rkelly1

Unique Monique is an adorable story about a little girl who pushes the school's uniform boundaries by setting herself apart from her peers in new and marvelous ways. There is just one problem. Every time Monique figures out a way to make herself unique, the rest of the school copies her the next day, causing chaos, and forcing the school to impose even more dress-code violations! In the end, Monique finds a way to be unique that neither her school opposes, nor her friends can imitate. I just love this book. It reminds me of my daughter, and is the reason it is one of my favorites. Some of the names in this book are "unique" and hard to pronounce, but I think it is a wonderful book to read to lower elementary, although I do not know if it can be independently read until about the 2cd or 3rd grade. One of the ways the book can be implemented in the classroom is by taking advantage of the theme of the book- Being unique! Teaching your students to stand out, to appreciate the differences in others is a great lesson! Discussions can be had about the unique qualities of individual students in the classroom by dividing your class into small groups, giving each student 5-6 plastic eggs. In each egg, the student can write special qualities about themselves, and then they can choose which quality they would like to share with their group. This activity might spur a child to really ponder the great qualities they possess.