Time: approximately 20–25 minutes (Additional time will be needed to extend into making a class big book)
Materials: whole class and partners
- Take a tour of the classroom with the students and pause to look at their life-size pictures with labels, their masks and other art work, the books that you have read with them and to them, and listen to the song version of Benny’s Special Day.
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What did we learn about what makes a person special? How can others help someone realize that he or she is special? What did we learn about what we can do? What did we find out about being special? What makes you special?
Gather together and talk about ‘What Makes Me Special?’ You may display the question on the board or on a sentence strip for the pocket chart.
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I want each of you to tell a partner something that you like about that person or the way he or she does something. I can say to you as a class, “I like the way you sing with the actions when we play the Benny’s Special Day song. That tells me that you are good listeners and that you can show the actions really well.”
Ask students to talk with a partner or in a small group and think of one thing that they can do to help someone else know how special they are or what makes them special. You may wish to use a sentence starter such as, ‘I like the way you…’ that you place in the pocket chart. Model this for the students.
- Ask students to think about themselves and what makes them special. Ask each student to contribute orally with the statement ‘I can …’ You could write each sentence, together with the student’s name, on a separate page to make a class big book. Invite students to create a drawing or painting to go with the labels. The book can go on display with the other books read in the unit and can be used in a centre for rereading by groups or partners.