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annaeap 's review for:
Each Kindness
by Jacqueline Woodson
Maya is a new girl in school, who wears hand-me-down clothes. The students bully her and exclude her from play, even when she invites them to play with her toys she brings from home. The teacher one day creates a lesson, whereby she drops a stone into a bowl of water and has her students watch as ripples move outward. The teacher likens these ripples to the ripples that our actions create in the world. The narrator, Chloe, who has participated in bullying Maya, vows to treat her more kindly. However, the teacher reveals that Maya and her family had to move. Chloe grapples with the realization that she will never have the opportunity to show Maya kindness. Jacqueline Woodson has masterfully crafted a simple and powerful story, and the colorful, realistic illustrations by E.B. Lewis depict children’s expressions with nuance and emotion, which will help many students connect to and make meaning of the text.
Using the book for teaching/learning:
This book would provide a rich foundation for a unit on social change, as it focuses on seemingly small interactions on an everyday basis that can make a lasting difference (for better or worse).
-Recreate Ms. Albert’s activity of kindness: Each student drops a stone in the water as they say a kind act they have recently done. If, like the narrator, they cannot think of a kind thing they have done when it is their turn, they can say a kind thing that they will do. In a follow-up activity, we could in small groups check in to see if they completed the kind act.
-Re-write the story as if Chloe had made the decision to befriend Maya. How would that have affected Chloe’s friendship with the other students who make fun of Maya?
Writing and/or small group discussion prompts:
-How can we reciprocate (elaborate on meaning of word for younger students) kindness that others show us?
-Have you ever failed to return an act of kindness? How did that make you feel?
-Did you ever go along with teasing someone or doing something you did not think was right just because the rest of your friends did?
Considerations for use with dual-language learners (DLLs): I have read this book aloud to a second-grade DLL student. She immediately picked up on the judgement behind the narrator’s descriptions of Maya’s clothes. At one point, Chloe the narrator remarks, “One day, Maya came to school wearing a pretty dress and fancy shoes. But the shoes and the dress looked like they’d belonged to another girl before Maya.” The second grader said, “Not nice! She look so pretty!” The illustrations amplify the meaning of the words. DLLs may need help with specific vocabulary such as “secondhand,” though the students’ chanting and mocking “Never new!” may help with that connection.
Using the book for teaching/learning:
This book would provide a rich foundation for a unit on social change, as it focuses on seemingly small interactions on an everyday basis that can make a lasting difference (for better or worse).
-Recreate Ms. Albert’s activity of kindness: Each student drops a stone in the water as they say a kind act they have recently done. If, like the narrator, they cannot think of a kind thing they have done when it is their turn, they can say a kind thing that they will do. In a follow-up activity, we could in small groups check in to see if they completed the kind act.
-Re-write the story as if Chloe had made the decision to befriend Maya. How would that have affected Chloe’s friendship with the other students who make fun of Maya?
Writing and/or small group discussion prompts:
-How can we reciprocate (elaborate on meaning of word for younger students) kindness that others show us?
-Have you ever failed to return an act of kindness? How did that make you feel?
-Did you ever go along with teasing someone or doing something you did not think was right just because the rest of your friends did?
Considerations for use with dual-language learners (DLLs): I have read this book aloud to a second-grade DLL student. She immediately picked up on the judgement behind the narrator’s descriptions of Maya’s clothes. At one point, Chloe the narrator remarks, “One day, Maya came to school wearing a pretty dress and fancy shoes. But the shoes and the dress looked like they’d belonged to another girl before Maya.” The second grader said, “Not nice! She look so pretty!” The illustrations amplify the meaning of the words. DLLs may need help with specific vocabulary such as “secondhand,” though the students’ chanting and mocking “Never new!” may help with that connection.