The Circles All Around Us

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As seasoned teachers, we know that the first week of school is much more than a series of introductions and icebreakers. It is our unique opportunity to set the tone, establish expectations, and cultivate the environment that will support our students throughout the entire school year.

The message in this story is a reminder of the importance of human connections. Life is so much more meaningful when we engage with different people. The narrator compares social circles to books. Think of how limiting life would be if we only had one book to read. This idea applies to the people we meet. Life is better when we make connections with many new and different people. Lesson Activities In the circles all around us, everywhere that we all go, there’s a difference we can make and a love we can all show. You can use the circles after the game for an art activity, such as pasting them onto paper to create a picture out of circles. Draw the details with markers or crayons. 2. Circles All Around UsCut them into any shapes and get kids to build them. Store each circle puzzle in a separate plastic bag. Lay the shapes across a room, making sure to place the circles close enough together – but not in a straight line – with the other shapes in between them. For this circle activity, instead of searching for hidden paper shapes, challenge kids to find items in their environment – the living room, classroom or garden – that have circular shapes.

Connect: Describe a time when you felt “outside” a circle. How did that make you feel? What can you do to invite other people so they don’t feel left out? After Reading Challenge them to form a circle with their body parts, such as their fingers, hands, legs, or their whole body. The art is whimsical and earthy, impressionistic and realistic; a strange combination I want to surround myself with – mostly it is peaceful and wise.This book invites discussion: What do the pictures and words mean about themes of universal importance: acceptance, understanding, sharing, and helping to make the world a better place for everyone? Brad Montague believes “the world is better when kids and adults dream, create, and read together.” Hand-lettered text by the author is enhanced by carefree illustrations using analog and digital elements. Draw a circle around yourself and consider the love you have inside. Then consider what happens when we share that love with the world. “The Circles All Around Us” challenges the reader to open themselves up to others and in doing so, make the world a better place.

The text closes with a close-up of the girl, like the cover. This time her eyes are open. She is able to see what her grandfather has shown her. Being new to a community can feel uncomfortable. Think about how you might help someone new feel welcome using ideas in this Learning to Give lesson on “Creating a Welcoming Classroom All Year.” Sitting under the tree, where they bury their ancestors, the grandfather appears sad. They both hold their hands to the earth, part of something beyond themselves. This is also something you can do with chalk. Draw the shapes on the paving in various colours and have kids cross the chalk river. 7. Circle Puzzles Ask:The author dedicated the book “For all the kids making the world better right where they are.” What do you think Brad Montague means by that?A companion offering to actor Duff’s My Little Brave Girl (2021) with sound, sensitive advice from parents to children on their journey through childhood. Cuter as a child-narrated video, but the message is worthy enough to justify this less-evanescent medium. When the music stops, each child must run and stand on/in a circle. A child who doesn’t get to a circle in time is out. In each round, one circle is removed until there is one winner left. Next, invite learners to work in groups to develop a service project plan. Use the Service Project Guides created by the iTeach team at Kennesaw State University. Allow groups to present their plans. Then, vote on a project to implement.

Another way to play this game is to lay out large circles on the ground, one per person. Hula hoops work well for this activity. Connect:Simple acts of caring ripple out into the world and impact more than just one person. Give an example of an act of kindness that someone did for you that made a difference to you and others. Give an example of an act of kindness that you did that impacted more than just one person. Activities The story opens up with a child drawing a circle. The child sits alone inside the shape. When family members want in on the space, a bigger circle includes everyone. Larger circles follow to accommodate more family members, friends and neighbors.

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Introduce the project. Explain that students will create flipbooks to represent different circles in their lives. The best way to use the book is as a read aloud to stimulate conversation. It would be valuable in a small Quaker classroom or school classroom. The concept of drawing circles is useful, although not a new idea. Whom do you invite into your circles? Who is left out? How can you expand the circle? This book makes a fine gift for a new baby, a birthday, an older child meeting a new sibling, or even one leaving home for the first time. They might get wet if they accidentally step onto a rectangle (water) but the consequences will be greater if they step onto a crocodile (triangle). All Around Us, written by Xelena Gonzalez and illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia, is a meditation. Garcia’s images are digitally generated and seem to straddle the line between spiritual and material, curving into a circle under the weight of Gonzalez’s poetic prose. This is fitting since the text explores time as neither linear nor marked by the progression of an individual, but instead cyclical and communal. Draw your circles either on paper or outside with sidewalk chalk.Begin with yourself. Next add a circle for your immediate family. Add their names to your family circle. Then continue drawing circles to represent all the groups you belong to in your life. Consider who might be outside your circle. What can you do to invite them in?