My Personal Treasures

Suggested Grades

2+

Objective

Students will learn and appreciate the "personal treasures" of their classmates as well as their own. This is a good introductory activity that would be well suited to use at the beginning of the year to get to know the students in the class and for students to get to know each other. Keep in mind, though, the potential "personal" nature of this activity, some students may not feel comfertable participating right at the beginning of the year.

Method

• Ask students to choose and describe in writing three treasures - one that is personal, one that is a family treasure, and one that is a cultural treasure (for younger students you may want to just focus on personal treasures). Emphasize that that by "treasure" you do not mean something necessarily of monetary value. Treasures also do not have to be tangible, they could be a language, a song, or even a just a story.
• Present the treasures and the write-up to the classs.
• If possible photographs of the treasures, or the treasures themselves could be brought to school to use as part of the presentation.