Dare

Written by: Erin Frankel

Illustrated by: Paula Heaphy

Reading Level: Grades 2-3

Interest level: Ages 5-9

Theme: Standing up for one self and others. 

Summary:

Jayla feels threatened by her classmate Sam, who has bullied her in the past.  Sam is now bullying Jayla’s friend Luisa, and she enlists Jayla to participate. Jalya reluctantly joins in but soon realizes it is wrong. With the help of caring adults and friends, Jayla comes to sympathize with Luisa and finds the courage to dare to stand up to Sam and put an end to the bullying.

Pre-Reading Activity:

Ask students to think of a time when they saw someone being bullied. What did you do? What could you have done differently if you didn't help? Have them draw a picture of helping a friend being bullied.

Post-Reading Activity:

Complete a graphic organizer listing all the ways to help a person being bullied. Some ideas are: tell an adult, stand up with them, get other friends to help, tell them to stand up for themselves. Use the graphic organizer to write an essay of how to stand up to a bully. 

About the author:

Erin Frankel has an M.A. in English education and is passionate about teaching and writing. She taught ESL in Alabama before her recent move to Madrid, Spain, with her husband and three daughters. Erin knows firsthand what it feels like to be bullied, and she hopes her stories will help bring smiles back to children who have been involved in bullying. In her free time, Erin loves hiking in the Spanish mountains and kayaking in her hometown of Mays Landing, New Jersey.

Reflection:

I strongly feel this book, along with the other 2 in this series would benefit every classroom. It does a great job of bringing out the issues and reasons for bullying. It explores these characters and the feelings in depth. Also, it tells the way in which to deal with the problem, giving students the skills to end bullying. 

One

Written and illustrated by Kathryn Otoshi

Age level: 4 & up

Grade level: Preschool and up

Theme: Acceptance, Kindness, Stand up for oneself

Summary:

Blue is a quiet color. Red’s a hothead who likes to pick on Blue. Yellow, Orange, Green, and Purple don’t like what they see, but don't know what to do.  When no one speaks up, things escalate — until One comes along and shows all the colors how to stand up, stand together, and count. As the readers learn about numbers, counting, and primary and secondary colors, they also learn about accepting each other's differences and how it sometimes just takes one voice to make a difference.

Pre-reading Activity: 

Start a discussion about bullying. Have you ever had someone say mean things to you? How did you feel? Have you ever told someone to stop being mean to you or to a friend? Did it work? Did they stop? Could you tell a teacher or another adult?

Post-Reading Activity: 

The book One by Kathryn Otoshi delivers a great message to kids about standing up for yourself.  It is an easy book to read aloud to your class but holds deep meaning and serves as a kickoff for meaningful discussions.  There is also a YouTube video that has students acting out the story while Kathryn Otoshi reads the book.  After students have read the story, they will work in pairs to capture what each color might be thinking, feeling or saying.

They will do this by typing in speech bubbles surrounding the dots of color as illustrated in the image.  You can see the website that students have access to here:https://sites.google.com/a/ncps-k12.org/south-school-diversity/

Print these files or use them within Comic Life(on the subpage) to have students work with partners to create thoughts or words in the bubbles that the colors might be thinking or would say.

Activities

• YELLOW.pdf   63k - May 26, 2011 11:03 AM by Ronna VanVeghel (v2) 
• RED.pdf   62k - May 26, 2011 11:03 AM by Ronna VanVeghel (v2) 
• PURPLE.pdf   67k - May 26, 2011 11:03 AM by Ronna VanVeghel (v2) 
• ORANGE.pdf   63k - May 26, 2011 11:03 AM by Ronna VanVeghel (v2) 
• GREEN.pdf   66k - May 26, 2011 11:03 AM by Ronna VanVeghel (v2) 
• BLUE.pdf   63k - May 26, 2011 10:58 AM by Ronna VanVeghel (v2) 

Showing 6 files from page Activity Files.

Reflection:

I absolutely love this book! One does a beautiful job of illustrating the many colors of bullying. Blue is a quiet, passive, calm color who gets bullied by hot headed Red. The other colors are bystanders who do not agree with Red’s behavior, but don’t dare say anything. Every time Red says something mean and no one speaks up, he grows larger and more intimidating. Luckily, the number One shows the colors how to stand up to Red. All of the colors, including Red, learn that everyone counts.

To watch the author read the book and have the book acted out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TGaDSMAS1E