The Easter Egg Farm

Today, after my students spent the past two days taking practice STAAR tests, I was glad to have a fun spring book to read them to relax a little. (I needed to relax a little too, because they totally bombed the practice tests...aahhhh!)  Anyway, the book I read them is a really cute story with a great message.  It's called The Easter Egg Farm, and the main character is a hen named Pauline who is different because she lays eggs that look like whatever she is looking at.  For example, if she is looking at the grass, her egg will look like the grass.  The other hens tease her for being different, and she is ostracized.  But when their owner finds out about her eggs, she loves them!  By the end of the book, Pauline learns that it is a good thing to be different.

The kids loved the funny pictures and dialogue.  They also contributed to a great discussion about the positives of being different.  After our discussion, I gave students each a piece of blank white paper and told them that they should each pretend that Pauline is their hen.  What kind of egg would they want Pauline to lay?  Here are some of the results:

On the back of their egg, they wrote about one of the following prompts:

*Write about a time you were teased for being different.  How did it make you feel?

*Write about something you are proud of about yourself, even though it is different from others.

*Write about why it is a good thing to be different.

Students were then given a chance to share, and I was very happy with their thoughts.  I will keep trying to build good character in my students, one lesson at a time!  There will be more time for that after the STAAR tests are over in 3 weeks...now time to get to planning for how to get them motivated for that!