Next week is February vacation, and we wish everyone a fun and restful week off! When we return to school on the 22nd we will be starting a week-long unit based on the story Rainbow of Friends by P.K. Hallinan. This is a book about the importance of differences among people – what people look like; how they dress; what their talents, interests and challenges are; and how these make us special. The illustrations show children engaged in many different activities together. The story will sensitize children to the way we are all alike and different, and emphasize that we all have abilities and challenges.
The activities we will engage in during the week will include opportunities to play, share and cooperate with our friends. We will be sorting ourselves by different attributes (hair color, eye color, types of clothes) to see how we are alike and different. We will be discussing how people around the world (and even in our school!) have different languages to speak, different challenges and different likes or dislikes. We will also focus on how wonderful it is that we are all different and all add something special to our class/school/world!
We will be making rainbows, our earth, and portraits of ourselves. We will also discuss as a class what we like best about each of our friends, and even creating awards for these attributes! This is a great learning opportunity for children of all ages, and we are looking forward to beginning it here!
Next up after Rainbow of Friends is going to be a unit on the story A Porcupine Named Fluffy. Have a wonderful week off!