(I am a third grade teacher. I have two students who are best friends who look very different from each other. Though they are the same height, [Student #1] has long, light brown hair that she always wears down and she usually wears shorts or jeans and a T-shirt. Her best friend, [Student #2], is skinnier, has shorter, blonde hair that she usually wears in pigtails, has huge pink glasses, and usually wears a blouse, skirt, and knee-length socks. One morning, the girls show up to school very excitedly.)
Student #1: “Notice anything different?”
Me: “I… can’t say I do.”
Student #2: “Really? Nothing else? We’re dressed like each other!”
Me: “Really…”
Student #1: “Well, okay. We aren’t dressed exactly like each other. We had a sleepover last night, and we decided to pretend to be each other, but she didn’t have any skirts or… those long leg thingies.”
Student #2: “Socks?”
Student #1: “Yeah. She didn’t have any in my size.”
Student #2: “I actually did, but the socks had holes.”
Student #1: “And then we tried to put her hair up but it didn’t want to do that. And I tried to wear my hair like her, but it was uncomfortable, so I wore a ponytail, instead.”
(I didn’t really notice it until then.)
Student #2: “And then I couldn’t give her my glasses, because then I wouldn’t be able to see anything. And she gave me her shirt.”
Me: “So, the only things that changed were that you’re wearing her shirt and changed your hair.”
Student #3: “Hey, [Student #1]… Woah! You look just like her, [Student #2]. Except for the glasses. And she would never wear a ponytail.”
Student #2: “See, Mr. [My Name]! We look exactly the same.”
(The girls went and sat down next to each other, and for the rest of the day all of the other kids in the class kept gushing about how much [Student #2] looked like [Student #1], even though the only thing that changed was the hair and a shirt.)
