Teaching resilience KS2: Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Teaching resilience – KS2                                                                       

Text: Perfect Square by Michael Hall Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: lots of squares, scissors, glue

LI To develop skills in resilience

Starter: Write ‘resilience’ on the board. Children in pairs to come up with a definition and then feed back to class. Can we come up with a class definition? What does the dictionary give as a definition?

Main : Read “Perfect Square”. Discussion: what happens in this story, what happens to the square on its journey through the story? Which do you think was the most difficult challenge for the square? (when the square was torn in to scraps, shredded, or shattered etc)? Each time the square faced a new challenge, what did it do? How do you think the square felt when faced with each challenge? How do you think square felt each time it found a solution? When do you think the square is happiest? Why do you think at the end, when square gets its shape back, it doesn’t stop? Why does square change in to a window?

Activity: Use the story as stimulus for an art session. Give each child squares of paper and go through the book; at each stage asking children to follow instructions given in the story (shatter the square/ rip it up etc) and then re-model the shapes in to a new image. The children could use the image suggested in the story or create  their own. Either use as a whole class activity with every child making multiple square images or give each table their own instructions and encourage children to work together to create images using co-operation.

Plenary:  How is the square showing resilience in this story? Lots of things happen to square and it has to think of new responses at every stage; does square ever give up and remain torn, crumpled or in pieces? Why do you think square does not give up? What does square want to show us? What is the message in this story? Think about the ending; square could have stayed as a square for ever but it chose to change in to a window; what do you think the author is trying to tell us about change? When we meet challenges in life; when things happen that we find difficult, what do we need to do? In the story, square remains alone but in our lives there are people around us. If you are facing difficulty, who can you ask for help?

Suggested AFL questions: Today I have learned… resilience means….. When I experience challenges, I will…  Re-visit the definition of resilience made in the starter- do we went to change it?

“No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the equality act in Primary Schools” by Andrew Moffat available from www.speechmark.net

For more lesson plans and resources see www.equalitiesprimary.com

Challenging prejudice / thinking differently KS2 : The cow who climbed a tree: Gemma Merino

Challenging prejudice / being assertive/ listening to new ideas 

Year 4-5-6

Text: The cow who climbed a tree: Gemma Merino Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat: www.equalitiesprimary.com

Learning Intention: To be assertive

Success Criteria: I know what assertive means/ I know why some people are not assertive/ I am not afraid of new ideas

Starter: write assertive on board. Children come to a definition with a partner

Main: Read “The cow who climbed a tree”. Ask children to discuss in partners what the book is about and what the message is, then feedback. Look at page 1 where Tina reads a book; why is she reading? Look at her facial expression compared to the expression on the other cows’ faces; how would you describe each expression? Tina had a ‘thirst for discovery’ – what does that mean? How would you describe the behaviour of the other cows? Why do the cows tell Tina to stop thinking differently? What changed the cows?

Role play: ask for a volunteer to be Tina. Explain Tina is going to try and tell the rest of the class about something she has learned. Can Tina be assertive enough to convince us to listen? Use the words that the cows use when Tina tries to persuade them. Give Tina a card with the following statement to read out and persuade: The world is round! Explain a long time ago people believed the world was flat and if you sailed to the horizon you would fall off the edge. People could not see the world as anything other than flat so they didn’t think about alternative views. Tina’s job is to persuade us to listen to her. Try the exercise with different children taking on the role of Tina. Can Tina remain calm when she argues her point? Can she listen to other views and respond?

Activity: Remind children about the Equality Act and what it’s for. Why is it needed? Do some people still believe we are not all equal? We have the Equality Act in the UK because there are still some people that don’t agree with No Outsiders, who believe that people who are different races, religions, or who have different sexual orientation, cannot get along. Write an assertive letter to the Head Teacher of an imaginary school where No Outsiders is not used and the Equality Act 2010 is not mentioned. You may wish to write a letter saying you do not agree with No Outsiders or a letter saying you do agree. The intention is to be use language that is assertive to persuade the reader to your opinion. Y6: look at http://www.wiscnews.com/baraboonewsrepublic/news/local/article_935d7201-c28b-55b0-9618-789cc770f27f.html an article about a school in America saying they do not welcome pupils who are LGBT. Write to the Head Teacher.

Plenary: Not every country has an Equality Act. There are many countries where people do not have equality. How would an Equality Act help people in those countries? How does our No Outsiders ethos help us to make sure everyone is equal?

AFL questions: Today I have learned… / If someone doesn’t believe in equality, I can…

35 further lesson plans on teaching equality in, “No Outsiders In our school: Teaching the Equality Act inprimary Schools” by Andrew Moffat

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