I Am Me
September All-School Read Builds Community
5 x 2 – 5 + 5 – 2 – 3 + 5. Fifth grader Dylan has fun playing with numbers. He was psyched to share the equation he created to represent his age.
Lucy added extra drawings to a self-portrait that show her love of lacrosse and dance, her favorite color and John Jay!
Some students are drawn to math. Others prefer writing or drawing. That’s just the point of Increase Miller Elementary’s community read “I Am Me” by Tristan Towns and Lacey Howard. We are all different. And that’s good!
“Finding out who you are is a lifelong journey,” said teacher Gloria Miller, before even opening the read aloud book. “If we were all the same it would be boring.”
Students Embrace Unique Aspects of Themselves
Celebrating Differences
The story introduces children who are engaged in sports, learning, writing, music and more, who also happen to be an amputee, in a wheelchair or look different.
“I love being me and everything I am,” the characters say.
After discussing the story, the students celebrated unique aspects of themselves by creating math equations for their age, shoe size, birthday and more, and drawing a self-portrait in the center.
10 + 10 + 3 – 3 – 10 + (1 x 10 1) + 3. Dylan’s equation representing the number of letters in his teacher’s name just might have been the longest in the class.
