“Our Favorites” Chart

Students will use a chart to share some of their favorite things with a partner classmate!
Ages 5-7 / 15
min Activity
Self-Awareness
Kindness
Inclusivity
Art
Reading
Writing

Objectives

  • Share about their favorite things with a partner classmate, and compare how their answers are similar or different
  • Recognize the value of understanding and respecting others’ preferences in cultivating an inclusive classroom environment

Supporting Research

When educators cultivate a positive and inclusive classroom environment, in which all students feel a sense of belonging and appreciation, this leads to positive outcomes around their academic success, motivation, self-efficacy, and engagement. This activity supports students’ self-awareness as they identify and share about their own preferences, kindness as they listen to their partner’s responses, and inclusivity as they recognize and appreciate different ideas and perspectives. 

To learn more about these skills, and how they promote students’ healthy growth and the development of empathy, please check out our Empathy Framework.

Materials

Activity Partners

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Instructions

  1. Introduce the activity to students by explaining: “Imagine if we all liked the same things and did the same activities - that would be a bit boring! Today, we're going to learn about each other's favorite things, like our favorite foods, games, animals, and more! Let’s see how we’re the same and different from each other! We might find friends who like the same things as us…or friends who can teach us about something new!”
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  2. Distribute a copy of the “Our Favorites” handout to each student. Then, help students fill out the column labeled “Me” by writing or drawing their favorite food, game, animal, color, and weather.

    In the bottom row, they can add something else that they love, like a favorite song, movie, holiday, or superhero.
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  3. Pair up students who don’t usually talk to each other. First, students should write down their partner’s name on the top of their sheet. 

    Then, each pair should take turns sharing their favorite things with each other and why they like them, while the other person records their responses on their sheet in the column labeled “My Friend”. 
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  4. Encourage students to see similarities and differences between their preferences, and ask questions to learn more about their partner. For example, students might ask questions such as:
    • Why is Spiderman your favorite superhero?
    • How do you celebrate Ramadan?
    • Do you like playing outside when it snows?
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  5. Afterwards, bring students back together and ask the following questions:
    • Did you find anything that you both like? How does this make you feel?
    • What is something that your partner really likes that you want to try too?
    • How can we show our friends that their favorite things are important, even if we have different favorites?
    • Why is it important to learn about each other’s favorite things? How does this make our classroom a more fun and welcoming place? 

If students in both classes have individual devices (e.g., mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc.)...

Use a platform such as Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams which allows you to screen-share during a video call. 
One educator should set up the Kahoot! game and share the code with students in both classes by following this tutorial about using Kahoot! in a remote learning environment, and share their screen so everyone can follow along.

If students in either class don’t have individual devices...

Follow the same instructions above, with one educator starting the game and sharing their screen so both classes can follow along.  
Instead of students joining the game to answer the questions, they can hold up their fingers, call out their answer, or use a paper template to indicate their response.

If you prefer not using Kahoot!...

Use this document (Spanish version) to prompt students.