What Can Kiwis Teach Us About Tolerance?

I taught a lesson on tolerance to a group of third and fourth graders. I showed the students a kiwi and asked if anyone could tell me what it was. All of the students had seen and tasted a kiwi before. I asked them what they thought of kiwis when the first saw one. Students gave descriptive words such as "nasty, hairy, and ugly." Since the students have tried kiwis before, I focused the discussion on how it feels to be judged by the outside. Students commented that they felt sad and kind of angry when people judged them by the outside.

I asked students what lesson we could learn from kiwis. One student stated that the lesson that we learn from kiwis is "don't judge a book by it's cover." He commented that just because a book may be strange on the outside doesn't mean it isn't a good book. I gave the students an opportunity at the end to have some kiwi fruit that I brought. I also gave the students a bookmark that is pictured. The front reads, "What can kiwis teach us about tolerance?" and the back reads, "It's what's on the inside that counts."

In the future, I would like to have the students assemble the bookmarks themselves and write their own message that they learned from the kiwis. I think it would be neat to make a bulletin board with the kiwi theme using students' original ideas about tolerance.

What creative lessons do you teach about tolerance? Comment below, email me, tweet, or share on the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page!

Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources.  Contact Danielle via email, follow her on twitter, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.