What Makes a Family a Family? - A First Grade Unit of Study by Stephanie Rotsky

What Makes a Family a Family?

The first graders and I gathered on the rug in mid November to launch a seven week unit of study about families.

I showed them the cover of the Rashi Family Directory and flipped through the pages and told them that this was one of my favorite books because there were photos of each Rashi family along with the names of the people in each family and I used it almost every day! Additionally, I could find addresses and phone numbers and see which families had hyphenated names and which children had last names different from their parents, etc. I shared that while it was true that every Rashi student's family is in the Family Directory and all of us are part of a family, each family is unique and has their own "story." I shared my hope with students that through this unit they would learn about many different kinds of families and in the process have a chance to think about their own families and how they show love and kindness to one another.

We began with a "Getting to Know More about your Family" game: I posed many different statements and students were asked to stand up if that statement described their family. Imagine my delight when one of my statements was: Stand up if your family speaks another language beside English. MANY students stood up. Next thing I knew, students were saying things like: We speak Spanish in our family; we speak Hebrew, we speak German, we speak Russian, we speak French - and then walking excitedly over to that particular student and saying - People in my family speak German too! It was cool that your children were discovering something special about one another that they didn't know before!


Then we began with this essential question:

With students' initial responses, we zoomed in on two "definitions" that would become our "lens" in which to think about and talk about each kind of family that would be spotlighted in the stories - a family is a group of people who love each other and show caring and kindness for each other.  Our board below continues to expand with new definitions following each story we read. 

And then I introduced these "treasures" that I would be sharing over the next two months:

With our first book Families, Families, Families by Suzanne Lang & Max Lang, students were asked to look closely at the different families represented in the story and notice if their own family is included in the story...

Students noticed families who had many siblings and others where there was one child; there were children who live with their grandparents and others who lived with an aunt, uncle or cousins; there were children whose families had two dads or two moms or a mom and dad or a dad or a mom; there were families who have pets and others who have plants. Some children were adopted and some children's parents were divorced and they have stepsisters and brothers. And they discovered that some children's parents are married and some parents are not. 

With our second book My Name is Aviva by Leslea Newman, we looked at our own names and surveyed students if they knew the "story/explanation" behind their name. In this story, Aviva is made fun of because of her name. She temporarily changes it to Emily, but when she finds out the wonderful story behind her name - that she was named for her great grandmother Ada - she takes back her name and is filled with a new sense of pride.

Has your child come home and asked you the story behind his/her name?

After we read the story, students wrote out their first name on a grid and looked for patterns that formed. Then they responded to the question: How does Aviva's family show love and kindness to each other?

Next we read Ian's Walk: A Story About Autism by Laurie Lears. This is a story about a boy named Ian and the walk he takes one day with his two sisters. We first introduced the word "autism" and said there are families who have children with autism. We asked if anyone could explain what that meant. A student raised her hand and told her classmates that her brother has autism and then  explained that kids with autism do things differently and that their brains work differently than us. Then we watched two Sesame Street video clips that focus on a new Sesame Street muppet named Julia who has autism. When the muppets learn that Julia has autism they have many questions... why is she using a paintbrush and not finger painting (she loves to paint but doesn't like the feel of paint); why does she flap her hands sometimes (that's how she shows she is excited about something) and they find out that she does things in a cool "Julia kind of way." At one point Big Bird asks for a high five from Julia and he feels hurt when she doesn't respond. He discovers along with the other muppets that Julia, for example, loves to play tag just like they do and so they all join in and try out new ways to play which is totally fun for everyone.

After reading the story, we talked about how important it was for Ian's sisters to honor who he is and to understand - just like Julia the Muppet - that Ian did things and took in the world in an "Ian kind of way."  The story changes direction in a profound way when Ian's sisters put their embarrassment and frustration to the side and truly "join him" in the things he likes to do. Then students shared examples of how Ian and his family show love and kindness to one another:

The next book we read was Donovan's Big Day by Leslea Newman. We connected back to thinking about who is in our family. Students used a key to describe who is in their family.

Before we read the story, students were asked to pay attention to who is in Donovan's family and what would be his family "code." Then students were shown the cover of the book and asked to make a prediction about what they think the big day was all about. Responses included: Donovan's Bar Mitzvah, a birthday celebration, something fancy because he is all dressed up and then some students thought it had to do with a wedding! And they were correct! The story takes the reader from the moment that Donovan's alarm clock goes off on the big day to all the preparations that he does to the big event. No one in each class knew who was getting married until we got to the page where we see it is Donovan's moms who are getting married and Donovan is the ring bearer! 

Check out Donovan's family code above and enjoy the drawings below that students created to show how Donovan and his family love and care for each other...

With just a few minutes left for this lesson, a student made an astute observation about the story: "Stephanie... don't people get married first and then have a baby?" I explained that most people do get married first and then have children, but sometimes couples love each other very much and live together and have a baby first and then get married... Great question that got everyone thinking!

Stay tuned for upcoming books...