Detailed Lesson Preparation Guide

Elementary Education
Name: Ilana Kate Dunne and Kelsi Harris

Title: A Color of Our Own!

Grade: 1st

Concept/Topic: Building Classroom Community/Diversity Within the Classroom

Time Needed: 35 minutes

● Note: A detailed lesson plan is specific enough for another teacher to read and teach
effectively. There should not be any question regarding what to do or how to do it.
Backward Design Approach: Where are you going with your students?
Identify Desired Results/Learning Outcome/Essential Question:
The goal of this lesson is for students to be able to to identify what makes our classroom diverse and tell
why diversity is important and integral to our successful learning community. Students will be able to
express ideas about how they are different from their peers and why those differences are valuable and
welcome in our classroom. This will be important to understand as diversity is an integral part of our
society and an understanding and appreciation of diversity will be useful as students progress through
their schooling and into the workplace of the future.

Ensuring Lesson supports district and state goals

NCSCOS Standards:
Social Studies:
1.C&G.1 Understand the importance of rules.
1.C&G.1.1 Explain why rules are needed in the home, school and community.
1.C&G.1.2 Classify the roles of authority figures in the home, school and community (teacher,
principal, parents, mayor, park rangers, game wardens, etc).
1.C&G.1.3 Summarize various ways in which conflicts could be resolved in homes, schools,
classrooms and communities.

1.C.1 Understand the diversity of people in the local community.

1.C.1.1 Compare the languages, traditions, and holidays of various cultures.
1.C.1.2 Use literature to help understand diverse cultures.

ELA:
Reading Standards for Literature- Key Ideas and Details
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or
lesson.
Speaking and Listening Standards
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts
with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally
or through other media.
Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information
 or clarify something that is not understood.

Assessment Plan:
The students will be assessed by the content of their answers in the group discussion about what makes
us alike, and what makes us different and why that is important. We will also assess that the learning
goals have been met by having students aide us in completing an anchor chart detailing the differences
of students in our classroom and have them complete a colorful chameleon representation of
themselves.

Meeting the student where they are:

Prior Knowledge/Connections:
We will engage with students’ prior observations that people are different from them in that they may
look different, like different things or have different ideas and opinions by having students articulate
some of these thoughts verbally- showing them that noticing and celebrating differences is appropriate
in the classroom setting.

Lesson Introduction/Hook:
The introduction of this lesson will be conducted by reading the book “A Color of His Own” by Leo Lionni
and discussing the message that is being conveyed about uniqueness and how that is important.
Heart of the Lesson/Learning Plans
Differentiation/Same-ation:
Students will have opportunities for discussion whole group and discourse with each other. Students will
be engaged by being read a story and asked to turn and talk with partners about certain elements of the
story and their thoughts on diversity and uniqueness. Additionally, teachers will practice paraphrasing
students’ verbal content not only when completing the poster but also when engaging in conversation
with students, this practice will help model good listening practices as well as present information in
differing ways to allow for more students to access the ideas presented.

Lesson Development:
The lesson will start off by introducing students to the book “A Color of His Own” by Leo Lionni. After
reading the book, a group discussion guided by specific questions will be conducted on the carpet.
The students will first be asked about the chameleon in the book. “What was the chameleons problem,
What was he trying to do?” and “What happened at the end of the story?”- first turning and talking with
their partners on the carpet and then opening discussion to the entirety of the class. The discussion will
then steer towards how are we all the same, and how are we all unique and why this is important.
Ilana Kate- How are we all the same discussion
I will explain to the students that just as there are lots of different makes of cars, bikes, balls or just
about anything you can think of, so there is diversity among people. We all have the same want to learn
(as they are all in school), we all have the same structure as we are human (eyes, nose, arms, etc.) and
discuss the idea that we have families, needs, wants, likes and dislikes that can be similar to others.
Also introduce the concept of how we are a classroom community and have the same responsibilities to
follow rules and incorporate their poster about what it means to be a good fellow classmate. (Don’t
forget to write how they are alike on the board!)
Kelsi- How are we all different discussion
I will transition from Ilana Kate’s discussion on how students are all the same and pose the question ‘so,
we know that we are alike in a lot of ways, what are some things that make us different?’ if students
need guiding I will offer up some examples such as hair color, holidays we celebrate, and size. I will point
out that no matter what we will always have to work with people who are in some way different than
us, and it is important to recognize those differences, as they could be strengths and different
perspectives that those other people bring to the table. Most times- diversity has been shown to add
value to situations and to work, as people can contribute different ideas and skillsets. I will state that it
is valuable for us to have such a diverse classroom and point out differing strengths of some students in
the classroom as well as things that may have been pointed out in the ‘we are all the same’ discussion.
Finally, I will wrap up my portion of the discussion Telling students that we need to respect these
differences and learn that navigating diversity will help us be successful later in life!

After the discussion, the students will be directed to their seats to color and design their own personal
chameleon in a way that reflects their identity. After they have completed this task, all 16 chameleons
will be glued onto a poster with the words “We are all unique, but when we come together, our
classroom community is complete!” The poster will then be pinned to a wall in the classroom where
everyone can see.
The students will then be directed to sit on the classroom carpet for a recap of what they learned from
the lesson and reiterate why it is important to be unique and how they all play a vital role in creating and
building their classroom community.

Specific Questioning:
What was the chameleons problem?
What are some examples of things make us the same? How are we alike?
What are some examples of things make us different?
Is it important to be different and unique? Why?
What is a community? How are we a community? What things can we do to make everyone feel a
special part in our classroom community?

New Vocabulary:
Unique- being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.
Community- a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
Identity - a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
Alike -(of two or more subjects) similar to each other.
Diversity- a range of different things; variety
Value- a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life.

Concluding the Lesson/Closure/Debriefing:

To conclude, students will be brought back together to observe the different chameleons and asked the
question, “why it is important to learn about diversity in our classroom”. The teachers will reiterate that
people are unique, and there is a lot of diversity in our world, so it is important that we are able to
understand, navigate, and respect diversity for its inherent benefits to our work and our society.

Materials/Resources:
“A Color of His Own” book by Leo Lionni
16 Blank, cut out Chameleon pages printed
Crayons and pencils for every student
Large blank poster with the words “We are all unique, but when we come together, our classroom
community is complete!”
Glue for sticking students’ chameleons on poster
Push pins for pinning poster on the wall

Teaching Behavior Focus:

The behavior focus for this lesson will be paraphrasing student’s verbal content. Because students will be
invited to express sensitive or difficult to articulate thoughts and feelings- it will be important to not only
document students’ articulations accurately, but also give other students better access to the thoughts
being expressed through multiple chances to hear and understand the sentiments of their peers.

Follow-Up Activities/Parent Involvement

Students will continue to extend what they have learned about being unique and being involved in a
community by being asked to think about what makes their families the same as others and how their
family is unique with the help of their parents/guardians and then sharing that information with their
classmates the next day.