Alexandra Levy
10/26/15
Professor Smolleck
Diversity Project Reflection
I decided to choose the book, Xander’s Panda Party by: Linda Sue Park
because I thought it introduced the concept of Diversity perfectly to younger
children. I believe that this book’s recommended reading level is around 1st or 2nd
grade because it explains the Animal Kingdoms and shows animals that belong in
certain classes. This story is about a young panda named, Xander, who wants to
throw himself a birthday party. He realizes that there are no other pandas at the
zoo, so he says he will invite all bears. The party keeps getting bigger because he has
to include different classes of animals. Like mammals, reptiles, birds and more. To
include everyone, Xander invites all of the critters in the zoo and gets a special
birthday present by having another panda at the zoo. Even though Xander found
someone just like him, he still wanted everyone from the zoo to be at his birthday
party.
I wanted to have the students participate in fun, interactive and engaging
activities. The poster lists all the classes of the animal kingdom such as: Mammals,
reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish. I will give each group a set of 5 animals, one
from each class. They will have to place an animal in each class. This will allow the
students to see common connections and similarities or differences between the
groups. Following this activity, I am going to ask the students to draw their favorite
animal and have them share with the rest of the students which class they think that
their animal belongs in and why. This allows the students to see that all animals
belong in a certain class, but all animals interact with one another in their
environments.
Because of these activities children will begin to learn how to classify
animals. They will hopefully start to notice the similarities or differences between
the animals in the same or different classes like fur vs. hair or gills vs. lungs and so
many more. I want them to be able to understand that even though animals can be
very similar or different they all need to breathe, need food, and need shelter in
order to survive. By allowing them to draw their favorite animal, it gives the activity
a more personal touch and will get the children excited because they can actively
participate in contributing to the lesson. This lesson demonstrates diversity really
well because it discusses different types of animals that we see in our world and
how they interact with one another. In the book, the animals include different
classes of animals because they somehow interact with them in their everyday life.
This allows the students to realize that animals have their own needs but also relay
on other animals. Animals in different classes have common characteristics that can
be observed but also have very different characteristics that are seen with the
interactive bullying board. Diversity is stressed through connections between the
animals, even though they may look or act differently they need to interact with one
another and need the same basic necessities to live.
Introducing diversity into the classroom at a younger age I think is very
important and detrimental for the children to grasp this concept. Diversity
surrounds us, and by incorporating activities and lessons into the classroom allow
the children to actively participate in learning about this important topic. I think
activities using animals and habitats are easiest to use for children to learn about
diversity because they can use previously learned knowledge (from pets) or
interests to help them understand diversity. I also think you have to be careful to
when you introduce diversity because it may be confusing and hard to grasp for
younger students. Teaching diversity may be difficult for teachers or administrators
because they may not know how to incorporate it into their curriculum, again it may
confuse or may make the students feel uncomfortable. I think it is vital to have an
activity where the students can relate, will have fun, can actively participate and will
be able to grasp the overarching goal of diversity because they will understand the
activity because they can understand the topic that is being used to introduce
diversity. Parents should be excited and hopeful that their child will grasp the
importance at a younger age because of the enthusiasm and effort the teacher puts
into the activity.