In this unit, children learn to recognize and appreciate one another’s similarities and
differences, which promotes a community environment at home.

GOALS
Get to know one another.
Discover and appreciate commonalities.
Appreciate and learn from diversity.
Develop an attitude of inclusion.
Embrace a common classroom identity.
Feel valued as an individual and as a member of the group.
You’ll see three parts to each lesson:

1. Setting the Stage
Model how to get to know someone.
Challenge students to guess something interesting about you that they may not know.
Some ideas include your favorite dessert, number of siblings you have, or if you speak more than one language.
Share your response after several guesses.
Allow the class to ask one or two questions, and then ask if they learned something new about you.
Discuss why it is important for everyone in the class to learn more about one another.
We want everyone in our class to feel welcomed and good about being together.
We might know some students really well, but there are other students we don’t know as well.
Getting to know one another is important because it helps us understand each other and get along.
Tell students they will be doing activities to get to know each other.

2. Facilitating the Activity

Explain that this activity will give everyone a chance to get to know each other by sharing about themselves and listening to others.
Play the first round.
Give each student a Mix It Up card.
Announce a category and have students walk around to find classmates who match that category.
Announce “food.” Students who all have pizza on their card will find each other.
See the list of Mix It Up card categories below for reference.
Have students sit down with their group.
Announce one to two questions from the Get to Know Me cards for students to discuss with each other.
Play the next round.
Choose a new category and have students regroup; provide one or two more Get to Know Me questions.
Repeat as time allows.
After several rounds, gather the students to discuss the experience.
Mix It Up card categories:
Feelings: angry, bored, happy, sad, scared, surprised
Food: apple, cake, ice cream, pizza, popcorn, sandwich
Letters: A, B, C, D, E, F
Things to Ride: airplane, car, bike, bus, train, horse

3. Wrapping it Up

Discuss the activity:
How did you feel when your classmates listened to you share about yourself?
I felt happy, important, good.
Why do you think it is helpful to get to know your classmates and for them to get to know you?
It helps us understand one another, make new friends, and find things we have in common.
What is something new you learned about a classmate today?