Celebrating Our Unique Identities

The work of this project began with learning about each other through our name stories. Does your name have a meaning? Who chose your name? Why was it chosen? Taking time to learn about name stories is important because it allows students to connect with their own cultural heritage, understand the significance of their names, build relationships with others by sharing personal stories behind their names, and foster a sense of inclusivity by appreciating the diverse meanings and origins of names across different cultures.

With our Identity Journals, we began with an activity that invited students to list things they are interested in or like. Second graders wrote that they’re interested in nature, sports, games, school, animals, the list goes on! We delved a bit deeper, asking how these interests make you who you are? Then second graders brainstormed groups they belong to or titles they have. We’ve got soccer players, friends, students, sisters, and more!

Building off of our name stories and our Identity Journals, we started this project by creating an abstract self-portrait using a crayon wax resist technique. First, students practiced using rulers to draw shapes and lines with a pencil. Then, they traced over with crayon, pressing really hard to make sure the wax sticks. The magic of wax resist technique comes to life when students add watercolor to make the wax of the crayon pop. To sneak in some handwriting practice and teach others about our unique identities and stories, we created “I am” statements from our Identity Journals. Come check it out in the hallway outside second grade!