Social Justice for Little Learners

Grade Level: Grade One

Topic: Inclusive and Kind Community

Book Title: “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes”

Author: Mary Lee Donovan

Link to Purchase: https://a.co/d/0xEUnLs

Link for Online Read-Aloud : https://youtu.be/58lCf6Ffbxc?si=c3ZOQLwR9KY4QcTs

Discussion Prompts/Questions:

• Discuss the vocabulary words ‘gather’ (to bring people together in a group), ‘community’ (a group of people who live in the same area), and ‘diversity’ (having people who are from different races/cultures/etc in a group). As you read through the book, where do you see pictures that represent each of these words?
• Discuss familiar foods found throughout the book. Are any of them foods that students in the class eat at home? Are there any that no one recognizes?
• “Why is it important to have a community where everyone is welcome?”

Follow-Up Activities:

• Have students draw, paint, or colour pictures of different foods they like to eat in their homes.
• If you can facilitate dramatic play in your classroom, set up a “restaurant”. Encourage students to pretend to make and serve foods they like to eat in their homes. Use art from the previous activity to decorate the restaurant, and to give students ideas for what to buy and sell. This can also connect to financial literacy, writing menus, etc.
• Use clay or playdough to make “mini foods”. Have students use these “mini foods” to play “food store”, “restaurant”, or just “show and tell” using foods they like to eat.

BC Core Competency Connections:

Personal and Social

• Personal Awareness & Responsibility
  • I can show a sense of accomplishment and joy, and express some wants, needs, and preferences. I can sometimes recognize my emotions.
• Positive Personal and Cultural Identity
  • I am aware of myself as different from others.
• Social Awareness and Responsibility
  • I can be aware of others and my surroundings.
  • I can help and be kind.
  • I am aware that other people can be different from me.

Thinking

• Creative Thinking
  • I get ideas when I play.
• Critical Thinking
  • I can explore materials and actions.

Communication

• Communicating
  • In a safe and supported environment, I respond meaningfully to communication from peers and adults.
• Collaborating
  • In familiar situations, I can participate with others.

BC Curricular Connections:

• Understand (Big Ideas):
  • Stories and other texts help us to learn about ourselves and our families. (ELA 1)
  • Everyone has a unique story to share. (ELA 1)
  • Healthy communities recognize and respect the diversity of individuals and care for the local environment. (SS 1)
  • Strong communities are the results of being connected to family and community and working together toward common goals. (Career Education 1)
  • Engagement in the arts creates opportunities for inquiry through purposeful play. (Arts Education 1)
• Know (Content):
  • Diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives within the local and other communities. (SS 1)
  • Cultural and social awareness, achieved by exploring self-identity, acknowledging cultural differences, honouring indigenous traditions. (Career Education 1)
  • Personal and collective responsibility associated with creating, experiencing, or sharing in a safe learning environment. (Arts Education 1)
• Do (Curricular Competency):
  • Comprehend and Connect (reading, listening, viewing)
    • Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community. (ELA 1)
    • Recognize the importance of story in personal, family, and community identity. (ELA 1)
  • Create and Communicate (writing, speaking, representing)
    • Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding. (ELA 1)
    • Use language to identify, create, and share ideas, feelings, opinions, and preferences. (ELA 1)
  • Acknowledge different perspectives on people, places, or events in their lives. (SS 1)
  • Share ideas, information, personal feelings, and knowledge with others. (Career Education 1)
  • Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual, using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play. (Arts Education 1)

FPPL Link:

• Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.
• Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).
• Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.
• Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.

BC ELF Link:

• Children are strong, capable in their uniqueness, and full of potential.
• Early years spaces are inclusive.
• Play is integral to well-being and learning.
• Relationships are the context for well-being and learning.

TFT Through-line Link:

• Justice Seeking
• Community Building