Book Companions make read alouds accessible and meaningful to students with disabilities. The Book Companion for Hair Love aligns to the story to teach the theme and key details of the text. It is such a sweet story about loving yourself exactly as you are. Let’s check out 4 activities for Hair Love!
Get the Book
First, you’ll need the book. You can get Hair Love on Amazon *affiliate link*, at your local bookstore or library, or there are some great read aloud versions on Youtube. There is also a Hair Love short film!
Vocabulary
The first activity you can do with your students is vocabulary for Hair Love. There are 3 different ways you can practice the vocab in the story:
- Flashcards (Level 1, 2, & 3)
- Matching (Level 1)
- Clip Cards (Level 2 & 3)
I practice vocabulary each day we read the story with my students. The vocab match and clip cards are great for independent task boxes! Read this blog post on creating a task box system.
Visual Craft
The next activity you can do with your students is the Hair Love visual craft. You’ll need the following materials:
- Colored yarn
- Glue
- Paper
- Scissors
This activity is good to practice students mirroring themselves in the books we read. They get to create a portrait of themselves and their hair in the craft. This book teaches students acceptance of each other’s differences and to love themselves exactly as they are.
Sequencing
Sequencing is also included in the Hair Love book companion. I do sequencing activities on the fourth day of reading a story after the students have had plenty of practice and exposure to the story and its events. There are 3 levels of the sequencing activities to meet the needs of each of your students.
Comprehension
The last activity you can do with your students for Hair Love is comprehension. I will typically complete comprehension with my students on Friday after a full week of reading the story. There are also 3 levels for comprehension to meet the needs of all students. Once we are finished with the story for the week, I store all the materials with the book in my monthly bin for repeated use.
Book companions are a fun, engaging way to do read alouds in special education classrooms. Be on the lookout for more book companion bundles as the library is ever-growing! Read Alyssa’s blog post about how book companions can transform your teaching. What has been your favorite book companion so far?
