It’s Hard to Be Five
Tr 0-06-008095-7 • $16.99 ($19.99)
Lb 0-06-008096-5 • $17.89 ($23.89)

Introduction

Learning not to hit? Having to wait your turn? Sitting still? It’s definitely hard to be five, but Jamie Lee Curtis’s encouraging text and Laura Cornell’s playful illustrations make the struggle of self-control a bit easier, and a lot more fun!

Make Funny Faces!

Read It’s Hard to Be Five aloud to your kindergarten class at the beginning of the school year to help new students to settle in. Afterward, reread pages 24–25 “It’s fun to be five! Big changes are here!”—to introduce the following activity. Begin by asking students to name some changes that have happened since they turned five, and to complete the statement “It’s hard to be five because _____________________.” Then ask students to complete “It’s fun to be five because _____________________.” Some examples of new challenges might be: leaving their parents to come to school each day, having a new teacher, meeting new classmates, etc. Then go through the list and discuss their responses. Make a face next to each example to express the different feelings associated. Nervousness, for example, can be expressed with a wavy line. Happiness can be expressed with a smile. Excitement can be expressed with big eyes. Invite students to practice making these different faces as you go through the list. Write each student response on a sheet of paper, and then ask students to illustrate their pages. Compile these pages to make your own classroom version of It’s Hard to Be Five.

Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Sharing Is Fun!

Help students learn to share and build character through praise and self-assessment. Using red construction paper, cut out circles and draw a black line through the center of each circle, then give one to each student. Have students write their names on the bottom of these circles, and hang them on a bulletin board in your classroom. These circles are bugs, but they will need black dots added to them in order to become “ladybugs” and “gentlemen bugs.” Explain to the students that each time they share something with a classmate, a black sticker can be added to their bugs. Discuss different ways of sharing in the classroom—sharing crayons with a classmate, sharing the blocks, etc. Encourage students to recognize when their classmates share also.