Inclusion
An inclusive classroom is one where all children (whether disabled or not) have equal opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.
In addition to making sure that your son is able to participate in regular curriculum and activities, there are many inclusion exercises that are designed to spark dialogue and understanding of children with all sorts of disabilities.
We've included several suggestions below to stimulate discussions pertaining to Inclusion, Leadership, Diversity, Teamwork, & Friendship. For more activities, see PPMD’s Education Matters Guide (available as a PDF download), it is also a good idea to encourage your students to develop their own inclusion exercises.
Inclusion
- Activity #1: Red and Blue
Begin by cutting equal quantities of red and blue paper into small pieces… enough for everyone in the class to pick one. Place the papers in a box where each person will have the opportunity to draw a piece. Be careful to make sure that the box is covered so that no one can see which color they are choosing. After everyone in the class has chosen, ask the students with the red papers to take a seat in the back of the classroom while having the students with blue papers sit in the front. Once everyone is settled, ask the red paper group to do some unfavorable task like vocabulary, math problems, etc. At the same time ask the blue paper group to do a fun task, like color, or paint or play games. Soon you find that the red paper group is feeling quite angry and left out. After a while, switch and have the red group perform the favorable task. After both groups have sufficiently had their share of good and bad time, from a large discussion circle and discuss how each person felt when they were part of the "good" group and visa versa. Since all children want to feel part of a group and included in favorable activities, this is a simple way of making a very powerful point.
Follow up Activity:
Have each student write an essay or open up discussion on what they can do to act more inclusively towards each other. You will find many valuable, creative and interesting answers.
- Activity #2: Sand Art Genetics
Give each member of the class or group 6 bowls of different colored sand. Then allow everyone to choose his or her own bottle of jar in which to put the sand. Have the students begin layering the sand in any sequence they decide. When the task is done have everyone from a circle and display their creation. Discuss how each color of sand relates to a different genetic trait such as eye color, hair color, height, etc.
Follow up Activity:
Have a sand art jar filled with only 4 or 5 colors. Relate this jar to some one who has a genetic illness or disorder. Discuss the fact that genetic disorders are not contagious and just like sand are quite harmless. This understanding of differences may help to alleviate the fear of "catching something" and may lead to better understanding of genetic disorders.
- Activity #3: Improv Inclusion
Divide class into small groups assigning each group a disability (blind/deaf/physical disability etc.) and a conflict. Then give each group a handful of props such as a telephone, a funny hat, a pair of glasses, a baseball, etc. Have each group develop a story plot utilizing the disability they have been assigned, the conflict that was assigned and the props that they were given. Once the story idea has been agreed upon, have the group decide who is the director, the writer(s), and the "actors". Have each team presents their story to the other teams.
Follow Up Activity:
Begin a discussion session with the entire group asking the participants questions such as: How did having that disability make you feel? How difficult was it for you to resolve your conflict? What could others have done to make it easier for you? Etc. What can you do for people with disabilities?
Leadership
- Activity #1: Adopt-A-Cause
Adopt a Cause- have your class of group adopt a cause for one month. Begin by having participants nominate causes to be voted on. Each cause should be presented in such a way that explains why it would be beneficial to the cause, appropriate for the group and what changes will be brought about by adopting this cause. Once the cause has been decided upon have each participant offer suggestions of what sort of activities they can do to make this "campaign" a good one. Set timelines and activities that relate to the cause and the month. Perhaps it is February and the class decides to give valentines to the elderly. Maybe this means each participant adopts an elderly person for a day and spends a day getting to know this person better and offering companionship.
Follow Up Activity:
After the Adopt -A-Cause activity is completed. Begin discussions about what each participant learned. Have each participant vote on whether or not to adopt the cause again at an additional time or whether they want to do some other task. These positive events and activities can spark creative writing assignments and lively discussion groups. Note: Look for causes that may affect students and their families in your school, religious organization or communities.
Diversity
- Activity #1: Discovery
The Discovery Game is one that helps children realize they share similar traits and characteristics with other children who they may not be very familiar with. The activity leader will need to develop a list of characteristics that will be "discovered" during the game, giving each student a copy of the list with space for notes. Students gather and record who they have similarities with for every instruction. For instance, the leader may shout out:
- Gather in groups of four people who are the same age.
- Gather in groups of three people who can sing Britany Spears songs
- Find another person with the same hero or heroine as you
- All people who love broccoli gather in the middle of the room.
- All who know the words for "thank you" in a foreign language meet in the middle of the classroom.
- Find others who hate spinach.
- All students who have cats meet on one side of the room, all people who have dogs meet on the other. (You can narrow this down even further by stating colors of cats, or breeds of dogs)
After each instruction ask the students to begin talking with the others in the groups about the characteristic. If there are those who do not fit into a group have them gather and discuss among themselves how it feels to not be part of that group. Why is it hard? Does it matter? How does it make them feel to be excluded from a group? Also have each student write down who has a similar or dissimilar interest.
Follow Up Activity:
Have each person examine their lists of characteristics and determine how many people they have common interests with. (More than likely each student will have something in common with everyone in the class.)
- Activity #2: A Lemon Is Just A Lemon
Give each student a lemon. Tell him or her to really look at the lemon, examine it for markings and what makes the lemon unique. Then gather all of the lemons and place them in a bowl. Have each student find his or her lemon from within the crowd. (Many responses will be.. "Oh, my lemon is the big one" or "My lemon had a scar on it." This launches the discussion about how many people are like that… different sizes, different shapes, and different shades of color… even some scars.
After exploring these ideas collect the lemons again. This time, peel the lemons and return them to the bowl. Now tell the students to again go pick out their lemon. Usually the reactions have a sort of "but they all look the same" tone to them. This then opens the door to the discussion of how people, much like the lemons, are pretty much the same on the inside. Despite our outward "bumps and bruises" we are really all quite the same.
Follow up activity:
Have students pair off and ask a series of questions to one another. (Do you like when people are nice to you? Do you like when someone makes fun of you? Do you like ice cream? Do you like to smile?) Then have the students how many answers they have in common.
Teamwork
- Activity #1: The Silent Island
Begin by dividing the class or group into smaller groups of 5 to 7 players. Each group gathers around a table that has a large lump of clay in the center as well as some other items like toothpicks, twigs, buttons and other small items.
Without speaking the group begins to push and knead the clay into a mass. Then the group must make the lump into an island, adding castles, caves, mountains, rivers, etc. Still without talking, each player must mark a boundary for his or her own area and build a shelter or home using the other materials he or she chooses.
The leader asks the group to hold an island council meeting. At this meeting, players must elect a leader and make whatever decisions are needed for survival or interaction on the island.
At this point the group can stop and discuss what and why they decided and what problems they encountered. Continue improvising incidents of island life and the ways in which the team can work through the problems they encounter.
- Activity #2: The Machine Game
Players are divided into teams of 6 to 8. Each team goes to a different area of the room and decides on a machine that they will be. Each member decides on a part of the machine that he/she will act out. (For instance if the team was a washing machine one player could hold their arms and be the drum another could be the buttons, etc.) When the teams have has sufficient time developing their machine, they present it to the other teams who guess what kind of machine it is.
The emphasis should be that all members of a team are to parts of the machine… and not an entire machine.
Follow Up Activity:
After a team presents its machine, ask audience members if they could add onto the machine in any way? Could they become another moving part?
- Activity #3: Memory Lines
The group forms a square around the room facing in towards the leader who is standing in the middle. Players must remember which members of their team are standing next to them. And also which side of the square the leader is facing. Then the leader spins around in the center finishing facing another direction. The four lines then must re-form the square making sure that all team members are standing in the correct order and that the line that was originally facing the leader is again facing the leader. The first line to get "lined up" and in the correct position and order yells "Lined Up" and are the winners.
All team members are responsible for helping one another get lined up, especially as the game becomes more hurried.
Friendship
- Activity #1: Secret Kindness Buddies
All class members take a moment to write a short paragraph about themselves that includes some of their favorite hobbies, activities, and treats. This paper is turned into the leader. Then each student writes their name on a slip of paper and places it into a paper bag. The leader then shakes the bag to mix up the names. Each student draws a name out of the bag making sure to keep the identity of his or her draw a secret. (If a student draws his or her own name they must place it back in the bag and draw again)
When all of the names have been distributed, the leader goes around and collects all of the slips of paper taking notes as to which students have become kindness buddies.
The leader then gives each student the short biography paragraph belonging to his or her secret kindness buddy. For one week, students are encouraged to do random acts of kindness for their buddies. Perhaps one day a student leaves his or her secret kindness buddy a card wishing them a good day, or perhaps brings them a piece of their favorite candy, or even opens a door for them. Any act of kindness. At the end of the week students are asked to guess who their secret kindness buddy was and to talk about the nice things that happened.
Follow Up Activity:
Have each student write a short paper on their secret kindness buddy describing the new things they learned about this person and the similarities between them. Also have each student describe how nice it was to have someone doing kind things for them and how that made them feel.
Visit our Education Matters section for more resources, or Connect with other parents who understand what you're experiencing. |
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