All About Me in JK105
Mara Rubin and Sheila Schraber, JK 105
The students in JK105 have recently shown a strong interest in learning about themselves and their peers, which allowed for opportunities to strengthen the connections within their classroom kehillah (community). This unit came into fruition when the students began learning about their own family’s history and the origin behind the names given to them. From there, the class decided they wanted to learn more about each other and continued to dive deeper into an All About Me Unit, through various self reflective invitations and provocations. They soon were developing new knowledge of themselves, their friends and families. 
The students were then invited to create an All About Me poster with their families that answered questions about their favorite foods, colors, activities, etc. They had the opportunity to share their posters with the class, and their classmates asked questions and gave comments about what they learned. This enabled students to get to know each other on a deeper level, gain self confidence, build a stronger classroom community, and develop positive peer relationships with each other. As we celebrated each child and their individualities, they recognized commonalities as well as what makes each other and their families unique.   
As the unit evolves throughout the rest of the year, we will soon be looking at our skin color and painting self portraits that reflect this. We hope that this meaningful learning will continue to spark conversations at home and in school to empower each student to feel proud of who they are and the foundation of their family.

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