Hameray Classroom Literacy Blog

Recognizing and Respecting Differences

February is   Black History Month , which means that your students are reading about Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and other black historical figures. Although it is important for your students to learn about important people who fought for racial equality, their stories can sometimes appear as isolated legends with the beliefs and actions frozen in time.   Reading narrative books about individual differenes helps students understand that diversity is still relevant and valued today.

The   Kaleidoscope Collection  focuses on representing different cultural background and teaching social themes.   Kit and Henry Like Different Things , leveled at Guided Reading Level D, follows two brothers that have different hobbies. They like different sports, food, toys, and indoor activities.

For each page, conduct an informal poll to see which students have similar hobbies to Kit and which have similar hobbies to Henry. For example, on page 3, ask students to raise their hand if they prefer riding a bike or a skateboard:

Conducting a poll will allow students to visually understand that not all people have the same preferences.  Does this fact mean that we can't be friends with people that are different from us? No!  "Kit and Henry like different htings. But Kit and Henry like each other" (8).

The Friendship Shell , leveled at Guided Reading Level K, is suitable for upper-elementary school students.   Its illustrations feature ethnicallly diverse characters, which can help you relate the discussion back to Black History Month .

Focus on page 4: "'A shell is just a shell,' I said, 'see one and you've seen them all.'" Ask your students if they agree with the narrator's claim. Then, discuss how the narrator's views have transformed by the end of the book.  How did the narrator learn to recognize and respect his classmates' differences?

Both   Kit and Henry Like Different Things   and   The Friendship Shell  do not explicitly discuss issues of diversity, but   they carry strong messages that value indivdiual differences in hobbies, personalities, and ethnicity . Use these titles to supplement your Black History Month readings!

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Click the images below to learn more about   Kaleidoscope Collection , which contains the books featured in this post.