Each Kindness

YOU {Rock} Kindness

Each Kindness, a Coretta Scott King award-winning picture book, is a book written by Newbery Honor- Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Caldecott Honor- E. B. Lewis. This book is set in a school setting when her peers, because of the clothes that she wears, belittle the new girl Maya. Chloe and the other girls turn away from Maya when she consistently tries to befriend them, but miss out on the opportunity when she suddenly stops coming to school. When the teacher, Ms. Albert, gives a lesson on small acts of kindness, Chloe realizes that her she missed her chance with Maya.

This book shows the diversity and difficulty of human relationships. Think back to a time when you were rude to someone or when someone was cruel to you – At some point in time you have been either Chloe or Maya in the story, or maybe you are more like me, and been in both situations. This book can be a promoter for children at a young age so that they understand the importance of nice gestures and how small things can affect someone remarkably.

            When using this children’s book in my classroom, Each Kindness, is written on a third grade-fourth month reading level. This is an appropriate grade level for this particular book, because of the more serious message the author guides for her audience. The lesson that I will be doing with the activity will be a mock of the lesson that teacher portrays in the story:

I am going to start off by reading the book. Students will work in groups of 2-3 and use discussion questions to talk about the characters and how their actions and feelings contribute to the sequence of events that happen in the story. The students will then collaborate to determine an action plan: groups will think of a proposal for Maya, Chloe, and Ms. Albert. The teacher will give the students a copy of several parts of the sentences from the book as students discover the pronouns, nouns, and verbs in those sentences. I will conclude the lesson by giving each student a rock with YOU written on it. The students will then drop the rock into a large area of water, when sharing with the class an act of kindness that he or she has performed in the past. This will demonstrate and create a ripple affect and show how one act of kindness can be passed on. The standards used for this diversity activity will be:

 L.3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

SL.3. 1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

o   Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.

·       L.3.1.a Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and there functions in particular sentences.