Community Building Lesson Plans

Literature Lesson Plans

Ezra Jack Keats Book Lesson Plans

Respect Goggles

Lesson Plan:

Activity:  

Lesson plan developed by Aurora Tollestrup, BS Ed. 

Respect Goggles

Age Group:

Preschool

* Lesson plan objective and assessment can be adapted to use this activity with toddlers. ​

Objectives:  

Children will:

• create a unique set of goggles to go along with the book Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats which will open up dialogue about respecting diversity in the classroom.

CDA Competency Standard:   

III.9.3a

• Candidate promotes children’s sense of belonging in the classroom community.
  

​a. Encourages children’s social interactions

Materials: 

• Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats
• colored cardstock
• Goggles template (Click here to download)
• tape

Procedure: 

• Read Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats in a developmentally appropriate manner, pausing to ask questions and make observations. 
  
• When finished, have a discussion about what respect is and how not everyone was respectful to Peter and his friends in the story.
• Invite children to create their own pair of goggles like Peter’s using the template and materials.
  
• When children are finished, gather at circle time to model some respectful exchanges as a class. Some examples:

“Turn to your neighbor and compliment their glasses.”
“How are your glasses, Kiesha, different than Marco’s? Is there anything better or worse about one person’s glasses? No, there is not, because they are all different like we are.”
“What are some respectful words we can use in our classroom?”

Assessment: 

• Assess children upon their participation and understanding of the value of respect in the classroom. For younger children, you may ask them how they felt during the exercise.

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Teaching Respect for Diversity

“I think that children look at Peter first of all as a child, who is like themselves in some ways whether they are boy or girl, black, brown or white, fat or skinny or what.”
-Ezra Jack Keats

The Little Drummer Boy

​Whether the children’s books by Ezra Jack Keats featured African American, Spanish American, or Native American children is largely unimportant. What is important is the existence of diverse characters in his work because it reflects real life. Everywhere we look there are people of different shapes, sizes, colors, cultures, habits and situations. Teaching respect for diversity should be a priority for teachers of all age groups and facilities. In fact, the early childhood classroom is a fantastic place to begin teaching respect for diversity and there is a CDA Competency Standard for this.
CDA Competency Standard

• III.9.4b Candidate helps children experience sympathy/empathy and respect for others.
  

• b. Discusses diversity comfortably when interacting with children
  

The work of Ezra Jack Keats earnestly lends itself to the teaching of respect for diversity. These children’s books include a range of diversity in the characters, their settings, and the events in the books. Using the work of Ezra Jack Keats to begin the conversation of a respectful community within the classroom is a great starting point to supporting that CDA Competency Standard. Whether your group consists of an outwardly diverse group or not, it is important to teach respect for others and discuss those themes in a natural and comfortable fashion that is also developmentally appropriate.

When discussing diversity and teaching respect for others you should first consider your own biases and take careful steps to avoid them. Everybody has a bias of some kind whether they are aware of it or not. Often these biases are rooted in untrue stereotypes or from past experiences.

Hi, Cat

Regards to the Man in the Moon

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