Recent Work: Similar & Different: Differences make life more interesting!

This week, I worked with Caryn Lindsay to revise the Kindergarten Lesson for the Prejudice Reduction Workshops sponsored by the Greater Mankato Diversity Council. This was a great project for me because it combined many activities that I like to do: writing, teaching, early childhood education, and prejudice reduction. Here is the Similar and Different lesson that we turned in this morning. The general ideas were based on curriculum from a group in Rochester, MN.

The goals for the lesson were:

  1. Students will know that each person has some qualities that are very much the same or alike or similar to other people. These are called ‘similarities.’
  2. Students will know that each person has some qualities that are not at all alike or the same or different than other people. These are called ‘differences.’
  3. Students will express willingness to respect similarities and differences so that they become friends and play and work together.

Here is the lesson outline:

  1. Introductions                                                  (7 minutes)
  2. Activity: Similar & Different Circle               (10 minutes)
  3. Reading: All the Colors of the Earth              (7 minutes)
  4. Activity: Magic Coloring Book                      (3 minutes)
  5. Conclusion: Summary & Evaluation               (2 minutes)