Diversity

The new version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas is a good springboard to talk about differences. Cindy Lou Who celebrated differences. She saw something special in the Grinch, and she wasn't afraid of his differences. He intrigued or interested her and she wanted to find out more about him. No one is exactly like us - we are all different. Like Cindy Lou we need to celebrate our differences and not make fun of each other because we are different. Be kind to others.

Show Host: Welcome to Station PLS and the hottest new talk show around. Diversity!!!!!! (Have someone hold up the applaud sign.)

Diversity, you ask? We love to have people on who are unique and different. That is what diversity means - differences. And I tell you, we have had some really interesting and different people on this show!

Today we are fortunate to have guests from all over the world. We have people representing each continent. We have people from Africa Asia, Australia, Antarctica, North America, South America, and Europe. Let's give them a hand. (applause sign)

Student: Hey, have you noticed that six of the seven continents start with A and they are all tied together with —— your rope? Get it Your Rope???? (Everyone snickers)

Student: OK. OK. On with the show. First may we introduce ourselves, where we are from, and something different, and unique about our continent or country.

Student - We are from the continent of Africa. We have the longest river in the world. Its name is the Nile River. When you think of Africa, you probably think of wild safari animals, like elephants, lions, leopards, zebras, and rhinos, and---

Student - Hey, this is only a 30-minute talk show. You can't name all the animals. There are 137 different species of mammals. Well your right I know you wanted to let our audience know that at Kruger National Park, a huge nature reserve, you can see all these animals up close. Cool!! Right (applause sign)

Student - We are from the continent of Asia. Did you know that Asia is the largest continent and has the most people in it? I am from the country of Turkey in Asia. I live in the city of Istanbul. My city is the only city in the world that is in two continents - Asia and Europe.

Student -I am from China in Asia. We have the longest man made wall in the world. It is The Great Wall of China. It is 2,150 miles long. And it was made about 2,400 years ago. So it was really made by man, no machines back then. (applause sign)

Student - Hey mates. We are from the continent of Australia, The Land Down Under. How do you like my croc? (Hold up a fake crocodile.) It was a lot bigger, but I put it in the dryer and the darn thing shrunk. Did you know that we have the largest coral reef in the world. It is 1,250 miles long. The sea life there is incredible. Come on down to The Land Down Under and visit The Great Barrier Reef.

Student -I am also from Australia. I would have brought my crocodile, but I didn't have a suitcase, SO - (Hold up suitcase.) Anyway, we have the biggest exposed rock in the world. It is called the Ayers Rock. It is one and a half miles long and shines bright red when the sun sets. It's a beauty!!! (applause sign)

Student - We are from the continent of Antarctica. Boy the weather up here is warm. You would think that traveling this far north it would be cold. Did you know that even though we are in the southern hemisphere we are the coldest continent on the earth. Remember that time it got down to 129 degrees below zero.

Student - Now that's cold. You folks appreciate these nice warm Iowa winters. It doesn't seem to bother those Emperor penguins - the biggest penguins in the world. They seem to play just like humans, sliding down the ice and playing. They even feel bad when they do something they shouldn't One day I saw one steal something from another ones nest and,

Student - Hey, I saw that too. Did you notice how that penguin just snuck away so no one would see him? I guess he was feeling a little guilty. They are known to have human qualities. (applause sign)

Student - We are from the continent of North America I'm from Canada - the beautiful wide open spaces, where nature abounds, lakes and fishing and fresh Canadian air. Also visit our beautiful cities. Toronto is one of our cities. You can go up the CN Tower, the tallest free standing tower in the world, and see all of Toronto which is one of the fastest growing cities.

Student - I'm from the great old USA - We have the famous waterfall Niagara Falls. About 20,000 bathtubs full of water pour over the falls every second. (Look at wrist watch and say,) There's 20,000 bathtubs full, now 40,0000, now 60,000. That's 1,200,000 bathtubs full in one minute. Or go swim in the Great Lakes-the largest group of fresh water lakes in the world. Talk about turning into a raison. (applause sign)

Student - We are from the continent of South America. Speaking of all this water and raisons, I'm getting hungry and thirsty. We may not have the longest river, but our river, the Amazon, has the most volume of any river in the world.

Student - Also we have the largest leaf in the world. It is the Amazonian bamboo palm. If I measured it across, it would be about 65 feet, now that is a lot of shade. A great place for a nap, after something cool to drink and some fresh raisons.

Student - We are from the continent of Europe. I am from the Czech Republic. We are the youngest country in the world. We became this country in 1993, only nine years ago.

Student -I am also from Europe, and the country of Denmark. One of the world’s oldest amusement parks is here. It is the Tivoli Gardens. You will find everything there from a mouse circus to the oldest roller coaster. Hey, What's in my pocket? AHHHHHH??! It's a mouse from the Tivoli Gardens, (throw out fake mouse at audience) (applause sign)

Show Host - And now for the question of the day and the grand prize. We would like each continent to write down on their secret ballot as many words that describe people of your continent, both good and bad. The continent that comes up with the most, and the most unique is the winner of the grand prize to be announced at the end of the show.

Students - What? What is this? Ladies and Gentlemen, never before in the history of this game has this happened. I don't think in the history of the World. We have an exact tie!!! Each continent named exactly the same kind of people. Please look up at the screen and read

the words that we tallied. This is amazing. Put up on over head about 30 similarities in people (Read all together)

Student - The judges have come up with the only conclusion that seems reasonable, and that is that ———

Student - We are all human beings on this planet Earth. We are all unique in our own way. We all come from different backgrounds, but basically we all have traits, needs and wants that are similar. Most are good, some not so good. Maybe we should work on those. Let’s concentrate on our similarities that are good and celebrate our differences.

Show Host - No, No, I mean literally, all stand. (The panel of guest stands.) We want to be the people of the world who stand for, and look like (the group on stage stands and recites, one at a time.)

Tolerance - trying to take the time to know others and try to see things from their view

Responsibility -making good decisions and accepting consequences for our actions, both good and bad

Student - Guests, we are all winners - the grand prize is (all students kneel down and do a drum roll) STOP— a future we can look forward to of

Student - If we would just realize that we all need to be kind to each other, treat each other with respect, and love each other, maybe we would be closer to world peace. We hope you enjoyed our play. And always remember —— SPREAD KINDNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This skit can accommodate various numbers of students. I had fifteen students. I had a game show host and two students to represent each continent. I let some of the students do some parts, that might have otherwise been done by the host to spread out the lines evenly. These lines could be done by other students if one has a bigger class.

The students all dressed in traditional costumes from their continent or country. The stage was set up like a game show with chairs and background posters of the continents.

3. Celebrate Differences: February 2004 Assembly

Idea adapted from Brenda Hyde “Celebrating Out Differences” http://www.seedsofknowledge.com

She used The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss to talk about celebrating differences.

Teachers wear their craziest shoes and go behind the curtain while playing the song “Celebrate” by Kool n’ the Gang. The students guess which teacher is wearing each pair of shoes. Talk about how much brighter and more interesting the world is with differences. We don’t want to all look the same; it’s too boring.
Have pictures taken of each teacher’s shoes and put them up on a bulletin board that reads, “Celebrating Differences.”

Student Council hands out Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. bookmarks.

Celebrate Differences song- Celebrate the Differences (by Jill Galina, 1992, Shawnee Press)

4. Student Council Project from February 2004 Theme Celebrating Differences: Black History Month

5. Diversity Assembly

That was the assembly where we wore our African hats and sang the song
Funga Alafia. I'm just not sure of the spelling on the title. Here are
the words:

Funga Alafia Ashe Ashe
Funga Alafia Ashe Ashe
With our eyes we welcome you
With our hands we welcome you
With our hearts we welcome you
See, we have nothing up our sleeves
Funga Alafia Ashe Ashe
Funga Alafia Ashe Ashe

We also danced the Pata Pata, which is an African dance from the CD
"Children of the World" Multicultural Rhythmic Activities

Pictures of classes in African hats and the demonstrations and activities that they did.