The Ear Bend Anchor Book Lesson Plans | Celebrating Uniqueness & Differences | Social-Emotional + Nature Learning | Printable Teacher Resource

Help your students celebrate what makes them one-of-a-kind while building empathy, observation skills, and appreciation for differences with these ready-to-use Anchor Book Lesson Plans designed around the picture book The Ear Bend (Pawsome Pals series) by Shannon Mori, illustrated by Ada Rowneski.

This colorful 7-page printable pack turns the story into six engaging, cross-curricular activities that explore individuality, shared experiences, and the special traits that help both people and animals thrive. Perfect for preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary classrooms, counseling groups, or homeschool.

What’s Included
Six complete lesson plans, each with clear objectives, materials lists, skills targeted, and assessment ideas:
1. Writing – Students identify and celebrate one unique thing about themselves in a sentence or short paragraph.
2. Math – Same but Different: Students compare two math visuals, equations, or numbers, explain what is the same and what is different, then create their own examples.
3. Science – Adaptation Journal: Students explore unique physical or behavioral features of animals and explain how those adaptations help the animal survive in the wild.
4. Art – Self-Portrait: Students draw themselves while intentionally including the unique quality they shared in the writing lesson.
5. Social Studies – What Makes Us Different, What Makes Us The Same: Students complete a T-chart exploring personal and book-related differences and similarities to build understanding of individuality and shared experiences.
6. Dramatic Play – Unique Trait Nature Walk: Students go outdoors, find natural objects that stand out, identify their unique features, and explain why those differences matter in nature.

Why Teachers Love These Plans
• Builds self-awareness and positive self-regard
• Encourages observation, comparison, and scientific thinking
• Strengthens empathy and classroom community
• Connects social-emotional learning with nature and science
• Low-prep activities that use everyday classroom materials
• Clear objectives and simple assessment points make them easy to implement or adapt
Perfect For
• Units on individuality, diversity, and self-esteem
• Social-emotional learning (SEL) blocks
• Nature or science integration
• Morning meetings or counseling groups
• Homeschool families using the book as an anchor text
Instant digital download – Print the pages you need and go!

Pair these lesson plans with the book, The Ear Bend, for a warm, meaningful celebration of what makes every child (and every creature) special.