5th Grade Lessons:
Needed Materials and Preparation Lesson 5-1
✷ Worksheet: “Who Am I?” Idea Sheet ✷ Poster board
Lesson 5-2
✷ A Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida ✷ Fourth Grade Rats by Jerry Spinelli These titles are suggestions only; you should feel free to select any other titles that may be equally appropriate. Both titles are available through Amazon.com.
Lesson 5-3
✷ Worksheet: “What are Advertisers Trying to Sell Me?” ✷ Collection of Advertisements (on the companion CD)
Lesson 5-4
✷ Worksheet: “How Would They Decide?”
Lesson 5-5
✷ Tobacco advertisements (from the companion CD)
5th Grade Lessons Materials List
Lesson 5-1: Who Am I?
Lesson 5-1
Who Am I? Introduction: This lesson serves as an introduction to the concept of self-esteem by asking students to think of the characteristics that define them as individuals, with unique backgrounds, interests, strengths and talents.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Identify a range of characteristics, perhaps including family, hobbies, talents, friends, traits, likes and dislikes, that can be used to describe themselves ✷ Present these characteristics in a visual format in front of the class ✷ Become aware as a class of the diversity amongst themselves
Materials: ✷ Worksheet: “Who Am I?” Idea Sheet ✷ Poster board
Key Terms: character traits: aspects of personality or individual attributes that students use to describe themselves, e.g., friendly, a fast learner, shy, talkative, quiet, outgoing, a good friend. talents: particular abilities or skills that students may have, such as the ability to draw or dance, or to do well in sports. hobbies: particular activities that one enjoys doing, including playing video games, watching animé, collecting dolls, or reading.
personal favorites: likes and dislikes, favorite foods, best-liked book or television show, favorite movie star, and so forth. background: place of birth, number of siblings, ethnicity, nationality or other characteristics. aspirations: what one hopes for oneself; a goal or objective, usually referring to larger life issues of happiness and satisfaction.
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Lesson 5-1: Who Am I?
Procedures: 1. Begin a class discussion with a simple question, e.g., “Who has a favorite food, and what is it?” or “What’s your favorite color and why?” The point of the resulting discussion is to point out the diversity that exists within a single classroom.
2. From the discussion, ask students to create a collage. The images on the collage should reflect who they feel they are: their backgrounds (family, friends, ethnicity, deafness, nationality, etc.); their interests (hobbies, likes and dislikes); particular skills or abilities (physical, intellectual, artistic, emotional, etc.); and aspirations. Distribute the “Who Am I?” idea sheet to encourage creative thinking in how best to portray one’s self visually.
Teacher’s Note: This assignment may require a lengthy preparation time as students gather materials for their collages. Plan for, at minimum, one week’s time to complete the lesson. The exercise is a nice way for students to get to know each other, and thus makes for a nice lesson plan at the beginning of the school year.
Have the students collect images from magazines or the web, use personal photographs, or make drawings. Encourage students to be creative and perhaps even a little abstract as to the types of images they select, but tell them that they must be able to explain the meaning behind each image as it refers to their selves.
3. When the collages are complete, display them in the classroom. Have each artist
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talk about his or her own work, and the meanings behind the images they selected.
4. As a variation, have students do the collages “in secret.” Place the collages around the room without the identity of the author being known. Have the class view each collage in turn, and discuss what they think they can learn about the person from the images he or she selected. Have the artist elaborate on the information gleaned by the class.
5. Ask students: “How many of you learned something new about your fellow students that you didn’t know before? How many of you discovered something you have in common with another student in the class that you didn’t realize before?”
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Lesson 5-1: Who Am I?
Procedures (continued) 6. Explain to your students that there are many traits and qualities you see in the collages that they should feel good about. These are things that contribute to “self-esteem.” Talk about the diversity of backgrounds, interests and skills portrayed in the collages. Ask any students if they “censored” themselves—that is, left off any interests, likes or dislikes, etc., because they thought they might be considered “uncool” or not well-received by the group.
7. Display the collages on the wall, and have students add elements to the posters over time as they learn more about each other.
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Lesson 5-1 Worksheet: The “Who Am I?” Idea Sheet
Name
“Who Am I?” Idea Sheet For your collage activity, think of different ways to show visually who you are. Consider the following list for ideas:
Hobbies Skills and activities you enjoy Family or friends who are important to you Favorite book or movie Birthplace Your ethnic or cultural background Favorite foods Pets Favorite places Most admired person Favorite teacher What you want to be when you are an adult Your favorite interests Most memorable vacation
Lesson 5-2: Fitting In
Lesson 5-2
Fitting In Introduction: The goal of this lesson is to examine the “flip side” of the differences between people that were explored in Lesson 5-1, including the anxiety and stress that may result from feeling different, as well as the external pressures that are often felt as children seek to conform to expectations for behavior.
Teacher’s Note: This lesson suggests stories as a means to introduce these topics to your class. Two readily available books are recommended, but you may know other stories, or worked with other books, that cover the same topic areas. Feel free to substitute as you see fit. This is also an issue with respect to reading level, which may vary a great deal between and within classroom groups. The stories can be assigned as take-home reading, or read in class as a group, as you see fit for your students. The stories are entrées to discussions of the pressures of fitting in, and how they alter how we perceive ourselves, as well as our behavior towards others.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Recognize that differences between people can be valued, but may be a source of anxiety and stress that alters how people look at themselves ✷ Recognize that others’ expectations can easily shape one’s own behavior as a part of “fitting in.” ✷ Explain the term “peer pressure”
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Lesson 5-2: Fitting In
Materials: The following titles are suggestions only; you should feel free to select any other titles that may be equally appropriate. Both titles are available through Amazon.com. A Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida From the back cover: Growing up in California during the depression isn’t easy for
eleven-year-old Rinko. She desperately wants to fit in and be like everyone else, but instead she is ridiculed and made to feel different because she is Japanese. But when Aunt Waka comes to visit, and brings with her the old-fashioned wisdom of Japan, she teaches Rinko the importance of her Japanese heritage, and the value of her own strengths and dreams, in this warm and touching story.
Fourth Grade Rats by Jerry Spinelli From the back cover: Suds wishes he were still in third grade so he could keep on
being an angel. But his best friend, Joey, is proud to be a rat, which he calls the next step up to being a man. According to Joey, fourth grade rats aren’t afraid of spiders, don’t carry babyish lunch boxes, and they don’t cry. What rats do is push little kids off the swings, say no to their mothers, and eat real meat (like baloney). Becoming a rat doesn’t sound too good to Suds.
Key Terms: expectations: socially-defined standards for behavior that shape an individual’s behaviors. Expectations can be both positive, as in to do well in school or to treat others with respect; or they can be negative, as in to engage in behaviors such as tobacco or drug use.
people the same age seen in the community, and portrayed in various media such as magazines, in film and on television. peer pressure: the influence that friends and peers often exert to shape one’s opinions, perceptions, desires and actions.
peer: generally meant as others of a similar age. Friends are usually peers, but not all peers are friends. The term goes beyond schoolmates to include
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Lesson 5-2: Fitting In
Procedures: 1. Have the students read Yoshiko Uchida’s A Jar of Dreams, or read the book as a classroom activity. Alternatively, have the classroom read Fourth Grade Rats by Jerry Spinelli.
2. If they read A Jar of Dreams: Ask students to think about the diversity in their classroom that they discovered in Lesson 5-1. Have them discuss how Rinko saw herself as being different from those around her.
Teacher’s Note: As in Lesson 5-1, you should plan on undertaking this lesson across multiple class sessions, unless you have very skilled readers who can read the stories ahead of time and be prepared for class discussions.
Ask students: In what ways did Rinko feel she was different from other children around her? Did these differences make her feel good or did they make her feel badly? How did they influence how she tried to behave? Explain to students that the desire to “fit in” is a strong one, and often shapes how we think of ourselves and how we think we should act. How did the arrival of Rinko’s aunt change things? What did Rinko come to appreciate about herself? If your students read Fourth Grade Rats:
Ask Students: In what ways did Suds feel pressured to be a rat? In what ways did Joey exert pressure on Suds to change his attitudes and behavior? Explain to students that the desire to “fit in” is a strong one, and often shapes how we think of ourselves and how we think we should act. Did Suds want to change his behavior? What kind of encouragement did he get from others to change his behavior? What things kept him from wanting to change his behavior? Explain to the students that what Suds is feeling is a very strong case of peer pressure to act in ways that run counter to the ways he knows he should act.
3. Ask students to explore ways in which people are expected to behave in certain ways; the way they dress, the things they should like; the ways in which they should behave. Who enforces these expectations, and how? Prompt with exam-
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Lesson 5-2: Fitting In
Procedures (continued) ples of friends and peers; parents; teachers; police; societal rules, etc.
4. Ask students to consider the following: We often talk about the ways in which expectations of, or pressure from, others might cause someone to undertake “bad” behaviors. If necessary, prompt your students with examples: exerting pressure on someone to do something wrong, such as stealing or lying, or using drugs or tobacco. Are there situations in which expectations of others help to reinforce “good” behaviors? For example, parents have expectations for how their children should behave; teachers have expectations for how students should perform in class.
5. Explain to your students that for young people, peer pressure is an especially powerful shaper of behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. Explore the ways in which these expectations among peers are enforced: eye-rolling, exclusion, teasing, punishment, rewards, etc. Ask children to provide examples of both positive and negative peer pressure.
Journal Exercise: Have you ever felt bad about being different from those around you? How did it make you feel? How did you deal with it? Have you ever felt pressured by your friends to do something you didn’t want to do? What happened?
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Lesson 5-3: The Power of Persuasion
Lesson 5-3
The Power of Persuasion Introduction: In Lesson 5-2, students explored how their perceptions of themselves, and the behaviors they undertook, were often influenced by the expectations of their peers. In this lesson, students will be asked to think about how their perceptions and desires are shaped by other forces, namely advertising.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Identify advertising as another influence that shapes expectations and behaviors ✷ Identify how advertisers manipulate these expectations to shape buyers’ preferences, desires, and ultimately, purchasing behaviors
Preparation: Collect advertising-supported magazines that would appeal to young people. Titles might include Sports Illustrated for Kids, Girls’ Life, Tiger Beat, Nickelodeon Magazine, Teen People, or specialty magazines for hobbies such as skateboarding or video gaming.
Materials: ✷ Worksheet: What Are Advertisers Trying to Sell Me? ✷ Collection of Advertisements (on the companion CD)
Key Terms: advertising: one of the primary means by which marketers disseminate their messages. marketing: persuasion to buy a product or accept an idea by presenting it in a favorable light that shows its advantages or attractions.
perception: one’s view of, or attitude toward, an idea, behavior, product or other object, that is shaped through knowledge, experience, observation, and communal and peer norms.
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Lesson 5-3: The Power of Persuasion
Procedures: 1. Remind your students that in the previous lesson (5-2), they discussed the power of friends and peers in shaping attitudes and behaviors.
Ask students: What other factors inuence your attitudes and behaviors? Begin by prompting for some of the most obvious inuences, including parents, and teachers. Extend the discussion to look at the role of advertising by asking how they learn about what toys are popular; what snacks look good to eat; and what clothing styles are in fashion.
2. Ask students: Where do you see advertising? Make sure that answers include television, the internet (including social networking or blog sites such as myspace.com, xanga.com, whyville.net, etc.), magazines, as well as on billboards, in store displays, etc.
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For discussion, ask the following questions: Why do we have advertising? What is the purpose of advertising? Who makes these advertisements? How do they work?
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3. Explain that advertisers often use different Tools of Persuasion to sell their products. These tools often include humor, adventure or excitement, friendship, beauty, popularity, family, or star power to sell their products. As you explain each of these tools, write them on the board.
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Lesson 5-3: The Power of Persuasion
Procedures (continued) 4. For each of the ads, ask your students: What is the ad selling? What do you think the advertiser wants you to do? L53_BeautyAd
What is happening in the advertisement? What tool of persuasion is the advertiser using? ▲
Who do you think the advertisement is aimed at? Boys? Girls? Adults?
Lip Smacker Lip Gloss; beauty, friendship
Do you like the advertisement? Why or why not? How does it make you feel? Would you want to buy the product? Why or why not?
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How does the advertiser want you to feel if you buy this product?
Lipsmacker Lip Gloss; beauty, friendship, excitement, fun, popularity
Lunchables: family (mother’s concern for kids); excitement
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Lipsmacker Lip Gloss; beauty, family
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Krux Skateboard Trucks; humor
Whyville.net networking site; popularity, fun, friendship L53_Ads_Lipsmackers
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Target: friendship, beauty
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Matrix Clothing; Celebrity star power (Rick McCrank, skateboarder)
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Lesson 5-3: The Power of Persuasion
Bobby Jack Brands; fun, humor
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5. Distribute the magazines to your students. Have the students leaf through the magazines and select one advertisement to tear out. Divide the class into small groups of about four students each. Distribute the “What are Advertisers Trying to Sell Me?” worksheets. Ask each group to work together to analyze each of the advertisements that the students in the group selected, using the worksheet and the examples in Step 3 as guidance.
6. After each group has had a chance to analyze its ads, have each student present one of their ads to the class, using the worksheet as a general framework. As part of the discussion, ask the students if they think their ads are particularly effective; that is, do they think it will make people who see the ad want to buy the product?
7. Present the tobacco ads shown here (and supplied on the companion CD). Guide your class through the same type of analysis for these advertisements.
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Lesson 5-3: The Power of Persuasion
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Lesson 5-3 Worksheet: What Are Advertisers Trying to Tell Me?
Name
“What are Advertisers Trying to Sell Me?� Cut out or copy an advertisement from your favorite magazine, and then answer the questions below.
What product is the advertisement selling?
What is happening in the advertisement? What tools is the advertiser using?
Do you like this advertisement? Why?
Who do you think the advertisement is aimed at? Boys? Girls? Adults?
How do you think you will feel if you buy this product?
How do you think you will feel if you do not buy this product?
Lesson 5-4: How Do I Make a Good Decision?
Lesson 5-4
How Do I Make a Good Decision? Introduction: In this lesson, students will explore decision-making in the context of structured situations in which they will be asked to consider both the positive and negative consequences of choices. These will be presented in terms of the peer and social influences introduced in the previous lessons.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Define what decisions are in terms of choices and consequences, both positive and negative ✷ Apply a decision-making framework to decisions
Materials: ✷ Worksheet: “How Would They Decide?”
Teacher’s Note: This lesson serves as a brief introduction to the decision-making model of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, the pioneer prevention effort established in 1983. Your students may or may not have been previously exposed to the principal D.A.R.E. programming components (Define, Assess, Respond, Evaluate), but the concepts are fairly straightforward, and are covered briefly here.
Key Terms: consequence: something that follows as a result; the consequence of one’s decision decision: a choice arrived at after consideration of options and consequences
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Lesson 5-4: How Do I Make a Good Decision?
Procedures: 1. Ask students: What are decisions? What does it mean when we say we have a decision to make?
2. Ask your students for examples of types of decisions they make every day. Write these on the board. Explain that many of these decisions are often very ordinary: Should I wear my hair up or down? Should I wear this shirt or that one? Should I get up, or should I sleep in? In each case, help the students to define what are the actual choices that they are confronting. What options are they choosing between?
3. Ask students how they make their choices. What kind of considerations go through their minds as they seek to decide among options?
Teacher’s Note: It is likely that most of the decisions your students will suggest are fairly inconsequential ones, as befits their age. Most of the major decisions that affect their lives are probably made by their parents or other adults: where they live, where they go to school, what they’ll study, etc. Point out, however, that children like them may still face decisions that may be more significant—for example, choosing to do something that may “get them into trouble” with others.
4. Explain that when we are faced with a decision, most of us go through a mental process without really thinking about it. We often pick a choice, and then see what happens. If we choose poorly, sometimes the consequences are not so bad. What happens if the weather is cold outside, and you choose to wear a t-shirt instead of a sweatshirt to school? However, sometimes the consequences may be more serious. Your friend wants you to steal something. You want to skip class because you didn’t study for the test today.
Ask students: How might you avoid making a poor choice? Explain to students that they can make better decisions if they consider the options and consequences of their decisions more carefully.
5. Ask the class to work through the process of decision-making. How do they make a decision? As they provide suggestions, write these on the board. Guide their discussion to cover the following areas:
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Lesson 5-4: How Do I Make a Good Decision?
Procedures (continued) Define the decision to be made. Assess the options the decision presents, and the consequences of each option. Respond by making your choice. Evaluate your decision. Did your choice have the consequences you desired?
Teacher’s Note: The “Define” and “Assess” components can be the most difficult for students to fully grasp. Encourage them with examples to be as thorough as possible. For example, a request by a friend to skip class and smoke a cigarette is more than just a choice between trying a cigarette and not trying it. It is also, among other things, a choice between doing something you know is wrong or doing the right thing and refusing; and between looking “cool” in the eyes of your friend or not. And the consequences may include not only impressing the “cool” crowd, but also getting caught; disappointing your teachers, parents or other friends; or getting hooked.
6. Divide the class into smaller groups. Pass out the “How Would They Decide?” worksheets, one to each group. Using the D.A.R.E. framework outlined briefly above, have the class complete the worksheets for each of the situations. Encourage the groups to be as complete as possible. Have them imagine how the actors would decide in each of the cases, and ask them to predict what consequences might result from those decisions. Again, encourage them to think of all sides, both positive and negative, with respect to the consequences of the decisions. Have the groups reconvene, and discuss the findings of each group.
Journal Exercise: Have you ever made a decision that had a negative consequence? What did you learn from that experience? If you had to face that same decision again, how would you act differently?
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Lesson 5-4 Worksheet: How Would They Decide?
“How Would They Decide?” John and Miguel are fifth graders and good friends at school. Lately, John has been teasing Hector, a 4th grade student. Hector is a new student at the school, and does not have many friends. One day, John tells Miguel, “Hey, let’s steal Hector’s backpack and throw it in the trash can.” What does Miguel do? 1. What decision must Miguel make? 2. What are his choices? 3. For each choice, what do you think will happen? 4. What do you think Miguel should do, and why?
Yujin is at the mall with her girlfriends. As they pass a store selling earrings and hair pins, one of her girlfriends suggests that Yujin stand guard while she steals something. 1. What decision must Yujin make? 2. What are her choices? 3. For each choice, what do you think will happen? 4. What do you think Yujin should do, and why?
Lesson 5-5: Why Not Smoke? Why Not, Indeed!
Lesson 5-5
Why Not Smoke? Why Not, Indeed! Introduction: In this lesson, students are asked to think about the consequences of smoking in the context of the decision-making process they studied in Lesson 5-4.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: âœˇ Discuss tobacco use in the context of evaluating consequences
Materials: âœˇ Tobacco advertisements (from the companion CD)
Key Terms: addiction: extreme physiological and psychological dependence on a substance such as tobacco, alcohol or other drug that has progressed beyond voluntary control. People who are addicted often feel sick when they stop using this substance.
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Lesson 5-5: Why Not Smoke? Why Not, Indeed!
Procedures: 1. Ask students if they know anyone who smokes. 2. Ask students what they think of smoking. 3. Ask students if they know any of the consequences of smoking? 4. Prepare a chart. Divide into two columns. On one side, write the following questions: “Why might someone want to smoke?” On the other, write: “Why might someone decide NOT to smoke?”. Ask students to go to the chart, think about any aspect of smoking that they can think of, and write it in the appropriate column. Depending on the experience of your students or their exposure to smokers, you may have to prompt some responses. You should make sure that on the want to smoke side, someone writes, “makes you look older,” “makes you look cooler,” “makes you look more mature,” “helps a person relax,” etc. On the decide NOT to smoke side, in addition to the health effects (“causes “causes cancer,” “makes you cough,” etc., make sure that students include some of the social effects of smoking (“smells bad,” “bad breath,” “smelly clothing,” “burn down the house,” “can get addicted” etc.) as well as the economic (“costs money,” “people get sicker and miss more work or school,” etc.). If your students do not raise these issues, you should probably prompt for them.
5. Ask students to consider the balance of the two columns. You and your students should have produced a list that is heavily tilted toward the column listing the disadvantages of smoking.
6. Ask your students to review this information, and ask them, “So who would ever start smoking? And why?” Explain that even though there is an overwhelming weight to the decide NOT to smoke side, that statistics say that at least some of the students in the class will take up smoking some time as they grow older. Ask them why they think this might be so.
7. Re-introduce some of the tobacco advertisements from Lesson 5-3. Ask students to look at the advertisements and compare them with the information on the chart. Explain that, especially for young people, the desire to appear mature, popular or cool is very strong. How do these ads appeal to those desires?
Ask students: Tobacco companies claim that their advertising is aimed only at adults. Look at the advertisements. What do you think? Do you think any of these advertisements would be interesting to young people like you?
8. Ask students to examine the want to smoke side of the chart. Ask your students if they can think of alternative ways to look more mature, feel “cool,” relax, etc., without resorting to smoking (or using other drugs)?
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Lesson 5-5: Why Not Smoke? Why Not, Indeed!
Procedures (continued) 9. Direct students to think back to the Decision-Making exercise in Lesson 5-4.
Ask students: If someone asked you to smoke, and you were faced with the decision of choosing “yes” or “no,” what consequences would you consider before you make your choice?
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Lesson 5-5: Why Not Smoke? Why Not, Indeed!
Procedures (continued)
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