We are broadening our ideas of how we are the same and different to people all over the world. In what ways are all people the same? We read lots of books about this and we also looked at a recent "buzzfeed" article that showed classrooms from all over the world, even the Unites States. Together, we noticed similarities and differences between their class and ours. Our hope is to set our students up to view others from around the world as PEOPLE who may be different in some ways, but are also just like us in so many ways. Sometimes it is hard for even adults to see a photo that depicts a life so drastically different from their own and think about the connections and important similarities we have with people all over the world. One of my first thoughts when visiting our partner school in Zambia for the first time was, "these are teachers just like me who want to same things for their students as I do. These are mothers who want the same thing for their kids as mothers at QAE want. And these are students who have a curiosity and wonder about the world just like our kids do." What we noticed: - Schools can be outside - Some kids sit on the ground - We both have backpacks and materials - We both have classrooms and both go to school - classrooms can have kids and adults - some classes are just boys and some are just girls - some kids where the same clothes (uniform) - different classes have different numbers of kids | |
The only one club!Our differences are something to celebrate! This week we read, "The only one club." This is a book about a girl who is the only one who celebrates Hanukkah in her class. She bravely tells the rest of her classmates about her special holiday and decides that she is going to make an "only One club" badge for herself. When she comes to school the next day, everyone asks her about her badge. She soon realizes that EVERYONE is the "only one" of something. Her and her classmates proceed to find things that everyone is the "only one" of. We decided we should make badges too :) |
Our families on the map!
With the help of Ms. M, we all got a chance to take a look at where our families are from. Are you the only one that has family from Romania? Are you the same as 7 other friends in the class because you have family from Germany? Lots of similarities and differences to highlight here. Also, just lots of fun touching/following the strings :) |