SUBJECT
Food and Cooking, Adoption and Foster Care, Divorce and Remarriage, Families and Social Structures, Understanding Self and Others, Poetry Writing, Extended Family, Parents

GRADE
Pre-K-K

DURATION
4 Weeks

We Are Family

By Steven Hicks

We are all part of a family. Families are configured in different ways with many factors affecting them: divorce, adoption, remarriage, ethnic diversity, grandparents as primary care givers, single parents, foster care, etc. In this unit, students learn that there are different kinds of families and no one structure is better than another. They discover that all types of families love and care for each other.

OBJECTIVE
Students Will:

Discuss their family structures.
Become familiar with the family diversity of their peers and others in the world.
Learn about family habits, history, and values.

LESSONS FOR THIS UNIT
Lesson 1: Family Quilts Keep Us Warm
Lesson 2: Brown Paper Bag Family Memories
Lesson 3: Tracing Our Own Family Pilgrimages

REPRODUCIBLES
Family Quilt Square (PDF)
Brown Paper Bag Family Memories Letter to Families (PDF)
Family Memory Page (PDF)
Class Book Feedback Page (PDF)
Tracing Our Own Family Pilgrimages Family Interview (PDF)
Suitcase (PDF)

CULMINATING ACTIVITY

Kinder-giving Feast
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I send home a letter telling families about our Kinder-giving Feast and inviting them to share a family favorite dish. I also ask them to share the recipe for our Class Cookbook for the housekeeping center (and for me). On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, our families gather for a feast of family favorites. Children perform a song and poem. This event gives families an opportunity to see all the projects we've been working on this month.

SUPPORTING BOOKS

Books for Teaching about Families

Teacher Store

The Teacher Store

Mountain Pose

When twelve-year-old Ellie inherits an old Vermont farm from her cruel and heartless grandmother Aurelia, she reads a set of diaries written by an ancestor and discovers secrets from the past.

$4.50
Paperback Book | Grades 6-9

Mountain Pose

Grades 6-9 $4.50

Scholastic Store

The Scholastic Store

Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit

by Paula Danzinger and Tony Ross

With problems at school and at home, Amber feels everyone is against her. The heartfelt, humorous adventures and short chapter format will appeal to even the most reluctant readers.

Amber Brown is in deep trouble. Her room is a mess, her homework is late, and to top it all off her mom is dating someone! Amber's mom really wants her to meet her "friend" Max, but Amber knows if she meets him then all hope of her parents getting back together is gone. Then a note comes home from school saying that Amber is not working up to her ability. Now Amber is really in for it. What can Amber do? She tries to clean her room and even tries to do some of her work for Mrs. Holt, her teacher. But her mother is still mad at her. She has to meet Max and do her work! Amber has to get some credit for trying, right?

School Library Journal
Readers will laugh out loud at Amber's energetic capers and feel the sense of loss she expresses.

$3.99
books;paperback books;paperbacks | Ages 7-10

Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit

Ages 7-10 $3.99

ARTICLE	You Canâ??t Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown Change can be difficult. To help students think about the theme of change, ask them to make a list of 10 changes that have affected them.