I always knew I wanted to go into Ruby’s classroom once she started Kindergarten and talk about differences, and what makes each of us awesome and unique. I actually tried to go into her Montessori class when she was a wee one all “gung ho!” with my mama pride flag waving, ready to teach a room full of 3-4 year olds about DNA, chromosomes and speech therapy. THANK GOODNESS the director at the time gently said, “Liz, this is probably one of the last few years that the kids don’t recognize any differences…between anyone. Why don’t we just let Ruby…be Ruby.”
It always stuck with me and I was thankful, because I became more aware that kids were just kids….all of them…together. I think there is a time when kids do start to notice differences though, and I feel like once they become more aware, having an open conversation about it, not leaving any questions unanswered is a great way to approach it. That way differences aren’t some “secret” that shouldn’t be spoken about in public, but celebrated and embraced.
Bottom line: We are all different and unique in our own little way. No two humans are the same, and we each bring something awesome and beautiful into this world.
There are many ways to approach this topic with the classroom. One way is to have the school counselor speak to the class and Kelle Hampton has a fantastic post and template to that HERE. You can always send out letters to the parents telling them a little bit about your son or daughter, their awesomeness and just letting them know if they have any questions you are ALWAYS available to answer them. No question is too ridiculous. I actually sent out the email that we were going to be visiting the class and talking a little bit about Down syndrome and one parent called me directly as said, “Can I come?! I want to learn more!” And of course my answer was, “Heck yeah!!” Plus it was nice to have extra hands, well, because it was a classroom of 21 five year olds!!!!
So we decided to go into the classroom as a family: me, the hubby and big sis Ella Mae really wanted to be in there too. We asked her second grade teacher if she could attend and she was all for it. First off, I didn’t want it to just be about Down syndrome, although I definitely wanted to touch on that. I wanted to talk about the fact that we ALL have differences, and each person is awesome and unique in their own way. But I also really wanted to do something to keep the kids engaged and have it be a memorable experience, so I decided on two activities to help them get an idea of a few things Ruby works hard to overcome: Speech and writing. Words like “low muscle tone” don’t really mean much to the average five year old, so I thought some hands on activities would help them relate a little more.
Activity one:
First we talked about how sometimes you may not be able to clearly understand Ruby and how she is working really hard on this. We talked of ways they can help her by asking again or having her show you. Her being an equal peer is something I think is very important, and it first starts with communication, so I really wanted them to feel comfortable with this and understand why it may be harder for her. We had each of them put a large marshmallow in their mouth and try to say their name…which was fun and hilarious (and they got to eat a marshmallow!) but also gave them a little idea of how hard Ruby is working to say even simple words that they might find easy. (In my letter to the parents I informed them what I was doing and asked if they did not want their child to have a marshmallow to let the teacher know.)
Activity two:
This one was super fun and we turned it into a craft project afterwards. I gave them each a tube sock and had them attempt to write their name with it on their hand. (NOTE: have them each go to their table and write their name first on a piece of paper, THAN hand out the socks and have them write their names with the sock on to compare. WAIT to give them the socks until AFTER they have written their name). After this we used the tube socks for each of them to make a sock puppet of what makes them awesome and unique. This part was super fun, but try to have as many parent helpers as possible! I will give my “How to” sock puppet tutorial to make is as streamlined as possible down below.
Here is my script that I had on hand with me. It really helped to have it printed and in my lap because talking with a bunch of five year olds ain’t easy!! ha!
Hi!! Do any of you guys know who I am? That’s right!! I am Ruby’s mom, Mrs. Liz.
I am here today to talk about differences and what makes us each awesome and unique.
Who in here has black hair? Brown? Blonde? Red?
What about blue eyes? Brown? Green?
Anybody have any allergies?
These are all things that our mommy’s and daddy’s gave us and we have had since birth that are tiny little pieces of us that make us awesome and special.
Who in here loves to go swimming? Play with babies? Jump on the trampoline? Play with friends?……..??
Wow!! Ruby loves to so that too!!
Does anyone know what Down syndrome is?
Well, our bodies are made up of all of these things that make us special and unique called DNA. And your DNA is made up of even tinier little things called chromosomes. Most of us all have 46 chromosomes, but people with Ds have an extra awesome 47th one.
Do you know anyone that has Down syndrome?
That’s right! Ruby does! What does this mean?
Can I catch Down syndrome? Well, sometimes I wish some of Ruby’s awesome would rub off on me!! She is so loving, caring and funny. But no, Down syndrome is not contagious any more than me rubbing my blue eye on your shirt and your eyes turning brown!!
This is just a tiny part of who Ruby is, just like your allergies, or your hair and eye color.
Sometimes she may need a little extra help with stuff or you may not be able to understand everything she is saying. The muscles in her mouth aren’t as strong as yours so this makes it a little harder to get the words out. Does anyone want to try and see what it is like for Ruby to say even some simple words?
It can be like saying your name with a big, fat marshmallow in your mouth!! Let’s try it!! (kids try and say their names with a marshmallow in their mouth)
See… that can be pretty difficult!! So sometimes if you have trouble understanding what Ruby is saying…you can ask again, or even have her show you. She loves to talk and play with her friends.
Even though she knows all her letters and most of their sounds, another thing that can be hard for Ruby is handwriting. Some of her work might look different than yours, but she is trying her best! Writing and coloring some things for her is like you trying to do it with a sock on your hand!! Does anyone want to try it?!
(Have the kids put a sock on their hand and try and write and then make the sock into a puppet of your awesome self and what makes you special and unique!)
I am so proud of Ruby because she works so hard to do even some of the littlest things we may find easy. Aren’t you proud to call her your friend?
Before I had them all go to their tables to write their names, I demonstrated on the board writing my own name…
You guys…this was so much fun. Not only was I able to hang in the classroom and get to know the kids, I could tell that Ruby was proud to have her family there, Ella Mae was proud to talk about her sister having Down syndrome, and at one point when I told the class that Ruby had Down syndrome her friend yelled, “AWESOME!! Ruby is AWESOME!!” I felt like talking about it only opened the door for more conversations and as a mama trying to bring awareness to ALL differences…this is a great beginning.
My hope is to always try and have Ruby in the classroom when talking about differences, whether they are hers or not. As much as I want the other kids to not be afraid to ask questions, I want Ruby to not be afraid or embarrassed to answer them. I hope someday she will lead the presentation in her class! But this is just what our family has decided to do, and I know this will not look the same for everyone. Some kids are shy, and may feel nervous being the center of attention, so it may be best to not have them in the room. Each situation is different, as each child is different.
Here is my easy “How To” sock puppet:
These are the things I ordered, but I went a little overboard. The “sock puppet kits” were not needed, all the other materials worked just fine.
- Tube socks
- Different colored felt (definitely red for the mouth)
- Googly eyes
- Poms (for noses, necklaces, buttons…you name it!)
- Yarn for hair (I got Brown, Black and yellow)
- I got some cute little soccer, baseball and footballs, along with some other things for them to make them their own at the craft store.
- I ordered this SOCK PUPPET KIT on Amazon. It was nice to have, but you can totally cut out the same things (bows, ties, ect) from the felt to reduce cost.
- Hot Glue Gun
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Aleene’s Quick Dry Tacky Glue (it is good to have one for each table of kids) Make sure it is Quick Dry!
Step one: Enlist in some super cool friends to help with the preparation:
Step Two: Cut out out different types of lengths of hair from the yarn in different colors and sizes. Tie the bundles of hair with with a few strings in the middle to secure.
Step Three: Cut out red felt half circles for each puppet to be made to pre-hot-glue on before you take them to the class. I also pre-hot-glued hearts on each one. Also cut out felt ties, bows, hats, anything you want to have for them to add to their sock puppet! Be creative! This is where it is nice to have some friends and also really good scissors!!
Step Four: Pre-cut two slits on the top of the sock about where the kids knuckles would be to be able to slide the hair of their choosing through and tie in a knot (see below). This makes it easy to attach the hair without any glue and it will stay put once the kids add the hair. We found they needed a little help getting it stringing the hair through the slit, but once it is tied on it ain’t goin’ anywhere!!
Step Five: Ruby’s class has four tables, so I separated all the materials into different baggies per table so it would be easy the day of to just dump it all out on each table.
Step Six: We did a combination of letting the kids use the Quick Dry Tacky Glue (MAKE SURE IT IS QUICK DRY!!) to put things on and then having them bring certain things to the “hot glue gun” stations (we have two) where adults could hot glue stuff on. This worked really well especially for some of the heavier things that the tacky glue did not dry quick enough to keep on.
The kids immediately started putting them on and playing with them, which was super fun to watch!
Regardless of whether you do this in the classroom or not, it is important to just talk about these kinds of things at home and have these conversations be open. I am planning on trying to do one of these each year, and have some parents of recipients that have trail blazed the way and have ideas for us that I will share as soon as I get them!!
And you what is even cooler? You never know when you are in there if you are really making a difference, but I got this note from Ruby’s teacher later on in the day:
“Thank you SO much for all you did today. It was so special for the kids. They talked about it all day. I know sometimes in the moment it’s hard to tell if they are actually catching on to what you are telling them, but they TOTALLY got it. I came back to it this afternoon and asked them what they learned from you this morning. They said, “Ruby has to work really hard to write her name, like when we had the sock on our hand,” and another student said, “And Ruby has to work really hard to talk like when we had the marshmallow in our mouth.” I was so impressed. We talked again about how it’s great that we are all different, how we can help each other, and we talked about the words Down Syndrome again. They really did walk away with an understanding and are so excited to take those precious puppets home. Please tell Ella Mae that she has a 21 new members of her fan club. We saw her a couple of times in the hall today and everyone got so excited. 
Wow!! This made my mama heart SO happy!! We can make a difference guys!! Let’s keep on rockin’ this guys!!! We got this! Woot!
ONE MORE THING!! Here is another great resource that is actually a fun little “Difference is Beautiful” calendar made by Ruby’s lil’ friend Pip (pictured below) from The Happy Soul Project. With each month of the year, it has fun, interesting facts about Down syndrome. Not only is it adorable, but it can be used as a teaching and awareness tool. Check them out or get you a copy for you or a friend HERE.
This is a great idea. Love how easy it was to explain and keep the kiddos engaged. Thank you for sharing this.