A Family Is a Family Is a Family

(9781554987948)

Written by Sara O’Leary

Illustrated by Qin Leng

Published by Groundwood Books

Theme/topic: Diversity and Family

Suggested learning area: AC9HPFP01 (Health and Physical Education – Foundation), AC9HPFP02 (Health and Physical Education – Foundation), AC9HSFK01 (Humanities and Social Sciences – Foundation),

This heartwarming book celebrates diverse family structures and the love that binds them together. Through a classroom discussion, children share stories about their families, highlighting the uniqueness of each one while reinforcing the idea that all families are special.

This book provides opportunities for young students to explore concepts of family by recognising and describing family members (AC9HSFK01 – Foundation Year, Humanities and Social Sciences). It also encourages children to develop a sense of self within their family (AC9HPFP01 – Foundation Year, Health and Physical Education) while practising personal and social skills to interact respectfully with others, particularly in understanding inclusion and acceptance (AC9HPFP02 – Foundation Year, Health and Physical Education).

With its gentle storytelling and wonderful illustrations, A Family is a Family is a Family fosters empathy, respect, and an appreciation for the many forms that family can take.

RESOURCES BUY

Curriculum Alignment:

These AC codes are suggested purely based on the book’s content and are provided for reference only.

AC9HPFP01 9.0 (Health and Physical Education Foundation): Investigate who they are and the people in their world

• making personal connections with stories that explore identity and belonging; discussing who they are, where they come from and people in their lives
• exploring similarities and differences in family structures in First Nations Australian communities and other cultures
• exploring cultural practices from different cultures, including the cultures of Asia, that are important to individuals, families and communities
• identifying different families in their communities; for example, 2-parent, single-parent, extended and non-traditional families
• identifying ways they use their strengths in physical activities to help themselves and others to be successful
• recognising that they have a right to belong and contribute to a variety of groups

AC9HPFP02 9.0 (Health and Physical Education Foundation): Practise personal and social skills to interact respectfully with others

• explaining their reasons and actions in response to challenging situations in shared play experiences
• identifying characters in texts who have been excluded from a group, exploring why they have been excluded and discussing how other characters could have been more inclusive
• cooperating, collaborating and negotiating with others when participating in physical activities to achieve agreed outcomes
• identifying behaviours that may be disrespectful and cause hurt or harm to others during play

AC9HSFK01 9.0 (Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation): The people in their family, where they were born and raised, and how they are related to each other

• discussing the members of a family (for example, mother, father, caregiver, sister, brother, grandparent, auntie, uncle, cousin) and acknowledging other varieties of kinship structure that may be represented in the cultural background of students (for example, cousin-brother and mother-auntie in First Nations Australian families)
• creating drawings of family members accompanied by information collected from questions and observations to share details of that person’s life, including the places they were born and raised
• creating concept maps of their family with pictures or photographs to show connections to those people who make up their family

About The Book

When a teacher asks her class to think about what makes their families special, the answers are all different, but the same in one important way …

When a teacher asks the children in her class to think about what makes their families special, the answers are all different in many ways – but the same in the one way that matters most of all.

One child is worried that her family is just too different to explain, but listens as her classmates talk about what makes their families special. One is raised by a grandmother, and another has two dads. One has many stepsiblings, and another has a new baby in the family.

As her classmates describe who they live with and who loves them – family of every shape, size and every kind of relation – the child realizes that as long as her family is full of caring people, it is special.

A warm and whimsical look at many types of families, written by award-winning author Sara O’Leary, with quirky and sweet illustrations by Qin Leng.