Sharing Ourselves with a Growth Chart

Hello, teachers, and happy fall! I hope you had a fabulous summer! I had a busy one–more about that in the coming weeks. But right now, I want to share an activity that I think could be great for community building as your school year is getting into gear.

My newest picture book, Line Leads the Way, has themes of resilience and compassion. I believe our struggles and imperfections are just part of all of us, and they can even make us stronger and more empathetic. My author friend Lisa Bullard had the great idea to have kids make their own growth charts, sharing all about themselves. And I also had Georgia Heard’s wonderful Heart Maps in mind as I created my version. Of course, every kid and every class can adapt this activity to suit their time and materials, so mine is just one example!

You can download the activity sheet (with a smaller template) here.

I think it’s only when we’re honest about ourselves and our own hardships and passions (and this is so hard to do for so many reasons!) that we can really get to know and support each other.

More about Line Leads the Way here.

Thanks for reading, and it’s good to be back!

[My Classroom Connections posts share a way to connect one of my books or poems to a classroom topic–often something timely that you might be covering in the next month or so. Please share this post if you have educator friends who might be interested–thanks!]

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