This story beautifully illustrates the power of caring, acceptance and love. With great examples of how we can take care of each other, “Z and Vielpunkt” provides a wonderful opportunity for students to think about the importance of relationships.
Essential Questions
- What defines a family?
- What are the ways we can show caring for each other?
This toolkit provides writing, reflection and research activities to help students learn from this story corner’s lessons about caring, love and acceptance.
For younger students:
- Have students identify different acts of caring in the story and create pictures of those moments. Some examples include the other penguin couple that gives their second egg to the two male penguins, the zookeeper giving them the egg or the caring relationship between Z and Vielpunkt. Students can draw, paint or create collages or dioramas of those scenes.
- Discuss with students what makes a family, and then have students write poems or journal entries about all the things families do for each other.
- Create a Caring Wall in your classroom where students can thank other students for doing nice things or showing care for others.
For older students:
- Have students write poems starting with the prompt, “A family is…”
- To take this activity to the broader school community, students could create a mural or pictures illustrating the main moments or themes in the story. If possible, display the pictures in a central place in the school with a space for people to complete the thought, “A family is…”
- Have students research the real story that inspired this story corner. In doing research, students should consider these questions:
- Where did Z and Vielpunkt live?
- What was the role of the zookeeper in their story?
- What has happened with Z and Vielpunkt as their child has grown up?
- What are some other examples of same-sex relationships among animals?
- What does current biological research tell us about same-sex relationships between animals?
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