Fairness 

Year 2: Being fair is not only about being equal, but showing love and kindness whenever we can. 

Core Story

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynne Williams. When relief workers bring clothes to the refugee camp, everyone scrambles to grab whatever they can. Ten-year-old Lina is thrilled when she finds a sandal that fits her foot perfectly, until she sees that another girl has the other shoe.  When Lina and Feroza meet they decide it is better to share the sandals than for each to wear only one. As the girls go about their routines washing clothes in the river and waiting in long lines for water sharing the shoes is a symbol of friendship that endures in difficult times.

Drawing out the virtue

A refugee is a person who has had to leave their country because it isn’t safe (that might be because of war or natural disaster).  Many refugees live in makeshift camps. Some, like Lina and her family are able to resettle in places like Europe or the United States. Lots of refugees are children and some of them have lost members of their family or had to leave them behind.  In this story Lina and Feroza have difficult lives, full of uncertainty, and have very little to call their own.  Despite this, each is willing to sacrifice their sandal so the other can wear the pair. This provides a rich foundation for discussions around fairness. Why do you think she hadn’t worn shoes for two years? What would that be like?

Why does Feroza give the shoe back to Lina the first time they meet?

What idea does Lina have about the sandals?  Is this a good idea? Why?

At the end of the story Feroza gives Lina one sandal to take to America – why does she do this when it means she wont be able to wear it?

When life isn’t fair, how should you respond?

This story can be used as an introduction to much deeper questions about fairness:

Why do refugees have to leave their homes? Refugees are forced to leave when it is not safe for them to stay in their own country, perhaps due to war or natural disaster.

What is life like for Lina and Feroza at the refugee camp? They are very poor and do not have many belongings, the girls did not have shoes to wear. They have to queue to collect water from a well. They have to wash their clothes by hand in the stream. They live in overcrowded accommodation and endure long queues (point to the illustrations). They work hard, although she is only 10 years old Lina walks for miles carrying her little brother, does the washing and queues for jugs of water which she carries on her back with her. They miss their families – Lina’s father and sister had been killed and Feroza’s grandmother is her only living relative.

There is uncertainty about their future -  they dream of a new home, but are separated as Lina’s family leave for the United States.

Only the boys are allowed to go to school – the girls want to write their names but make mistakes because they have not been to school. Is this fair?

Activity 1: Fair shares for others 

We are going to talk about fairness and ask ‘is our world fair?’. You will work as a class to decide whether you think it is fair or not, and if you decide it is not, what we can do to try to change that. 

Divide the children into groups, one large group of about half the class, two groups of around seven children and a final group of two children. These numbers can be altered, what is important is that the groups vary in size. 

Tell the children you have 100 sweets. Ask them to work in their groups to work out how many sweets you should give to their group and why, and how many sweets should be given to the other groups and why. 

Give the children time to discuss this and then ask the groups to feedback to the class.  The children are likely to raise the idea of fairness in their reasons.  

Tell the children you have decided how to allocate the sweets. Count out loud as you give them out so the children know how many each have been given. Give the large group 10 sweets, the middle about 20 each and give the remaining 50 to the group of two children.  Ask what the children think about this – why isn’t it fair? 
Ask the children to imagine their group is a country – what country might they be?
Tell the class the smallest group represents the United Kingdom – what could those children do to make things more fair? 

Explain to the children that the world is not always a fair place. Explain that there are people around the world who have very little to eat and others have far more than they need. Explain further that this means we should be very grateful for what we have, and remember others less fortunate next time we want to complain that something isn’t fair.

Library books

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Beaky the Greedy Duck (Ladybird classic)

Denver by David McKee