeping

slaves’ cultural heritage alive and in helping slaves overcome the many obstacles facing them?

Explore the differences between oral and written histories. In what ways is this history of singing,

and speciﬁcally singing spirituals, still alive to this day?

6-12 Writing/Music: Ask students to write a modern day spiritual that addresses a social problem

they would like to see ﬁxed. Compare the history of spirituals to “storytelling” models of current

music. Work with the music department to set these spirituals to music. Consider a special

evening of theater and music to commemorate Black History Month using the narratives and

music the young people feel they would like to share with the larger community.

HANDOUT 1: Down By the Riverside Lyrics

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield

down by the riverside,

down by the riverside

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield

down by the riverside, study war no more.

I ain’t gonna study war no more.

I ain’t gonna study war no more

I ain’t gonna study war no more.

I’m gonna walk with that prince of peace

down by the riverside

down by the riverside,

I’m gonna walk with that prince of peace

down by the riverside

down by the riverside, study war no more.

I ain’t gonna study war no more. (6X)

I’m gonna lay down that atom bomb

down by the riverside,

down by the riverside

I’m gonna lay down that atom bomb

down by the riverside, study war no more.

I ain’t gonna study war no more. (6X)

I’m gonna shake hands around the world

down by the riverside,

down by the riverside

I’m gonna shake hands around the world

down by the riverside, study war no more.

I ain’t gonna study war no more. (6X)

This activity helps participants explore a different point of view or perspective and have an

opportunity to re-think their assumptions about a person or a situation.

WHAT TO KNOW

Perspective-taking is considered a social-cognition skill because when people engage in it,

both the social and cognitive parts of the brain are being used. Being able to understand the

perspective of another person is a key skill in resolving conﬂicts. Perspective taking, however,

is a developmental skill and will emerge gradually over time, so you will need to provide young

students (K-5) lots of practice.

Encouraging students to discuss their own feelings and those of others, as we have in previous

lessons, helps build readiness for the skill of perspective-taking. In everyday conﬂicts, make

it a habit to ask students to identify and explore why another person might have a different

perspective.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. be able to analyze a story and determine its point of view;

2. practice taking the perspective of another person;

3. appreciate the value of taking the perspective of another person; and,

4. explore the effects of teasing.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric

} Anchor Standards for Language: Conventions of Standard English



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.1-Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard

English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

LESSON 11: WALK IN ANOTHER’S SHOES

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4-Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and

multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful

word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5-Demonstrate understanding of ﬁgurative language, word

relationships, and nuances in word meanings.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS:

} Copy of “The Maligned Wolf” or Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten by Trisha Speed

Shaskan

} Signal bell or other way to note beginning and ending times

} Scripts for “Walking in Another’s Shoes”

} Optional: Picture book of Little Red Riding Hood

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER:

Retell Red Riding Hood (Integrated Arts) (15 minutes)

Introduce the lesson:

“Today, we’re going to think about what it means to ‘Walk in Another’s Shoes.’ Let’s start by trying

to remember together the story of “Little Red Riding Hood.” By doing so, we will be putting

ourselves in her shoes.”

Have students stand in a circle and begin to retell the story. One student begins and each student

will add one sentence at a time until the story is told. (Use the plot points below or the picture

book you have chosen to interject if the story becomes too rambling.)

Encourage students to (silently!) act out the different parts of the story that are shared. Students

can silently tiptoe when the wolf is racing to grandma’s house, pretend to tie grandma’s cap

around their heads, shiver with fear, etc.

There are a number of versions of the story, but here’s summary of the original story:

Little Red Riding Hood is walking through the woods to deliver food to her sickly grandmother.

A Big Bad Wolf wants to eat the girl and the food in the basket. He follows her and approaches

her, and she tells him where she is going. He tells the girl to pick some ﬂowers so that he can

get to the grandmother’s house ﬁrst, which he does. He goes to the grandmother’s house and

pretends to be the girl. He locks the grandmother in the closet and waits for the girl, disguised as

the grandma. When the girl arrives, she notices that her grandmother looks very strange. Little

Red then says, “What a deep voice you have!” (“The better to greet you with”), “Goodness, what

big eyes you have!” (“The better to see you with”), “And what big hands you have!” (“The better

to hug/grab you with”), and lastly, “What a big mouth you have” (“The better to eat you with!”),

at which point the wolf jumps out of bed, chasing Little Red Riding Hood around the house.

Suddenly, a woodcutter or a hunter or a lumberjack comes to the rescue. Little Red Riding Hood

and her grandmother emerge unharmed. The wolf runs away and everyone lives happily ever

after, except for the wolf.

NOTE: To summarize, here are a few key plot points to be sure students include:

} Red Riding Hood is sent to deliver a basket to her grandmother.

} She travels through the woods and meets a wolf.

} The wolf would like to eat the little girl and what’s in the basket.

} The wolf races ahead to the grandmother’s. (In some versions, he ties up and hides the

grandmother, in others he eats her.)

} The wolf impersonates the grandmother, trying to trick Red into coming closer.

} Just as the wolf is about to eat Red, a woodsman hears her cries and comes to rescue her

and her grandmother.

} If Needed: Use a picture book of Red Riding Hood as a prompt

MAIN ACTIVITY: The Wolf’s Story (15 Minutes)

Introduce the main activity: “Now that we have retold the story of Little Red Riding Hood as a

group, I want you to listen to another version of this story. While you’re listening, think about the

ways these versions are the same and how they are different. Ask yourself how you are feeling

about each character and whether those feelings are different from before.”

Tip: This story also can be used for the Conﬂict Escalates activity to analyze what causes conﬂict

to escalate.

THE MALIGNED WOLF

The forest was my home. I lived there and I cared about it. I tried to keep it neat and clean.

Then one day, while I was cleaning up some garbage someone had left behind, I heard some

footsteps. I leaped behind a tree and saw a little girl coming down the trail carrying a basket.

I was suspicious of her right away because she was dressed strangely—all in red, and with her

head covered up so it seemed as if she didn’t want people to know who she was.

Naturally, I stopped to check her out. I asked who she was, where she was going, where she

had come from, and all that. She turned up her nose and told me in a snooty way that she

was going to her grandmother’s house. As she walked on down the path, she took a candy

bar out of her basket and started to eat it, throwing the wrapper on the ground. Imagine that!

Bad enough that she had come into my forest without permission and had been rude to me.

Now she was littering my home. I decided to teach her a lesson.

I ran ahead to her grandmother’s house. When I saw the old woman, I realized that I knew

her. Years before, I had helped her get rid of some rats in her house. When I explained what

had happened, she agreed to help me teach her granddaughter a lesson. She agreed to hide

under the bed until I called her.

When the girl arrived, I invited her into the bedroom where I was in the bed, dressed like her

grandmother. The girl came in and the ﬁrst thing she did was to say something nasty about

my big ears. I’ve been insulted before so I made the best of it by suggesting that my big ears

would help me to hear her better. Then she made another nasty remark, this time about my

bulging eyes. Since I always try to stay cool, I ignored her insult and told her my big eyes help

me see better. But her next insult really got to me. She said something about my big teeth. At

that point, I lost it. I know I should have been able to handle the situation, but I just couldn’t

control my anger any longer. I jumped up from the bed and growled at her, “My teeth will

help me eat you better.”

No wolf would ever eat a little girl. I certainly didn’t intend to eat her. (She probably would

have tasted bad anyway.) All I wanted to do was scare her a bit. But the crazy kid started

running around the house screaming. I started chasing her, thinking that if I could catch her I

might be able to calm her down.

All of a sudden the door came crashing open and a big lumberjack was standing there with

an ax. I knew I was in trouble so I jumped out the window and got out of there as fast as

I could. And that’s not the end of it. The grandmother never did tell my side of the story.

Before long, word got around that I was mean and nasty. Now everyone avoids me. Maybe

the little girl lived happily ever after, but I haven’t.

At the end ask, “What makes “The Maligned Wolf” story different from the “Little Red Riding

Hood” story?”

Form Concentric Circles: The inner ring faces out and the outer ring faces in, so that the two

circles are facing one another. A person from the inner ring is paired with a person from the outer

ring for one question. After each question you’ll have the outer ring rotate one person to his

or her left, so that everyone has a new partner. Both outer- and inner-ring students will answer

each question. (Signal after a minute when to switch who is answering in the pair and after each

question when to shift partners by rotating to the left.)

Ask for a few volunteers after each question to share:

} What are your feelings toward Little Red Riding Hood in the original story?

} What are your feelings toward the wolf in the original story?

} Why do you think you felt that way about the wolf in the original story?

} In what ways are the two stories different?

} In the story told today, why did the wolf decide to teach the girl a lesson?

} What does the wolf do when he can’t control his anger any longer?

} Do you believe the wolf?

} Have your feelings toward the wolf have changed since you ﬁrst heard the original story?

Why or why not?

} What would our feelings be toward the wolf if we only heard his side of the story?

} Share a time when you had a different point of view about something from your mother

or father or another important adult in your life.

} What is something that you and a friend have different points of view about?

Discuss the concept of point of view:

“According to Little Red Riding Hood, the bad wolf was trying to eat her. According to the wolf, he

was merely trying to teach her a lesson.”

Explain that in a conﬂict each of the people involved has his or her own point of view.

Often we assume that one side (usually our side) has all the truth and goodness and that the

other side is all wrong and bad. But it is not usually that simple. Before deciding who is right and

who is wrong, it is important to understand both sides of a conﬂict.

DO A ROLE-PLAY: Walk in Another’s Shoes (15 minutes)

Break students into pairs and have students each trace and cut out two pairs of shoes on chart

paper. Label them Child (1) and Child (2)—or alternatively, if class is held outdoors, students can

draw the outlines of shoes in the dirt. The two pairs of shoes should face one another.

One child will step into the role of Child (1) and the other the role of Child (2). Give the children

their respective role-play cards and have them silently read them. Have the children step into the

outlined feet. Explain how these feet have magic powers to make the person standing in them

understand one child’s point of view about the conﬂict. Have each student take a turn being

Child (1) and Child (2). Child (1) ﬁrst explains her perspective while Child (2) listens. Child (2) then

explains his perspective. The children then switch their positions.

When it looks like all the pairs have shared both Child (1)’s and Child (2)’s perspectives,

Ask:

} How do you think each child is feeling right now? Why do you think Child (2) is angry?

Why is Child (1) angry? Do you think that Child (1) knew that Child (2) didn’t like to be

called “nerd”?

} What’s something Child (1) would like to say to Child (2), now that you have a better

understanding of how Child (1) was feeling? (Some possible options include: “I’m sorry,” “I

didn’t realize how you felt,” “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” “I won’t call you nerd” anymore,” etc.)

} What’s something Child (2) would like to say to Child (1)? (“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you

sooner it bothered me to be called that name,” etc.) Brainstorm with the children some

other ways that Child (2) could make amends to Child (1).

Bring the group back together. “Is it ever okay to tease someone?” Students will usually say they

know whether someone is just good-naturedly joking or not. But, as this activity points out,

sometimes it’s difﬁcult to know if your joking or well-intended kidding around is received as funny

or as a put-down. When something hurts another person, then it’s not very funny. What could

students do to make sure that their jokes aren’t hurting someone?

(Optional) If you have time, have children in pairs discuss the following. Give each person in the

pair two minutes to respond to each question.

} What are some conﬂicts you’ve had or seen that were caused by different points of view?

What happened? What were the two different points of view?

} How could a better understanding of the other person’s point of view have helped solve

these conﬂicts?

CLOSING: Go Round (5 Minutes)

Go Round: Why is being able to “walk in another’s shoes” important?

End by singing “Don’t Laugh At Me” together.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 As an alternate to having students retell the story themselves, read a short picture book of

Little Red Riding Hood to the students. (James Marshall’s Red Riding Hood or Jerry Pinkney’s

Little Red Riding Hood)

Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

For the role-play, use puppets to perform the role-play as a whole class. Follow up with

processing questions.

} How do you think each child is feeling right now? Why do you think Child (2) is angry?

Why is Child (1) angry? Do you think that Child (1) knew that Child (2) didn’t like to be

called “Nerd”?

} What is something you think Child (1) might like to say to Child (2), now that you have a

better understanding of how Child (2) was feeling? (Some possible options include: “I’m

sorry,” “I didn’t realize how you felt,” “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” “I won’t call you a nerd

anymore,” etc.)

} What is something Child (2) might like to say to Child (1)? (“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you

sooner it bothered me to be called that name,”etc.)

} Brainstorm with the children some other ways that Child (1) could make amends to Child (2).

Grades 6-12 Instead of having the group tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood, have two student

volunteers act out their version of the story. Now have them do it a second time through, only

this time the rest of the class can pantomime the feelings they believe the character of Little Red

Riding Hood is having. Ask for a few volunteers to share what feelings they were pantomiming.

For the Trouble with Teasing role play, have students write a script in pairs where a student is

teased and does not like it (read them the script provided for grades 2-5 in the instructions as a

model.) Student pairs will then use that script for role-play and processing.

In addition to the processing provided, discuss cultural differences with teasing. Explain: Some

families and cultures use teasing to show affection. Ask: What role does teasing have in your

home? In your culture? Why might it be important to understand someone else’s experience of

teasing (or perspective) on it? What agreements would we like to have in our classroom about

teasing? Add anything new to your group agreements and ask for commitment or buy-in from

the students.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-5 Literacy: Most literature presents an opportunity to explore point of view and its relationship

to conﬂict. Look for conﬂicts between two characters where students can role-play the two

different points of view. Fairy tales present a wonderful opportunity. For example, The Real Story

of the Three Little Pigs, by John Sceiszka, humorously explores the story of the Three Little Pigs

(Pufﬁn, 1996) from the wolf’s perspective. (This book is also available in Spanish, La Verdadera

Historia de los Tres Cerditos, Viking, 1991.)

K-5 Literacy: Have children do creative writing activities around point of view.

} Write as a Martian coming to your school for the ﬁrst time.

} Write as a ﬁsh looking out of a ﬁshbowl

} Write or dramatize a version of Jack and the Bean Stalk or another fairy tale from the

perspective of the giant.

K-5 Literacy: Use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast differences in the two stories.

K-5 Literacy: Have students play a perspective-taking game. Pairs of students sit back-to-back

or face-to-face with an object (a folder standing upright, for example) blocking the view of each

other’s work space. Use about ten blocks, have one person begin to build a design or structure.

As that person builds, he or she gives instructions to the other person to do the exact same

thing. For example: “Put the red block over the blue block. Now put the green block next to the

red block.” When ﬁrst partner is done, have partners look at each other’s creations. The creations

will be very different. Ask: Why did your designs come out so differently? Did one partner

misunderstand the instructions? Was one partner unclear on their directions? How could partners

have understood one another better? Repeat the activity as often as there is student interest. This

activity also helps improve communication skills.

K-12 Social Studies/History: Look at historical events from the points of view of all the players.

Have students think about the point of view of Columbus arriving in the “new world” and the

point of view of the Native Americans seeing him arrive in their world. The book Encounter by

Jane Yolen illustrates this concept well.

Grades 6-12 Literacy Arts/Art: Have students create comic strips from different points of view

to tell a more complete story. This can be an activity for each student or you can assign this as a

cooperative story telling assignment with each student taking a different perspective.

Grades 6-12 Social Studies: Examine all the inﬂuences on a person’s perspective through the

lens of current events: age, race, gender, religion, social class, experience, etc. Discuss bias as it

relates. See the Anti-Defamation League’s website for some excellent curricular resources.

HANDOUT 1: Walking in Another’s Shoes

THE MALIGNED WOLF

The forest was my home. I lived there and I cared about it. I tried to keep it neat and clean. Then

one day, while I was cleaning up some garbage someone had left behind, I heard some footsteps.

I leaped behind a tree and saw a little girl coming down the trail carrying a basket. I was suspicious

of her right away because she was dressed strangely—all in red, and with her head covered up so

it seemed as if she didn’t want people to know who she was.

Naturally, I stopped to check her out. I asked who she was, where she was going, where she had

come from, and all that. She turned up her nose and told me in a snooty way that she was going

to her grandmother’s house. As she walked on down the path, she took a candy bar out of her

basket and started to eat it, throwing the wrapper on the ground. Imagine that! Bad enough that

she had come into my forest without permission and had been rude to me. Now she was littering

my home. I decided to teach her a lesson.

I ran ahead to her grandmother’s house. When I saw the old woman, I realized that I knew her.

Years before, I had helped her get rid of some rats in her house. When I explained what had

happened, she agreed to help me teach her granddaughter a lesson. She agreed to hide under the

bed until I called her.

When the girl arrived, I invited her into the bedroom where I was in the bed, dressed like her

grandmother. The girl came in and the ﬁrst thing she did was to say something nasty about my

big ears. I’ve been insulted before so I made the best of it by suggesting that my big ears would

help me to hear her better. Then she made another nasty remark, this time about my bulging eyes.

Since I always try to stay cool, I ignored her insult and told her my big eyes help me see better.

But her next insult really got to me. She said something about my big teeth. At that point, I lost

it. I know I should have been able to handle the situation, but I just couldn’t control my anger any

longer. I jumped up from the bed and growled at her, “My teeth will help me eat you better.”

No wolf would ever eat a little girl. I certainly didn’t intend to eat her. (She probably would have

tasted bad anyway.) All I wanted to do was scare her a bit. But the crazy kid started running

around the house screaming. I started chasing her, thinking that if I could catch her I might be able

to calm her down.

All of a sudden the door came crashing open and a big lumberjack was standing there with an

ax. I knew I was in trouble so I jumped out the window and got out of there as fast as I could. And

that’s not the end of it. The grandmother never did tell my side of the story. Before long, word got

around that I was mean and nasty. Now everyone avoids me. Maybe the little girl lived happily ever

after, but I haven’t.

HANDOUT 2: Walking in Another’s Shoes

“TROUBLE WITH TEASING” Conflict Skit Script

Child (1): (in the cafeteria in front of a long table of friends):

We’re over here (waving), nerd. Come sit with us.

Child (2): (Pretending not to hear . . .)

Child (1): Nerd! (laughing) C’mon, we’re over here.

Child (2): I’m sitting with someone else . . .

Child (1): C’mon, we saved you a seat. It’s a nerd seat.

(friends laughing)

Child (2): I don’t want to sit with you. You’re a big jerk!

Child (1): Look who’s being the jerk! I saved you a seat, but forget it.

We don’t want you to sit here . . .

HANDOUT 3: Walking in Another’s Shoes

ROLE-PLAY CARD: Child (1)

The Conﬂict: Child (1) and Child (2) are good friends. Child (1) calls Child (2) a

name in a friendly teasing kind of way, but Child (2) is insulted and the conﬂict

starts to get worse.

Child (1)’s Point of View: You think it’s awesome that Child (2)’s always gets great grades

and you kiddingly tease her about it by calling her “Nerd.”

You’re not best friends, but you’re good enough friends that you’re sure she knows you’re

kidding. You’ve been calling her that name for a long time. And it always makes all your

other friends laugh. You don’t know why she’s acting so touchy about it all of a sudden and

you think she might just be putting on a big show to get the teacher’s attention.

ROLE-PLAY CARD: Child (2)

The Conﬂict: Child (1) and Child (2) are good friends. Child (1) calls Child (2) a

name in a friendly, teasing kind of way, but Child (2) is insulted and the conﬂict

starts to get worse.

Child (2)’s Point of View: You’ve always hated it when Child (1) called you Nerd, but you

played along with it because you didn’t want her to know it bothered you. But now you’ve

noticed that other friends are starting to call you Nerd, too. And you can’t help but feel

like everyone is making fun of you. You can’t believe how mean Child (1) is being and now

you’re angry and going to tell on her to the teacher.

This activity explores how conﬂicts escalate or worsen and explores some of the causes of

escalation.

WHAT TO KNOW

Conﬂicts can easily escalate because of the way our brains work. When a stressful situation

occurs, our amygdala, the part of the brain that integrates emotions, emotional behavior and

motivation, can become “hijacked”—that is, it can respond not just irrationally, but destructively.

Our more rational, thinking brain takes a back seat during these highly emotionally charged

moments, causing us to say or do things that are not conducive to resolving a conﬂict. Instead we

might even worsen it. This is what many people call the ﬁght or ﬂight response.

We call this escalation a ride on the “conﬂict escalator,” because while escalators are faster than

stairs, they do not go immediately up to the top like an elevator. There are incremental steps of

escalation, which, if properly understood, can help us bring ourselves back down the emotional

escalator to a place where our more rational brain can problem solve. The goal of understanding

how conﬂict escalates and understanding what we can do to de-escalate conﬂict is to give

ourselves a chance to resolve conﬂict without hurting each other. By giving young people a

chance to practice this skill in a safe setting, they will gain skills of emotional regulation and

intelligence that will serve them later during an actual conﬂict.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. be able to identify what people do that increases the level of conﬂict; and,

2. be able to identify conﬂict escalation triggers.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

LESSON 12: CONFLICT ESCALATES

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5- Demonstrate understanding of ﬁgurative language,

word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} Signal bell or other way to note beginning and end times

} Copies of the “The Backpack Conﬂict” scenario for each pair

} One sheet of chart paper for each pair or group

} Markers, scissors, tape or glue

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER: Paired share (5 minutes)

In pairs, have students take turns sharing: “Think of a time, recently or a while back, when you or

a friend or someone in your family had a conﬂict or a disagreement that kept getting worse and

worse.”

Ask for a few volunteers to share their example with the larger group.

“Today we’re going to look at a conﬂict and analyze how and why conﬂicts sometimes get worse

and worse.”

EXPLAIN: Conﬂict Escalates (5 minutes)

Ask the children to describe an escalator. If they are unfamiliar with escalators, explain that an

escalator is a set of stairs that moves either up or down. Draw the following escalator on the board.

Explain that when a conﬂict gets worse we say that it escalates. Put the deﬁnition of escalate on

the board (“to become or cause to become more intense or serious”) and mark at the bottom

of your escalator “You’re just a little upset” and at the top of the escalator mark “You’re VERY

ANGRY.”)

Give the following mini-lecture:

“Usually a conﬂict gets worse step by step. A conﬂict might begin when someone says or does

something that makes you a little upset. And then you might say something back (now that you’re

upset) that makes the other person even more upset. Before you know it, both of you are very

angry. Sometimes being in a conﬂict can feel like taking a ride on an escalator—once it starts,

you’re on your way to the top. Fortunately, understanding better what makes conﬂict escalate

can help you stop the escalator—before both of you are very angry and do or say something you

might later regret.”

MAIN ACTIVITY: The Backpack Conﬂict (20 minutes)

Take a feelings temperature of the group before you begin the main activity.

Read the following story:

While Danielle was getting her snack out of the coat closet, her backpack accidentally fell and

clunked Giorgio on the head. “Ow!” said Giorgio, rubbing his head. “You should be careful,

stupid.”

Danielle felt bad about hitting Giorgio, but she didn’t like being called stupid. It was an

accident! “Don’t be such a baby. You shouldn’t get in the way,” said Danielle.

Giorgio felt himself getting really angry. As Danielle bent over to pick up her backpack, Giorgio

kicked it into the classroom.

Mr. Avazian, their teacher, came back to the coat closet. “What’s all this shouting about?” he

asked. Danielle and Giorgio pointed at each other. “He/she started it!” they both said.

Process: “How might this skit help us understand the conﬂict escalator?”

Now ask two volunteer students in pairs to perform the Backpack skit.

Divide children into cooperative groups of two or three and give each group a copy of the

handout, “The Backpack Conﬂict,” a piece of chart paper, some paste, scissors, and crayons.

Have them cut “The Backpack Conﬂict” items into strips.

Have the children draw an escalator with four steps on the chart paper. As you read the story

one more time, have the children place the appropriate statements from the “Backpack Conﬂict”

handout on the chart paper, identifying each step where the conﬂict escalated.

When children have ﬁnished, discuss how the conﬂict escalated:

} What was the ﬁrst thing that happened in this conﬂict?

} What did you place at the top of your escalator?

} What things did the children do that made this conﬂict worse?

} What could the characters in the role-play have done differently so that the conﬂict would

not have escalated? How do you imagine they solved their problem?

As a group explore the things (in general) that we do or say that might escalate a conﬂict. Chart

the answers. Be sure to include some of the following: insults, name-calling, blaming, statements

like “You always” or “You never,” dredging up things from the past, physical confrontation, etc.

CLOSING: Escalator Pantomime (5 minutes)

Ask students to stand and walk around the room silently (with no physical touching and no

running) for one minute. The ﬁrst time walking around they will use their bodies to show what

escalating conﬂict looks like. The second time they will show what de-escalating conﬂict

looks like.

Process: “What are some signs we can see in others to know if a conﬂict might be escalating?

What are some signs we can see in ourselves? What are some signs we can see that conﬂict is de-

escalating in others?”

Have students form a circle and take three deep breaths before ending the session.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Instead of being split into pairs to act out the skit, split the class into two groups. One group

will be Danielle and one will be Giorgio. Take a feelings temperature of the class. Then in unison,

have all the Danielles say their lines and all the Giorgios say theirs. Take another feelings tem-

perature. Use the processing questions for grades 2-5.

For the conﬂict mapping part of the lesson, draw an escalator on the board and together as a

whole class identify places where the conﬂict escalated. Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for

the rest of the activity.

Grades 6-12 and Adult Read the Backpack Conﬂict to the participants, but instead of using

that script for the activity, have participants work in pairs to write a their own script. Caution

everyone that they should not use real names or easily identiﬁable conﬂicts in their own scripts.

These scripts should be ﬁction.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy and Art: The conﬂict escalator technique can be used to map out the conﬂicts in any

number of children’s books. A few good ones are: Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca C. Jones, The

Quarreling Book by Charlotte Zolotow, and It’s Mine by Leo Lionni. Students can use puppets to

act out the way conﬂicts are resolved.

K-1 Art: Have students use watercolor paints to express the mood of the characters in the stories.

K-1 Literacy and Art: Have students record times when they have been able to “come down

the escalator.” They can draw a picture and write or dictate a caption. Students could be given

their own “Coming Down the Escalator” journal. Journals can be shared and celebrated at class

meetings.

K-5 Literacy and Music: Have students write silly songs or raps in groups about the conﬂict

escalator. Add some percussion instruments. Encourage students to share and perform their

songs.

2-12 Literacy and Drama: Students can write their own one-act plays that illustrate a conﬂict that

escalates and deescalates. Partner students to act out one another’s plays.

2-12 Literacy and Art: Have students create a display or bulletin board in the classroom that

illustrates ways they have resolved a conﬂict in a positive way. Students can draw pictures of

the people involved and write a couple of sentences or create a storyboard or comic strip of the

conﬂict and hang it for others to see.

2-12 Social Studies/History: Use the conﬂict escalator to show students how conﬂicts escalate

on a large scale. Ask students to create a timeline of points of escalation and de-escalation, while

also charting associated feelings of those involved on both sides of the conﬂict. What themes

emerge across conﬂicts?

HANDOUT 1: Conﬂict Escalates

THE BACKPACK CONFLICT SCRIPT HANDOUT

Danielle: (reaches to get her snack out of a coat closet when her backpack accidentally falls and

hits Giorgio on the head)

Giorgio: (rubbing his head) Ow! You should be careful, stupid.

Danielle: (feeling bad about hitting Giorgio, but not liking being called stupid)

It was an accident! Don’t be such a baby. You shouldn’t get in the way.

(Danielle leans over to pick up her backpack)

Giorgio: (getting really angry now, as Danielle bends over to pick up her backpack, he kicks it)

Mr. Avazarian: What’s all the shouting about?

Danielle and Giorgio: (pointing at each other) He/she started it!

In this lesson participants learn how using “I” messages can slow down escalation, giving us a

chance to resolve a conﬂict.

WHAT TO KNOW

We’ve learned that conﬂict escalates in steps or stages. When we use “I” statements, we are

communicating to another person our experience, in contrast to a “you” statement which

assumes we know what the other person is thinking or feeling and can make that person

defensive. An “I” message is a statement that is subjective, not objective, so others will be less

inclined to argue the point. Done well, an “I” message will not include blaming or labeling of the

other person, but will demonstrate honest communication of a need to be met, even if that need

is only to be heard.

Like all skills, learning how to use I-messages takes practice and time to develop. Give students

plenty of opportunity to practice this in direct skill instruction such as the scenarios presented

below and in teachable moments, when conﬂicts between students present themselves or when

students need to share their own experiences or feelings.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to:

1. Identify “you” messages as conﬂict escalates:

2. Create an “I” message: and,

3. Role-play using an “I” message in a conﬂict situation.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration

LESSON 13: SLOWING DOWN THE ESCALATOR WITH “I” MESSAGES



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5- Demonstrate understanding of ﬁgurative language,

word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

MATERIALS:

} index cards

} pencils or markers

} large cut-out of a hand with a pointed ﬁnger

} colored construction paper or cardstock

} various art materials for simple decoration-stickers, dot markers, glitter glue

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER (5 minutes)

Hand out index cards. Ask students to write down how they would feel if you said to them, “You

always forget to put the art supplies away!” Have all students hold up their card for everyone to

see their feeling word. Invite students to look around at everyone else’s cards. Point out the range

of emotions. Ask: “What do these feelings have in common?”

Now have students write on the back of their index cards how they would feel if you said to them:

“I feel frustrated when the art supplies don’t get put away.” Have all students hold up their cards

for everyone to see their feeling words. Point out the range of emotions. Ask: “What do these

feelings have in common?”

MAIN ACTIVITY: “I” messages and Role Plays:

Introduce “I” messages.

Say: “The statement “You always forget to put the art supplies away” is a “you” message. “You”

messages begin with “you” and tend to escalate or make conﬂicts worse. The other person feels

attacked so they try to defend themselves or retaliate with a counterattack. And that can send

both parties up the conﬂict escalator. “You” messages are like a big ﬁnger pointing and poking at

another person. Almost everybody tries to defend themselves from the poking, pointing ﬁnger.”

Pull out your over-sized pointed ﬁnger cut-out. Use it in a silly way to “point the ﬁnger.” “You

always. . .” “You never …,” “You shouldn’t have …,” etc.

Ask students how it feels to have the (over-sized) ﬁnger pointed at them, even in a silly way.

Tell students that today they are going to practice using “I” messages instead of “you” messages.

“I” messages are a way of communicating in a clear, strong way. Using “I” messages can help you

express your feelings and make your needs known without being mean and without escalating a

conﬂict.

With an “I” message the speaker identiﬁes his feelings about a problem instead of attacking the

other person. This makes the listener feel more willing to try to solve the problem.

“I” messages usually have the following format (write on the board):

1. I feel

2. when

3. because

Practice making “I” messages with the group. Ask for volunteers to turn the following “you”

messages into “I” messages using the format for an “I” message. Have students use the over-

sized ﬁnger to point to themselves when they say an “I” statement.

You never save me a seat in the cafeteria. (I feel upset when you don’t save me a seat in the

cafeteria because I want to sit with you.)

You always leave me out when you play jump rope. (I feel hurt when you don’t let me play jump

rope because I worry that it’s because you think I’m not good at it or that you don’t like me.)

You keep racing to get in line in front of me. (I feel annoyed when you run in front of me to get in

line because it makes me feel rushed and stressed.)

ROLE PLAYS

Note: In advance, review the scenarios included on the role-play cards. If a scenario included

here applies to only one student in your classroom, substitute it with a less emotionally charged

scenario. For example, if there is only one child in your classroom in a wheelchair, instead of using

the scenario “A classmate makes fun of a student in a wheelchair,” substitute something related

such as, “A classmate makes fun of student with an arm or leg in a cast.”

Have two students volunteer to present the following skit. In this skit the conﬂict will escalate with

Child (1) using a “you” message.

Scenario 1: Child (1) is standing in line in the cafeteria when Child (2) pushes right in front of him

or her. Lights, Camera, Action, BEGIN!

After a minute or two call “FREEZE.” Now have Child (1) express his or her feelings about Child

(2)’s behavior using an “I” message, following the format for “I” messages as you wrote it on the

board. Allow Child (1) to use the “pointed ﬁnger” to point toward themselves when they say their

“I” message.

Break students in pairs and have them choose to be either Child (1) or Child (2). Ask children

to stand back to back with their partners. Describe scenario 2 as noted below and then have

children turn around to face their partners and enact it using an “I” message.

Scenario 2: Child (1) trips over Child (2)’s foot in the cafeteria and thinks Child (2) stuck it out on

purpose. (Optional: Allow a few students to have a turn using the “pointed ﬁnger.”)

When students have ﬁnished, discuss. Child (2): How did it feel when Child (1) used an “I”

message? Child (1): How was that different from the ﬁrst skit when a “you” message was used?

Use the handout “More Practice Making ‘I’ Messages.” Still working in pairs and back to back,

have students pick three role-plays each from a hat or box. For each scenario on their role-play

card, the child will make an “I” statement to her partner about her feelings about the action, using

the “I” message format as described on the board.

INTEGRATED ARTS: Mini- Finger Pointers (10 minutes)

IMPORTANT: You will want to set ﬁrm ground rules so that students use these props as intended.

Students work together to draw and cut out a smaller version (a kid-sized hand) of the pointed

ﬁnger used for the lesson. Divide students into groups of three or four. Have students glue

their ﬁnger to the cardstock. Students copy the “I” message format from the chart onto the

cardstock on or around the ﬁnger, and decorate the front with art materials. Each group writes

a slogan (“Got “I” messages?” or “Go down the escalator!”) on the back of the cardstock. Keep

the “pointed ﬁngers” in a bin. They can be used to for future role-plays to model “I” messages or

during teachable moments throughout the school day.

CLOSING: Positive “I” Messages (5 minutes)

Call the group back together. Tell students that “I” messages can be used to express positive

feelings too. “Let’s do a go round using positive “I” messages, letting someone or a group know

something that we feel good about”.

Model for the class: “I feel inspired when I see our class learn a new skill and see them get better

and better at it.”

Other examples:

} “I feel appreciated when you make a picture for me.”

} “I feel happy when you share your feelings.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 During the Gathering, have students draw a face on the index cards instead of writing how

they would feel. For the role-plays, read aloud the extra scenarios to the students.

Follow instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

6-12 Instead of practicing the I-messages as a large group, have students in the large group

together write I-message scenario cards based on conﬂict that they have been involved in, which

you can then project for the class to use as they practice them. Remind the young people to not

use names in their conﬂict scenarios.

For the Integrated Arts project have students in groups write and record PSAs to be used on your

school PA system to teach about I-Messages and why they work.

Follow instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-5 Literacy: Read Dr. Seuss’ The Zax. Have students draw a picture of the Zax and write a new

rule for the Zax to live by, instead of “Never Budge,” that might help them stay off the escalator.

Older kids can write their ideas as a letter to one of the Zax. Display students’ work or make a

class book called “The Zax New Rules to Live By.” (See handout.)

K-5 Literacy and Art: Have students create “conﬂict toolboxes,” decorated boxes ﬁlled with items

that represent key skills you need to resolve a conﬂict peacefully. Some possible things to include

might be a large cutout letter “I,” as a reminder to use “I” messages, cutout shoes for perspective

taking, etc. Invite students to have as much fun as possible with this. Then during transitions, such

as when the class is coming back from recess or lunch, ask a few students to share what they

have in their toolboxes, as a way to refocus and reconnect the group. Or invite students to get the

conﬂict toolboxes when they are in a conﬂict and need help.

K-12 Literacy and Social Studies: Start a T-chart with one side labeled “you” messages and one

side labeled “I” messages. Make a box on each side for tally marks. As you read stories and/or

news articles or explore history, record with words and tally marks any “you” or “I” messages

you hear. Encourage students to add to the chart when they come across examples in their

independent reading. Add to the chart examples from daily life in or out of the classroom. Discuss

their experiences with both of these kinds of statements.

2-12 Literacy: Have students write a short story involving a conﬂict and how it’s solved. Have

students brainstorm lists of characters and traits on their own and choose two characters. As a

group, brainstorm a master list of conﬂicts that could be included in their short story (animals

arguing over where to build their nest, siblings trying to decide the best way to earn money for a

special trip, etc.) Have students choose a conﬂict for their story. In the story, encourage students

to 1) include the characters going up the escalator, 2) show one character having an “aha!”

moment where they realize they are on the escalator and decide to change course, and 3) include

at least three different actions (including “I” messages) that are taken that help get the characters

off the escalator.

2-5 Literacy and Drama: Follow the procedure for the short story above, except have students

write it as a play in cooperative groups. Have each group practice acting out and directing their

play for the class. Optional: Film student performances. If permissions are obtained, share via

parent email or show ﬁlms during school-wide open house.

Grades 6-12 Media Literacy: Have students look at their social media newsfeeds for examples

of “I” Messages vs. “You” messages. Compare channels: which is the most negative newsfeed?

Which is the more positive? How might students inﬂuence that trend?

HANDOUT 1: Slowing Down the Escalator with I Messages

MORE PRACTICE MAKING “I” MESSAGES ROLE-PLAY CARDS

A classmate keeps teasing you about your

glasses. They may not mean to hurt you, but

it bothers you anyway.

A friend of yours wants you to join in making

fun of a homeless person.

Some kids at lunch make fun of the clothes

you are wearing.

A classmate makes fun of a student in a

wheelchair.

You hear that a student you don’t know well

is spreading rumors about you that aren’t

true.

A friend of yours is being teased for having

braces.

Your parents do not speak English. You ﬁnd

out that someone in your class, who you

thought was your friend, makes fun of your

parents behind your back.

Someone on the bus always bullies you to

give up your seat for him when he gets on.

HANDOUT 2: Slowing Down the Escalator with I Messages

Draw a picture of the Zax arguing. Use speech bubbles to show what they might be saying to one

another.

Draw a picture of the Zax living by their new rule. What will they say now?

Create and write a new rule for the Zax to live by.

In this activity participants explore the bullying dynamic and the roles and behaviors associated

with bullying, and identify bullying behavior.

WHAT TO KNOW

Conﬂict is a normal part of life. Rather than hurt relationships, when conﬂict is handled

productively, it can make relationships healthier and even closer. Bullying, however, is a much

different issue. According to bullying expert Dan Olweus, “a person is bullied when he or she is

exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons,

and he or she has difﬁculty defending himself or herself.” Bullying is not conﬂict; it’s more like

abuse.

There are four “tests” for behavior to be considered bullying, which can be remembered by the

acronym PAIN. For it to be bullying it must:

reﬂect an imbalance of Power: the person engaging in bullying has a real or perceived

power over the person being bullied (i.e. age, size, popularity, role, group, etc.)

A be Aggressive: (including various forms of aggression: physical, emotional, relational)

I be Intentional: in person or via social media (cyberbullying)

N occur Numerous times (Repetitive)

Bullying of any kind, including cyberbullying, has wide-reaching effects including increased

absences from school, depression and anxiety, trouble sleeping, and lower academic

achievement, among others. Students who engage in bullying behavior may be more likely to

use alcohol and drugs, be involved in criminal activity, or go on to abuse domestic partners or

children. Students who witness bullying are affected, too, possibly experiencing mental health

issues and school absences.

As most bullying incidents occur away from the eyes of adults, creating a culture of caring and

intolerance for cruelty of any kind is key to effective interventions.

Many schools and programs have agreed-upon terms that are used for the different roles people

play (“aggressor”, “victim”, “defender”, etc.) in a bullying situation. While the terms can be helpful

in understanding the bullying dynamic, with students we strive to identify the behavior, not the

child when dealing with bullying situations (“bullying”, “being bullied”, etc.). This prevents labeling

a child in ways that can become detrimental.

LESSON 14: UNDERSTANDING BULLYING

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OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. explore components of bullying (including cyberbullying);

2. earn the roles that students can play in bullying situations; and,

3. understand positive choices they can make when they witness or experience bullying.

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6-Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic

and domain-speciﬁc words and phrases sufﬁcient for reading, writing, speaking, and

listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in

gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to

comprehension or expression.

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PREPARATION AND MATERIALS:

} A small smiley-face made from yellow paper.

} Copy “The Heart of the Matter” visual onto large chart paper.

} Four pieces of chart paper - 1 each with the heading: “Yes,” “No,” “I Don’t Know,” and “It

Depends.”

} Different colored construction paper circles (1-2 blue, 3-4 orange, up to 15 red, 15 green)

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER: SING! (5 minutes) (Integrated Arts)

Sing “This Little Light of Mine” or “If I Had a Hammer.” Act out the refrain with agreed upon hand

motions.

MAIN ACTIVITY: The PAIN Bullying Deﬁnition (10 Minutes)

Introduce the lesson: “Today we are going to talk about bullying and learn what bullying is and

what it isn’t. Let’s start with what you already know or think you know about bullying.”

Ask: “What is Bullying?” Write student responses on chart paper.

After students have offered their deﬁnitions of bullying, share the Dan Olweus deﬁnition. If your

school district or program uses a particular deﬁnition, use it instead.

} Dan Olweus bullying deﬁnition: “A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly

and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she

has difﬁculty defending himself or herself.”

Explain that the negative actions can be verbal (calling names), physical, social (spreading

rumors, excluding) or even electronic (saying mean things online or in social media). Share with

students the PAIN acronym, explaining the four components. It’s not bullying unless it:

reﬂects an imbalance of Power: the person engaging in bullying has a real or perceived

power over the person being bullied (i.e. age, size, popularity, role, group, etc.)

A is Aggressive: (including various forms of aggression: physical, emotional, relational)

I is Intentional: in person or via social media (cyberbullying)

N occur Numerous times (Repetitive)

Place chart paper in four parts of the room: 1 piece of paper with the heading “Yes,” 1 with the

heading, “No,” 1 with the heading “I Don’t Know,” and 1 with the heading “It depends.”

Describe a scenario and ask students to move to the chart paper that describes their answer to,

“Is this bullying?”

102

} Every day after school Saraﬁna, a very popular student, waits for Haley outside of the

gym door. On the walk home, she follows behind Haley, taunting her. Saraﬁna usually ends

up pushing Haley to the ground and doesn’t leave until Haley is in tears. As she leaves

Saraﬁna says, “What are you? A big baby??” (Process by asking the group who moved to

“yes” why they chose that answer.)

} Eli and Zach are on the same soccer team. They don’t sit together at lunch, but when Finn,

a friend of Zach’s, sees them together after school he says to Zach, “Why are you hanging

out with that loser?” (Process by asking the group who moved to “It Depends” on why

they chose that answer. Summarize: It’s only bullying if this happens repeatedly. But point

out, while it might not be bullying, it is social cruelty and something our community of

caring does not tolerate.)

} Nacala and Tessa have been friends since kindergarten. Tessa didn’t invite Nacala to her

sleepover and Nacala confronts Tessa at recess. “You’re a big jerk,” she says. (Process

by asking the group who moved to No why they chose that answer. Point out that while

Nacala and Tessa are having a conﬂict, there is no imbalance of power or repetition to

this incident. We hope that they will be able to resolve this conﬂict by discussing it and go

back to being friends.

} Sanjib and Nathanial both attend the same after-school program. Sanjib is the leader

of the program’s pickup basketball game and never lets Nathanial play with the group

when he asks. (Process by asking the group who moved to “I don’t know” why they

answered that way. Explain: even though Sanjib has never said anything mean to

Nathanial, repeatedly excluding someone when you’re in a position of authority is a form

a bullying.)

THE HEART OF THE MATTER (15 minutes)

“Today we’re going to make a chart together that will help us better understand what happens

during bullying situations. This will help you recognize bullying when it’s happening and be able to

make some choices about how you want to respond.”

Show students the chart you have made, “The Heart of the Matter.”

} Point to the center of the circle. Say, “The center or the “Heart of the Matter” is where

someone is being bullied.” Show students the blue circle that represents the person being

bullied. Tape the blue circle onto the center of the circle. (Explain that sometimes there is

more than one person being bullied, but often the person is alone.) Ask how this person

might be feeling (terrible, embarrassed, afraid).

} Show students the orange circles that represent the people doing the bullying. Share that

there may be only one person doing the bullying, but often there is more than one person.

Tape those onto the center as well.

} Point to the edge of the larger circle. Say, “The Outer Edge is where people are when

they are witnessing bullying and they have a choice to make. Are they going to join in and

support the people doing the bullying, do nothing, or try to help the person that’s being

bullied? People don’t stay here long because bullying usually is a brief (though repeated)

103

incident.” Show students the green and red circles you have made to represent the people

on the Outer Edge.

} Point to the inner circle.“The Inner Circle is where people are once they have made a

choice. What happens here can determine the outcome of the bullying incident, whether

the person is helped or hurt further.”

Tell students that they are going to be thinking about the behaviors and actions that might

happen in these circles. Pair students and have them sit face to face.

“Let’s focus ﬁrst on the initial bullying behavior. What types of behaviors might we see from a

person who is bullying? What would they do? What would they say? How would they look?”

Give students a minute each to share their ideas with their partners. Ask for a few volunteers

to share with the large group. Write their responses on and around the orange circles you have

taped on the chart.

“Now, we’re going to talk about the people on the Outer Edge, the ones with a choice to make

about how to respond.” Put two of the partner pairs together to make a group of four. Give

students a few minutes to discuss all the ways that someone on the Outer Edge could respond to

the bullying they are witnessing.

Then give each group two green circles, two red circles and some markers. On each of the

red circles students write one choice that supports the bullying incident. On the green circles,

students write one choice that would help stop the bullying and help the person being bullied.

(Supporting the bullying can be mimicking the bullying, encouraging , laughing, or just being in

physical proximity to the person who is bullying, or saying nothing. Supporting the person who is

being bullied or “standing up” to the bullying may mean walking over to the person being bullied,

telling the the others to stop, or getting an adult to intervene.)

Have students tape their circles on the Outer Edge. Share responses.

Discuss:

} Have you ever responded in any of these ways? (Remind students not to use names.)

} What do you think it feels like to __________________________? (choose one of

their ideas)

} What would happen if many people, three or four or even seven people watching the

incident made “green” choices?

CLOSING: A Wave of Kindness: (Integrated Arts) (10 Minutes)

Show this video (www.fun107.com/falmouth-students-ﬁght-bullying-with-video-that-

encourages-a-wave-of-kindness-video/ ) made by students about how standing up in one

small way can make a big difference.

104

Have students draw a picture of themselves on a surfboard in the ocean. Have them write a

sentence or two on their picture about a “small act of kindness” they could do for someone being

bullied. Post the Waves of Kindness around your room.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Modify the PAIN acronym to simpler language. Emphasize that bullying is repeated and “on

purpose.”

Read The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts. “What kinds of behavior is Sally

noticing? How does it make her feel? What would you do if you were Sally? What do you think of

how she handles the situation?” Continue with The Heart of the Matter as in the grades 2-5 Main

Activity, but do as a whole group. Tape green and red circles on the Outer Edge before beginning

the lesson. Write students’ ideas as they are shared.

Emphasize to younger students the importance of reporting bullying incidence to adults.

Younger students will have difﬁculty distinguishing bullying from conﬂict, but noticing when

someone is being treated unkindly will be the task.

6-12 Exploring Bullying: Rotation Stations

Prepare four areas of your room with the following questions. Instead of the “Is it bullying?”

scenarios, have students, who are split into four even groups, rotate from one station to the next,

answering on chart paper the questions. After 2 minutes, ask the groups to rotate to the next

station. The four questions are:

} Thinking about your school (and beyond including afterschool and social media), in what

classes, activities, projects, and events do you ﬁnd the most incidents of bullying?

} Thinking about your school (and beyond including afterschool and social media), in what

classes, activities, projects, and events do you ﬁnd the most support and caring?

} Thinking about your school (and beyond including afterschool and social media), what

rules or ways of doing things lead to bullying?

} Thinking about your school (and beyond including afterschool and social media), what

rules or ways of doing things make all people feel cared for and accepted?

The activity may be completed on bullying in general and/or with a special emphasis on

cyberbullying. Complete the activity as planned otherwise, but close with a quick go-round, “One

thing I want to remember from today is. . .”

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: Read The Juice Box Bully by Bob Sornson. Have students do an opinion continuum

in response to the prompt: Do you think having a pledge in our classroom about standing up

for each other would work? One end of the line indicates “really agree” the other end is “really

disagree.” Gather students and discuss their thoughts.

105

K-5 Literacy: Have students write poems about bullying. Encourage students to write from different

points of view (aggressor, target, etc.). With younger students, write a poem together as a class.

2-5 Literacy: Part of the popular Joshua T. Bates series, Joshua T. Bates, Trouble Again (Random

House, 1998) by Susan Richards Shreve, is a good chapter book to discuss standing up to bullies

with grades 2-5. Also use the book as a launching point to discuss the effects of peer pressure on

our behaviors. Ask: Has there ever been a time that you did something like make fun of another

kid, just to ﬁt in? How can we make caring “cool” in our school? Have students respond to the

writing prompt, “If I were in Joshua’s shoes…….”

Use the book King of the Playground by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor to further discuss how to

respond to bullies.

2-5 Literacy: Have students practice doing something great artists, great scientists, and great

writers do regularly: watching and listening. Give students an area of the school to focus on for

one week. Choose an area where there is less supervision (cafeteria, hallways, playground). Each

day have students write in their journals, “Today I saw…” and write down what they noticed about

how people treated one another. Remind students not to use names. Share student journal entries

during class meetings and discuss. “How did you feel when you saw this happen? How did you see

people respond? How can we encourage more positive choices and discourage negative ones?”

2-5 Research, Literacy, Math, Technology: Have students do online research to ﬁnd information

on bullying statistics. Have them choose 3-4 questions to guide their research. (Is bullying

more common among girls or boys? Where does it happen? etc.) Use graph paper, chart paper,

drawings, or computer programs to share their research.

6-12 History: Explore the history of bullying as it links to world history. Operation Respect’s

DLAM program is in Israel and is working to bridge understanding and civility between

Palestinian and Jewish young people. Show this video about Operation Respect in Israel

and discuss connections to history and healing from the oppression of one group by another:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYne2FXxrIs

6-12 Literature: Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s book Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers is the coming of

age tale of a 12-year old Japanese-American girl living in Hawaii named Lovey Nariyoshi. Lovey

struggles to ﬁt in in a world where it feels important to have “straight blond hair and long Miss

America legs.” Use this book as a launching point to discuss the various ways that young people

in your school who do not ﬁt in, or are different in some way, are treated. Also explore the role of

peer pressure in acts of bullying.

6-12 Math: Have students conduct polls about attitudes towards bullying in your school and

present those polls in your student newspaper in graphs and info-graphics. What statistical tests

might you apply to this research?

106

} The Heart of the Problem is where someone is being bullied. There can be one or more

people actively doing the bullying.

} The Outer Edge is where people are when they are witnessing bullying and they have

a choice to make. Are they going to join in and support the people doing the bullying,

do nothing, or try to help the person who is being bullied? People don’t stay here long

because bullying usually is a brief (though repeated) incident.

} The Inner Circle is where people are once they have made a choice. What happens here

can determine the outcome of the bullying incident, whether the person is helped or hurt

further.

HEART

OF THE

MATTE R

WITNESS

What are

you going

to do?

WITNESS

What are

you going

to do?

WITNESS

What are

you going

to do?

WITNESS

What are

you going

to do?

WITNESS

What are

you going

to do?

WITNESS

What are

you going

to do?

107

In this activity participants look at the role of bystanders in instances of bullying and other unkind

behavior and identify appropriate ways to respond by moving from being a bystander to being

an “upstander.”

WHAT TO KNOW

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bullying involves an imbalance of power. Someone who bullies might use his or her social clout

or larger size or faster wit to put someone down and then keep him or her down. Often, the

ones who have power are given it simply because of the groups to which they belong. Because

some groups enjoy unique power and status, while others are disadvantaged, someone might be

harassed simply because of who s/he is. Some students have been targeted because they are, or

are perceived to be, gay; because they are Latino or Middle Eastern; because they have special

needs; or because they are perceived to be “different: in some way.

By harassing someone believed to be “less than” themselves to enhance their own power,

someone who bullies others helps maintain and reinforce bias in the larger society. In effect,

people who bully spread hate and lead others who witness their harassment to believe someone

of a certain race, size, sexual orientation, etc. deserves such treatment.

Over time, people who are bullied may begin to believe deep within themselves that they are not

as good as others, simply because of who they are, what they like, where they live, etc. Often,

they are being bullied for something about themselves that they cannot change. Or they might

be targeted for something about themselves that, to remain true to themselves, they should not

change (i.e., religious identity, getting good grades, etc.).

People who bully can seem powerful, but they gain their power through the response of those

who witness bullying behavior. Our silence, laughter, or tacit encouragement of bullying gives

power to the person exhibiting the behavior. That person can be stripped of that power when

someone stands up for the person being bullied; and bullying can be stopped in its tracks.

Studies show that peer intervention is effective in stopping bullying in a majority of instances.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. be able to identify ways to respond to unkind behavior;

2. practice assertiveness skills and “I” messages;

3. be able to decide when to intervene or not intervene; and,

4. commit to being an upstander.

LESSON 15: MOVING FROM BYSTANDER TO UPSTANDER

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COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 - Present information, ﬁndings, and supporting evidence

such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development,

and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS:

} Chart paper or chalk board

} Index cards

} The Heart of the Matter chart from Exploring Bullying lesson

} Markers

} Variety of art materials for self-portraits

} Paper for writing Upstander Pledges

GATHER TOGETHE/WARM UP/BELL RINGER: “We Care” Word Sculptures! (10 Minutes)

“Today we are going to explore more about bullying and really look at the ways we can be

‘upstanders,’ or people who stand up to bullying, and stop bullying in its tracks.” Start by giving

the instruction that the whole group spells out the words, “We Care” using their bodies. Allow

young people to self organize to do this.

Process: “What was one thing that went well during this activity?”

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MAIN ACTIVITY: Being an Upstander (10 minutes)

“Raise your hand if you have ever witnessed someone else being bullied or treated unkindly by

other people.”

(IMPORTANT: Remind students not to use anyone’s name in order to respect privacy.)

Pair students and ask them to respond to the following:

} “Think of one of those times you saw someone being treated this way. What did it feel like

to witness someone being treated that way?”

} “How did you respond when you saw that happen?”

} “How did you feel about your response?”

} “Would you do the same thing again?”

Have a few volunteers share their responses.

Explain that you are going to turn your attention to what we can do when we see, or witness

someone being treated unkindly.

“Sometime when a person witnesses something happen, we say that the person was a

“bystander,” which can mean that the person is “standing by” or not taking any action.”

Direct students’ attention to “The Heart of the Matter” chart. Ask where they think a bystander,

someone who is not taking any action, would be on this chart. Have a few students share their

ideas with the whole group.

It could be argued that the person stays on the Outer Edge if they choose not to act, or that by

not acting, they are implicitly supporting the bullying, and they move into the Inner Circle. There’s

not a “right” answer, but it’s a good question to spark dialogue.

“You may think the person who is bullying has all the power, but witnesses or bystanders have

tremendous power, especially if they work together and support each other. As we saw with our

“Heart of the Matter” chart, the more people who make the choice to help, the greater the chance

the bullying will stop.”

Write “Upstander” at the top of a piece of chart paper. Write the following deﬁnition: Someone

who takes action or stands up for someone when he or she witnesses someone being bullied or

being treated unkindly or when he or she is being bullied or treated unkindly.

IMPORTANT: Emphasize to students that if they see someone being hurt physically or see an

interaction that might escalate into physical violence, they should not confront the bully. Rather,

they should quickly go and get help from an adult. Discuss with students signs that might indicate

such a physical threat (very angry voices, someone crying, the aggressor being in someone’s

personal space, threats being made.) As mentioned above, students should report any incidences

they believe to be bullying to an adult. Note that students will confuse conﬂicts and bullying as

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they continue to learn. You will hear many reports of bullying that are not, in fact, bullying. Praise

the child who comes to you for caring and for trying to help.

NOTE: You may want to go over Telling vs. Tattling: Telling is trying to help someone, tattling is

trying to get someone in trouble.

Brainstorm as a group some things you can do when you see someone being hurt or bullied or

you are being hurt or bullied.

Record children’s ideas on the chart under your “upstander” deﬁnition using two columns:

1) ideas that mean confronting the person who is bullying and 2) ideas that do not involve

confrontation. Some possible suggestions include:

} Refuse to join in (doesn’t involve confrontation).

} Report bullying you know about or see to an adult (doesn’t involve confrontation).

} Invite the person being hurt to join your group (might involve confrontation).

} Speak out using an “I” message. Say, “I don’t like it when you treat him like that.”

“I want you to stop calling him that name.” “I’m going to tell a counselor right now.”

(Does involve confrontation.)

} Be a friend to the person who has been bullied by showing him you care about him:

put an arm around him, give him a put-up, etc. (doesn’t involve confrontation).

} Distract the bully with a joke or something else so she stops the behavior (does involve

confrontation).

Now tell students they will do an activity where they will practice responding to bullying or

unkindness with assertive (strong, but not mean) messages.

THE UPSTANDER MACHINE (10 minutes)

Introduce the next activity:

“It takes practice and courage to act strong without being mean when you or another child are

being treated unkindly or bullied.” Tell the students you would like them to pretend they are an

Upstander machine.

To form the machine, have children break into two lines facing one another about three feet

apart. They should imagine that they have on/off switches on their arms. When you touch an arm,

the Upstander machine switches on. Once a child is “switched on,” that child should give out a

strong (but not mean) Upstander message.

Walk along the aisle between the students. Recite a scenario from the ones listed below. Then

choose a child randomly and switch him or her on with a touch on the arm for a strong Upstander

response. Practice with several students before moving on to another scenario. Some possible

situations:

} Someone calls you a mean name. (Possible response: “I feel hurt and angry when you call

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me that name. Please don’t do that.”)

} Someone tells you to do something you don’t want to do. (“No, thanks. I’m not

interested.”)

} Someone is calling someone else a bad name. (“That’s not cool. Be cool.”)

} Someone is making fun of someone because she is blind.

} Someone wants you to spread a rumor about someone else.

} Someone tells you can’t play in the game.

} Someone demands another student’s afternoon snack or lunch money.

} Someone tells everyone not to let someone else play with you.

} Someone posts something mean about a classmate online

Ask for a few volunteers to share:

} What are some of the feelings you had during this activity?

} What might happen if everyone were an upstander instead of just a bystander?

} What are some questions you still have about this activity? (respond to questions or chart

them to respond to at a later date.)

SELF-PORTRAIT PLEDGES (10 minutes) (Integrated Arts)

Provide large construction paper, art materials, and white construction paper for speech bubbles.

Have students create a large self-portrait, including their whole body to show themselves being

an upstander. Students make speech bubbles that show something they can imagine themselves

doing to help someone who is being bullied. Have students start with “I can….” “I can give

someone a compliment.”; “I can ask a friend to help with me.” “I can say, ‘Don’t listen to them.’

Display self-portraits where others can see them.

CLOSING: Upstander Celebration (5 Minutes)

Do a group high-ﬁve, special hand shake or ﬁst bump to celebrate their work!

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Ask: “Raise your hand if you ever witnessed someone else being bullied or treated unkindly

by other people.”

Ask the questions below in a whole group format.

(IMPORTANT: Remind students not to use anyone’s name in order respect privacy.)

} “Think of one of those times you saw someone being treated this way. What did it feel like

to witness someone being treated that way?”

} “How did you respond when you saw that happen?”

} “Would you do the same thing again?”

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Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity, OR do the Upstander Machine as

a separate session.

Emphasize to younger students the importance of reporting bullying incidence to adults.

Younger students will have more difﬁculty distinguishing bullying from social cruelty, but noticing

when someone is being treated unkindly is of value no matter the deﬁnition.

For the Self-portrait Pledges, have students dictate their pledges as needed. Accept “Go tell an

adult” as an appropriate response for this age level.

6-12 AND ADULT Follow the instructions as outlined, but use the following scenarios for the

Upstander Machine:

} Someone much larger and stronger threatens to ﬁght a friend of yours in public.

} Someone has spread a very bad rumor about someone online that has gone viral.

} Someone repeatedly calls a kid a very hurtful “nickname” at lunch that makes everyone

laugh.

} Someone makes fun of a kid’s clothing.

} Someone insults another person’s parents for being of a different race or religion.

} Someone posts a picture of someone else online without their knowledge to make fun of

them.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner features a narrator who is bullied by

Bootsie as soon as the two girls are out of their mothers’ sight. Read story aloud. Stop and allow

students to practice what they might say to Bootsie or what they might do in the narrator’s shoes.

Ask what the students think about the ending. What do they think of how the narrator and the

narrator’s mother handled it? What would they have done differently? Will the ending change

Bootsie’s behavior in the future?

K-1 Literacy: One by Kathryn Otoshi features numbers and colors as characters (blue is being

bullied by red), but ultimately teaches about respect and having the courage to stand up for

what’s right.

K-5 Literacy and Art: Provide students with materials for making a mobile: several index cards,

yarn or ribbon, a wire hanger. On each card students write one idea for being an upstander and

illustrate it on the back. Have students punch holes in the top of the index cards, thread them with

yarn and tie them to the hanger. Hang projects for display.

K-5 Literacy and Technology: Have students write and illustrate a class “How-to” or comic book

for being an Upstander.

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K-5 Geography: On chart paper taped together, have children draw one huge map of your school

and its school grounds (perhaps teaming with other classrooms who would take certain zones

of the school). As an extension of the Caring Being, have students create the “Caring School.”

Brainstorm a list of where they would most like to feel safe (the playground, the bus, the cafeteria,

the library, home, etc.). Have them write in the words and ideas that they would like to see

characterized in each place.

2-5 Literacy: Read Loser by Jerry Spinelli. Ask students to think about where different characters

in the story would be on the Heart of the Matter chart. “What choices do you see characters

making when Zinkoff is being treated unkindly? What other choices could they make?” Have

students write a letter to Zinkoff or one of the other characters in the story, giving them advice on

how to handle the situation.

6-12 Social Studies and Literacy: Because bullying at school reﬂects power dynamics at work in

society at large, explore with young people how characteristics such as a person’s size, race, age,

culture, or perceived sexual orientation inﬂuence whether one is bullied at your school. Concepts

such as bias, discrimination, prejudice, privilege, and internalized oppression can be explored

through the lens of bullying at your school:

1. Who are the targets of harassment in your school?

2. What gives some students advantages over others?

3. How might being told you are inferior because of some unchangeable characteristic affect

someone’s self-image over time?

4. What is a hate crime?

5. What can a student do to challenge bias?

Explore the historical roots of these power dynamics. Explore how these power dynamics are

reﬂected in literature.

6-12 English/Literacy: Create PSAs that encourage moving from bystander to upstander and

read them over your school’s PA system every morning.

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Our ﬁnal theme within Don’t Laugh at Me builds on all the skills students have learned through

previous lessons to help them identify differences and similarities in a non-judgmental way and to

become sensitive to acts of prejudice and bias.

Children and adolescents go through different stages of understanding the world around

them. Their interest in learning who they are personally makes them aware, and, in the case of

teenagers, hyperaware of ways they are different from or similar to others who share their world.

More importantly, they absorb the often unspoken attitudes that the people around them hold

toward those differences – be they positive or negative.

} Lesson 16: “If I Had a Hammer” – Theme song

A lesson to introduce the theme of Celebrating Diversity using the music and lyrics of If I

Had a Hammer

} Lesson 17: Human Bingo

A lesson to explore and celebrate differences

} Lesson 18: Cross the Line – We belong to many groups

A lesson to explore differences in people’s backgrounds and the experiences related to

those backgrounds.

} Lesson 19: Family Quilt

A lesson to celebrate the diversity of families

THEME 4: CELEBRATING DIVERSITY

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In this activity participants explore and prepare for the lessons of the cornerstone curriculum

theme of Celebrating Diversity through the song “If I Had a Hammer.”

WHAT TO KNOW

“If I Had a Hammer” was written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays in 1949 as an anthem for many

progressive concerns of the day and most speciﬁcally the Labor Movement. The song features

images of blue-collar workers (hammers and bells to suggest factories, etc.) as a rallying call for

justice and equality. The “song to sing” alluded to in the third verse relates to labor songs and

people collectively using their voice to address social ills. The Labor Movement led to unions

that helped barter for higher wages, safer work conditions, health care and stopped child labor,

among other things.

“If I Had a Hammer” became a top ten hit when recorded by Operation Respect’s founder

Peter Yarrow’s folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary in 1962. It then became an anthem of the civil rights

movement. Peter, Paul & Mary performed the song in 1963 at the March on Washington for Jobs

and Freedom where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The

lines “I’d sing about love between my brothers and my sisters,” and reference to “the hammer

of justice” and “the bell of freedom” all resonate with our fourth curriculum cornerstone theme,

“Celebrating Diversity.”

Experts suggest the importance of explicitly teaching children to celebrate differences, as well

as providing ample opportunity to have positive experiences within diverse groups. In order to

truly embrace the value of “celebrating” diversity, it is essential that “diversity” is not an add-on

to curriculum choices. To teach children this value, diverse voices and images need to be fully

integrated into the curriculum and culture of the school.

OBJECTIVES:

Participants will:

1. learn and explore the song; and,

2. be able to express their thoughts about what it means in relation to our fourth theme,

“Celebrating Diversity.”

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

LESSON 16: IF I HAD A HAMMER

116

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3-Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use

of evidence and rhetoric.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative

tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Knowledge of Language



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how

language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style,

and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

PREPARATION AND MATERIALS

} One copy of People Search for each student (Handout 1)

} Lyrics for If I Had a Hammer posted or one copy for each student (Handout 2)

} Small strips of paper and a hat or box

} Video of Peter, Paul, and Mary singing at the March on Washington

} Video of Peter Yarrow singing If I Had a Hammer

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM-UP/BELL RINGER: Uniquely You (10 Minutes)

Gather students together. Introduce the “Uniquely You” activity. Students will write one thing on

a sheet of paper that is a special, unique skill, talent or characteristic he or she has. The statement

should read: “One way I am uniquely myself is. . .” Model it by saying something you think is

unique about you. “One way I’m uniquely myself is I live in the city, but I grew up on a farm. . .” or

“One way I’m uniquely myself is I was born in Honduras.” When participants are ﬁnished, have

them fold their papers and put them into a hat or box. Go around the classroom having the kids

take one piece of paper out of the hat and reading it out loud.

Process:

“What is one thing that surprised you about the “Uniquely You” activity?

Tell students that you asked them to do the “Uniquely You” activity as a way to start a unit and

discussion about diversity.

Together create a deﬁnition of “diverse” somewhat along the lines of this: Diverse: showing a

great deal of variety and differences. Create a web chart of words related to the word “diverse” to

help create your deﬁnition. Group similar items as you chart.

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Tell students that creating a caring community includes recognizing the diversity among its

members and “celebrating” or “appreciating” that diversity:

“A caring community doesn’t expect everyone to look the same, act the same, or agree on

everything. A caring community allows people to be their true selves and to be respected as

individuals with unique gifts to share.”

Brainstorm and chart together some of the ways people can be diverse - size of family, interests,

physical attributes such as eye color, skin color, hair color, strengths, language, etc.

MAIN ACTIVITY: If I Had a Hammer (15 Minutes)

Tell students you are going to share a special song with them today that will deepen their

understanding of the idea of diversity as it relates to creating caring communities and treating

people fairly.

Give students a brief overview of the Civil Rights Movement such as the paragraph listed

below or a short video like this one from the History Channel (www.history.com/topics/black-

history/civil-rights-movement). Explain that the Civil Rights Movement is one example of a

way that people came together to change something that was unfair about our laws. Adapt the

information below to what your students may already know about the Civil Rights Movement.

“In the United States during the ﬁrst half of the twentieth century, black people and white people

were treated very differently, in a way that was unfair to blacks. It was true all over the country,

but in the southern part of the country there were laws that made sure black people were treated

unfairly, called Jim Crow laws. Blacks were not even allowed to vote. They were required to use

different water fountains, lunch counters and sit in the back of the bus. When a lot of people

began working together to try to change these laws, during the 1950’s and 60’s, they became

part of the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement worked so that all people would be

treated fairly and equally.”

Now tell students you are going to show them a video clip of Peter, Paul and Mary singing at the

March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Peter

Yarrow is the one on the right when the group sings—and is the founder of Operation Respect.

Show students the YouTube video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKgm9ARmOMM

Ask students:

How do you feel when you listen to the song?

Why do you think Peter, Paul and Mary chose to sing this song at the March on Washington?

Why are people singing along?

Now show Peter Yarrow singing the song in the present time. Tell students to listen carefully to

the words. Provide students the lyrics on a chart or on their own sheets so they can follow along.

118

Process as a group:

As you listen to the words what comes to mind?

What sort of danger or warnings are they “hammering out” or “ringing out?

What’s the difference between a hammer, a bell, and a song?

What can this song mean for us in our classroom?

Guide discussion so that students understand that the song is a song about peace and justice and

trying to celebrate diversity among everyone in the world. Peter, Paul, and Mary sing the song

to inspire others to commit to creating such a community. How might spreading this message

change the world?

INTEGRATED ARTS: Singing Your Song (10 Minutes)

In small groups, or as a whole class, create new versions of the song (use Handout 2 to help

students ﬁll in new lyrics). Sing the new versions together.

CLOSING (5 Minutes)

Process with a go-round: “How do you feel after learning about and singing this song?”

End with a group high-ﬁve or special handshake of the students’ making.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 For the Gathering, write on chart paper “One way I am uniquely myself is….” Pair students and

have them share their unique quality. Come back to circle and have each student share what their

partner shared with them. Process as in grades 2-5 lessons.

Based on your students’ developmental stage and background knowledge, share that in the United

States white people haven’t always treated black people fairly. Give examples of the way black

people were discriminated against: not being able to eat in the same restaurants; children not

being able to go to same schools; black children being given old, outdated textbooks from white

schools; etc. Explain that during the 1950’s and 60’s many people recognized how unfair that was

and came together to try to change that. These people were part of the Civil Rights movement.

Before showing the Peter Paul and Mary video, read The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. It is

about two young girls who are told not to cross the fence between their yards and the solution

they create. Share with students that the story is an example of how children are affected when

people don’t celebrate one another’s differences, or when one group of people thinks they are

better than another.

Continue lesson as presented for grades 2-5.

Have students work on versions of If I Had a Hammer at centers later in the day.

Grades 6-12 Do the gathering as described. Begin the main activity by asking students to pair/

share examples of injustice in the world. Tie this to the Civil Rights movement.

119

Then after listening to the song the second time with Peter Yarrow only, set up four rotation

stations with the following questions written on chart paper or newsprint with markers (one

question per page):

What images come to mind when you hear the words “hammer out” or “ring out” danger

and warning?

What’s the difference between a hammer, a bell, and a song?

How might we “ring out love between our brothers and our sisters?”

What can this song mean for us in our classroom?

Break students into four equal sized groups and have those groups circulate among the

newsprint or chart paper answering the questions. Give a few minutes at each station and then

ask the group to rotate to the next one until all groups have rotated among the stations.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-5 Literacy, Art and Music: Have students decorate the lyric sheet of If I Had a Hammer and

keep in their poetry or music folder. Younger students can use highlighters to ﬁnd sight words.

K-5 Literacy: Read Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Citizens by Carole Boston

Weatherford. Ask questions such as: “How do you think the little girl is feeling? Why are these

laws in place? In what ways are some people beneﬁtting from these laws? Why do people follow

the laws if they are unfair? Why is it important to know that this happened in the United States?

What lessons can we learn from this?”

K-5 Literacy and Math: Assign students to pairs or groups. Invite students to look through a

random sample of 20-30 books in your class library. Have them chart the diversity of the main

characters-boy/girl, black/white, able-bodied/differently able bodied, or whatever categories

resonate with your students. Hang the charts and do a gallery walk so students can see all the

charts. Ask students what they notice. Are some groups represented more than others? Why is

that? Can the class do something to help diversify the literature in the library?

2-12 Literacy and Social Studies: Have students research famous speeches (FDR, Nelson

Mandela, Maya Angelou, JFK, etc.) that demonstrate caring and celebrating diversity. Have

students write their own speeches about celebrating diversity and practice reading their

speeches to small group.

2-12 Literacy, Math, and Art, Social Studies: Assign children to groups. Have each group create

a board game celebrating diversity. The landing spaces can have players share something about

themselves, ﬁnd two things in common with another player, name one way they are unique in the

group of players, or any ideas the students devise.

6-12 History and Art/Music: Tie the song to the history and accomplishments of the labor

movement. Look closely at the role of art/music in creating social change. What other songs have

been used successfully to create a positive difference in the world. Why might that be?

120

HANDOUT 1: If I Had a Hammer Lyrics

If I had a hammer,

I’d hammer in the morning

I’d hammer in the evening,

All over this land

I’d hammer out danger,

I’d hammer out a warning,

I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

If I had a bell,

I’d ring it in the morning,

I’d ring it in the evening,

All over this land

I’d ring out danger,

I’d ring out a warning

I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

If I had a song,

I’d sing it in the morning,

I’d sing it in the evening,

All over this land

I’d sing out danger,

I’d sing out a warning

I’d sing out love between my brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

Well I got a hammer,

And I got a bell,

And I got a song to sing, all over this land.

It’s the hammer of Justice,

It’s the bell of Freedom,

It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

It’s the hammer of Justice,

It’s the bell of Freedom,

It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

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HANDOUT 2: If I Had a Hammer

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning,

I’d hammer in the evening, all over this land.

I’d hammer out

All over this land.

CREATE A NEW VERSION OF

IF I HAD A HAMMER.

122

In this activity participants explore ways that they are different from each other and celebrate

these differences.

What to Know

Celebrating diversity is a core social and emotional competency, as well as an important

foundation for preparing young people for a multi-cultural world. The goal is to present the

differences among participants in a community as a strength, rather than something to be merely

tolerated. The whole can truly be said to be greater than the sum of its parts if we celebrate

differences sincerely and consciously. One way to do this with children is to point out differences

in opinion, perspective, life experience, culture, religion, etc. as they happen throughout the day.

Be mindful of the images you present to young people in the artwork, books, and media you use

in your classroom. The best choices are those that are both “mirrors” that reﬂect the diversity of

family compositions, ethnicities, religions, and races in your classroom, but also “windows” into

the larger diversity present in the world.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. discover many ways that we are different;

2. experience ﬁnding out about each other by asking questions; and,

3. reﬂect on how it feels to ﬁnd out new things about each other.

MATERIALS

} 1 Human Bingo card per student

} Paper and various art supplies for the It’s Okay to Be Different Class Book

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

LESSON 17: HUMAN BINGO

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} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER (10 Minutes)

Read Aloud Todd Parr’s picture book, It’s Okay To Be Different. Before beginning ask: “As you

listen, try to remember all the ways people in the book are different.”

Process: What were some of the ways the characters in the book were different? Was this book

serious or silly? How do you think the message of this book might apply to our classroom or our

school?

MAIN ACTIVITY: Play Human Bingo (15 Minutes)

Share with the group: “The goal of this session is to discover people who are different from you

and celebrate those differences.” Just by asking questions, students will ﬁnd that there are many

different experiences, backgrounds, and preferences in the group.

Give each participant a Human Bingo Card. For each question on the Human Bingo Card,

students will ﬁnd a person in the group who would answer it differently. For example, if you are

left-handed, you have to ﬁnd someone who is right-handed. The person you ﬁnd who is different

than you are will write his or her name in the box. You can use each name in your class only once.

Continue until every student has every box ﬁlled in.

Variation: You can shorten this activity to 10 minutes by applying the rules of Bingo. The ﬁrst

person to ﬁll out a row either horizontally or vertically shouts, “Bingo,” and the game ends.

Tell everyone to “Begin!” The person who ﬁlls out his or her card entirely shouts, “Bingo!” and the

game ends.

Process: “What was difﬁcult about this activity? What was easy? Any surprises?

End this activity by choosing a category from the Human Bingo card for which there is likely to be

a wide range of answers (such as favorite snack food or favorite music group) and have students

write their answers on a sheet of construction paper in large letters. Have everyone hold his or

her signs up and look around the circle. Or ask everyone to organize themselves around the room

based on their various preferences. Make note of the diversity and celebrate it with a cheer of the

student’s choosing!

Process: “How might celebrating our differences in our classroom change our classroom? How

might our differences make our classroom a better place to learn together?”

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IT’S OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT CLASS BOOK (10 Minutes) (Integrated Arts)

Give students various art materials to create in pairs or alone a page for your own version of the

Todd Parr It’s Okay to Be Different book. What ways do we want to tell people it’s okay to be

different in our classroom? Bind all of the children’s contributions into a class book. Consider

joining with other classrooms to build a school wide book.

CLOSING: Bingo Card Buddies (5 Minutes)

Go-Round

“Without looking at your Bingo Card name a person you found who had a different answer than

you had for that category. What was their answer and yours?”

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Do the Bingo activity in small groups or as a whole group with another adult to help. Ask

one student each question from the bingo card and then ask students who agree to line up with

him or her, and students who disagree to form another group.

Grades 6-12 For the gathering, substitute the following “opinion continuum.” Place signs around

the classroom “Strongly Agree,” “Somewhat Agree,” “Agree,” “Somewhat Disagree” “Disagree”

“Strongly Disagree.” As you say the following statements, have students move to the different

areas of the classroom that represent how they feel about that statement.

} School uniforms are a positive thing.

} Adding salad bars to school lunch is a good way to get kids to eat healthier.

} Kids under the age of 12 should not use violent video games.

} Social media is a very positive thing in our lives.

After each question, make note of the diversity in opinions about the topic.

Adults For the gathering, substitute the following “opinion continuum.” Place signs around the

room “Strongly Agree,” “Somewhat Agree,” “Agree,” “Somewhat Disagree” “Disagree” “Strongly

Disagree.” As you say the following statements, have people move to the different areas of the

room that represent how they feel about that statement.

} The Common Core is a positive educational initiative.

} Prayer has a place in public schools.

} Charter schools are helping improve education.

} Linking teacher pay to student achievement on standardized tests is a good idea.

After each question, make note of the diversity in opinions about the topic.

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CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-5 Literacy: Read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Point out to students that the main

character has pre-judged green eggs and ham without ever trying them. This “pre-judging” is

sometimes called “prejudice” when people judge other people who are different in some way.

Explore the distinction between not liking something and being prejudiced toward it. Have

students draw pictures or write about a time they thought they didn’t like something or someone,

but then changed their minds at some point. How much of their dislike had to do with something

being new or different? Share stories.

K-5 Literacy, Art and Math: Have students draw close-up self-portraits. These people color

faces from Lakeshore are a good size to use. Have students glue different colored yarn for hair.

Tell students you are going to play an attribute game together. Each student has to ﬁnd two

people with whom they have something in common. The attributes can be visible or invisible.

The challenge for the class is to “link” all of the portraits together so that each person can be

linked to two other people and end with a completely formed circle. You may have to switch

people around for it to work, or ask more questions of one another. When you have completed

the challenge, give students sentence strips or paper to write what they have in common with

their “links” (“we both like science, we both have large families,” etc.) Create charts and graphs of

variance across the class. Display circle of portraits, sentence strip links, and charts in classroom

or hallway.

K-8 Literacy and Art: Work with students to create interview questions they can use to interview

one of their classmates. Have pairs of students interview one another. Provide index cards for

students to jot ideas or pictures if they want. Then give each pair of students a large piece

of paper to create a Venn Diagram representing the information gained in their interviews.

Have students use markers, crayons and other art materials on their diagram. Have each pair

present their work to the class. Students can use Venn Diagrams to explore similarities between

themselves and characters in stories, also. Older students can write biographies about their

classmates.

2-5 Literacy: Play a game called Diversity Detective. Assign each student a classmate to

investigate. (Use your knowledge of the students to ensure positive pairings.) Give each student

up to ﬁve index cards. Tell them not to write their classmate’s name on the cards. Over the

course of the next two or three days, students will be observing their “subject” from afar. When

they notice a positive quality that their subject seems to have, such as being friendly, being a

good joke-teller, or being helpful, they write that quality on one of their index cards. Encourage

students to ﬁnd something their subject is good at that maybe they themselves are not. After a

few days, come together in a circle. Have each student put one of his or her cards in the middle.

As a group, begin to organize the cards in anyway the group sees ﬁt: in a bar graph, in small

groups, etc. Process the similarities and differences. Have students continue to add index cards

to the center. Guide students to understand that the diversity of positive traits represented makes

them a stronger group. Have students share the names of their subjects at the end.

Grades 6-12 Social Studies/History: As you teach history, ask young people to consider who

(gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc.) is in the story, and who is missing as a way of exploring

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multiple perspectives in the story. Ask students to use the Library of Congress and other

excellent primary resources to investigate voices missing from the narrative. As you identify

perspectives missing from history, engage student’s imaginations in accessing that group’s

perspective by having them write letters from that person’s perspective, or create sculpture and

artwork based on that perspective.

Grades 6-12 Social Studies/History/Literacy: Create timelines of student’s family backgrounds,

including signiﬁcant moments such as immigration, participation in industry or technology,

service in wars, etc. Combine timelines for one large class timeline and then overlay with world

events. Consider expanding this to a literacy exercise by writing ethnographies of families to go

along with the timeline.

Grades 6-12 Literacy and Art: Create word clouds that celebrate differences. Have each person

in your class choose a word that represents his or her identity. Combine in creative and beautiful

type fonts or through word cloud resources like wordle to make an attractive poster that

celebrates your classroom’s diversity.

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HANDOUT 1: Human Bingo

HUMAN BINGO

Favorite

TV Show

Ethnic

Background

Favorite

Holiday

Country you

would most like

to visit

Right-

Left- Handed

Most typical

meal your

family eats

Favorite

Video Game

Favorite

Breakfast

Has ever

planted

something

Favorite

Sport

Favorite

Pizza

Favorite

Subject in

School

Favorite

Music

Group

Has been

ﬁshing

Insert student

created

category

here

Has a pet

Sings in

the shower

City and

state of birth

Has been

in a play

Insert student

created

category

here

Is bilingual or

multilingual

Birth

order

Insert student

created

category

here

Insert student

created

category

here

Snack Food

Has had

poison ivy

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Cross the Line is a powerful activity that helps participants understand the effects of prejudice,

ridicule, teasing and bullying.

WHAT TO KNOW

The goal of this activity is to help identify and eliminate the barriers between people that

perpetuate acts of unkindness. Children become aware both that they are not alone in facing

insecurities, fears and challenges and that there are differences among those challenges.

This activity should not be attempted until you’ve built trust and safety in your classroom over

the course of the Don’t Laugh at Me project and the school year. Although the content is quite

serious, it is an activity that may be used with both young children and adults effectively. Other

important guidelines include:

} Be careful not to be judgmental or shaming in this activity, rather be supportive and

accepting. Everyone in the class will probably have a reason to cross the line.

} Pair with your school’s counselor or counseling department for help in facilitating this and

following up on any strong emotions that children exhibit.

} Involve families in any concerns you might have for children who have been chronically

teased or bullied in your school.

} Reassure children that showing their feelings is healthy.

} Allow a comfortable space of silence after each “cross the line” before inviting students

back to their original places. Slow pacing of the activity is important to its success.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will:

1. Understand the effects of prejudice, ridicule, teasing and other hurtful behaviors

2. Reﬂect on how it feels to cross the line

3. Recommit to and make any necessary adjustments to the Ridicule Free Zone

MATERIALS

} Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall

} A line of masking tape across your classroom ﬂoor, with space on either side for all the

children in your class (standing a few lines deep is okay)

} f I Had a Hammer song

COMMON CORE STANDARD ALIGNMENT

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

LESSON 18: CROSS THE LINE

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} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

} Anchor Standards for Language-Vocabulary Acquisition and Use



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5- Demonstrate understanding of ﬁgurative language, word

relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER: RED: A CRAYON’S STORY (5 MINUTES)

Read aloud Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall.

Process: “What surprised the other crayons about Red? What did they expect of him because of

his label? Was this book serious or silly? How do you think the message of this book might apply

to our classroom or our school?”

MAIN ACTIVITY: Our Diversity Iceberg and Cross the Line (20 Minutes)

Draw a picture of an iceberg and name it “Iceberg of our differences.” (Sample below) 10% of the

iceberg is above the line: these are the differences about us that we can see. 90% of the iceberg is

below the line: these are the difference that we can’t see.

Above the line: size, appearance, gender, age, color, race(sometimes!)

Below the line: religion, education, family, ethnicity, beliefs, talents, etc.

DIVERSITY means all the ways we differ.

It includes the readily visible differences

and the underlying differences that may

be below the surface.

Attitudes

Talents

Sexual

Orientation

or Identity

Physical

Attributes

Gender

Age

Function

Race

Language

Religion

Beliefs

Skills

Perspectives

Heritage

Education

Thought

Process

Values

Family

Status

Life

Experience

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Introduce the activity:

“This activity is called “Cross the Line” and asks us to remember experiences we’ve had where we

may have been treated badly or unkindly.”

Explain some important agreements you’ll need to make as a class before beginning:

} We will do the activity in complete silence (no laughing or talking); we can talk about it

when it’s over.

} Some strong feelings might come up like sadness or anger. Remember, all feelings are

important. We need to be respectful and caring about one another’s feelings so that

everyone feels safe while we do this activity.

Ask everyone to move to the masking tape line on the ﬂoor facing in the same direction behind it.

Explain how to do the activity:

“I’m going to call out an experience and if you have had that experience, please cross the line

and turn around to face the students on the other side of the line. If you do not feel comfortable

crossing the line, even though you are part of that group, that’s okay. You can stay right where

you are and notice any feelings you are having.” For each experience you call out, people who

have had that experience will cross the line. They will then turn around to face the students who

have not crossed the line. When you tell the group that crossed the line to return, they will return

to their original places on the other side of the tape, so that the entire group is standing together

once more.

After each of the “cross the line” categories, you will:

1. Pause until the students who have crossed the line have turned to face the other students;

2. Then you will say: “Now notice how it feels to cross the line and notice how it feels to watch

other people cross the line (pause.) Notice who is with you (pause). Notice who is not with

you (pause);”

3. Ask everyone to come back together behind the masking tape.

“Now, cross the line in silence if you’ve ever been teased or called a bad name or made fun of.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever felt left out because you’re a girl.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever been called a mean name or put down just because you’re a girl.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever been called a mean name or put down just because you’re a boy.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever felt left out because you’re a boy.

“Cross the line if you’ve ever been told you should not do something or like something because

you are a girl?”

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“Cross the line if you’ve ever been told you should not do something or like something because

you are a boy?”

“Cross the line if you, or someone you care about, has ever been judged or teased because of the

color of your (or his/her) skin.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever been teased about your accent or your voice, or told that you

couldn’t sing.”

“Cross the line if you or any one of your family members or any friends of yours has a disability

that you can or can’t see.”

“Now cross the line if you’ve ever seen someone else being teased or called a bad name or made

fun of.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever been told you shouldn’t cry, show your emotions, or be afraid.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever felt alone, unwelcome, or afraid.”

“Cross the line if you or someone you care about has ever been teased or made fun of for

wearing glasses, braces, a hearing aid, or for the clothes you wear, your height, your weight, your

complexion, or the size or shape of your body.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever felt pressure from your friends or an adult to do something you didn’t

want to do and felt sorry or ashamed afterwards.”

“Cross the line if you’ve ever felt ashamed for speaking from your heart or sharing your worries,

fears, or secret hopes and dreams with someone.”

“Cross the line if someone’s ever been mean to you and you’ve been reluctant or too afraid to say

anything about it.”

“Cross the line if you’re ever stood by and watched while someone was hurt and said or did

nothing because you were too afraid.”

Process in the large group:

What feelings did you have during this activity?

What was the hardest part for you?

What did you learn about yourself? About others?

What do you want to remember about what we’ve just experienced?

What, if anything, do you want to tell others about this experience?”

CLOSING ACTIVITY: If I Had a Hammer Integrated Arts (5 Minutes)

Introduce the closing activity:

132

“This is our fourth cornerstone theme. We are recognizing that human beings are not always nice

to each other and that sometimes our differences are used against us, but from the other themes

we know that we can become upstanders for each other. We can support each other.”

Process:

“What did you learn from this activity that can make our classroom and school more welcoming?”

End by listen to or singing “If I Had a Hammer” together. Make the point that our commitment to

being an upstander can be our hammer—or one of the tools that we use to create a community

we all want to thrive and learn in. Are there other tools?

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Instead of having students stand up and “cross the line,” it may feel safer for younger students

to sit in a circle for this activity. Their participation could be modiﬁed so that students are given a

card with a large green dot on one side and a red dot on the other. If their answer to the question

is yes, they lay the green side facing up in front of them; if it’s no, the red side faces up. The

questions would then be reframed as, “Have you ever been….” instead of “Cross the line if….”

Limit the number of questions to the ﬁrst seven or eight in the core lesson, as many of the others

will not be developmentally appropriate for this level. You may want to add or substitute:

“Have you ever been told that you couldn’t play in a group of children on the playground?”

“Have you ever been told you couldn’t play in a group of children because you are a girl or a boy?”

Follow the instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

Grades 6-12 and Adults Do the activity as outlined. You may choose to substitute or add

additional experiences based on particular issues within your community (For instance, “Cross

the line if you or someone you care about has been ridiculed or left out because they are/or are

believed to be: gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered; Christian/Jewish/Muslim/Atheist; etc.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-12 Literacy and Art: Using Todd Parr’s It’s Okay To Be Different, have students create

oversized paintings in the colorful style he uses. Point out to students the bold outlines he uses,

the simple illustrations, and how there is little if any white space left in his illustrations. Make a

chart that says, “In our classroom (school), it’s okay to….” and brainstorm with students a list of

silly and serious differences. Then, students can use one of the ideas from the list, or make up

their own and write it on a sentence strip. On large art paper, have students paint a picture to

illustrate their idea.

133

K-5 Literacy: Read Whoever You Are by Mem Fox. In the book there is a gentle being guiding

children around the world to see that although there are many differences among humans,

“hearts are the same.” Have students use the text as a starting point for their own poems about

this message. Poems can start with “Little one, whoever you are, wherever you are, there are

others that…” Share poems with another class or another grade.

K-5 Literacy and Art: Read The Colors of Us by Karen Katz. Using “multicultural” or “people

colors” paint have students mix colors until they match their own skin color. Students can do this

on art paper or they can mix the paint directly onto their skin. Have students name the color of

their skin. Once they have a match, students can paint a tracing of their hand. The hands with

their self-chosen color name can be displayed around the room. (NOTE: This is a good place

to introduce the issue of “ﬂesh” colored crayons and what that tells us about how people view

diversity.)

6-12 Literacy: Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by

Mildred D. Taylor explores the life of the Logan family, who must live in fear because the white

people in the community do not see black people as equal. Explore examples of discrimination in

the book and look for examples in students’ lives as well.

6-12 History and Literacy: In Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne says, “I still believe

people are basically good,” even though her life is in peril because of prejudice against Jewish

people during the Holocaust. Have students discuss this quote in a pair/share. Do you think that

people are basically good? If yes, what, if anything, in your life helps you to keep your faith in the

basic goodness of people? If not, what in particular most discourages you from believing in the

basic goodness of people?

6-12 Music and Integrated Arts: Discuss how music has been used over time to create social

change. What examples do you think were most effective? How has art been used to create

social change? Speech? Listen to some of the music provided through the Don’t Laugh at Me

program and research its use to support social change.

6-12 Industrial Arts: Create hammers and other tools that represent things you want to keep in

your Don’t Laugh at Me toolbox: an ear for an ability to listen; a giant “I” for I statements; a U to

remember to be an upstander; etc. Display this tool kit in a central place in your school or town/

city hall with captions explaining their function. Spread the RFZ!

134

In this activity students create a classroom quilt with squares that represent each of their

individual families.

WHAT TO KNOW

Children cannot help but notice certain differences (gender, race, and other physical differences)

and form attitudes about those differences. When students see adults express appreciation and

curiosity about people’s differences they learn to respond positively as well. For this lesson on

families, the main ideas for students to understand are:

} family structures are not all the same—some have a mom and dad, some have two moms,

some have one child, some have several generations of their family that live together,

some children live with an adult to whom they are not related, etc.;

} people deﬁne the idea of family differently (some include extended family, some include

very close friends, etc.);

} no one kind of family is better than another; and,

} diversity is something to celebrate!

Children are often sensitive about their families and may be embarrassed by a characteristic they

think is different even though they really love the people in their family (living with a grandparent,

living with a single parent, living in a foster family, etc.) Your use of the term “family” rather than

more speciﬁc terms like “mom and dad” or “parents” (plural) can help communicate your own

value of all kinds of families.

OBJECTIVES:

Students/participants will:

1. explore the idea of family and what it means to different people;

2. become aware of and articulate characteristics of their own family;

3. share their ideas and expression of their families with each other; and,

4. create a class quilt celebrating their families.

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS:

} Anchor Standards for Literacy: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse

media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

} Anchor Standards for Writing: Range of Writing



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reﬂection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or

two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

LESSON 19: FAMILY QUILT

135

} Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 - Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of

conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in

diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

} Anchor Standards for Language: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.5 - Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays

of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

MATERIALS:

} Don’t Laugh at Me song

} Hula hoops (large enough to ﬁt two of your students) or rope circles (one for every three

children)

} Sheets of paper, art supplies

} 1 nine-patch quilt block (handout) for each child in your room (have extras on hand for

children who wish to start over on their projects)

GATHER TOGETHER/WARM UP/BELL RINGER: Musical Hula Hoops (10 minutes)

Distribute hula-hoops in the classroom randomly.

Explain the game: “This game is a variation on musical chairs. Our goal is the opposite of the usual

game of musical chairs—instead of leaving someone out, we’ll need to make sure that EVERYONE

is included by the time the music stops.”

When the music begins, children who have been given hula hoops (or jump rope if you’re using

rope big enough} ﬁnd someone with whom they have a difference (someone who comes from

a family with a different number of children, someone whose hair is another color, etc.). When

they ﬁnd someone with whom they have a difference, they’ll invite him or her to join them inside

their hula-hoop or rope circle. When the music stops, children in hula-hoops will need to invite in

anyone who’s not yet in a hula-hoop or rope circle by ﬁnding a difference between them.

Play Don’t Laugh at Me song. Be sure to give children plenty of time before turning off the music.

Do a second round if you have time.

Process as a group what this activity can teach about diversity. How did it feel when the music

stopped and you were not in a circle? How did it feel when classmates helped you ﬁnd a circle?

MAIN ACTIVITY: Exploring Family/Quilt Blocks (20 Minutes)

Write the word “family” on the board and ask students what the word means to them. Write

student ideas on the chart in web form, drawing lines between related ideas.

136

Say: “There is great variety in the kinds of families people live in today. In this activity we’re going

to celebrate many of the differences in the families in our classroom.” Explain that families are

not only comprised of people who are blood related. Discuss what makes someone part of

your “family.” To start children thinking about the different family arrangements and cultures

represented in the class, ask some of the following questions (write them on the board):

} With whom do you live? Who else do you consider part of your family?

} What are some of the things you like to do with members of your family?

} What are special foods in your family? What holidays do you celebrate?

Distribute art supplies and a copy of the nine-square patch to each child. Ask students to

decorate the middle square of the patch with the names of their family members. The remaining

eight squares could describe, with words or images, things that are important to their families.

Students can include anything they want—special foods, special pets, holidays they celebrate,

special memories, etc. When students are ﬁnished, have them pair with a partner to share the

stories of their families depicted on the patch.

(Optional) In another class period, students can glue their patches onto construction paper

backings and then work together to join their individual blocks on a large piece of butcher

paper to form a class Family Ties and Fabric Quilt. Alternatively, they might connect the patches

horizontally along the wall in a banner form.

CLOSING ACTIVITY: SQUARE SHARE (5 MINUTES)

In a go-round ask each person to talk about something that is depicted on his or her patch. Guide

students to notice that their patches reﬂect the diversity of their families.

GRADE LEVEL MODIFICATIONS

K-1 Begin the Main Activity by reading Who’s in My Family? All About Our Families by Robie H.

Harris. Then proceed with the family web on chart paper. Follow instructions for grades 2-5 for

the rest of the activity.

Grades 6-12 Do the activity as described, but instead of web charting the word “family,” chart

the word “culture.” Ask students to then pair/share the rituals, food traditions, favorite activities

or “culture” of their families with a friend as preparation for the art project. Consider doing the

squares on fabric to make a real quilt. Follow instructions for grades 2-5 for the rest of the activity.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

K-1 Literacy: Have students make their own family books. Give students pages for each

member of their family with the sentence frame “I like to _________________with my

______________________.” Students illustrate each page. Invite families in to celebrate

students’ work.

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K-5 Math: Have students make various graphs to reﬂect diverse family demographics within their

classroom. Students can look at a number of variables: number of children; adults; boys; girls;

and, pets.

K-5 Literacy, Social Studies and Science: Read All the Colors We Are/Todos los colores de

nuestra piel: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color/La historia de por qué tenemos diferentes

colores de pie by Katie Kissinger. See the back section of the book for ideas on acting out the

science behind our skin color.

2-5 Literacy and Social Studies: Read The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage by

Selina Alko. Have students imagine they were around when this case was before the Supreme

Court. Have students write a “letter to the editor” expressing their opinion about the case.

K-5 Literacy and Art: Read The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman. Teach students to

make connecting papers dolls and have students trace and cut out enough to represent their

family. If possible, provide people color construction paper or markers for students to accurately

represent members of their family (Lakeshore’s version has 12 different skin tones). Connect all

the paper doll families to “hold hands” as a border around the classroom.

Grades 6-12 Literacy and Art: Read American Born Chinese by Gene Luan Yang, a graphic novel

of a teenager’s experience of being the only Chinese-American student in his school. Create

comic strips to represent your family’s story in America and make a class graphic novel.

Grades 6-12 History: Study immigration by looking at the countries your students’ families are

from. What was happening in their countries of origin when their families came? Who were the

other immigrants at the time they immigrated? What traditions did they bring that inﬂuenced

how America evolved?

Grades 6-12 Literature: Read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt with students. In this book,

the Tuck family is very different from Winnie’s family. How do you think they feel about being

different? Have you ever felt different? How has that impacted how you act with your peers?

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HANDOUT 1: Family Ties and Fabric Tales

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NOTES:

Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility