Horton Hears a Who

During Read Across America Week, I decided to read the book Horton Hears a Who to my 3rd grade class while we are studying the Purple Hands Pledge. The Purple Hands Pledge is "I will not use my hands or my words for hurting myself or others." Horton Hears a Who has a similar message - Horton is teased by the other animals (hurting with words) when they do not believe that there are Whos on the dust speck. Horton uses his hands (or his trunk!) to help the Whos and protect them from harm. This book has a great message which we emphasized in the lesson -
"A person's a person no matter how small!"

After the book we talked about how Horton used his hands to help others, and had a discussion about bullying. The students made their own "clover" after the book to remind them of the book's message. It was exciting to be a part of the Read Across America Week by bringing a Dr. Seuss classic into our guidance lesson!

To make another connection between the Character Counts program and Read Across America week, we decorated the display case at our school in honor of the book "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" It shows the different careers that students can achieve if they use good character. A picture of the display case is posted below!