Ella the Elegant Elephant, Character Ed.

One of the stories I like to use in my classroom for character ed is Ella the Elegant Elephant.  I think it is very important to talk about our differences and that we were not all created the same.  We were all given different looks, different talents, and different feelings.

In this story Ella goes to a new school and wears a very special hat that her grandmother gave to her.  But, when she gets to school she is "different."  The other elephants make fun of her and call her names.  We use this part of the story to talk about how we treat our friends and that name calling can hurt.  There is a bully in the story who actually ends up needing some help.  Guess who comes to the recuse....Ella!  When everyone realizes that it is okay to be different, they all wear a "different" hat like Ella's.  I created this fun little elephant craft, and the kids get to make their very own unique hat for their elephant.  I give them buttons, yarn, feathers, stickers, you name it to create their unique masterpiece!

After we have finished designing our hats, we talk about adjectives and descriptive words.  Then we write a word that describes our hat.  You can either have your students copy the sentence on the line below, or if they are not ready for that, have them write their first and last name. :) 

Click here to download this fun little Freebie from TPT,  Ella the Elegant Elephant.  There is also a neat little Ella website that you can visit for more fun games and printables.  http://www.ellatheelephant.com