Google 20

Names: Amanda McKay and Kaylee Neubacher

Embracing our Differences

Needs and Opportunities
Audience
All students will benefit from our project. Students will hopefully learn acceptance for
all of their classmates through our interactive read alouds. We plan to work with younger
students in 1st.grade. We chose to work with Mrs. Smith, the school counselor to accomplish our
goal of spreading a message of acceptance through 1st grade.
Timeline
We plan to teach our lessons and read-alouds over a course of two weeks. We taught
three classes of 1st graders about the importance of acceptance. We used books such as: Giraffes
Cant Dance and Hooray for Wodney Wat!, and taught lessons about acceptance and embracing
differences. We taught them that people are all different, have their own special qualities, and
that it is okay to be different.

Date
Grade
Lesson
3/8 @ 12:25
1st
Giraffes Cant Dance
3/8 @ 12:55
1st
Hooray for Wodney Wat!
3/16 @ 12:55
1st
Giraffes Cant Dance
We met from
8:30-10:00 over
the course of 3
weeks, during
our Google time.
--------------------------------------
Time Spent on Planning,

Creating Lessons, talking
with Mrs. Smith.
Product
Our product we will show will be the results our assessment for at least one of our lessons. In the
lesson Giraffes cant Dance, we had students describe something they were especially good at. Then we
discussed how we are all different and good at different things. We explained that our differences make
us who we are and that it is wrong to exclude people for their differences.
Reality Check
We will need to get the books for the lessons from the library. We asked the librarian for help
finding books that would best help teach students about diversity and tolerance.
Reflection:
We both learned a lot through this experience of working with Mrs. Smith. Before we did this
project, we didnt understand the importance of explicitly teaching skills to children such as tolerance. We
now realize that these things need to be explicitly taught in the classroom and feel more comfortable
doing this in the future. Character education is just as important as the main subjects taught to students.
The ultimate goal is to prepare students for the future--for when they leave our classrooms to live in the
real world. Thus, it is our duty as teachers to develop a student's character to reflect an individual who
is going to benefit and succeed in society. This can only be done by teaching students the necessary
character traits, such as kindness, respect, and acceptance. And what better way to do this than using
books to drive our instruction?
We were very impressed with the responses that the students had to our lessons. Students
contributed very well to discussions and loved sharing with others what they are good at. This made every
child feel unique and talented. We also enjoyed seeing them connect to the story of Giraffes Cant Dance
and relate to times when they have felt like they couldnt do something, but then learned they could. They
also learned the power of encouraging words to the story and were eager to share ways that they could
encourage people at school. This book taught the students that we all have differences and we need to not
only accept our differences, but embrace the differences of others. Hooray for Wodney Wat! taught
students a similar lesson. It also introduced the subject of bullying to the students. Since bullying has
become an issue in recent years, we felt like it was important to educate the 1st graders about the subject.
We taught them that bullying is never the answer and that we need to embrace our own unique qualities,
as well as those of others. We have both discussed the prevalence of depression and anxiety in young
children, and how that number is increasing. This is something that we are both passionate about and
want to do something about, hence we contacted the school counselor. We hope that the messages
presented to each 1st grader will stick with them and that they will remember that they are all talented,
unique, and special. We hope that they will embrace their uniqueness, as well as the special talents and
qualities of other students. We also hope that they remember the power words can have on the lives of
others.

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Names: Amanda McKay and Kaylee Neubacher

Embracing our Differences

Giraffes Cant Dance

Hooray for Wodney Wat!

Giraffes Cant Dance

Time Spent on Planning,

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