Unit Plan: Self Identity Inquiry

For a final culminating project for Kindergarten Specialist CONT 923 through Queen's University, we were asked to created a unit plan that supported global awareness, current trends and was to have a theme where we "consider the students that you may have in a classroom in British Columbia and the kindergarten program approach that reflects your teaching philosophy."

Our classrooms are made up of diverse populations with children coming to school with various ethnic, cultural, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. It is my goal to honour my students with thoughtful and purposeful lessons that respect who they are and what they are interested in.

What I noticed in kindergarten is that students LOVE to share about themselves. This unit is meant as a guide to support the overarching theme of "self" in the kindergarten curriculum. The driving Big Idea from the BC Curriculum in English Language Arts: "Everyone has a unique story to share." 

This unit also respects the First People's Principal of Learning where:

Learning requires exploration of one's identity 

Below is a unit I created using picture books to guide inquiry, spark conversation and inspire stories of self. 

I will link up to each book to Amazon. Please note they are affliate links. 

Cross-Curricular COMPETENCIES   I can become…
Thinking: I can make choices that will help me create my intended impact on an audience or situation	Communicating: I present information clearly and in an organized way.	Personal and Social:  I understand that my identity is made up of many interconnected aspects (such as life experiences, family history, heritage, peer groups)  I can identify my individual characteristics. I can describe/express my attributes, characteristics, and skills.

BIG IDEAS:    (Why is this unit important to learning?) English Language Arts: Everyone has a unique story to share. English Language Arts: Stories and other texts help us learn about our families and ourselves. Career Education: Confidence develops through the process of self-discovery. Social Studies: Stories and traditions about our families and ourselves reflect who we are and where we are from. Creative Arts: People create art to express who they are as individuals and community.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: Who am I? What do I look like? What makes me different from others? What do I like? What is my outside story? What is the story of my name and my life?

GOALS for the Unit: WHAT students will be learning

Curricular Competencies(Students will be able to…) I can… · Create artistic works collaboratively and as an individual, using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play· Explore artistic expressions of themselves and community through creative processes  · Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community  · Recognize the importance of story in personal, family, and community identity  · Use personal experience and knowledge to connect to stories and other texts to make meaning  · Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding  · Use language to identify, create, and share ideas, feelings, opinions, and preferences  · Create stories and other texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community  · Acknowledge different perspectives on people, places, issues, or events in their lives  · Us inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions  · Identify and appreciate their personal attributes, skills, interests, and accomplishments  · Recognize the importance of positive relationships in their lives  · Share ideas, information, personal feelings, and knowledge with others

Content:Students will know and understand:  I know… · The relationship between reading, writing, and oral language  · Oral language strategies  · Metacognitive strategies  · Writing processes  · Personal and collective responsibility associated with creating, experiencing, or sharing in a safe learning environment  · Processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools and techniques to support arts activities  · Ways in which individuals differ and are the same  · Personal and family history and traditions · Cultural and social awareness

ASSESSMENT Overview

Formative Is the student able to make connections to the stories and to their life? Is the student able to share their name story and timeline orally without support? Is the student able to make connections to the stories and to their self? Draw a self-portrait? Experiment with paint colours to match their skin? Is the student able to demonstrate respect towards others as they share their stories?

Summativeactivities All artifacts (students’ writings, drawings, art projects, timeline and name projects) will be collected to create an Identity Panel that will be displayed.

SEQUENCED LEARNING EXPERIENCES:  HOW you will guide students to achieve goals set at the outset of the unit
Lesson Title(s) and brief description (can describe a series of lessons in a given week)	Assignments/projects	Instructional Resources
Introduction to Self: Self Portraits The teacher begins by reading the book, What I Like About Me written by Allia Zobel Nolan and illustrated by Miki Sakamoto, to introduce the idea of an outside story, how others or we see us from the outside.	The teacher poses the question, "What do we look like?" and sets up a self-portrait provocation with mirrors; pencils, sharpies and paper to have students draw themselves.	Book: What I Like About Me by Allia Zobel Nolan Mirrors Sharpies Drawing Paper/Tag board
Lesson 2: What do I like about myself? Read the book; I Like Myself, After reading the teacher can begin by listing things he or she like about themselves. After giving students time to think about things they like about themselves, either from the outside or the inside, they can turn to a partner to chat and share their likes.	Using a sentence starter, I like.... students can draw and then write about what they like about themselves.	Book: I Like Myself  by Karen Beaumont Pocket chart strips Writing template Pencils Crayons/Markers
Lesson 3: Celebrating Skin Colour: After reading the book, The Skin You Live In, have students look at their skin colour. How would they describe the colour of the skin? Do classmates have the same colour of skin? Find a classmate with a different skin colour than yourself.	Teacher sets up an art provocation to have students explore paint and colour mixing to match their skin tones.  A follow-up activity can be the students re-drawing their self portraits and painting in the skin colour they matched to their skin colour.	Book: The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler Paints Paint Brushes Paint Pallet Paper
Lesson #4: The Best Part of Me  Using this book as a starting off point for students to think about their body and which parts they like and why. List their responses.	. Take photos of the body part they are proud of. Using a collage app like PicCollage, create a class book using their photos and their responses. Print the photos up in black and white and collate to create a class book.	Book: The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald Ipad Chart paper Pic Collage
Lesson #5: Perspective - How Do Others See Us?  With the focus on our outside story, how we see ourselves, this book is a great introduction in looking at how others see us as this book focuses on perspective.	After the teacher reads the book, she/he gets the students to draw the teacher's portrait. After that activity, the teacher assigns and invites the students to draw each other. An extension would be to have the same students write (or teacher scribes) about how they see their friend they had to draw.	Book: They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel Sharpies Drawing Paper/Tag board
Lesson #6: The Story of My Name: Using the story: Granny and I Get Traditional Names by Celestine Aleck and Alma And How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal to start discussion about how students got their names and why. Share the story behind your name.	Hand out nameplates to write and decorate. Explain to students that a note will be sent home to have their parents tell them why they got their name. They can share their story orally with the class as bring them in during our sharing circle time. Their story will be recorded on the iPad.	Book:Alma And How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal Book: Granny and I Get Traditional Names by Celestine Aleck Manila tag board cut into 4X12 strips Letter to send home for parents to explain project
Lesson #7: What is a Memory? Guiding Question: What is a memory and what memories do you have of your life? Read Wilfred Gordon MacDonald Partridge. Explore guiding questions. Document students’ responses.	Students draw and write (teacher can scribe) about a memory that have.	Book: Wilfred Gordon MacDonald Partridge by Meme Fox Paper Sharpies Markers/Crayons
Lesson #8: Story of my Life After reading “ When I was Little” explain to students their take home project creating a timeline of their life. Give suggestions for events to include such as: my birth, when I learned to walk, my first tooth, learn to ride a bike, birth of sibling, starting kindergarten.	Send home timeline outlines to have students fill out and either draw or add photos. They can share their story orally with the class as bring them in during our sharing circle time. Their story will be recorded on the iPad.	Book: When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis Time line outlines Letter to send home explaining project

Culminating Projectwill be to compile all the portraits and stories to create an Identity Panel that will be displayed. Invite parents in to view the final project which can take be done in a few weeks or over the course of the year.