During the first few weeks of school, after classes have been established, I like to get to know my new students. Part of my teaching philosophy is to honour, respect and celebrate each child’s abilities and accomplishments.
As an introductory lesson, I use two books: Thunder Boy Jr. written by Sherman Alexie and What’s My Superpower? written by Aviaq Johnson. I follow them up with class discussions, thoughtful reading responses and finally, art activities the students LOVE, that also serves as permanent classroom decorations.
After reading the book, What’s my Superpower?, I have students share their superpowers. I describe them as skills that they are really good at. Some are fast runners, others are high climbers, one said he is a great guard, because he “has to guard his baby brother,” and another said they were excellent at parkour. My favourite response was from a little boy, who, when I called on him to share his superpower, after a thoughtful moment said, “I’m lovely.” And of course, once my heart finished melting, I agreed with him.
The unit I created supporting these two books have many activities allowing students to connect to the stories while exploring their individuality. Two of my favourites are creating a personal pennant (the template is in the unit) and doing life size superhero art.
The pennant has students describe themselves and their superpower. After students colour them I laminate and string them together to create a class banner which I display prominently in the hallway and then later, in the classroom.
The life size superheroes are a fun activity to do with big buddies. I have the big buddies trace their little buddies and then together they paint the little buddies’ super identities. After they dry, little buddies outline and later cut them out. Once completed, I charm the engineer to bring in the “tall” ladder and I stick them up on the ceiling for the duration of the year. I can’t begin to tell you how many compliments I get from students, teachers and parents about my classroom.
You can find this unit and others at my TpT store. Stay tuned for more ideas in upcoming posts. Let me know what you think. Have any questions, I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading!
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