Talking About Our Families: Elementary Grades: 3-5

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Objectives
Activities will help students:

• Understand that families have different structures and compositions
• Read, write and talk about the idea that differences in family structures actually make for a richer community
• Reflect on what makes their own families special and the diversity of families in the community
• Create and reflect on a gallery of classroom family portraits

Essential Questions

• What is a family?
• What makes some families different from others and in what ways is your own family unique?
• How does having different kinds of families make the world and our classroom community a richer place?

Glossary

family [fam-uh-lee, fam-lee]
(noun) a group of people going through the world together, often adults and the children they care for

extended family [ik-sten-did  fam-uh-lee, fam-lee]
(noun) all of the relatives or people making up a family, whether or not they live together; often this includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.

adopt [uh-dopt]
(verb) to raise a child you did not give birth to

diversity [dih-vur-si-tee]
(noun) variety, differences

single parent [sing-guhl pair-uhnt, par-]
(noun) an adult raising a child without a partner

gay [gey]
(adjective) loving or choosing to spend your life with members of the same sex

lesbian [lez-bee-uhn]
(noun) a woman who loves or chooses to spend her life partnered with other women

Materials

• Picture book (choose from the list under Additional Resources, or use any other picture book that gets at the idea of different kinds of families)
• Chart paper
• Post-it notes
• Construction paper
• Paints or oil pastels

Activities

1. What is a family? What makes some families different from others? What would the world be like if all families were the same? How does the fact that all of us come from different families make our class a more interesting place? How and why can it be challenging when you feel like your family is different from your friends’ families? As a class, discuss these questions in relation to your own experience. (Note: Take notes on chart paper as students brainstorm answers to these questions.)
2. On a post-it note, write one thing that you feel makes your own family special or different. Bring your post-it note to stick on a chart in the front of the class. (Note: Read aloud what students have written.) As a class, talk about what makes different families similar and different, and how it might feel when your family seems different from others. Brainstorm ideas of what you can do if you’re feeling self-conscious or excluded because of something about your family.
3. Pair up with a partner. Each of you should share one thing that you feel makes your own family different and special. Talk about how you think that difference makes you special, and what you have to offer the class because of it. For example, if you feel your family is different because you live with your grandmother, you might share that you bring respect for senior citizens and traditions to your class community. Then, each of you should also share one time you have felt “too” different because of your family. Maybe there has been a time or a way you wish your family was more like someone else’s. Talk about how you felt and what you did about it, or what you might advise someone else to do in a similar situation. With your partner, make an “advice list” to offer someone who feels excluded or left out because of something about their family.
4. On construction paper with paints, draw an “abstract portrait” of your family. Choose a symbol or design that you feel represents what makes your family different or special. Write a sentence explaining your symbol. In your portrait, challenge yourself to show what makes your family different and special.
5. When the abstract portraits are done, hang them in your class to show a family gallery. Look at your classmates’ portraits and read their writing. Celebrate your gallery and the diverse, interesting backgrounds.
6. Come together and discuss how and whether your class gallery changed your ideas about a family. Reflect on the questions discussed at the beginning of the lesson.
7. At reading time, peruse books about families in your classroom library or think about how families are portrayed in the books you are reading independently. Write about your observations in your reader’s notebook and share them with your teacher or reading partners.

ELL Extension (Optional)
Talking about your family means you need to learn a lot of new words to describe the people who are important to you. With help from a teacher or buddy, create your own family book. Bring in photographs or draw pictures of all the people in your family. Attach each picture to a piece of paper, and write the common noun describing this person (e.g., aunt, brother, etc). If you’re ready, you can also write one sentence describing this person and how they are related to you (e.g., My aunt is my father’s sister.).

Extension Assignment (Optional)
Talking about your family might inspire you to talk with your family. Choose one person in your family you’d like to know more about. Interview them about what they think of when they hear the word FAMILY and what family means to them. Write a paragraph summarizing what you learned. Share your paragraph with your classmates and discuss how different people define the word. Soon, you’ll be able to explain your own unique definition of family.

Applying What You’ve Learned
Think about the conversations you’ve had with your class about the meaning of the word family. In your journal, draft a letter to someone who is being teased because of something different about his family. Explain what possible different families are out there and why it’s so important that different kinds of families exist. Encourage them with as much advice and concrete information about family diversity as you can think of. Maybe you really know someone in this situation: if so, share your letter with her.