Social Skills

Smith, Lane. (1991). Glasses - Who Needs Èm. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc

ISBN 0-590-46087-0

This book entales a young boy needing to get glasses.  He is against the idea for fear of being ``a dork``.  His eye doctor tells him of the many, many people, animals, and objects that wear glasses.  The ideas for glasses get wackier and more comical as the book continues, and eventually the young boy realizes what he would miss out on if he couldn`t see properly.

Along with the captivating Chalk-like pictures, Smith uses different sized wording throughout his book (Which is a clever way to engage children in letters, and resembles an eye chart).  This is a great book to engage children in the idea of differences; that everyone is unique

Provocations:

1.) Make and obvious pair of glasses and wear them around the class to see what the children comment about them.

2.) Have a stuffy or puppet wearing a fake pair of glasses, sitting in your circle area

3.) You could take into context the idea of the eye, and bring in an eyechart for the children to look at (one with pictures for younger ages).

Presentations:

1.) Imagination integration - Have the children make their own glasses by shaping their fingers and putting them up to their eyes

2.) Pass around mirrors for them to look at their eyes in details (while at a pause in the book)

3.) Have the children act as the animals might if they had to wear glasses. You could also ask the children to act how the young boy is, and how he might be feeling

Extentions:

1.) Have a few pictures of famous people or heros that the children recognize, who wear glasses. (IE superman)

2.) Take pictures of each child`s face (only eyes, with little bit of nose), print them out, and have the children guess who is who.

3.) Have the children make glasses in an art project - materials could be pipecleaner, cardboard, etc.   You could also make sunglasses by using coloured cellophane with the cardboard glasses.