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Beauty Secrets
Key Ideas: A genuine smile will make any face beautiful/Beauty in diversity/Inner versus outer beauty
Character Traits: Respect/Caring/Friendliness/Positive attitude
Level: Elementary
Good morning, name of school . This is name of narrator with a few
words of wisdom.
Our world is filled with over seven billion different faces. Imagine that —
seven billion! Did you know that what people think is a pretty or a
handsome face in one part of the world might not be thought pretty or
handsome somewhere else? People everywhere have their own opinion
about what’s beautiful, but there is one thing that is always true about all
human faces. Any honest-to-goodness, straight-from-the-heart smile will
make a face beautiful.
People spend a lot of time and money trying to have a beautiful face, but
here’s something to consider. Smiles don’t cost a thing, but they light up a
face like no haircut or makeup ever will.
So remember this:
If you didn’t start today with a smile, it's not too late to
start practicing for tomorrow.*
You’ll be more beautiful if you do.
With something to think about, this is ___________. Make it a great day . . .
or not. The choice is yours.
*Author unknown
Broadcast Message
ERS08-105ELEM (Rev 09-12)
Beauty Secrets
Key Ideas:
A genuine smile will make any face beautiful/Beauty in diversity/Inner versus
outer beauty
Character Traits:
Respect/Caring/Friendliness/Positive attitude
Concept:
Students will explore the idea of inner versus outer beauty and that smiles are
part of a universal language.
Materials:
Suggested activities for art classes may require materials for creating a drawing,
painting, or poster.
Directions:
Read or ask a student to read aloud the Project Wisdom message that
accompanies this lesson plan. Distribute and have the students complete the
worksheet. Ask for volunteers to share responses to the following questions.
Discussion Generators
1. What’s good about having so many different faces in our world?
2. What do you think about the fact that not everybody agrees on a beautiful face? What do you
think it means that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? What do you think makes someone
beautiful?
3. How do you feel when you see someone’s face break into an honest-to-goodness, straight-fromthe-heart smile?
4. How do real smiles on the faces of human beings bring more goodness into our world?
5. What’s the difference between inside beauty and outside beauty? Which do you think is the most
important?
6. How does a real smile show the inside beauty of a person? When you see someone smiling, are
they more beautiful to you? Why or why not?
7. When might a smile not be beautiful?
8. Do you think smiles are contagious? Explain.
9. What does a smile tell you about a person?
Closing Comments – We live in a world that celebrates outer beauty much more so than inner beauty.
What matters most about any human being are the beautiful qualities he or she may possess; qualities like
caring and respectfulness, lightheartedness, and a sense of joy. These qualities bring more real beauty into
our world. When someone with these qualities breaks out into a big smile, it is contagious.
Lesson Plan: 08-105ELEM (Rev 09-12)
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Beauty Secrets
Follow-up Activities
K-5
•
Hold a schoolwide “Beautiful People” Month/Week/Day. Have students discuss what they think
makes a person beautiful – encouraging them to look beyond the physical characteristics. Have
students search for beautiful people in the following categories.
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Kindergarten and first grade: in their family
Second grade: in the community
Third grade: in the state
Fourth grade: nationwide
Fifth grade: worldwide
Have students explain through different mediums why they chose their person and the
characteristics the person has that make him or her beautiful. Effort must be given to ensure that
the students are not focusing on just physical beauty. Each grade would share their findings in
their own developmentally appropriate way. Plays, skits, bulletin boards, student-made books,
original poetry, and classroom museums are some examples.
K-2
•
Give students copies of old magazines and newspapers. Working alone or in groups, have
students cut out pictures of people smiling and make collages. After the collages are dry, give
students a large blank index card and have them write a short poem or essay on how smiles
change the world. Attach the card to the center of the collage and post around the room.
•
Read One Smile, by C. McKinley. Discuss with the children what made the difference in the
young man’s life and then how the lives of other characters were positively affected. Have the
students write their own One Smile story. Ask who they would like to cheer up and in turn, what
might happen after that. For students who need some scaffolding, frame sentences could be used
to help with their writing.
“_____________ needs my smile.”
“When I smiled at him/her, ________________ (did what?)”
“Then _____________________ smiled at _______________ (name of a new person).
“Then s/he (did what?)”
•
Read aloud any of the books from the reading list below. Don’t show the pictures. Discuss how
the positive character traits made the difference in these stories. Ask children to identify those
“beautiful” traits that they noticed. “How does kindness look?” “What does a friendly person
look like?” Ask different children to act out some of the traits that the class brings up. At their
seats, have them decide on one of the character traits and illustrate their choice. Notice that on all
the children’s illustrations the people that are displaying the traits are also smiling! Re-read the
story and show the illustrations again, even in the professional drawings, the beautiful characters
are smiling.
Lesson Plan: 08-105ELEM (Rev 09-12)
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2-5
•
Either read aloud or have students read Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter. Guide students to see the
character traits that Nyasha demonstrated in the story to become the queen. Have them identify
the “tests” that the prince set up to see these traits. Have students think of opportunities where
they could prove they have those traits. These opportunities should be at school, at home, and in
the community. Students then write their own Cinderella story. Imagine that they were being
considered to be the prime minister of a make believe country. What character traits would the
leader of the country need to have? How could they show these traits? What would the tests be
for each trait? Encourage the students to be creative! (Other Cinderella stories could be used as
examples. Some are found in the Reading list.)
•
Read E. Boritzer’s What is Beautiful. Writing the students’ responses on the board or on a chart,
discuss what each student thinks is the definition of “beautiful.” Have each student draft a
definition of beauty. Using the frame of Margaret Wise Brown’s, The Important Book, have
students write their own The Important Thing about Beauty. After the final drafts and
illustrations, allow children to share their books with each other and with other classes and
parents.
•
Have students write acrostic poems about being beautiful.
Reading List
K-2
• The Talking Eggs*, R. D. San Souci
• Amazing Grace, M. Hoffman
• The Other Side, J. Woodson
• One Smile, C. McKinley
2-5
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Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter,* J. Steptoe
Yeh-Shen*, A.L. Louie
The Rough Face Girl*, R. Martin
The Paper Bag Princess*, R. Munsch
The Gift of the Crocodile*, J. Sierra
What is Beautiful, E. Boritzer
*Cinderella stories
Lesson Plan: 08-105ELEM (Rev 09-12)
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