October 20

Same But Different, Different But Same Storytime

Today we learn about how even though we are all unique and different, in many ways we are also the same!  We read Everybody by Elise Gravel and Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw.

Activity

Break your students into groups of 4 and provide them with a list of questions.  Find out all the ways in which they are the same and all of the ways they are different!  Here is a sample handout you can use.  For younger, non-reading students, you can ask questions and tally the answers on the board.

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January 3

Self-Esteem Storytime

Today we read;

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell, illustrated by David Catrow

and

I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow

NOTE: These books have the same illustrator and that wasn’t even on purpose!

Extension Activity:

Draw or write about one thing about you that you think makes you special.  Why do you love that about yourself?

November 22

Well-Being Book Series with Shannon

I got the opportunity to collaborate with our wonderful school counselor Shannon for a Well-Being Book Series session for our Kindergarten to grade 4 classes.  It was Kindness Week at the OJCS and the focus today was empathy.  Our students got to learn a very valuable lesson about the meaning of empathy and how it feels to ‘stand in someone else’s shoes.’

We started off the session by reading each group a book.  For our K and 1 groups we read ‘When I Care About Others’ by Cornelia Maude Spelman.  It is a very simple book but a valuable teaching tool for younger students.

For our grade 2 to 4s, we read a beautiful book called ‘The Three Questions’ by Jon J. Muth about a boy who is trying to answer three important questions;

  1. When is the best time to do things?
  2. Who is the most important one?
  3. What is the right thing to do?

After reading the story Shannon discussed the word ‘Empathy’ with the students and then did an exercise where they took turns standing on a pair of shoe prints and imagining what others would feel in made-up scenarios.

The kids loved the exercise and the stories.  I am really looking forward to working more with Shannon on this book series and can’t wait to choose books for our next session!