Early Childhood lesson plans are geared for Preschool up to 2nd grade. The goal in LGBTQ lesson plans at this age is not necessarily to start talking about sexual attraction in the classroom. Children are too young at this point to worry about this. Instead, the goal is to help students develop a healthy gender identity and expression, whatever that might be.
Multicultural lessons that combat gender stereotypes and address family diversity are especially important at this age where children are starting to recognize gender roles. It is important to teach children that family's come in all shapes and sizes. Some children have a mommy and a daddy, some have two daddies, some have two mommies, some children are adopted, some daddies dress like mommies, some daddies stay at home while the mommy works, some daddies don't live with mommies, ect. It is important to make all children feel included in the classroom regardless of what their family looks like. All families have value and worth and its important that you don't inadvertently send the message home that the only families that matter are two parents households with both a mother and a father.
While children are probably not be aware of their sexual orientation at this age (although some will be), most children will start to develop a sense of their gender identity and it's important that you normalize this experience for anybody that is gender variant. All children can benefit from hearing that they don't have to follow gender role norms in order to have worth.
Multicultural lessons that combat gender stereotypes and address family diversity are especially important at this age where children are starting to recognize gender roles. It is important to teach children that family's come in all shapes and sizes. Some children have a mommy and a daddy, some have two daddies, some have two mommies, some children are adopted, some daddies dress like mommies, some daddies stay at home while the mommy works, some daddies don't live with mommies, ect. It is important to make all children feel included in the classroom regardless of what their family looks like. All families have value and worth and its important that you don't inadvertently send the message home that the only families that matter are two parents households with both a mother and a father.
While children are probably not be aware of their sexual orientation at this age (although some will be), most children will start to develop a sense of their gender identity and it's important that you normalize this experience for anybody that is gender variant. All children can benefit from hearing that they don't have to follow gender role norms in order to have worth.
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Combating Stereotypes: The Day the Crayons QuitAge/Grade: 1st-2nd grade (6-8 years old)
Materials: 'The Day the Crayons Quit' by Drew Daywalt (on Amazon.com here) Emotions Wheel (Easy / Medium / Advanced) Blank Paper Crayons Objectives: Awareness of other's feelings Introduce the idea of "stereotyping" to students Are there good colors and bad colors? Girl and boy colors? Happy and sad colors? ect. This lesson can be done in several parts over the course of a unit, or all together. For this purpose, we've broken it up into different parts. Part 1: Discuss feelingsAs a class talk about feelings. What are feelings, what are some difference feelings that you can feel and when do you feel them. Once students feel confident in the different emotions, have students play the feelings game. In groups, students will spin the feelings wheel and have to act out each emotion while other students try to guess the emotion.
It is important that students are able to recognize how others are feeling and begin to develop their theory of mind so that they can understand how stereotypes can hurt their friends. Part 2: Read the StoryRead Drew Daywalt's "The Day the Crayons Quit" together as a class in whatever format works best for you. Be sure to discuss each of the emotions that the crayons are feeling and why they feel that way. Try to have students relate the crayons feelings to times where they might have felt similar.
Part 3: What is StereotypingChildren in K-2nd grade might have a hard time understanding the idea of stereotyping, even though they experience it everyday. As a class, work together to define common stereotypes that children might have. Possible questions include:
The goal of the lesson is to help children understand what a stereotype is and to realize that just because something is a stereotype, does not mean that it has to be true. Questions should be chosen based on the overall classroom environment/observations. If you've been struggling with issues of gender identity and acceptance, you should focus on stereotypes for boys and girls. If you've been struggling with family diversity, questions should reflect family stereotypes, ect. This is likely to be an ongoing discussion in your classroom. One lesson is not going to create substantial meaning without continued reinforcement. Part 4: Art ProjectGoing back to the issue of stereotyping and tying it back to the book, ask the students how each crayon felt and what stereotypes were associated with each crayon. For example, Pink Crayon felt lonely because Duncan thought pink was only a girl color and did not use it to color. Ask students why the stereotype might be wrong.
Once students understand that colors don't have gender, emotions, ect. have them draw a picture with all of the colors in the rainbow. The rule is, however, that they need to try and color things in new ways. For instance, if they draw the sky, they can't use the color blue. If they draw an elephant, it can't be gray. See how creative the kids can get. The goal is to show children that stereotypes have value to a certain extent but they can be broken. Try to find a way to display your student's artwork - remember that seeing their own work on the wall helps give students a sense of self-efficacy and can remind them of this important lesson. |
Additional LGBTQ Friendly Literature
Unfortunately, some of these books might be banned by your school district if you live in a more conservative area. While these books are in no way inappropriate for children, heterosexism has unfortunately pushed much quality LBGTQ friendly literature out of the classroom. Always check your school's list of banned materials before teaching any lesson. If you think a book has been unfairly banned, we encourage you to bring it to your principal's attention.
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter ParnellThis adorable children's book is based off the true story of two penguins, Roy and Silo, at New York's Central Park Zoo. The two male penguins feel in love with each other and in time, the zookeepers could tell that they were desperate to start a family like the other penguins were doing. They sat on rocks like they were eggs and were sad when it never hatched into a baby penguin. Finally, the zookeepers took an abandoned penguin egg that needed caring for and gave it to Roy and Silo to take care of and they became a happy, healthy family.
Possible discussion topics include: family structure, adoption, penguins and zookeeping
All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman"You can make families from all sorts of things," author Mary Ann Hoberman writes in her children's book All Kinds of Families (2009). This book brings up the question of what is a family? Most children think of a mother, father, sister and brother as a family and don't realize that a family can have many definitions. After all, forks, spoons and knives can be a family, like Hoberman says. So what does that mean? It's important for children to realize that families don't all have to look alike in order to be a "proper" family. The issue of family diversity can be cause for insecurity and even bulling as early as preschool. Teaching your students that all families have worth is important, especially for families that might experience ridicule from the community, like same-sex parents.
Possible discussion topics include: family structure, sorting and grouping like items
When Grown Ups Fall In Love by Barbara Lynn EdmondsThis is a very simply book for preschool aged children to help explain how sometimes when adults fall in love it's a man and a woman, and sometimes it is a man and a man or a woman and a woman. While the premise is simple, it is a good quick lesson to remind children that no matter who they grow up to fall in love with, the important thing is that they are loved and when they see people in love, regardless of what it might look like, it is a happy thing.
Possible discussion topics include: love, healthy relationships
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