Lesson Plans for The Meanest Thing to Say by Bill Cosby (Little Bill Series).
This lesson plan is designed to read the book aloud to kindergarten or first grade students. This lesson is courtesy
of Kristen Ludman, a dedicated educator in Pemberton Township Schools.
Synopsis:
Michael Reilly has introduced a new game to Little Bill and his friends. You get twelve chances to say
something mean to another kid--and whoever comes up with the biggest insult is the winner. Insults start
flying: "Jose hops with the frogs in science lab! " "Andrew eats frogs for dinner! " "Little Bill shoots
baskets like a girl! "Little Bill tries to think of really mean things to say in retaliation. But Dad teaches
him a strategy that enables Little Bill to save face while remaining the nice kid that he really is!
(Synopsis taken from Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Meanest-Thing-to-Say/Bill-Cosby/e/9780590956161/?itm=1).
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
explore alternative methods for dealing with conflicts in social situations
discuss the emotions/feelings the characters in the story had when dealling with a bully
make text-to-self connections to the book by discussing their own experiences and feelings
about dealing with bullies
engage in a role-play to demonstrate alternative tactics for dealing with bullies
complete a cloze activity writing prompt: "When someone is mean to me, it
makes me feel ________________."
discuss the problem and solution in a story
Materials:
Copy of Bill Cosby's Little Bill: The Meanest Thing to Say
Have we ever had a new student? What kinds of things did we do to welcome him/her? How do you think it would feel to be a new student?
Have you ever said anything mean to someone? How do you think that made the other person feel?
Have you ever had to deal with a bully? How did you react?
Discuss vocabulary words:
dribble (in reference to basketball)
bully
Discuss that in this story, there will be a bully. Tell students that many of them have
had to deal with a bully before, so the purpose for reading the story is to see how
the characters in this story handle a bully.
During reading –
How do you think Michael felt being the new kid in school?
When Michael suggests playing the game "Playing the Dozens," ask the students,
"Do you think that's a good game to play? Why or why not?"
What would you have done or said if Michael was teasing you?
What did Little Bill do when Michael started teasing him the next day at school? Was it
a good solution to the problem?
After reading –
Take a few minutes to discuss the problem and the solution in
the story
Engages the students in a role-play activity. Someone can pretend to be
the bully and the other student/students can decide how to react appropriately to the bully.
When someone does or says somethign mean to you, how does that make you feel?
