Special Notice:

This ONE HOUR videoconference is ONLY for students in 5^th and 6^th grades.  Please register early for this videoconference so your students can ACTIVELY participate:

• Have each student make a STAR (Template will be emailed) so students can write their dreams
• Provide a box to be a “Dream Chest” to hold the stars
• Provide one-page goal sheet for each student
• Provide copied sheets for interactive reading by students during the videoconference (attachment will be emailed)
• Provide “club of dreamers” page to color (emailed to you)
• Have each student make a “What Is My Dream” Bookmark to remind them of their dream and goals (template emailed)

This videoconference is about the journey of life, with its hopes and dreams. The book, Dream, written in beautiful rhyming verse, is all about the inspiration, majesty, beauty, and incredible thoughts that can spring from dreams. From fabulous inventions, to the strength of inner beliefs, to learning how to overcome the challenges of growing up, dreams offer an important contribution to growing as a person, and Dream celebrates their role in pursuing a fulfilled life.

“Dreams grow like seeds. They need to take root, then stretch toward the sun.
 They grow slowly. They must be tended to. And sometimes a gray day gives them just the rain they need.”

The middle years are the best time to give students time to think about and make plans concerning their lives.  This videoconference will be highly interactive and will give students motivation to achieve their personal best in life by giving students a new perspective of themselves. This videoconference will provide opportunities for students to find connections to self, to parents and grandparents, to the world, and the circle of life.

Title

Everybody Has A Dream

Series

HOT TOPICS

Presenter

Dee Kimbrell

Target Audience

5-6 grade students

Disciplines

Multi-disciplines; can be used across the curriculum

Pre-Activities

1) Read DREAM by Susan V. Bosak to the students before the videoconference, if possible.

2) Have each student make a STAR (template will be emailed to teacher) so students can write their dreams.

3) Teacher will provide a box to be a “Dream Chest” to hold the stars.

4) Teacher will provide a one-page goal sheet for each student.

5) Teacher will provide copied sheets for interactive reading by students during the videoconference (attachment will be emailed to teacher).

6) Teacher will provide “club of dreamers” page to color (emailed to teacher)

7)  Students will make a “What Is My Dream” Bookmark to remind them of their dream and goals (template will be emailed to teacher)

Objectives

This videoconference will be a conduit to:

• Increase students’  self-esteem and self-responsibility
• Inspire students to stay in school and develop a lifetime enthusiasm for learning
• Develop students’ positive attitudes
• Develop students’ critical thinking and decision-making skills
• Empower students to take charge of themselves and the future of the planet

Program Description

The “Everybody Has A Dream” videoconference is based on the book, Dream, written by bestselling author Susan V. Bosak that is the winner of 11 national awards.  Fifteen top world illustrators each produced an illustrated page in a beautifully told poetic story about life's hopes and dreams, inspiring both children and adults.

On each page, the author describes a stage of life, writing in the voice of a wise elder who associates each age with a color: as a "cuddled and comforted" baby, the speaker loves yellow; as a teenager struggling with questions of identity and life purpose, the speaker loves blue. As an adult depressed by life's ambiguities, the speaker sees gray everywhere until he (or she?) realizes the powerful impact of dreams, which transform the world into a hopeful green.

This videoconference is about embracing life's passages and future possibilities. This book is published in association with the Legacy Project, which is dedicated to fostering intergenerational communication, and there are free activity kits available online, which, like the book, may help open discussions between adults and young people.

This videoconference explores and celebrates living a life, and the hopes and dreams we have for ourselves and our world.  Read DREAM by Susan V. Bosak.  Reading a story aloud together is an opportunity to connect -- with the ideas in the story and with each other. Reading aloud is for all ages, young and old.  Children who are read stories are better learners and develop stronger communication skills (such as listening, speaking, writing, reading). Research also shows that by having contact with children's stories -- which are often full of wonder, imagination, and hope -- adults retain a more positive, happier outlook on life.

National Standards to which this program aligns

Health:
National Health Education Standards

• Analyze the influence of culture, media, technology, and other factors on health.
• Explain the impact of personal health behaviors on the functioning of body systems.
• Analyze how the family, peers and community influence the health of individuals.

Behavioral Studies:

• Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function.
• Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions.
• Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity, and behavior.
• Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior.

Life Skills:

• Self regulation: Performs self-appraisal.
• Life Work: Uses various information sources, including those of technical nature to accomplish specific tasks.
• Working with others:
  • Contributes to the overall effort of a group.
  • Uses conflict-resolution techniques.
  • Works well with diverse individuals and in diverse situations.
  • Displays effective interpersonal communication skills.
  • Demonstrates leadership skills.
• Applies decision-making techniques.
• Applies basic trouble-shooting and problem-solving techniques.

Language Arts:
Language Arts, History, Civics, and Media Literacy Standards

• Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning.
• Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process.
• Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions.
• Gathers and uses information for research purposes.
• Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process.
• Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.
• Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.
• Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.
• Understands the characteristics and components of the media.

Post-Activities

1) Whenever you focus on a thought or dream with passion, it makes it more real to the mind and therefore will process as a reality to strive for.   Instruct students to make a collage from pictures from magazines.

2) A picture book like Dream is an especially interesting opportunity to learn about a variety of artists. It was the creative vision of author and educator Susan V. Bosak. 15 top children's illustrators from five countries participated in the project.

Explore each work with your students, discuss some of the meanings in it, and the artists behind it.  This classroom activity will be an appealing and accessible introduction to art appreciation, encouraging young people to look at works of art more closely.