Racism. No Way - Anti-racism education for Australian schools

K.12: Sneetches

Lesson overview

Theme:Understanding prejudice
Age Group:Kindergarten
Learning Area:Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
Outcomes:COES1.1

Content descriptor

Student expresses feelings, needs and wants in appropriate ways.

Teachers notes

The Sneetches is a story about two groups of fictitious creatures, star-belly and plain-belly sneetches. The two groups look the same with the exception of the star on the bellies of one of the groups, the star-belly sneetches. The story looks at the discrimination which exists between the two groups and its effects. Any similar text may be used as an alternative to this activity.

Resources

Activity

  1. View the video or read the text The Sneetches to the class.
  2. Lead a class discussion based on the discrimination which took place in the story for example:
    1. How were the plain-belly sneetches treated?
    2. How do you think they felt?
    3. Was it fair or unfair?
  3. Ask students to give examples of how discrimination affected the characters in the video or book, for example:
    1. How did the behaviour of the star-belly sneetches affect the plain belly sneetches?
  4. Record the examples on the board or on butcher’s paper.
  5. Ask students to brainstorm the moral of the story.