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A Fish Tale Fable

Overview

Students hear a fable about treating others fairly without regard to physical characteristics. They discuss the importance of being fair by answering questions related to the story.

Materials

Fish Fable handout

Handouts: Fish Fable

Procedure

1. Tell the youngsters you’re going to read a short story to them and then will ask questions about it.
2. Tell them about the importance of treating classmates fairly no matter what each one looks like.
3. Say: Think about this as you listen to the story.
4. Read "A Fish Tale Fable" aloud, then ask the following discussion questions:

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  • What lessons can people learn from these fish?
  • Have you ever met someone who seemed odd at first but turned out to be really nice?
  • Why do we place so much importance on appearance?
  • If we give others a chance, don’t we usually find out that we don’t need to be afraid of their differences?
  • Why was the salmon good at making the two groups treat each other fairly?
  • Is it fair to treat others differently because their skin is a different color? Why not?
  • Is it fair to treat others differently because their eyes are a different color? Why not?
  • Is it fair to treat others differently because their hair is different? Why not?

Adapted from The Classics Modernized by William Roufberg (P.O. Box 432, Kingston, NJ 08528). Used with permission.

This lesson is from Good Ideas, available for purchase from the CHARACTER COUNTS! online store: http://www.charactercounts.org/materials

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McREL standards

Language Arts

Standard 8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.

Level II, Benchmark 3. Responds to questions and comments (e.g., gives reasons in support of opinions, responds to others' ideas).

http://www.mcrel.org/Standards-benchmarks/