The Sunshine Project

This story has many themes including activism, climate change, saving the environment, bullying and building community. Discuss each theme and its meaning with students and ask them to share any personal connections they have with one of these themes. Draw a tree on chart paper. Ask students to write issues that they would like to see changed on paper leaves. On the trunk of the tree, have students place sticky notes on obstacles to any change. Finally, on the roots of the tree, have students write root causes on each root.

Show students the front cover and read the title aloud. Ask students what they think the book will be about as they analyze the illustration. Ask students to discuss the setting, what the children are doing in the illustration and their relationship to the title of the book.

Read the synopsis on the back cover of the book. Ask students what intrigues them the most and would motivate them to read this book.

Draw a three column chart on chart paper. Label the three columns as follows:

In the first column, ask students to brainstorm and list the information they already know about activism.

In the second column, ask students to list questions they would like to have answered or information they would like to know about activism.

Return to the third column after reading the book. Ask students to list the information about activism they have learned as a result of reading the book.

Under the chart, write a working definition of activism. Add to and change this definition as you read the book.

Before reading the book, choose four to five words from the text and have each student complete the vocabulary rating chart by checking the appropriate box to assess their prior knowledge of vocabulary and themes of book.

For each chapter, encourage students to take a 3×5 card and summarize what happened on one side. On the other, ask them to analyze the importance of what happened and the reasons it happened. Remind students to label each card with the chapter number. Explain to students that they will use the cards to use to discuss the book at the end.

As students read and encounter main characters, have students draw an outline of a head on a piece of paper for each character. Ask them to draw any symbols, words or images related to that character inside the head. Follow it up with writing or discussion to explain and explore responses. Discuss how each character evolves during the story.

Give students small sticky notes. Set a purpose for reading each chapter (ex: learning about India, growing your vocabulary, reading for pleasure). As students read each chapter, they will place sticky notes to mark places in the text that may relate to the purpose. Students will use their sticky notes to refer to the text during each chapter discussion.

Refer back to the prior Knowledge Chart that was started before reading the text. Remind students of their thoughts and what they wanted to know about activism. Fill in the third column of the chart together. If there are questions that were not answered in the text, encourage students to do further research on ways to create change.

Essential Question: 

As a group discussion, ask students when should an individual take a stand against what they believe to be an injustice to the world or to others? What are the most effective ways to do this?

Text Connection

• What were some of the injustices described in the book?
• How did the characters advocate and fight for injustices?

Self Connection

• What is your role in society?
• What is your responsibility regarding issues of social justice?

World Connection

• What effect does injustice have on people?
• Why do people sometimes think they have no power over a situation? What can influence this thinking?

Organize the class into groups, each one with a specific focus or theme in the text (ex: green energy, advocacy, politics). Groups discuss their assigned topic/theme from the book. After a time, half of each group will rotate so that new groups are formed to share what they discussed in their previous group. Rotate until each group has discussed the major themes within the text.

Ask students to write character reports, focusing on the main characters’ traits, motivations and relationships.

Choose one or two of the following categories to write a written response about the story.

Respond personally to the story

• How do you feel about the story, and why?
• How has the story changed your life in some way?

Respond to themes and/or author’s purpose

• What is the author’s purpose or message of the text?
• Why do you think the author wrote this text?

Ask students to think about a contemporary social or political issue they feel strongly about and discuss how it makes them feel.

Ask students to create a list of symbols, colors, people, locations, textures, objects and images that they associate with the issue they chose.

Distribute paper, tape, scissors and fabric or paper scraps. Challenge students to use the materials to create a composition in response to the list they made. How will figures relate to the objects and the environment? How will texture and color help communicate the story and emotion?

Distribute paints, brushes and glue. Encourage students to layer their compositions with paint. Challenge students to be intentional about how their figures and objects relate to each other as they create their composition.

Ask students to complete their working definition of activism. Next, ask students to write an essay about what they learned, and include some ways they can take a stand against issues they are passionate about.

Encourage students to explore different perspectives or interpretations of the story. Identify key parts of the story that relate to bullying, resolving conflict, activism etc. Have students discuss the perspective of each person involved in the issue.

Divide the class into pairs or small groups. Assign each pair of students one chapter in the book. Each pair will translate their book chapters into storyboards, drawing the most important scenes and explaining their significance.