Mount Aloysius College

Education Department

Lesson Plan Format

I. Heading

Lesson Title: Similarities and Differences Make Us Special

Teacher Name: Miss Shyann

Date Lesson is Taught: 10/13/2021

Subject/Discipline: English Language Arts/ Multicultural Education

Grade Level: 1st grade

Number of Students: 10

Allocated Instructional Time: 15 - 20 minutes

Multiple Intelligences Addressed: Verbal/Linguistic, Visual and Spatial, Existential

Pennsylvania Common Core Standards or Early Learning Standards:

● 16.2 1.B Recognize and tolerate the uniqueness of all people in all situations.

● 5.1 1.C Define equality and the need to treat everyone equally.

II. Rationale and Background

1. The students are familiar with similarities and differences. They know that some

people look the same as them and others look different than them.
 2. The purpose of this lesson is to help promote an understanding of diversity in the

classroom, and hopefully further than that. This lesson teaches the students to

recognize the similarities and differences between themselves and others.

III. Lesson Objectives

● Objective 1- TLWBAT understand each person has a set of unique characteristics

and label personal characteristics. (16.2 1.B)

● Objective 2- TLWBAT identify similarities and differences between self and

others and engage in positive interactions with peers. (5.1 1.C).

IV. Materials

Teacher Materials;

● We Are Alike, We Are Different by Janice Behrens

○ Behrens, J. (2010). We are alike, we are different. Children Press.

● Paper

● Scissors

● Tape

● Crayons / markers / paint

● Premade world

● Timer

○ YouTube. (2021, March 22). 1 minute timer among us [music]. YouTube.

Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=wB_7lbK2HMA.
 ● Animal Freeze Song (if time)

● KIBOOMU. (2017, November 17). Animal freeze dance | kids music | songs for

kids | the kiboomers | ESL | toddler. YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqz4z9aQRJY.

● Goodbye song (If time)

● TheLearningStation. (2016, January 14). Brain breaks ♫ action songs for

children ♫ goodbye song ♫ kids songs by The Learning Station. YouTube.

Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pP9AujV8N1A.

Student Materials

● Something to write with (pencil, marker, etc)

V. Procedures

A. Introduction and Motivation

1. I will say “Good afternoon class! Today we are going to talk about similarities

and differences. Can anyone tell me one thing that all of us have in common, one

similarity? Can anyone tell me a difference we all have?”

2. Next I will tell the students. “Even though we are all similar in many ways, we are

also different. Being different is a good thing! We can learn from our differences

in many ways. I want all of you to listen as I read a story called We Are Alike, We

Are Different by Janice Behrens.”

B. Lesson Body

1. Have the students sit on the floor

3. Show students the book We Are Alike, We Are Different by Janice Behrens

4. Let them tell you what they think the book is about

5. Read the book to the students

a. Spend time on each page talking about the details

b. Throughout the story, I will have the students answer a few questions I ask

from the book about some things that were said.

6. Once the book is over, have the students tell you something they learned

7. Transition back to their desk and partner them up

8. Draw a T chart on the board

9. Ask the students to talk with their partners for a few minutes and discuss the

similarities and differences between them

a. Set a fun timer on youtube

i. YouTube. (2021, March 22). 1 minute timer among us [music].

YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_7lbK2HMA.

10. Once the time is up, ask the students to share the similarities and differences they

found.

a. Write it on the chalk board or have them come up and write it

11. Next pass out paper, crayons, markers, and scissors

12. Have the students trace their hand, cut it out, and color it

13. Then have the students place their hands around the world that is on the wall.

C. Simplification and Extensions

and differences. Then have him help by patrolling the classroom beside the

teacher looking for good descriptive words that students are putting on their

charts.

2. Student with Gifts and Talents- Have students come up with at least five

descriptive sentences describing their similarities and differences and have them

write them on the chart. The students could also include illustrations if they have

left over time.

3. Students with Learning Disabilities- Students should be paired up with a partner

who can help them in writing their descriptive words if needed. Provide the

students with a list of possible descriptive words that they can refer to.

4. Students with behavioral disorders- Have these students working with those who

get along with them. Allow these students to go to the corner of the classroom at

the reading station to avoid conflicts with other groups. If problems are severe and

the student cannot work with others, give him or her picture of an individual for

him to use to complete the activity

D. Closure/Conclusion

1. I will tell the students “You all did a wonderful job of coming up with descriptive

words or phrases to describe your similarities and differences. We are all different

and the same in many ways and that is what makes each of us special.”
 2. I will then tell them “Just as we are similar and different from each other, many

other things have similarities and differences as well. Keep up the good work and

remember that it is our differences that make us special!”

E. “If-Time Activity and Independent Practice”

● Put on the Animal Freeze Song

■ KIBOOMU. (2017, November 17). Animal freeze dance | kids music |

songs for kids | the kiboomers | ESL | toddler. YouTube. Retrieved

October 13, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=jqz4z9aQRJY.

○ Goodbye song (If time)

■ TheLearningStation. (2016, January 14). Brain breaks ♫ action songs for

children ♫ goodbye song ♫ kids songs by The Learning Station. YouTube.

Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pP9AujV8N1A.

VI. Communicating with Families/Homework Assignment/Independent Practice

● I will have the students think about their favorite food that they love to help make

with their family. Again, I will talk about the similarities and differences! When

they come to class the next day, we will discuss where everyone's favorite food

comes from around the world.

VII. Evaluation

A. Student Assessment

● I will post pictures of the students doing both activities to my teacher website
 ● I will also take a class photo of the kids in front of the world with their hands

around it and send it home to each family

B. Reflective Practice/Self-Evaluation

1. What were two strengths of the lesson?

- One strength of the lesson was the book. The students loved the pictures in

the book. They were able to relate to the book. The book had multiple

questions throughout it that the students could answer. This got them more

involved in the lesson. Secondly, another strength of the lesson was the

songs. These songs allowed the students to get up and move around!

Children need this movement! Allowing them to get up and dance gives

them a much needed brain break, so when the next lesson is taught they

are ready to learn again.

2. What are two areas of the lesson that need improvement?

- One thing that needed to be improved in this lesson is making sure

everyone could see the book and the pictures as I read. I feel like in a

bigger group of students it would have been hard for some of them to see

since it was a little sized book. Secondly, another thing that needs to be

improved is having better materials. I could have had more scissors and

tape for the students to use. I also should have got All Around The World

crayons so students could match their skin tone better.

3. What would I do differently, if I were to reteach this lesson?

book and make a week long lesson out of this. If I made this a week-long

lesson, I could talk about diversity more in depth. The book mentions

words like chopsticks and wheelchairs. I could talk about “where do

chopsticks come from” or “do we know anyone who is in a wheelchair?” I

think another thing I would change is to make the world bigger. Since I

taught it to a small class, I made the world smaller. However, if I were

teaching it to a bigger class I would make sure that it was big enough for

everyone’s hand to fit on it. I could also make a bulletin board to put the

world with the kids hands on instead of just hanging it in the room. This

way everyone in the school can see!

4. What biases, if any, existed in the materials, activities, language, or interactions

with children?

- The only thing I can think of is that I did not have All Around The World

crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Therefore, when it came time to do

the activity, we had to use a normal pack of crayons. In the end, all of our

hands were a shade of tan. If I would have had the All Around The World

crayons, we would have seen more hands that were different shades on

tan.

5. Did anything surprise me?

- Nothing really seemed to surprise me. I feel that overall the lesson went

pretty well. The students loved it and they learned a lot about diversity in

this lesson.
Be sure to attach all resources such as handouts and teacher-created materials