By: Heidi Meyer
One
controversial issue we have in the United States in homelessness and living in
poverty. The story, The Braids Girl,
written by Jack Canfield and Victor Hansen, is about a little girl named Izzy,
who decides to go to a soup kitchen with her grandfather to help serve the
poor. She meets a little girl there who has old clothes, looks dirty and has no
toys. Izzy decides to bring her things (clothes, toys, barrettes etc.) to try
and cheer her up. The braids girl at the soup kitchen never seems to be
satisfied with the things Izzy is bringing her, until Izzy realizes she just
wanted a friend. Izzy realizes the
braids girl is just a regular kid, like her, who wanted nothing more than to
have a friend.
In the article, “Children’s
Literature Promotes Understanding,” Thibault states that “using children’s
literature, teachers can help their class through difficult situations, enable
individual students to transcend their own challenges, and teach students to
consider all viewpoints, respect differences, and become more self-aware.” This book, The
Braids Girl, is a great way for students to see that we’re all the same,
regardless of how many “things” or how much “stuff” we have, all we want is to
be accepted for who we are. This is a
story that can open students’ eyes up to other families’ situations:
unemployment, moving from house to house, living in a hotel, single parent that
maybe they can relate too as well. As a
third grade teacher, this story could easily be tied into the Common Core Standards.
Students would be working on describing characters (RL3.3) or distinguishing
their own point of view from the characters (RL3.6) or explaining characters
moods based on the illustrations (RL.3.7).
As educators I think we need to
show students that they all come from different parts of life. No matter your
home situation, the things you have or what others don’t have, you should treat
everyone equally. Befriend someone based on how they treat you, not by the
things they own or how they look. Not only does this story address
homelessness/poverty but it addresses kindness and generosity. Here is a website with a list of friendship
books that might be helpful in your classroom:
Also, another story I’ve read in my classroom is A Bad Case of the Stripes by David
Shannon that could be useful in the classroom. Here is a lesson to go along
with the story:
Thibault, Melissa. “Children’s Literature Promotes
Understanding.” Learn NC. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2016. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/635.
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