Once Upon A Book ~ We Are Alike, We Are All Different

 

We Are All Alike . . . We Are All Different
by Cheltenham Elementary Kindergarten Students

Book Summary: With original drawings and their own lyrical words, a class of kindergartners share the ways they look and feel, the games they play, the foods they like, the homes they live in, and the families they live with, concluding that "We are all alike. We are all different. We are a family."

Bible Verse:  Psalm 139:14~I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Social Studies:

In the book, one of the differences mentioned were types of housing. Using a quick search through the internet and clip-art, I pulled up several different types of housing. This was mainly for vocabulary purposes because I realized that he'd never been to an apartment building since we live in the suburbs.

Science:

We went outside and looked at our shadow. We noticed that Mommy's shadow was longer than Jonah's. And then, this very pregnant Mommy decided that it was way too hot to be out in the August sun and changed my "lesson plan". Had it been cooler, I wanted to stand at the same spot and mark our shadows at different times of the day to allow Jonah to see that his shadow changes with the sun's movement/position in the sky. I'll reschedule this for cooler weather, but still wanted to share it with you!

Math:

First, we did Muffin Tin Sorting using small Foam Beads shaped like People (I purchased these from Oriental Trading many years ago and cannot find on their site to link to.) We talked about how when we sort items, we find the things that are alike and put them together. I tried to use the terms "alike" and "same" interchangeably to increase vocabulary skills since "alike" was a term from the book.

Once we were finished sorting, we used the foam beads to make patterns. At first, I started the pattern and asked him to tell me what would be next. Later, I had him make his own. If your child is not quite on this level yet, give them a pattern to copy.

We also used the foam beads to practice counting.

Reading & Art:

At our house, we've been working on the sight word "my". In order to continued practicing that sight word, I made a simple book on the computer and Jonah helped me finish the pages. Since the book is illustrated by a class of Kindergarten students, I think it encouraged Jonah to draw. He loved looking at the drawings in the book. He's been somewhat timid with drawing and saying "He's not good at it" or "I don't know how", but this book really encouraged him to try. He saw that drawing doesn't have to be perfect to be in a book.

He drew a picture for the "My Family" page that made me tear up...

Jonah included his brother, Asher, about to be born (any day now) and the sister we're in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. I love that he already sees her as family and we don't even know who she is yet! (Feel free to read our adoption story that is still unfolding.)

Here are the rest of the pages....

 

 

 

 

 

After we assembled the book, we went on a word hunt to find the word "My". I showed Jonah how to use a highlighter to highlight the word and let him find them throughout the book.

*If you'd like to use the "My" sight word book I made, you can download it here on my blog.