Teacher Lesson Plan
FLAUNTING YOUR DIFFERENCES
Materials: It’s Time to Flaunt! student activity sheet, pens, markers
(optional), construction paper (optional), tape (optional)
Activity Steps
Project or draw images of a giraffe, a caterpillar, a sea horse,
and a peacock on the whiteboard. (Note: You can use any
animals, but they should be dramatically different from one
another.) Ask students what they notice about the differences
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Time Required: 40 minutes
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Ask students: How do others’ responses to differences make
you feel positively or negatively about your own differences?
As students respond to that question, ask: What are some
of the ways people deal with their differences? If necessary,
support the conversation by providing such examples as hiding
your differences, being really shy, and not calling too much
attention to yourself.
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among the animals. As students call out their answers, categorize
the differences by type of description. For example, if a student
notes that an animal is tall, write “height” on the board. If a student
notes that an animal is small, write “size” on the board. Other
possible category examples include color, movement, shape, etc.
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Explain that each animal’s differences are the details that
make it the animal it is.
Ask students what they would do if they saw an extremely
tall or extremely small person at school. As students
respond, add more differences into the conversation. Ask
students how they would respond to someone whose legs
worked differently or who only used his or her hands to speak.
If students don’t come up with negative responses on their own,
prompt them to recall instances when they have seen someone
laughed at or bullied for being different.
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Have students turn and talk to one another answering
this question: Why do you think people make fun of or bully
people who are different from them? Once they have completed
their conversations, call on a few volunteers to share their turnand-talk partner’s thoughts.
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Write the following statements on the board: We all have
differences. What makes you different is what makes you,
you. Under those statements, write two categories: “Visible
Differences” and “Invisible Differences.” Ask students how
their own differences define them. Spark discussions about
both visible and invisible differences. (Visible differences
include: glasses, braces, height, limb difference, wheelchair
use, and more. Invisible differences include: accent, stuttering,
learning challenges, dyslexia, autism, unique family structure,
and more.) Remind students that even if you cannot see
someone else’s differences, everyone has something that
makes them unique.
Write the word “flaunt” on the board and ask someone
to define it. Once the class has a working definition,
ask: What do you think would happen if you flaunted your
differences? If students don’t touch on the following points,
include them in the conversation: It will make you stronger and
help you to have a better attitude about yourself, it will help
other people to be brave about their own differences, and it
will show people that differences can be a positive part of life.
If you have time, share printouts of the First-Class Flaunts
from scholastic.com/flauntit.
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Hand out the It’s Time to Flaunt! activity sheet. Walk
students through the instructions and encourage them to
find ways they can flaunt their differences.
Flaunt your class’s differences by building a peacock full
of your students’ flaunts. Create large colorful pieces of
paper in the shape of a peacock’s tail feathers. Allow each
student to write in what makes him or her unique on one of
the feathers. Display all the flaunts on a bulletin board and
take a photo of your flaunters in front of the display.
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Wrap up by passing out the contest entry forms. Have
students take home their Kids Flaunt essays attached to
a blank contest entry form. Students should fill out the entry
form and have their parent or guardian sign the entry form.
Collect the completed entry forms and essays the next day and
send them both to the Kids Flaunt Contest via mail (Kids Flaunt
Contest, Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, Space 539, New York, NY
10012) or email ([email protected]). One student winner
will win an NFL prize pack, which includes a tablet computer.
The winning teacher will win books for the classroom. One
runner-up will win a tablet computer and a pack of NFL trading
cards. Three runners-up will win one pack of NFL trading cards
each. All the prizewinning students and up to 12 additional
students will be profiled on the Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It website at
donthideitflauntit.com!
Contest Deadline: October 30, 2016
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. The “Kids Flaunt Student Contest” is open to students in the fourth grade in public or accredited private schools or home schools located in California, Illinois, New Jersey, or New York and which are in compliance with the laws of those
states. The entries may only be submitted by the students’ fourth-grade teacher, who must be over 18 at the time of submission. To enter, have your fourth-grade students complete the Student Activity Sheet and the Entry Form with a parent signature, which are
available at scholastic.com/flauntit, and submit them between 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) on September 15, 2016, and 11:59 p.m. ET on October 30, 2016 (the “Entry Period”). One winning student will receive a tablet computer (ARV: $850), an NFL prize pack
(ARV: $105) and have his or her essay featured on the Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It website. The winning student’s teacher will receive a classroom set of Scholastic books (ARV: $250). One runner-up will receive a tablet computer (ARV: $150) and a box of NFL trading
cards (ARV: $20). Three (3) finalists will receive one box of NFL trading cards each (Total ARV: $60). Void where prohibited. Additional restrictions apply. For complete rules, go to scholastic.com/flauntitrules.
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