Family Structure 1
Why teach your students about Family Structure?
It is important for students to know that all families are different and each is special and unique in its own way. Students need to know how to cherish and celebrate how their family is different. Students can also learn about other families, including their classmates families, if they are taught about diverse family structures. Teachers can use books about family structure to intruduce children to families with one mom, one dad, a mom and a dad, two moms, two dads, no parents, etc. Activities that could be used to accompany any family structure lesson would be a personal narrative writing piece from each student about their family, or a family class quilt, which could be made by having each student decorate a "quilt" piece to portray his or her family.
The Family Book
It is important for students to know that all families are different and each is special and unique in its own way. Students need to know how to cherish and celebrate how their family is different. Students can also learn about other families, including their classmates families, if they are taught about diverse family structures. Teachers can use books about family structure to intruduce children to families with one mom, one dad, a mom and a dad, two moms, two dads, no parents, etc. Activities that could be used to accompany any family structure lesson would be a personal narrative writing piece from each student about their family, or a family class quilt, which could be made by having each student decorate a "quilt" piece to portray his or her family.
The Family Book
By Todd Parr
The Family Book, represents a variety of families, some big and some small, some with only one parent and some with two moms or dads, some quiet and some noisy, but all alike in some ways and special no matter what. This book is recommended for ages 4-8.
Additional Resources for Classroom Use:
Family Structure 2
And Tango Makes Three
By Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson
Illustrated by Henry Cole
The book is based on the story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo.The pair were observed trying to hatch a rock that resembled an egg. When zookeepers realized that Roy and Silo were both male, it occurred to them to give them an egg to hatch. An egg was was obtained and given to Roy and Silo. They hatch and raise the healthy young chick, a female named "Tango", together as a family. This book is based on a true story and the three penguins can still be seen at the zoo today. Recommended for ages 4-8.
Additional Resources for Classroom Use:
KidLit Book Trailer: Book Trailer for Quackenstein Hatches A Family
Scholastic Lesson Plan: And Tango Makes Three Lesson Plan
"Anti-Bias Creative Drama in the Classroom" Blog: And Tango Makes Three Lesson Plan
And Tango Makes Three Read Aloud
Family Structure 3
What a Family!
Written & Illustrated by Rachel Isadora
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| This unique book offers a fun introduction to the complexities of extended family relationships. Keeping it simple, Isadora emphasizes physical characteristics shared by different family members to show how they are related. Large, dynamic, and humorous pictures invite readers to look and compare the family in the book with their own. A family tree, complete with pictures, is included on the end papers. Recommended for ages 3-10 |
Additional Resources for Classroom Use:
Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan from Socstrp.org
Kindergarten Activities on Family Units (from eHow.com)
Kindergarten Activities on Family Units (from eHow.com)
Family Structure 4
Heather Has Two Mommies
Written By Leslea Newman
Illustrated By Diana Souza
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| Heather's favorite number is two. She has two hands, two feet, two knees and two elbows. She has two pets: a black dog named Midnight and a ginger-colored cat named Gingersnap. Heather has two mommies: Mama Jane and Mama Kate. When Heather goes to day care, she learns that families come in all shapes and sizes: Joshua has a mom, a dad and a step-dad; Miriam has a mom and a baby sister; David is adopted. Heather also learns that "the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other." (from lesleakids.com) Additional resources to use in the classroom: Family Structure 5Fred Stays With Me! Written by Nancy Coffelt Illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Additional Resources for Classroom Use: Fred Stays With Me! Story Elements, Discussion Questions, and other Activities and Resources for Pet Week Week 1: Pets Week 2: Farm Animals Week 3: Forest Animals Week 4: Rainforest Animals |
Family Structure Wordle
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| What is Wordle? Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. Why use Wordle in your Classroom? Wordle is a fun way for students to manipulate and work with vocabulary words or a bunch of text. Students can paste selected words or a piece of text within the Wordle Create box, click Go, and then make color, front, and word adjustments to create their own, unique Wordle. Wordle is an easy Web 2.0 tool for both teachers and students to use in any grade and within any content area. Wordle can be used for making predictions, short poems/haikus, dialogue reconstruction, revision of text (to assess students memory), text comparison, personal information, or while researching a topic. |
