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

equalitiesprimary

Different Families (KS1) Picnic In The Park - Joe Griffiths and Tony Pilgrim

                                                                                                                       

Text: Picnic in the park- Joe Griffiths and Tony Pilgrim Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat

Resources: large picnic rug. If possible a piece of food for every child – fruit or a biscuit or a sandwich. Something small that can be eaten quickly.

SEAL Outcomes: New beginnings: I feel good about the ways we are similar in the group and the ways we are different/ I can tell you how I am the same as and different from my friends Say no to bullying: I am proud of the ways I am different

LO: To understand families can be different

Starter: Put the word “family” on the board- what does it mean? Who is in a family? Is there one kind of family?

Main: Read “Picnic in the park”. Who comes to Jason’s picnic? Why do they come? How many different families can you remember? What did the families bring to the party? Why did they bring things?

Role play: Place a large rug on the carpet and say we are going to have our own picnic. Show the children the food they are going to bring and ask them to think about who is going to be in their family. Children can put themselves in to any group and be a family or they could come by themselves. Each group / person needs to bring some food to the rug when they come. Choose a child to be Jason (or a girl) and have them welcome each “family” to the rug. Each family should introduce themselves as they arrive- this is Mum, this is auntie / my brother etc before placing their gift on to a large tray and then sitting on the carpet. Once everyone is on the carpet share the food.

Activity: Who is in your role –play family? Children draw and label each person.

Plenary: Did Jason turn anyone away from his picnic in the park? No! He made sure there were no outsiders! And there were lots of different families there- some with one Mum, two dads, a mum and dad, foster children etc Everyone was welcome! Return to the family used in the starter. Who can be in a family? Is there only one kind of family?

Suggested AFL questions: Today I have learned/ A family can be…

 For 35 lesson plans based on picture books see "No Outsiders In Our School: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools" by Andrew Moffat

www.equalitiesprimary.com

Understanding and Respecting Human Rights: We are all born free - Amnesty

Text: We are all born free- Amnesty Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat

Resources: copies of the 30 articles in the declaration. Enough copies for every child.

SEAL Outcomes: New beginnings: / I know I am valued at school I understand my rights and responsibilities at school

LI: To understand and respect human rights

Starter: What is the declaration of human rights? Why was it written? What is happening around the world to make people want to invent a universal declaration of human rights?

Main : Read text.

Activity: The declaration is split in to sections; split children in to groups of four and given them copies of the 30 articles. Ask children to consider which of the 30 are most important and to label them 1-10 in order of importance. Glue on to a sheet and present to the class with explanations. As children are presenting ask a child to count scores for each article mentioned. At the end present a class result – were any missed out completely? Why do you think that is? Was there a clear winner? Why? Does anyone want to change their mind?

Plenary: In our activity I forced you to discard a large chunk of declarations but in truth every one of them is important- why? Take the ones that got no points and ask children to say why we need them in the declaration. Children to pick three of the declarations that got least class points and record in books why they are important.

AFL questions: What have we learned about today? / Pick any article you think is very important and write an explanation in your book and an example of one way this article affects you. Note: see http://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/ for information on how to become a Rights Respecting School.

For 35 lesson plans based on picture books see "No Outsiders In Our School: Teaching The Equality Act In Primary Schools" by Andrew Moffat.

www,equalitiesprimary.com

Challenging Homophobia : Dad, David, Baba Chris and me by Ed Merchant

     

                                                                                               

Text: Dad, David, Baba Chris and me by Ed Merchant Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat: www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: Search for "families UK” on google images and prepare a slide show of about 10 families. Include in the slide show images of families with a Mum and Dad or one Mum or one Dad etc. You want a range of people.

SEAL Outcomes: Say no to bullying: I know some ways to encourage other children who use bullying behaviours to make other choices

LI To understand there are different families in the city where I live

Starter: in partners define adoption and fostering- who can adopt or foster children?

Main : Read Dad, David, Baba Chris and me. Why does Ben want so much for David and Baba Chris to adopt him? What do David and Baba Chris do to show they love Ben? How does Ben feel? What happens when Ben goes to Junior school- what word is he called? What does “gay” mean? (Gay means when two men love each other or when two women love each other – also Lesbian). What did Ben’s teacher Miss Patel say? Why do you think the name calling hasn’t really stopped? What would you do if you heard name calling like that in our school?

Student led activity: whole class: Focus on the name calling in the middle of the story. Have you ever heard the word “Gay” used as a put down in our school? What do we say in our school about people being different? Is everyone welcome at our school? The law in the UK says you can be gay or lesbian and that two men or two women can get married. The Equality Act 2010 also says you cannot be discriminated against because you are gay, or because of the colour of your skin, your gender, disability, religion (check understanding of discrimination) Show the slide show of families. The aim is to demonstrate that there are real families living in the UK today with gay parents and others with one parent or two parents of different gender.

Activity: Display the page that begins, “One day I asked my dads if they thought I would grow up gay like them” with jigsaw pieces and arrows. Children to draw their own version of the image with different grown up options recorded and labelled.

Plenary:  Do we all grow up to be the same as our parents? Show youtube clip of Mikki Willis “How would you feel if your son chose this” showing a Dad’s reaction to his son buying a doll for a birthday. What is the message from Dad here? What kind of Dad is he? How do you think his son feels? What can we learn form this clip?

Suggested AFL questions: Today I have learned…

For 35 lesson plans based on picture books, see "No Outsiders In Our School: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools" by Andrew Moffat.

www.equalitiesprimarycom 

                                                

Accepting different ideas and view points: What do you do with an idea? - Kobi Yamada

Learning Intention: To have confidence in new ideas

Text: What do you do with an idea?- Kobi Yamada

Success Criteria: I know how ideas form / I know how to grow an idea/ I can talk to people about what I think

Starter: With a partner think of an idea you once had that you acted on that worked. Can you think of an idea you had that didn’t work? What’s the best thing to do with a new idea?

Main: Read “What to do with an idea”. After you have read the story, look at the first few pages; why is the child walking away from the idea and why is it following? When does the child start to change their mind? How can an idea want “food and attention”? what’s happening in this bit of the story? Why was the child afraid of telling others about their idea?  When the others didn’t agree, what made the child persevere? What happens at the end of the story? How are the pictures different? Why are they different? What has happened?

Discussion: Show the class the image of the women pilots from Brunei who flew a plane in to Saudi Arabia (see below and for more info on the story see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/royal-brunei-airlines-first-all-female-flight-deck-crew-lands-plane-in-saudi-arabia-where-women-are-a6931726.html Discuss in pairs- whose idea was that? What was the idea? What do you think people said when the idea was first raised? What do you think changed to make the idea a reality? What was the impact when the women landed the plane in Saudi Arabia?

Activity: Write a conversation between the three women pilots before they fly the plane to Saudi Arabia. Their names are Captain Sharifah Czarena Surainy Syed Hashim, Senior First Officer Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem and Senior First Officer Sariana Nordin. Have one of the women come up with the idea, and continue the conversation. Show how even when not everyone agrees at first, an idea can develop through discussion and dialogue..

Plenary: The idea said to the child, “It is good to have the ability to see things differently.” – what does that mean? Can you think of an example today where people see things differently or have different views or opinions? What ideas have changed the world? Are wheels natural, or was a wheel someone’s idea? If you could show people 50 years ago, an ipad, what would they think? Someone had the idea and it grew and grew. 100 years ago in the UK, women were not allowed to vote. How has that idea changed? 60 years ago in the USA black people were not allowed to sit with white people on a bus or drink from the same water fountain. How has that idea changed? Today in some countries around the world people face discrimination for being gay or lesbian. Will that idea change? How?

AFL questions: Today I have learned… / it’s ok to have new ideas because…

For a scheme of work on how to teach the Equality Act see No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools by Andrew Moffat 

Transgender Equality: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl? by Sarah Savage and Fox Fisher

Text: Are you a boy or are you a girl? By Sarah Savage and Fox Fisher lesson plan by Andrew Moffat                                                   www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: questions for groups (see below)

SEAL Outcomes: Getting on and falling out: I try to recognise when I or other people are prejudging people and I make an effort to overcome my assumptions/ I know how it can feel to be excluded or treated badly because of being different

LI To consider how we use pronouns

Starter: Ask children in partners to prepare a description of a police officer, a footballer, a teacher, a doctor, a ballet dancer. Children should describe what the people are wearing, their appearance and location. (when you are explaining this task, use the pronoun ‘they’, although don’t highlight this to the class; the aim is to see if they use he/she pronouns instead) Ask some children to feed-back and ask another child to secretly make a tally for the number of times children use pronouns he or she in their descriptions. Ask the children who are giving their descriptions whether they are describing male or female people, as you didn’t specify. Ask why children have chosen to use pronouns to describe each person.

Main : Check understanding of pronouns- what is a pronoun? When is it used? Do we always need to use pronouns? Are there times we don’t need to use pronouns? Does every story need pronouns? What would a story be like if there were no pronouns? Read “Are you a boy or are you a girl?” At the end put children in to small groups and discuss: what is the message in the story, are pronouns used in this story? Are pronouns needed? Describe Tiny. Children feedback Look at the page where a boy shouts, “Tiny, what a silly name. I can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl” Tiny doesn’t answer- why not? Are we given a gender for Tiny? Does that matter? How has Tiny chosen to live life? Put word Transgender on board – what does this mean? Give definition as “When a person is born they are assigned a gender. For a transgender person the gender they have been assigned does not match how they feel inside. So someone who is told they are a boy feels like they are a girl, or someone who is told they are a girl, feels like they are a boy” What does Tiny feel like? In the story Tiny does not identify as either a boy or a girl. We must respect Tiny’s wishes to be referred to neither as a boy or girl because that is how Tiny feels; it is not our job to assign a gender to Tiny!

Student led activity: whole class: If Tiny joined our class we would need to reconsider how we use pronouns. We use them every day without thinking, but we also say at our school, “There are no outsiders” so we need to change our behaviour and our language to make sure Tiny does not feel like an outsider. In small groups give children a list of questions to ask about the story. The children answer and discuss without using the pronouns he or she: Why has Tiny moved to a new house? What is the name of Tiny’s little sister? What do Tiny and Fiona like to pretend to do? Fiona is dressed as a cowboy, what is Tiny dressed as? What is Dad doing when Tiny and Fiona get back? What does Mum give Tiny to wear for school? What does the boy at school say to Tiny about her name? Why does Tiny show Mia there is a lady driving the fire engine? Why does Buster say girls can’t play football? How does Charlie answer Buster? What does Buster call Tiny and how does Teacher respond? What does Tiny dress up as to rescue Mia? When Mia asks if Tiny is a boy or a girl, how does Tiny answer?

Activity: Ask children about the Equality Act 2010 legislation. Explain the law is in place to ensure people do not face discrimination (check understanding of discrimination). There are 9 “protected characteristics” in the law and it is against British law to discriminate against a person because of them. They are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy, race, religion and belief, sex, sexual orientation. Children record definitions for each protected characteristic.

Plenary:  We say there are no outsiders at our school and that everyone is welcome. Would Tiny feel welcome at our school? What can we do to make our school a safe and welcoming place for everyone including Tiny? British law says a person who is transgender cannot face discrimination, but, for example, which toilets would Tiny use? If we make Tiny use the boys or girls toilets are we discriminating against Tiny? How can we change to make sure Tiny feels welcome? Is there anything else in our school that only boys or only girls do? How can we make our school a place where everyone feels welcome?

Suggested AFL questions: Today I have learned… Transgender means…..

“No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the equality act in Primary Schools” by Andrew Moffat