Don't Tease Me!

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, is about a girl who obviously has little but tells the other girls in school that she has 100 dresses and 60 pairs of shoes. On a daily basis Peggy and Maddie ask Wanda on the way to school about her dresses and everyday she tells them about a different dress. During the school year they have a drawing competition and Peggy was said to be one of the best at school and Maddie was confident that she would win. When they arrived at school they saw that there were drawings all around the room of dresses, they were Wanda’s 100 Dresses, all the ones she had described to Peggy and Maddie, but Wanda is not around to find out that she won. The students find out that she moved away because of people making fun of her.  After this Peggy and Maddie feel bad about all their teasing about the 100 dresses that they hoped Wanda would be at her house so they could say sorry, but she moved away before she had a chance. Then they try writing to Wanda to say sorry. Eventually Wanda responds to their letter and gives them two of the drawings and when they look closely they realize that it is them in the pictures.

Web resources:

• This website has links to other websites with lesson plans and activities using the book The Hundred Dresses.
• Lessons- This website has some of the same vocabulary as well as other vocabulary that I missed. There are also extension activities, and a lesson on teaching tolerance.
• This website has a lot of information on bullying as well as worksheets to help teachers teach students about bullying.  There is also information for parents, schools, support, and puzzles.
• On this site, there are activities and other worksheets and role play activities for the students to work on that have to do with bullying.

Vocabulary:

Chapter 1- parish, precarious, contrary, Chapter 2- intruders, disgracefully, strewn, circulated, scurry,  courteous, incredulously, stolidly, derisively, incredulous, fringe, Chapter 3- disguise, shuddered, accord, timid, cerise, admiration, Chapter 5- eagerly, lavish, exquisite, deliberately, indicated, coward, casualness, Chapter 6-end- dismal, foreigner, assailed, consoled, lush, merest, shabby, amends, frail, dilapidated,  and unintelligible.

Before Reading: I would talk to the students about what it means to pick on someone. I would invite them to raise their hands and then they could write words on the board that describe teasing. Then I would ask them what they should do if they see someone being teased? After we discussed teasing I would tell them that we are going to read a book about a girl named Wanda who is teased by the girls in her class on a daily basis, to the extent that she moves away. At this point we would read the first chapter together.

During Reading: Before getting to chapter 4, I would ask the students to predict why they think Wanda tells everyone that she owns 100 dresses and 60 pairs of shoes. At this time also have the predict what they think will happen throughout the rest of the book. I would have them write their predictions in their writing journals.

After Reading: I would have a class discussion on the book. I would ask the students what the students in Wanda’s class should have done when they saw Peggy and Maggie picking on Wanda. I would also ask them what they would do if they saw another person making fun of another person in the class. Then I would give the students this paper so they can remember what bullying is.

* I think this is a great way for students to initiate the school year, so they will know what is right and what is wrong when working with other students.