Grade 1

Teaching Extension: Social Sensitivity (Enslavement, Discrimination, Racism)

Access and read tools to support teaching sensitive topics, such as:

• Professional Development/Guidance Resources
  
  
  
  • Teaching Tolerance (https://www.tolerance.org)
    
    
    
    • Being Culturally Responsive: https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/being-culturally-responsive
    
    
    • A New Set of Rules: https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/a-new-set-of-rules
    
    
    • Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education: Classroom Culture: https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/critical-practices-for-antibias-education-classroom-culture
    
    
    • Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education: Instruction:
      https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/critical-practices-for-antibias-education-instruction
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Exploring the Controversy: The “N” Word: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/section1_2.html
  
  
  
  


• Wheatley Curriculum Tools
  
  
  
  • Modules
    
    
    
    • Teaching Notes (Module Overview)
    
    
    • Pause Points (Pacing Plan)
    
    
    • Socratic seminars, including sections on Opening Questions, Sustained Dialogue, Clarifying/Extension Questions (Teacher Resource Guide, keyword Socratic seminar: Basic Components)
    
    
    • Lesson Elements, including Engage Students, JOY/CONNECT reflection questions and Close the Lesson
    
    
    • Handout: Socratic Seminar Anchor Chart (Handout file for each grade and module, example KW – G3 – M2 – Handouts)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Teacher Resource Guide
  
  
  • Supporting Inclusivity and Diversity (Instructional Routines and Practices)
    
    
    
    • Teaching Sensitive Content (keyword Sensitive)
    
    
    • Mirrors and Windows (keywords Mirrors and Windows)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Diversity in Wheatley (Tools and Resources; keywords Diversity in Wheatley)
  
  
  • Effective Questioning (keyword Effective Questioning. See subsections Effective Questioning Strategies and Wait Time)
  
  
  • Extension and Engagement Activities (keyword Extension and Engagement; See Teaching Extension: Social Sensitivity in modules where sensitive issues are particularly present.)
  
  
  
  


• Content-Specific Tolerance Resources (These may be helpful across other related content.)
  
  
  
  • “Exploring the Controversy: The “N” Word” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/section1_2.html
  
  
  • “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/index.html
  
  
  • “Gestures To Avoid In Cross-Cultural Business: In Other Words, ‘Keep Your Fingers To Yourself!’” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gayle-cotton/cross-cultural-gestures_b_3437653.html
  
  
  • “24 American Customs That Are Considered Offensive In Other Countries” http://www.businessinsider.com/american-behaviors-that-are-offensive-abroad-2015-8 
  
  
  
  

Teaching Extension: Life for African Americans in the Late 1800s

To prepare for reading A Weed Is a Flower, share the following information:

• Explain that George Washington Carver was born enslaved. That means that he was owned as property by another person.


• Explain that many enslaved people came originally from Africa. They were kidnapped in Africa and forced to come to America, where they were enslaved to white owners. Their children born in America also become enslaved. Even in America, enslaved people were sometimes kidnapped and sold to someone else.


• Families of enslaved people were often separated when an owner decided to sell some or all of the family to different new owners.


• Tell students that slavery ended soon after Carver was born, but life was still hard for African Americans. They did not have their own land to farm. There were also not many colleges for African Americans.

Performance Arts: Song

George Washington Carver always loved plants. He loved to grow them, study them, and paint them. As a boy, people even called him the Plant Doctor. What else do you know about his love of plants?

• Make up a song about George Washington Carver’s love of plants. You can use the word I and pretend he is sharing his love of plants.


• Practice the song.


• Then sing it for the class.

Connecting Texts: Poster

Make a poster about George Washington Carver and his life.

• Think about what he did in his life.


• Draw pictures that tell about his life.


• Add words that tell about him.


• Draw pictures of things he made from peanuts.


• Share your poster with the class.

Performance Arts: Acting Out Scenes

The illustrations and words in this text help us imagine what it was like to know Jackie Robinson. Work with a partner or in a small group to act out some scenes from the book.

• Choose the scenes.


• Look at the illustrations to help you imagine what is happening.


• Practice the scenes.


• Perform the scenes for the class.

Content Areas: Science

Jackie’s dad tests the ice on the lake to see if it’s frozen. Water becomes ice when it is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below. How long do you think it takes for a cup of water to freeze? Do this experiment to find out.

• Fill a plastic or metal bowl with one cup of cool water.


• Put the bowl in the freezer.


• Set a timer for every 15 minutes.


• Each time, check for ice, and make a mark on paper.


• Stop when the water is completely frozen.


• Count the number of marks you made.


• Share the number with the class. Did everyone get the same result?

Visual Expression: Pages in a Book

This book tells the important events in Jackie Robinson’s life. Create your own pages for a book about Robinson.

• Fold a piece of paper in half. Hold the paper so that you have two pages side by side.


• On one page, draw a picture showing something you learned about Jackie Robinson.


• On the other page, write a sentence to go with your picture.

Verbal Expression: Silly Story

Dr. Seuss wrote this silly story with just 50 different words. He used them over and over again. Sometimes he added NOT. Sometimes he changed the order. He also used rhyming words, like rain and train. Make up your own silly story.

• In your story, use some words over and over again.


• Include some words that rhyme.

Teaching Extension: Blindness

• Gather objects that have different sizes, shapes, and textures. Include an object with a scent, such as a cinnamon-scented candle.


• Place an object in a paper bag, and invite a student to explore it without looking inside the bag. The student may touch it or smell it. The student may also shake the bag to see how the object sounds. If the student guesses correctly, move on to another student or another object.
  

Content Areas: Science

Make a nonfiction book about elephants with a small group. Show what elephants look like and what they do.

• Search the Internet for pictures of elephants by visiting sites such as these:
  
  
  
  • http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/african-elephant/#african-elephant-mud-family-baby.jpg 
  
  
  • http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals/elephant.html
  
  
  
  


• Each student in the group should make a page for the book. You can draw a picture or print one from the Internet.


• Together plan the cover. Have one student make it.


• Make a hole in one corner of each page and the cover.


• Use ribbon or string to tie the pages together.
  

Visual Expression: Drawing

Work with a partner to draw an elephant like what the story characters imagined.

• Together think about the different parts of an elephant. If you need help, visit this site: http://elpkidscorner.weebly.com/elephant-anatomy.html


• For each part, draw what the mouse or blind man guessed.

Connecting Texts: Collage

Create a collage to show what you learned about Abraham Lincoln’s life.

• Show what he looked like. Draw him or print a picture from the Internet.


• Add other pictures that tell about his life.


• Include his birthday. You can copy his signature from Lincoln and Me.


• Add pencil rubbings of Abraham Lincoln’s face from pennies to your collage.

Teaching Extension: Math Game

• Make a scorecard for each player that includes a “dimes” column and a “pennies” column. Label the columns with a circle for “dimes” and a shaded-in circle for “pennies.”


• Gather the following items:
  
  
  
  • 200 pennies for every 2 players
  
  
  • 20 dimes for every 2 players
  
  
  • one die for the class
  
  
  • a pencil for each player
  
  
  
  


• Place a pile of dimes and a pile of pennies in the center of a table or rug. Elicit that Abraham Lincoln’s face is on a penny and explain that the face of another president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, is on a dime.


• Have players take turns rolling the die.


• When the die is rolled, each player takes that number of coins. For example, if the die shows 5, then all players take 5 coins. A player can take dimes or pennies, but not both.


• After each turn, players place the coins in the correct column on their scorecards. They also write the value of the coins they pick up at each turn.


• When a player has 10 pennies, the player trades them for a dime and puts it in the dimes column.


• After 6 turns, players count up the totals. The player with the total closest to $1.00 wins.

Social Justice/Diversity: Group Discussion

In A. Lincoln and Me, we learn that people laughed at President Lincoln because he was different. They also laugh at the boy in the book for that reason. In a small group, discuss questions such as these:

• How was Abraham Lincoln different from people he met?


• In what ways was President Lincoln big? Think of the ways the author uses the word big to describe Lincoln.


• How is being big hard for the boy in the book? In what ways is it useful?


• Are most people the same? Or is each person different in some way?


• Why is it important to treat everyone with respect