Respecting our Differences

January is a special month at our school.  It is filled with opportunities for students to reflect on their uniqueness and learn about what makes us each an original.  In addition to observing Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday, we also celebrate African American History Month with a program put on by our fifth graders.  No Name-Calling Week and The Great Kindness Challenge also occur this month.  To reinforce the idea of respecting our differences and treating each other with kindness, we read The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss in kindergarten.

This is one of my favorite stories by Dr. Seuss and the message is so powerful.  Although there is a great (free) youtube video on this story, I always enjoy reading it so I can pause at specific points and engage the kindergarteners in discussion.  Students can't stay quiet once they begin seeing how the star-bellied Sneetches treat the ones without "stars upon thars."  As chaos ensues in the story, a natural discussion comes up and students do not understand why the Sneetches do not accept each other for who they are.  After the story I gave each student their very own star to write or draw what makes them special.

(They chose to decorate our Sneetch with all of their uniqueness-es)