Learning to Give, Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE
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Purpose:
Duration:
One Thirty-Minute Class Period
Objectives:
The learner will:
- identify and describe the behaviors of a student who helps others with their work.
- give an example of a benefit of group cooperation.
- describe how the problem in the story was solved.
Materials:
- The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric (see Bibliographical References)
- Journals or paper
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Review the class rules. Focus on any rules that address how to treat other people. Then ask the students how a new student would feel coming into your class. Tell the students that is the issue in the book you are going to read, The Brand New Kid.
- Read the book to the class. Use your finger to run under the line being read and to point to key picture items.
- On selected pages, stop and encourage the children to interact with the book in the following ways:
- Identify key items in the picture that will aid in listening comprehension.
- Hypothesize about what may happen next, what the motives of characters might be, and why something is happening.
- Label the feelings of the characters.
- Identify key items in the picture that will aid in listening comprehension.
- Discuss how the class reacted to the new boy and how one student made an effort to resolve the problem. Discuss how problems might be resolved in ways that are consistent with core democratic values.
- Ask students what benefits there are when everyone cooperates and follows rules in the classroom. Brainstorm examples in the book and in class of group cooperation. Discuss what it would be like to be in a class that has no rules.
- Have students brainstorm ways to help new students feel comfortable in the classroom. Write the suggestions on a chart for future use. Ask students to describe the characteristics of a student who helps others with their work.
- Set up some role-play situations in which students welcome a new student into the classroom, invite a new student to play, teach a new student the class rules, and help the new student learn the classroom routines.
- Reread the book; inviting the children to join in if they remember words or phrases.
Assessment:
Note and record as appropriate how children:
- discuss and label the feelings of the characters.
- discuss the problem in the story and relate it to their own experience.
- discuss the benefits of being in a class with rules and group cooperation.
- demonstrate helpfulness in the role-play situations.
Extension:
Language Arts Connection: Have students find rhyming pairs in the story. Older students can write the rhyming words. Younger students can finish a couplet as you read.
Bibliographical References:
Couric, Katie. The Brand New Kid. New York: Doubleday, 2000. ISBN: 0385500300.
Lesson Developed and Piloted by:
Janice PetersonDetroit Public Schools
Woodward Elementary School
Detroit, MI 48208
Handouts:
Unit Contents:
Overview:How About a Hand? Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Who Will Help?
- 2.
- Valuing Others
- 3.
- Yes, You Can!
- 4.
- How Should You Treat Younger Children?
- 5.
- Working Together To Solve a Problem
- 6.
- Making the World a More Beautiful Place
- 7.
- Welcome to the Class
- 8.
- Recognizing How We Are Alike
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
Comments
(The positive aspect of using this lesson was) the students enjoyed the role-playing piece. They see being welcoming to a new student as a part of philanthropy and a part of common good. I like the inclusion of a focus on CDVs (Core Democratic Values.
Very nice lesson to introduce the idea of group cooperation and working together to make someone feel welcome.