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MaiStoryBook: Danbi Leads the School Parade + *All-About-Me* Bento Box

by MaiStoryBook

Introducing a back-to-school read about acceptance new welcoming new friends, featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection: 

“Danbi Leads the School Parade” by Anna Kim

*~Click here to purchase your own copy of “Danbi Leads the School Parade” to start on your own reading adventure! (This is an affiliate link~ 5% of your purchase will go to MaiStoryBook to help create Reading Resources for your littles)~

Book Synopsis and Review

It’s Danbi’s first day of school in America, and her heart goes Boom Boom. After promising her mama that she will listen to the teacher and eat all of her lunch, Danbi walks through the classroom door and meets her new teacher and classmates. The teacher welcomes her with open arms and her peers are curious, but a language barrier keeps communication minimal. Danbi does her best to participate throughout the school day, but the music is different, the games are different, even the letters and writing are different~ and try as she might, her failed attempts to fit in leave her with no one to play with. That is… until lunchtime. Lunchtime is something Danbi knows how to do quite well! As Danbi unpacks her special bento box lunch~ with honeyed yams, rainbow drops, moon cakes sprinkled with sesame seeds~ her peers gather around full of wonder, unwrapping their own sandwiches and juice boxes with curious gazes at Danbi’s Korean delights. In an attempt to connect with her peers, Danbi offers to share her food, passing long her chopsticks. As the littles fumble with new utensils, a rhythm of taps and clicks form silverware and lunch boxes begins a musical parade~ with Danbi at the lead! As the music swirls around her and her new classmates~ she thinks: I just may like it here after all.

Danbi is a new character sure to win over the hearts of a new generation of readers. Embracing themes of immigration, assimilation, navigating two cultures as a child, and coming to America~ this sweet story helps littles empathize with new students, and encourages little ones who connect with Danbi’s experiences to open themselves to new experiences and new friends in a new place. The illustrations in this book are absolutely charming~ and are the highlight of the book. The detailed, and perfectly depicted expressions of the characters tug on your heart-strings and can make you giggle with glee. You will feel your own facial expressions molding to match Danbi’s feelings of curiosity, hesitation, flashes of understanding, joy, and euphoria. Each student in the class is drawn with their own personality, welcoming readers to a whole cast of characters and potential stories of friendship. This is an irresistible, beautifully crafted story about acceptance, being included, and forming friendships even when languages and cultures are different and new.

Vocabulary

  • dumplings (p. 14) a small piece of dough (bread, flour, potatoes) that is stuffed with a filling such as meat, vegetables, cheeses, fruit etc.
  • tapped (p. 18) hit something softly
  • parade (p. 22) when a group of people march, usually in celebration or for a special day
  • cubbies (p. 27) a small area/box for you to put your things at school
  • fog (p.29) a thick cloud of white mist that makes outside look blurry

Themes/Main Idea

  • Moving to America: It can be hard navigating two different cultures. But when you open up yourself to others, their world will open up to you too.
  • Welcome new friends: Help make new students to your class feel welcome. Show them how to do things they don’t know and show them around the school. Get to know them them, and share about you.

YouTube Video: Guided Shared-Reading Read Aloud Example

Example of a shared-reading, interactive Read Aloud of “Danbi Leads the School Parade” – how to subtly introduce the vocabulary list words within the text, ask guided questions, and spark conversation!

*~Check it Out~*

Subscribe: MaiStoryBook Youtube Channel for additional read aloud videos!

All-About-Me Bento Box

Moving to a new country is daunting, especially if the language is different. Suddenly, the spoken word is meaningless, and communication is confusing~ a series of guesses and gestures. Even just moving to a new school is nerve-wracking: with all new peers, all new teachers, all new buildings and rules and routines. The past two years that I taught, our class had new students join in the middle of the year. Often there’s little advance notice to the teacher as well~ usually just a phone call from the office that morning, letting you know a new student is on their way to your classroom. But while I may be scrambling to get supplies, a desk, a carpet spot, books, etc. ready for the new student, I know mai number one job is to make this new little learner feel welcome and included. By the end of the day, they should feel like the classroom is their classroom, that their classmates are their new class family, and the school is a safe place for them to play and learn. I model for the students how to welcome a new friend, how to ask questions about who they are to get to know them, and how to share about myself in exchange. Opening up yourself to others allows them to open themselves up to you too~ and it’s this vulnerability and acceptance that blossoms new friendships and builds community. This week’s craft inspired by the story encourages littles to share special facts about themselves with peers to help them get to know each other even better~ creating opportunities for connection and relationships to grow and be discovered. Inspired by Danbi’s delicious bento-box~ check it out below!

Materials

Directions

  • Choose a Bento Lunchbox Outside Template. Choose color or black-and-white
  • Then choose an inside template. There are 4 different versions:  “Me in my New Classroom,” “Me and my Family,” “This is Me,” “Me and my new friends,” or Blank
  • Each version comes with writing prompts to share more about you with your peers. Writing prompt templates include: prompts with all lines, prompts picture space, or blank
  • (Writing Prompts are inspired by the story and match the narrative of “DanbiLeads the School Parade)
  • Once you made your choices, Print the templates DOUBLE SIDED
  • Have the Outside Template facing you. Fold on the middle crease, and then cut on the dotted-lines on the front of the bento box so that you have 4 flaps.
  • Write your name in the blank space at the top “________ Leads the School Parade”
  • Color the front of the bento box if you chose black and white.
  • Then fill in the Inside Template writing prompts on the flaps. On the blank empty side- draw a picture that matches the prompt you chose. For example, for “This is me and my new classroom” –draw a picture of you in your classroom.
  • Add color.
  • Fold the bento box back up when done.
  • Share your lunchbox bento boxes by folding back the flaps with peers to share more about yourself and to learn more about each other.

Enjoy Your All-About-Me Bento Box

  • Share your Bento Box craft with peers to share facts about yourself. Have peers share their own bento boxes so you can learn about each other
  • Share your Bento Box with family and friends, and then ask them too hare some facts about themselves.
  • Display your bento boxes to remind the class or your littles of the importance of learning about each other and accepting and appreciating differences
  • Use your bento box as a reading buddy as you re-read the book and share your own facts about yourself as Danbi tries to fit in with her new class

*~Overall, as always, I hope you all are staying safe and healthy, and are ready to enjoy some *safe* back-to-school adventures! Tag me on Instagram @MaiStoryBookLibrary, Twitter @MaiStoryBook  – post on FaceBook – or contact me via email to share your own *All-About-Me Bento Box* Crafts and your own reading adventures! I’d love to hear from you and learn more about you!~*

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~