The Flower Ball

by Sigrid Laube, illustrated by Silke Leffler

Lesson plan

Celebrating our Differences

“The Flower Ball” is a beautifully illustrated book that helps carry the idea of awareness and acceptance of diversity. This book highlights the important lesson that not only should we celebrate our differences by sharing our uniqueness but we should also strive to learn about others uniqueness, resulting in acceptance.

Objective

-          Students will understand that we are all very different and unique people, coming from different unique backgrounds.

-          Students will investigate what makes them unique.

-          Students will learn about their classmates’ uniqueness.

-          Students will create a dialogue of acceptance and understand the consequences if acceptance is not created among one another.

Keywords

-          Diversity

-          Moral

-          Unique

-          Acceptance

-          Traditions

-          Heritage

Lesson

1.       Read “The Flower Ball” to students.

2.       Discussion and Brainstorm session

a.       What is the moral of this story?

b.       Why do you believe the flowers and the vegetables did not get along?

c.       Do you ever think because some people are different, you will not get along?

d.       Do you think we are all different?

e.       If we learn about eachother’s differences, do you think we can also find similarities?

f.        How were the flowers and the vegetables different? How were they similar?

3.       Introduce the idea of segregation and people not accepting differences in historical situations. ( Women, Native Americans, African Americans). Highlight the idea that even though we may all look different, have different traditions, eat different foods and have different kinds of family, we can also all get along.

Activity

I.                    Celebrating our Unique Differences (20 minutes)

This is a short activity that can energize the idea that we are all different but also share some similarities.

1.       Hand out individual notecards to students.

2.       Ask each student to write down something that makes them unique, without putting their name on the card.

3.       Put each anonymous notecard on a large sheet of paper for all students to read. Point out that a lot of people are different. Also point out that some students have the same unique characteristic.

4.       Create the idea that within the functioning class of people who all work together and cooperate, there are a lot of differences and similarities.

II.                 Share and Learn

The key to acceptance to education. When students can identify diversity and learn that what makes us all individuals and unique, their intrigue fuels acceptance.

1.       Have each student bring in one item to the class that educates their classmates about their unique qualities. Encourage students to share their heritage, family traditions, interesting food that they might eat at home. As the teacher, bring something in about yourself also, to encourage participation and intrigue.

III.               Learn About Another Culture

This activity will allow students to do their own investigating about other people’s differences. This activity will require more time and will need library time and Internet time.

1.       Assign a country or have students choose a country from a selected list.

2.       Have students investigate that country by using books, and internet. Students are encouraged to interview a person from that country if available.

3.       Have students investigate the location, the food, the traditions, the lifestyle, etc. of that country.

4.       Students will make a poster for that country.

5.       Have students each present their assigned country, and poster to class.