JACOBS'S NEW DRESS PRE-K-3

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"Why does Jacob wear dresses?"interrupted Christopher. 
   Ms. Wilson paused. "I think Jacob wears what he's comfortable in just like you do. Not very long ago little girls couldn't wear pants. Can you imagine that?"







GRADE LEVEL: PRE-K-3
AUTHOR: Sarah and Ian Hoffman
ILLUSTRATOR: Chris Chase

REVIEW 
Recently I attended a gender reveal party. Two giant balloons were filled with either blue confetti or pink confetti. When popped, the confetti would tell family and friends gathered that in five months or so the parents could either expect a boy or a girl based on the color confetti. It seems crazy to me that we are assigning colors and gender expectations on our children before they are even born. We wonder why it is so hard for us to wrap our minds around a boy wanting to wear a dress or a girl who loves trucks, but we have conditioned ourselves to such strict gender conforming roles that we have left no room for our children to step outside our expectations. There is no genetic disposition that states any person must love certain colors and clothing styles.So what happens when a boy walks into your classroom wearing a dress?

Jacob's New Dress allows students to understand that it is okay to bend or-heck-break the gender rules. Sarah and Ian Hoffman have created a story that centers around a young boy, Jacob, who knows exactly what he wants--to wear dresses. It is the people around him that have a hard time understanding a boy in a dress. Thankfully Jacob's mother is supportive and makes a new dress for him to wear to school. Through Jacob, those in his life, including a bully in his class, are able to begin to understand that, yes, a boy can wear a dress.

Chances are that you will have students that will identify as gender non-conforming. Jacob's New Dress is the prefect book to initiate a conversation about respecting people's choices, stereotyping, and allowing students the freedom to explore gender roles. The topic of bullying will be a theme the students will react to and, it will be a great opportunity to discuss how we treat other people. 

CLASSROOM TOOLBOX

• This book makes for a great read-aloud. The discussions that follows will be rich and meaningful-stop and ask questions along the way. Under the links there are some great discussion questions. 
• The students could write a review of the book or even do a video book review. 
• Create a public service video with messages the students write about bullying.

LINKS TO OTHER TOOLBOX IDEAS 

A lesson plan for Jacob's New Dress
Discussion Questions
Lesson and Discussion Questions

I WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK. WHAT IDEAS DO YOU HAVE?