Cover of A Bike Like Sergio's
A Bike Like Sergio's
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Integrity Pre-K & Kindergarten
By Maribeth Boelts

Book Guide

A Bike Like Sergio's

A story that explores integrity and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families
Read the Guiding Questions Find this book →
♥ This book teaches: Integrity. doing what is right when no one is watching.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: Integrity means being honest, and responsible and respectful all the time, whether or not people can see what you’re doing.  In short: Do the right thing, even when no one's looking.  Summary: Ruben wants a bike like Sergio’s more than anything, but his family can’t afford it. Then something happens that could make his dream come true. At the store Ruben finds money and puts it in his backpack even though he could have returned it to the woman who dropped it. Back home, Ruben looks at the bill, and realizes that it’s not $1 but $100, enough to buy a bike like Sergio’s. Ruben struggles with mixed feelings - he’s excited about buying a bike but his conscience is making him feel guilty. It gets worse - later on he can’t find the money he had put in his backpack. Eventually Ruben finds it and returns the money to the real owner. Why did he have a change of heart? When he thought he had lost the money, he sympathized with the woman who lost $100, and it wasn’t really his to keep anyway. Ruben bravely tells the truth to his family and apologizes. Lesson learned, Ruben!     Lesson Objectives: 
  1. Students are more compelled to return lost items and to be honest with their parents when they’ve done something wrong. 
  Guiding Questions: 
  1.  Why can’t Ruben’s parents buy him a bike? 
  2. Why didn’t Ruben return the money right away? 
  3.  Do you think Ruben made a good or bad decision when he pocketed the money? Why? 
  4. How did Ruben feel when he was looking everywhere for the money and couldn’t find it? 
  5. Why did Ruben decide to return the money? 
  6. How did the lady in the blue coat feel after Ruben returned the money? Did Ruben feel better when he did that?  
  7.  If you found something valuable do you think you’d be tempted to keep it? Why or why not? 
  8. Do you think stealing and keeping something that someone lost are the same thing? Why or why not? 
  9. Did you ever lose something that someone found and returned to you? What happened? How did you feel? 
 
🌿   Virtue Connection: Integrity means doing what is right even when no one is watching.

Hands-On Practice

Activities for This Story.



Tower building activity: Paired students are given blocks of different sizes and are tasked to work cooperatively building a tower. The highest tower wins.   

Materials needed: blocks or similar building materials that can be used to build towers; level space for students to do the activity; a measuring tape or yardstick   

Directions: Explain: “I have put you in pairs for this activity. Teams will work cooperatively to build the highest tower you can build. When I give a signal, start building. Listen to one another and take turns as you build. Once all teams are finished, we’ll measure the towers.”  

Wrap up: Ask: “What was it like to build a tower with a teammate? Were you able to listen to one another’s suggestions? Did you disagree sometimes? If you disagreed about where to place the next block, how did you handle it - did you let the other person try even though you thought it wouldn’t work? When we work with a partner or team, it’s important to give each person a chance to contribute. The team that works the best together may not have built the highest tower, but at least you had a good experience working with each other.   

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

Read-aloud video · Best with headphones

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