It is never too early to teach kids the importance of being themselves. In fact, we would argue to say the earlier you can teach them this the better!
That’s why we love the book Be You by Peter Reynolds. This delightful children’s book celebrates the value of each person, encouraging readers to be themselves and embrace their own unique qualities.
We believe these themes are so important that we created an interactive read aloud to help your students explore them. Moreover, this read aloud will help students further develop their literacy skills through rigorous tasks designed to develop comprehension.
Be You Book Summary
Before we share with you the various activities you will find in this read aloud, let’s look closer at the book itself. Therefore, if you are new to reading Be You you will be more familiar with the themes we mentioned above and able to see how we address them throughout the read aloud.
The story of Be You centers around the character of a young girl named Sofia, who is struggling to fit in at school. Sofia is anxious about expressing herself and standing out, but she is encouraged by a wise teacher who reminds her that the world needs her unique qualities.
The teacher encourages Sofia to be herself and to embrace her own individuality, reminding her that “there’s only one you in this great big world.” The reading activities in our read aloud help students understand how Sofia learns the importance of self-acceptance. Even more importantly, the activities we’ve provided help students explore this important theme in their own lives.
Be You Book Activities
After reading the book for the first time you and your students will explore several questions during whole-group learning.
- You Were Born To…
- If You Can Be… Then You’ll Be…
Throughout the story, the author emphasizes the idea that everyone has something special to offer and that it’s important to embrace our own unique qualities. Therefore, even though your class is brainstorming answers as a group each student gets a chance to begin to think about who they are as individuals.
Moreover, just like Sofia learns that our differences are what make us special, as you complete the list with your students they will get to see how they all have special differences. This supports students in making connections between the text and their own lives. In addition, it helps them celebrate each of their peer’s unique characteristics.
Part of helping students to see the beauty in their differences is to help them feel proud of their individuality. Therefore, we have also provided reading activities to help students explore their own individuality.
- I was Born to BE So Many Things…
This writing activity invites students to think about all the amazing things that they were born to be. In addition to the writing activity, we have included a craft template to turn this into a book. That way, students can share what they learned with their families after school.
Be You Read Aloud
Beyond the activities that help students explore the themes in Be You, we have also included several other supplemental activities. These learning activities help to further assess student understanding.
At the beginning of the read aloud you can use the vocabulary words provided to help students expand their vocabulary during reading. These words are in the book so that students can see how they are used in context.
At the end of the unit, there is a quiz. This quiz can be used as a final assessment of each student’s comprehension of the book.
If you complete all of the activities available in the Be You read aloud you will have enough for four (or even five) days. At a minimum, these activities are designed to cover three days of reading lessons. Here are some other back to school read alouds that might interest you.
In addition, you can choose if you want to use this read aloud digitally or as a printable. Both versions include the same activities and opportunities for learning.
The digital Be You read aloud can easily be uploaded into Google Slides or Seesaw. For the printable version, you will just need to print the reading worksheets before class time.
Read Aloud for Be You
Whether you choose to use our printed or digital read aloud for this book, your students will get an opportunity to explore this important theme. Beyond learning the importance of self-acceptance and individuality, they will also get to celebrate each of their unique qualities.
This celebration can help create a beautiful and accepting classroom community. The perfect space to continue to read and learn together all year long! Check out some of our other read alouds that build classroom community.
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