Is It Better to Give or Receive

So our chapter book this month is Junie B. Jones. In the story she is having a dilemma because when she goes to the PTO store she is supposed to buy something for a classmate but she really wants to buy something for herself.

I asked my students to think about whether it was better to give or receive gifts. Whenever we do these activities-I want them to choose a side and to defend it. I'm very careful not to make judgments about their answers. The "right" answer for these activities is whatever they believe. I did think it was interesting so many chose "get presents" knowing that their teacher probably wanted them to say the opposite. :) 

(by the way, we have made a lot of progress this year in learning our letters and sounds and sounding out our words-this time of year I just ran out of patience to send them back and encourage them to do it. :)