For the last couple of weeks we have been exploring similarities and differences among people around the world, particularly focusing on children.  We began by reading the book The Colors of Us, by Karen Katz, which explores the many shades of skin color by comparing them to different foods and celebrates the differences and similarities that connect all people.  We then spent time carefully examining  and drawing a collection of eggs.  Children were encouraged to capture as much detail as possible, from subtle differences in shades to little spots and lines on the shells.  When we were done with this they shared what they noticed:  all of the eggs were unique and different.  We cracked several eggs open and looked at the insides, and while there were slight differences, the eggs were very similar on the inside, much like people.  I asked students to try to compare this to people.  On the outside we are all different, with many shades and skin variations, but it is impossible to tell what a person is like just by looking at their skin.  Our skin is just a covering. As one child put it "You need to meet someone and get to know them to know what kind of person they are."

We also spent time looking at several books about the daily lives of children around the world.  Children worked in pairs and were given sticky notes to mark pages that they could connect to in some way.  We discovered many similarities (the books were filled with sticky notes!).  Many of these were quite simple, but they created a genuine sense of commonalities we might share with people in a completely different part of the world.  Some of the comments I heard as students looked through the books and shared their findings included "I ride a bike," "I take care of pets," "I don't see anything the same on this page... actually, I've eaten a coconut before", "That looks like rocks, paper, scissors!" "I go swimming," "That looks like our snow fort," "I have family pictures in my house," and " I ride the bus to school too."

We have been closely reading some of these books including This is How We Do It:  One Day in the lives of Seven Kids from around the World, by Matt Lamothe and Wake Up World:  A Day in the Life of Children Around the World, by Beatrice Hollyer.  This books both follow multiple children from morning through evening as they go through a day, describing where they live, who they live with, what they eat, and how they spend their time on a typical day.  As we have read each section children have had fun comparing themselves to the children portrayed and finding things they have in common with children around the world.