October 22, 2024 · curriculum
I couldn’t resist writing about Filipino American History Month as I have SO MANY great books to recommend. Before you start reading all of the books, however, don’t forget to look at a map! First, make sure students know where the Philippines are (and clarify the spelling of the Philippines and Filipino), but also look at some maps like this showing where the largest Filipino populations are in the United States. You can also talk about migration generally and ask students what they notice or might theorize from these maps. Make sure you explain what the month actually is or ask students to share what they know or have experienced: Filipino American history month . Some other great videos: Lola's Work - StoryCorps Why Is It Called Filipino American HISTORY Month? Celebrating Filipino American History Month with unique flavors Books!: I am a huge Erin Entrada fan! Gabby and I read Hello
Filipino American history monthbook recommendations
October 14, 2024 · curriculum
Tips and Resources for Responding to Pushback from Families or Administrators We know there is so much you want to discuss with students, but you might have concerns about pushback, resistance, complaints or worse. I realized we give general advice often when writing about a specific topic, but have never written a post about it. So here it is! Hope it is helpful. When I was most recently teaching full time, my go to response to parents who worried that topics were too “scary/political/polarized/controversial etc” was, “We/I totally agree this is a complex topic that must be addressed thoughtfully and with intention. Here is a resource to help you as we work together to keep answering your child/student’s questions. Thanks for your partnership in this important work!” I also noted how rigorous asking and answering critical questions about the world is and how students are practicing
pushbackresistanceconflictcontroversial topicspolitics
June 5, 2023 · curriculum
Happy June to all teachers and students! You made it this far and are so close. We know/remember how incredibly exhausting this time of year can be between the heat, endless end of the school year events and requests, report cards, cleaning and packing up your classroom, and of course, the bittersweet farewells with your students. If you still have some time with your students, our Pride Books 2022 post will give you some read aloud ideas for Pride this month. You can also work with your students on setting up for Summer Reading in a joyful and fun way (we hope). We wrote about End of the School Year Activities in 2022 and in 2019 "What is always on your end of year list?" A quick 10 always on there items from us because we have so many and love traditions and making memories with our classes. Lastly and maybe most importantly, don’t forget to think ahead about what YOU need this
summerJuneend of the yearschool's outsummer reading
May 11, 2023 · curriculum
May is Haitian Heritage Month ! There are many ways to celebrate Haitian Heritage Month , but why not start with asking students what they know about Haiti, finding Haiti on a map, and learning more about Haiti ? After Gabby and I took a social justice educators’ tour to the Dominican Republic , we shared some of our experiences with our students and they were fascinated by the fact that Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, but are two completely separate countries that speak different languages. This led to a great discussion about why certain languages are spoken where and how borders are created and are a social construct. Our trip encouraged me to learn more about Haiti as what little I knew came from books (I definitely recommend American Street by Ibi Zoboi ) and a few friends of Haitian origin. I was embarrassed that I knew almost no Haitian history and had no idea
HaitiHaitian Heritage Monthgeohistoryslavery
April 7, 2023 · curriculum
Happy Arab American Heritage Month! Some reminders and tips: Note that Muslim characters or a Muslim author or illustrator is NOT the same as Arab. Not all Muslims are Arabs (as this map of the Muslim population by country shows). If you feel like going down a maps rabbit hole, here are some more maps: 40 maps that explain the Middle East ! Arabs are not all Muslim . Arabs are speakers of Arabic which is different from Middle Eastern people. Read more here: Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim? What’s the Difference?! - TeachMideast Persians are not Arabs. Read more here: MYTH vs. FACT: Persians and Arabs - American Iranian Council . (We’ll have to do a separate post about some of our favorite Persian authors and books!) If these designations are confusing for you and your students, start by looking at a map (cover photo) and talking about what you know and brainstorming how you could
Arab American Heritage MonthArabbooksmonth
March 1, 2023 · curriculum
Happy Women’s History Month! We last wrote about how we recognized Women’s History Month in the classroom in 2018 when we were co-teaching in 3rd grade with this post: Womyn's/ Womxn's/ Women's Herstory Month . All of those books are still wonderful and the general tie ins with other subjects, March Book Madness , and celebrating International Women’s Day are all things I would be bringing into my classroom if I was teaching this year. I also am intrigued by the FairPlay Home (Eq)uity Tool Kit . I haven’t used this myself and still need to investigate more, but love the idea (and the tagline “Close the Chore Gap!”). Instead of stopping at acknowledging women’s invisible labor (or expressing gratitude to all the amazing women in our lives), let’s teach kids to be aware of it and think critically about it. You know kids will find a creative solution to the “chore gap” and be reflective
Women's History Monthwomenmonthfeminismbook recommendations
February 10, 2023 · curriculum
Valentine’s Day is next week and while it always feels a little commercial and sometimes a bit exhausting for me (so much red, pink, and glitter everywhere!), it is a fun moment to get us through gray February. Also, it’s an excuse to celebrate kindness, caring for others, your classroom community, and eat chocolate! Every year, my students would bring me dark chocolate as they know from my shares that is what I prefer, and it was always a sweet moment of being truly seen and appreciated. We wrote about Valentine's Day last year, specifically talking about our investigation of the holiday and what our students came up with as well as a few read alouds. One new read aloud that I am very excited about is Your One and Only Heart by Rajani LaRocca, Illustrated by Lauren Paige Conrad (cover photo; from this list ) - always love anything by Dr. Rajani LaRocca and it’s a great STEM connection.
Valentine's Dayvalentineread aloudpostcardsforCharlottesvilleholidays
February 7, 2023 · curriculum
It is suddenly February and BLM at School Week (February 6-10) is here! I am not in a classroom this year, so am sharing some of our past work below in case anyone is looking for a new angle, read aloud, activity, or any other reminder. One quote that has been sticking with me lately is from Walidah Imarisha as she masterfully explains Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? She says, “I call it a living legacy not history because it walks with us everyday.” That seems like a perfect way to conceptualize Black History Month and how to center what we teach our students in the present and the future. Black History Month (from 2022) Black History Lesson: Sit-Ins (from 2021) Black Lives Matter at School (from 2021) Black History Month: Past Ideas & Thoughts (from 2020) Ideas for Black History Month and Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action (from 2019) Reflecting on Black Lives
Black Lives MatterBlack History MonthBlack lives matter at schoolhistory
January 9, 2023 · curriculum
Gabby reading a book aloud to some third graders. Happy New Year (to everyone, but especially teachers who are welcoming students back from break!). Below are some routines to keep you afloat as we re-enter school and get through the winter together. Morning Meeting - the start of the day is everything. Bringing back a game they loved back in September (to them, and us! Feels like ages away) is like returning back to a nice friend you know well. Still fun, but predictable and no one has to be stressed about new rules. Reminding students of how far you have come from the beginning of the year when you were all learning these new routines (and each other’s names!). Read aloud! (after returning from recess or lunch, preferably) Starting the New Year with a new read aloud book if it lands there for you is very helpful to us. Catching ourselves (and our students) into a story is always a
new yearroutinesresponsive classroomWinter
December 14, 2022 · curriculum
We are so close to having a break! Also, I always find that once we make it to winter break, the rest of the school year flies by somehow. This first chunk of the year is often the hardest in so many ways. Once the routines are established and community is built, the rest of the school year can feel more manageable. But every year and every class is different. The lead up to winter break can be so exciting and often coincides with snow days, winter concert or assembly practices, lots of illnesses/sharing germs, and other disruptions, so your students will definitely react to everything that is going on. Keep in mind that some kids do not like breaks as they miss school and really thrive on routine, or might not have secure access to food at home or a stable environment for so many reasons. I always openly acknowledge to my students that I have mixed feelings about whatever my plans will
winterbreakDecemberHuman Rights Dayholidays
November 17, 2022 · curriculum
It’s November! We made it through most of the Fall and the election! Thanksgiving (and a break!) is around the corner, so sharing some reminders and activities. Here are some from the past: Thanksgiving & Native American Heritage Month Resources & Reminders . Always center Native American perspectives however you address Thanksgiving in your classroom (and in general). For example, you and your students could look at the Native Land map to see whose land you're on and emphasize that they are still here. You could research the tribe whose land you are on and find out about where they are living now. Also, show students the table depicting original tribal names and note that many tribal names were changed by white settlers. Learn about land acknowledgements by watching Land Acknowledgement | Molly of Denali . (Sidenote, Molly of Denali is a great example of representation, own voices, and
ThanksgivinggratitudegratefulNative American studiesNative American Heritage Month
October 13, 2022 · curriculum
October is LGBT History Month ! While the month has already started, it’s never too late to join in and introduce (or re-introduce) your students (and yourself) to some LGBT icons. As explained on their site, “Each day in October, a new LGBT Icon is featured with a video, bio, bibliography, downloadable images and other resources.” You can find out more in the 2022 Overview Video . Remember that LGBT History Month is a reminder only - we should be learning about LGBT people every day of the year. If students ask why LGBT people have a specific history month, just ask the question right back to them: why do YOU think we celebrate a specific history month for LGBT people? You can have them generate a list of names of LGBT people they’ve learned about at school in the past. I had a student ask why there wasn’t a “straight history month” and another student responded, “That’s EVERY month.”
LGBTLGBT History Monthmonthhistory
August 15, 2022 · curriculum
Wonderful resources for our biography unit! Not pictured: video of Libba singing. As I said in this post , choosing nonfiction (or any) resources critically is SO IMPORTANT, so here are some do’s and don’ts when looking for mentor texts or any type of media for students to consume. Look at publication dates. In general, older (sometimes “classic”) books tend to have stereotypical portrayals of people of color and gender roles (and more). Also, sometimes “classic” books are viewed with nostalgia and problematic and/or factually incorrect depictions are excused by saying “it was a different time.” Some examples: Little House on the Prairie, George and Martha (George dresses up as an “Indian”). We are not saying you cannot use these books, but be prepared to address the problematic images, language, or events. Avoid anything stereotypical, overly simplistic, or cartoonish (think of the
nonfictionmentor textbookscritical literacy
July 21, 2022 · curriculum
Students use maps to do research. I know it is the middle of summer, but I finally had time to reflect on and write about one of my favorite units in both reading and writing: nonfiction! I’ve tried out many different kinds of nonfiction units over the years and while I still love our Biographical Essays: Researching People Who Inspire Us unit, I have enjoyed the students’ enthusiasm and engagement in all of them. Nonfiction literacy is so important. It ties into media literacy and understanding and learning about the world around you, is a life skill (you will always need to understand and explain information!). There are so many facets to it between learning about facts vs opinion, critical literacy, synthesizing information, and more. But most of all, it is fascinating and FUN. Some essential elements: you MUST have great mentor texts (we had a lot of success with Pink is for
nonfictioncurriculumreadingwritingunits
June 17, 2022 · curriculum
My former co-teacher’s “shelfie” from the fall of 2020. She created it digitally, but you can also use paper! We wrote about some of the ways we set students up for summer reading a few years ago, and I still am not a fan of forced or assigned reading. There is research that reading logs actually reduce students’ motivation to read and negatively affect their attitudes toward reading . And honestly, they are just annoying! Imagine having to log how long you read and how many pages you read when you are reading before bed to relax. This applies to summer reading as well. Assigning a book or list of books students must read takes the joy out of reading. It’s much better to give them freedom and encouragement to find something they want to read and (hopefully) enjoy it! This has been a long, hard year for teachers, so it’s also really important that you find your own summer reading that is
readingsummersummer readingbook reviewbook recommendations
June 1, 2022 · curriculum
The first slide from our tie dye how to slideshow for students. Happy June! You made it! This has been quite the year, so now it is time to celebrate everything you all have accomplished together and have some fun! I have a number of different traditions or fun activities that I love for the end of the school year. We wrote a post a few years back with some of our favorites , but I have even more ideas that are listed below. Write a poem for your class! We had an introduction and conclusion stanza or two as well as two lines for each student. We definitely took liberties with the rhyming, but it’s something students really love and appreciate. We’ve heard about the poem as a fond memory or something students have held on to years after (we also gave each student a copy to take home). A photo slideshow is always fun and appreciated! It’s been harder with COVID, masking, being in two
end of the yearsummertraditionsgratitude
March 31, 2022 · curriculum
It is hard to believe, but Friday is April 1st (get ready for April Fool’s Day!) and Saturday is the beginning of Ramadan! Of course, it depends on the sighting of the new moon, but it seems likely that will occur on Saturday, April 2nd. Even if you think you don’t have any students who observe Ramadan, it is still something to teach and learn about as over two billion people participate all over the world! Also, you don’t always know how people identify or who they might have in their life. At my current school, I’ve had one student who shared with me that they were Muslim and appreciated when I shared a book with the class that felt relevant for them (which of course happened before Ramadan because we learn about the world and everyone who lives in it every single day). When I taught in New York City, many of my students followed Islam and often had to miss school for Eid or other
RamadanIslamMuslimrepresentationdiversity
March 15, 2022 · curriculum
Happy (almost) spring! It definitely feels like spring here in DC, and with that, comes Deaf History Month! I actually had never heard of Deaf History Month (March 13- April 15) until very recently, so wanted to write and spread the word as well as share some ideas and resources. You can read more about the origins of Deaf History Month here . It dates back to 1997, with other holidays and recognition before that. I’ve included some books below, but sadly, there weren’t as many as I had hoped. Also, it is important to make sure we are showing students how there are a wide variety of people who are Deaf, deaf, or hard of hearing. Make sure you understand the difference in terminology before talking about it with students. I found this resource from the NAD (National Association of the Deaf) very helpful. Another great resource and significant institution to teach students about is
DeafnessDeaf History MonthDeaf cultureableismdisability
February 13, 2022 · curriculum
The tracking table we gave students to guide reflection and record observations during our investigation. Congratulations to teachers who have made it halfway through February! It is always a feat of endurance, but even more so this year. Last year, my co-teacher and I decided to find a way for students to exchange cards (no food) despite all of the challenges as we felt that they needed the joy and celebration. We were back in person, but only for half days, and the adults at our school had just started to get vaccinated. So we had the students bring in cards earlier in the week, distribute them in bags they decorated, and then had the bags “quarantine” so we would all feel comfortable touching them. This was before the revelations about how COVID actually spreads and we wanted to bring some connection and fun to a very odd school year. Of course, we said no food, and specified that
holidaysValentine's Dayvalentineracesocial class
February 2, 2022 · curriculum
Two of the quarters my students designed Happy February (and Year of the Tiger!) This week is Black Lives Matter at School week (we interpret the “week” part loosely and will probably spend 2-3 weeks introducing BLM, going through the 13 principles, and crafting our own class statement). You can read some important reminders in our Black History Month past posts here . As always, try to focus on relating whatever you learn to the present so students can make the connection to their own lives and the current world we live in. And remember that Black history is American history. Here are two examples of stories that help students to make the connection to now: Maya Angelou will be first black woman on US quarter : this is the Newsela link, so if you sign up for a (free) account, you can access the article at different reading levels. We had students read this article and then design their
Black History MonthBlack Lives MatterBlack lives matter at school
January 18, 2022 · curriculum
Photo credit: https://www.childrensbookworld.com/book/9781629799391 Another 3rd grade teacher I know had a colleague forward her a link to an Art of Teaching post I wrote 4 years ago (a slightly modified version of this post on our blog ) about teaching MLK day! It was a nice surprise and funny coincidence, as well as a welcome reminder to use primary sources with my 3rd graders. This year, however, we went with a different approach as my co-teacher (who is new to me this school year!) had the brilliant idea of widening our focus to Dr. King’s legacy and movement and thinking about the people who came before and after him. I also always remind educators to tie Dr. King’s work back to today and future work. This is not a one lesson or one day reminder, it is something you should think about all year. Two obvious examples of this work continuing are Black Lives Matter at School Week and
MLKcivil rightsread aloudpicture bookspast posts
January 5, 2022 · curriculum
A message of encouragement from a former 3rd grade student! Sending love to teachers and families as we tackle yet another round of uncertainty and anxiety! I’m trying to take things one day at a time and remember that I’ve done this before when my students and I were not vaccinated. It seems like I will be in school in person with increased mitigation and vigilance. However, it also seems likely that some students and staff will need to stay home due to infection, so we may be teaching some students on Zoom and some in person at the same time. I experienced this set up for most of last year and found it to be the most difficult and least effective set up as it makes teaching and learning harder for everyone, but at least this time around it will be temporary and I have all my experience from last year to draw upon! For those of you who are finding yourselves unexpectedly teaching
virtual toolsvirtual learningonline learninghybrid learningCOVID
November 30, 2021 · curriculum
My 3rd graders and I have been learning all about maps! We learned about different features of maps, different kinds of maps, made our own maps (which were so creative) and more. This week, my co-teacher and I asked students to bring in a map from home. We told students it was their “homework” so they took the assignment very seriously, reporting talking to their parents to get permission and reporting back to us that they looked at different maps they found at home and decided not to bring in some that were too large or fragile etc. Once we all had maps at school (and we of course had some extra ones for students who forgot), we started our map exploration. First, as a class, we watched a Brainpop (not Brainpop Jr.) video about map skills and reviewed features of maps we might look for and reminded ourselves to use the map key or legend to help us understand the information the map was
mapsgeographyracehousingDC
November 21, 2021 · curriculum
Image from My Map Book by Sara Fanelli Happy almost Thanksgiving! This has been an incredibly long fall, especially for teachers. Even when we are beyond tired, it is always a good time to remind people (including ourselves) to give thanks and reflect on what we are grateful for. We like to share with students that there are many benefits to giving thanks including our own mental and physical health. But first and foremost, it’s important to appreciate the people in our lives who take care of us and keep us safe. Make thank you cards. My class will be working on thank you cards for many of the staff in our school building, especially the custodians who clean up after us every single day as well as the kitchen staff who cooks for us. If you don’t know everyone’s name, find time to introduce yourself, learn how their name is spelled, and how they like to be addressed. Most of the people
gratitudegive thanksThanksgivingthanksgrateful
November 17, 2021 · curriculum
Resources & Great Place to Start American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) Teaching for Change 2021 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Curriculum Teach-In (especially the section about Native Voices in Children’s Literature by Dr. Debbie Reese, the creator of AICL) Native American Heritage Month Resources For Teachers Our ideas for addressing Thanksgiving in 3rd grade this year (on top of expressing gratitude to all the people who take care of us at school): The word Indigenous - explained l CBC Kids News Newsela article: A Native American poet reimagines Thanksgiving and the poem referenced in the article: America, I Sing You Back by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke Read aloud: We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell We also just bought two new books that we are VERY excited about: Classified, The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Traci Sorell JoJo Makoons by
thanksthanksgivingNative American studiesNative American Heritage Monthread aloud
September 28, 2021 · curriculum
From https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/06/beauty-and-color-scenes-from-ethiopia/530166/ In my third grade class, we usually end our year with an integrated Social Studies, Reading, and Writing unit where we learn about the different regions of and research different countries in Africa, but this past year we ran out of time and weren’t able to do a lot of the creative grouping or sharing of materials that characterize this unit. So instead we focused on learning more about Ethiopia as a class. We chose Ethiopia as Washington D.C. is home to the largest population of Ethiopian born people in the United States. There are also many Ethiopian Americans in and around D.C. In past years, we’ve ordered food from a local Eritrean restaurant as part of our end of year celebration, but this year we were sadly unable to do that. We started our study of Ethiopia by looking at maps, watching
Social StudiesgeographyinquiryEthiopia
August 25, 2021 · curriculum
A virtual example “Shelfie” my co-teacher made last Fall. ORGANIZATIONAL Online calendar template for planning: while paper planners are wonderful, this past year I realized having everything online helped me feel reassured and less helpless when we had to suddenly quarantine or wait for test results. It’s also less to keep track of and carry back and forth, and especially useful if you are co-teaching as you can easily share the document and track changes in real time. I personally use these online calendar templates and turn them into Google Docs, but many different formats or platforms would work depending on what is easiest for you. My co-teacher and I really like the commenting and tagging options on Google Docs. I would be lost without my calendars as they have EVERYTHING on there from basic lesson plans to students’ birthdays to my dentist appointment. Anecdotal notes: as
back to schoolonline toolsvirtual toolsname activitiesfamily involvement
August 17, 2021 · curriculum
From WorldAtlas.com As we watched the tragic scenes in Kabul unfold this past week, we thought about how to broach the topic with students in the classroom. Many students might have questions or a vague idea that something is happening based on overhearing adult conversations or catching snippets of the news. Where to start? One place to start that usually works well for us is with a read aloud . Sadly, we don’t have a lot of books set in Afghanistan, and the ones we could find ( list of picture books here ) are all about war, refugees, or women and girls being denied rights and education. These are unquestionably important stories, but we want to avoid presenting a single narrative about Afghanistan. It’s also hard to find picture books written by Afghan or Afghan-American authors, but we will keep looking now that we are aware of the deficit in our libraries! One book that many of my
current eventsSocial Studiessocial justice educationforeign policyAfghanistan
August 3, 2021 · curriculum
Photo credit: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/slideshow/the-civil-rights-movement/# This past February, we spent most of the month taking time to learn about, talk through, and create our own statement for Black Lives Matter at School Week . However, we wanted to address Black History Month and explicitly connect American history to our lives today. There are, of course, many ways to do this, but one way I’ve always loved teaching history to elementary school students (or really any students) is using primary sources and read-alouds. They can make the past tangible and far more real for students, as well as feeling “grown up” and authentic. I took inspiration from PBS History Detectives and modified one of the lessons they created for high schoolers or middle schoolers. We started by watching the 2nd video titled Integration Report. (It’s the one that is 2 minutes long. The 6
Black History MonthBlack lives matter at schoolBlack Lives MatterSocial Studiessocial justice education
July 19, 2021 · curriculum
In February, my co-teacher and I (along with our entire school) learned about Black Lives Matter’s 13 Guiding Principles as part of Black Lives Matter at School week . My co-teacher and I chose to spend more than a week as we felt that we needed more time to introduce the topic, teach each principle, and allow time for reflections, shares, and questions before creating our own class statement. After learning about all 13 principles, we came up with the above statement about what our class believes. All of the language in the statement comes directly from students, and we worked to make sure their beliefs and voices were being expressed. Every student signed the statement (including two virtual learners who sent me their signatures electronically) and it hung outside both of our classrooms (we had to be in two rooms with smaller groups this year due to COVID). We started thinking and
Black Lives MatterBlack lives matter at school
July 15, 2021 · curriculum
A student wrote this letter to Erin Estrada Kelly after we finished reading Hello Universe! I wanted to write this post in May for Mental Health Awareness Month, but clearly time has gotten away from me (yet again). Here is a post Gabby managed to write in a more timely fashion for Mental Health Awareness Month in the past! As we look toward the next school year with lots of uncertainty and anxiety inducing unknowns looming for most kids and teachers, here are some ways to support kids in managing their disappointment or anxiety about our unknown future. Please keep in mind that these are strategies to deal with uncertainty and anxiety, but NOT ways to handle grief or trauma. Some things I tried that seemed to support my students this year: Talk about what you miss or would have done in more typical circumstances periodically. It’s okay to acknowledge disappointment and important to
mental healthMental Health Awareness Monthemotionsocial emotional learning
February 1, 2021 · curriculum
Our piece about Black History Month in the classroom was published by McGraw Hill’s Inspired Ideas! You can see the live piece here . We thought today was a good day to send it out, as is it February 1st. Today is also the first day of Black Lives Matter at School week. I (Nina) am not teaching today as we have a snow day (hence the photo of the masked snowman above), but already started having conversations with and hearing questions and thoughts from students last week. This year, I am hoping to go over all 13 of Black Lives Matter’s Guiding Principles which will naturally take more than a week (for everyone, but especially 3rd graders). DC Area Educators for Social Justice (a project of Teaching for Change) has some really useful resources for educators . Also, read about the first year we participated in Black Lives Matter at School Week here ! We also wrote a piece with teaching
Black History MonthBlack Lives Matter
August 14, 2020 · curriculum
Reading Sherman Alexie’s Thunderboy Jr. to my class a few Septembers ago! I (Nina) am preparing to go back to work after my extended maternity leave. This is shaping up to be an unpredictable and unprecedented school year, but I hope my students and I can still find joy in learning and getting to know each other. My school has decided that we will start the year fully remote, although we are small (and independent) so we are lucky to have an option of some in-person small group meetings to meet students and parents, do some technology training, and distribute materials at the beginning of the year. Conceptualizing distance learning has been challenging for me. In August of 2018, I wrote about some of my favorite ideas to start the school year and I am trying to think about how I can still do some of those activities with my students, maybe with a new twist! I try to think about the
back to schoolbeginning of the school yearcommunity buildingget to know youname activities
July 23, 2020 · curriculum
Gabby with one of our students’ favorite read aloud books! After reading Weeding Out Racism’s Invisible Roots: Rethinking Children’s Classics | Opinion by Padma Venkatraman in the School Library Journal, I thought about book choices in classrooms and schools. I know most teachers right now are grappling with how and if they will be able to be with students in person this fall and of course, everyone’s safety and health is the most important thing. However, if you are like me, you are trying to plan and organize for what little we can control. One thing we can control is what books we choose to share with students. Children receive so much information and so many ideas through their surroundings and exposure from a very young age. Racism and institutional exclusion through societal messaging starts so early. At school (and out in the world, in the media, and more), students are shown
representationbooks
March 13, 2020 · curriculum
One of our students wrote this letter to Hillary Clinton! I am home on maternity leave, but more and more of my fellow teachers are hearing about school closures due to health concerns and potential exposure to coronavirus. I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to send work home or set up some kind of remote learning that are equitable and developmentally appropriate. First and foremost, ask your students for suggestions (if you have advance warning)! They will have lots of creative ideas for how to best keep their learning going at home. At the very least, they will be able to share the reality around internet access, quiet workspaces, free time, and more at their homes. They will also feel better if you include them in the process and model how this is a new situation for all of us and we are being flexible, understanding, and doing our best. Remember that some students may be helping
remote learningschool closing
February 3, 2020 · curriculum
The Black Lives Matter class statement our third graders came up with a few years ago. Seeing all of the activity around Black History Month on various social media platforms inspired me to write a blog post again (I know it has been a long time - I (Nina) was busy having a baby!). I am on maternity leave, so won’t be teaching in a classroom this February, but will link to some of our past posts with our ideas and reflections. My memories of Black History Month when I was in elementary school are pretty vague, but I remember learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and maybe even singing some songs about how he helped our country. As an elementary school teacher myself, I definitely have had to teach into the idea that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “fixed” racism in our country or that racism was something bad from our past. You can read more about one way we approached MLK Day in the
Black History MonthBlack Lives MatterSocial Studiessocial justice educationFebruary
July 12, 2019 · curriculum
I’ve always loved teaching Social Studies through inquiry. Start with questions students have, and then let them explore, research, and learn from there! This approach has led to biographical essays about inspirational historical and contemporary figures , case studies about different countries, companies, and Virginia Indian tribes , investigations into various holidays , and so much more. My hope is that teaching Social Studies through inquiry supports my students in continually learning about the world in a curious and open way. Some essential parts of inquiry in Social Studies (for me) are: Keep the final product open or at least open ended! There are so many ways to share what you learned - let students figure out the best way to do so and personalize it. Encourage creativity! We asked our students for annotated illustrations of the Virginia Indian tribe they studied, and every
Social Studiesinquirycase
February 21, 2019 · curriculum
Happy snow day all! Not teaching today means I have time to reflect on and write about some activities we tried out this month related to the Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action (which we also participated in last year ), and Black History Month. While it happens that our biographical essays unit (which ties in with our non-fiction reading unit) falls during this month, we of course try to teach with an anti-bias framework every day (and all day!). Our curriculum, language, literature, and so much more should reflect the diversity of our world (as we the teachers do!) and we work hard to make this a reality everyday. So we are very purposeful about what we teach during Black History Month/Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action in hopes of avoiding the pitfall of teaching Black history only one month out of the year. This month, we used a number of wonderful read alouds to
Black History MonthBlack Lives Mattercurriculumread aloudNews
January 14, 2019 · curriculum
From A Fire In My Hands, by Gary Soto Happy Snow Day to any other teachers who are at home like me today! Since I actually had time to read books that were not for school today, I was reminded of a poetry unit we taught with our fifth graders. There were so many great sessions, examples, ideas, and books for teaching poetry at NCTE (which I attended in November) that it made me miss teaching a full poetry unit! For those of you who have a poetry unit or are just looking for new ways to teach, introduce, or incorporate poetry, here are some of my favorite lesson ideas: Start by asking students what is poetry? How can you tell if something is a poem? What makes something a poem? We asked our students to think about these questions and then looked at a lot of different poems together. This is a great way of dispelling misconception (poems must rhyme, anything can be a poem, etc). Our
poetryliteracymentoread aloudNCTE
October 26, 2018 · curriculum
A snapshot of our “contract wall” showcasing some student art! As we near the end of October and my school has its Fall round of conferences with families, I was recently pleased to notice how many of my students use the language of our class contract (rules for our class) in their reflections about how the year is going for them. Creating our contract was a multi-step process starting with a read aloud and ending with a signed contract and accompanying art projects (and of course a shared understanding about the kind of community we want to create). We started with a read aloud (always a wonderful place to start!). Our first chapter book read aloud of the year is Save Me a Seat by Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks . We read a few chapters and a day and do a variety of responses to our reading to help us empathize with the characters. The main characters’ negative experiences at school
responsive classroomsocial emotional learningclassroom managementcommunity buildingconferences
August 29, 2018 · curriculum
Setting up our classroom for the new school year! I know many teachers have already had their first day (or week) of school and I’m sure you had lots of wonderful activities, read alouds, get to know yous, and interactions planned. I am planning for my first day of school next week and reflecting on some of the activities I’ve used in the past that I know I want to use again. Here are some of my favorites: Name related activities : Name activities are the best. They provide an opportunity for you to learn about your students and ask them how they would like to be addressed in class. They also create a chance for you to share something about yourself while learning about students’ identities. Here are some of my favorites: Create your Name : this activity was inspired by SEED. Have your students create their name in a way that feels good to them, using whatever materials you have on
back to schoolsocial emotional learningcurriculumMath
August 22, 2018 · curriculum
Thank you card from a student at the end of the school year. We try and end every school year by asking our students for their feedback and reflections. Students love this as it is their turn to evaluate us for a change! We love modeling how asking for and receiving feedback is part of learning and growing, as well as demonstrating our commitment to lifelong reflection and learning. Also, I’m always surprised by what students remember, appreciated, and enjoyed. Sometimes, the things they complain about during the school year are the things they say they enjoyed the most at the end. Some patterns we’ve noticed over the years are that students tend to especially appreciate amazing read alouds, the well stocked and curated classroom library (and personalized book recommendations from their teachers), experiences (for example field trips or guest speakers), games (and fun!), and their
feedbackstudentevaltechnologyend of the year
June 6, 2018 · curriculum
Student book review for Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper after our book clubs wrapped up. It’s so close to the end of the year (and summer!) that we have started getting questions about summer work and summer reading. We absolutely want to encourage students to read over the summer in order to maintain their good reading habits (which are important life skills) and avoid the dreaded summer slide . In our class (and at our school), we’ve found our students tend to have consistent access to books and reading options all summer, so for the population we work with, the most important way to encourage summer reading is to promote reading all year long! All year, we have read alouds in our 3rd grade class . While we know this takes up a lot of instructional time, we have found that reading chapter books out loud to our 3rd graders has improved their comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and
book reviewbookssummer readingcurriculumread aloud
May 29, 2018 · curriculum
Art by Justin Hubbell at: http://www.justinhubbell.com/wonderful/ We feel so strongly about taking care of onself, putting your oxygen mask on first etc. We love the artists above and hope you check out their work as being supportive and encouraging of gentle and loving mental health. We hope this month you are (especially educators!!) taking some moments to take extra care of your mental health. Here are a few things that we do to support and facilitate taking care of ourselves in our little classroom community! 1. We do our best to model good habits with our students always. One afternoon during pick up time a father said he would send me an email later. His daughter turned to him and said, "Oh, Dad, she doesn't answer emails after 4pm, she has a life!" And although the dad had a surprised reaction, it was refreshing to see a student who had understood boundaries and was happily
mental healthMental Health Awareness Monthemotional learning
March 21, 2018 · curriculum
It's Womyn's Herstory Month ! Every day is women's day etc etc.. and yet, we are also loved celebrating women and putting women (besides ourselves!) even more at the forefront this month. Full disclosure we are both huge book people so the list of books could go on for a while. Below are a few fantastic anthologies that we turn to often in our classroom and have used for many different projects throughout the year. We put these in the front of our room and hype them up extra for this month (along with books from March Book Madness especially Ada Twist, Scientist, The Most Magnificent Thing, I Dissent, The Water Princess , and Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist ). Through these read alouds (which the student's have been loving and asking for more of!), we've enjoyed the way we can tie this into conversations about maps in Social
Women's History Monthgenderwomensocial justice educationSocial Studies
March 20, 2018 · curriculum
We have been working hard on a nonfiction biography focused unit in Reading and an essay writing unit in Writing. Students perused the biographies we have in our classroom (so many amazing picture books and the Who Was.. series that is at a good level for 3rd graders), and then chose three people they’d like to research and write about. We had already done a number of read alouds of picture book biographies so were able to get our students excited about people they weren’t initially familiar with and showcase some amazing women and PoC. We also looked at photos, video clips, and listened to music. They were hooked! One thing that was important to remember going into this unit is that research is not only done through reading (even though we love books and LOVE recommending books to children) - we used photos, videos, video clips, maps, and more! Photos are a great way to start talking
essaywritingresearchbiographyBlack History Month
February 28, 2018 · curriculum
Now that February is ending (how is it already March?!), we are looking back to the beginning of the month when we participated in the nationwide Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action . When talking about something like Black Lives Matter with third graders, we work hard to make sure that the points of entry and examples are tangible, accessible, and developmentally appropriate. As we reflected on Dr. Martin Luther King Day , anti-bias education is not something we do just one week (or day, or month) out of the year. It is something we try to do all day, every day as part of our curriculum, teaching philosophy, and classroom culture. The people we highlight and celebrate in our classroom day to day reflect the diversity of our world (just like we the teachers do!). Image from https://wearoutthesilence.org We started our BLM week by asking students: What do you know about Black
Black Lives Mattersocial justice educationanti-biasrace
January 4, 2018 · curriculum
One of our student's New Year's resolutions - resist MORE against Trump! We have an annual tradition of writing New Year’s Resolutions with our students, and adapted our ideas from the past this year to work for our 3rd graders. We enjoy this writing piece for many reasons: it often yields inspiring and hilarious responses from students (two examples pictured), it’s a great way to review our class contract and reflect as we come back from the break, it’s a quick and high success writing piece as we get used to being back at school, and of course, it’s important to model reflection and goal-setting for our students. This year, we used the beloved Kid President video that we wrote about in our New Year’s resolution post last year with our students and their 7th grade buddies. For Writer’s Workshop with just our 3rd graders, we started by watching the New Year’s Brainpop video . It tied in
writingNew Year's resolutionsreflectiongoal setting
October 15, 2017 · curriculum
Last week, we reconsidered Columbus Day. While our school does not recognize the holiday and remained in session on Monday, it is still a federal holiday and many of our students’ parents had the day off. To lead up to our inquiry work, we asked students to respond to the question, “If you could create a holiday, what holiday would you create and why?” for their Morning Work. They had predictably fun and silly ideas - Kids’ Day when you get unlimited candy, Pets’ Day when pets can go everywhere, etc. However, the idea emerged that a holiday is about celebrating someone or something POSITIVE. Later that week, we did a read aloud of Encounter by Jane Yolen and David Shannon, which tells the story of Columbus arriving in San Salvador in 1492 from the perspective of a Taino child. After reading the story, we had students complete an I think/I wonder chart about the the events described in
holidaysColSocial Studiessocial justice educationhistory
October 3, 2017 · curriculum
Part of the handout we used to scaffold this written response for our students. Inspired by #iwishmyteacherknew , we asked our students to tell us what they wish we knew about them (and in general). We started by asking them what was on their minds now that they are back at school, and then asked them how they are different at school versus at home. These prompts set them up to share insights with us that could help us know and support them as the complex humans they are. Specifically, we asked if there was anything they wished we knew or anything they wanted to share with us. We also asked how to best motivate them or help them if they are feeling stuck. We were impressed with the depth of thought our students revealed in their answers. Many adults won’t be able to tell you what motivates them or helps them when they are feeling stuck (or will give you a cynical answer that doesn’t
beginning of the school year#iwishmyteacherknew
September 26, 2017 · curriculum
Congratulations! Your school has just received a gift or made the leap and decided to be a '21st century' school and now all of your students have….. COMPUTERS. Dun. dun. Dun. We know. It's exciting because these tools provide access to so much knowledge and so many resources! It's also terrifying because…well, the internet. We are constantly trying to sort out what it looks like to be the best educators we can be while utilizing the computers our students are lucky to have in our classroom. As we searched around to see how other teachers have rolled out computers, we found there really aren't many resources out there to give teachers the skills on how to unleash these tools that can seemingly do almost anything with their students. We are still learning and will have new ideas for you as we sort out how this can work best with our 3rd graders this year. But for now, here a few tips we
computerstechnologyclassroom management
August 19, 2017 · curriculum
My first day of school (with students present) is in a little over a week. My co-teacher and I are moving from 5th grade to 3rd grade, and although our students will be younger and more concrete, we will continue to talk about current events. We don’t have a choice. This work is too important to stop because it is scary, uncomfortable, or difficult. You know your students and what will work best for them, but here are some ideas of how to adapt and use the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)’s 10 Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide in your classroom. The 10 steps below are from their guide’s new edition. A few reminders: if you are afraid that something is “too scary,” stop and think about students (and their families) who are already scared before they come to school. If you are afraid to be “too political,” remember that teaching is a political act. Everything you say - or
current eventscurriculum
July 28, 2017 · curriculum
Excerpt from a student's reflection about our storytelling unit. Storytelling is one of the best units I have ever taught. It seamlessly integrates our Reading and Writing instruction, encourages students to use their voices and consider other perspectives, develops communication, presentation, and persuasive skills, and both pushes and allows students to express themselves in a new way. One of the stories we have our students write and perform is inspired by Storycorps and based on an interview with someone close to them. The Storycorps inspired story is the 2nd writing project of our storytelling unit. Timing wise, it usually coincides with Grandparents and Special Friends Day (a tradition at our school), where grandparents/special friends come to school with students for a shortened schedule. We use the Homeroom time to watch Q & A , an animated Storycorps interview by a child named
storytellinginterviewliteracyfamily involvementpublic speaking
May 15, 2017 · curriculum
The amazing Anne Thomas talking to our students about storytelling! We were incredibly fortunate to have the one and only Anne Thomas come in and visit our classroom! Her visit is an annual tradition as part of the introduction to our storytelling unit and it is a day we look forward to all year. My co-teacher Gabby and I first saw Anne perform at a Story District show in DC, and were immediately impressed. Later that week, we emailed her, casually mentioned we were her biggest fans, and asked her to come visit our class. And so the tradition was born! Our storytelling unit is an integrated Reading and Writing unit that takes place every spring in our 5th grade class. Students read, write, listen to, and watch amazing stories. Before Anne’s visit, we had read some great stories with the kids (including Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, by Peter Brown ) and talked about what components are key to
storytellingguest speakerpublic speaking
May 11, 2017 · curriculum
Some of the beautiful portraits our students created (and delivered) to SOME seniors! Service Learning In 5th grade we do a service learning experience that aims to honor what is developmentally appropriate for 5th graders and prioritize maintaining the utmost dignity of the others. Service Learning is such a complicated realm, as we work to ensure that we don't "otherize" or create complicated (and potentially problematic) narratives about what 'help' is and who helps whom. Our SOME (So Others Might Eat) project is one of our favorite service learning experiences, because we think it does work towards our ideals of what service learning should look like: meaningful to all, authentic, and a learning experience! The Process! Our project starts when 5th grade goes to study portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery - learning about how portraits are about more than just a face, but the
service learningartDC
March 15, 2017 · curriculum
We submitted a piece about an experience from our classroom to Embrace Race, a multiracial community of people supporting each other to help nurture kids who are thoughtful and informed about race. It was published recently! Please read T he Message We Send When We Try Not to Talk About Race and let us know what you
racemediumpublished piecesdiscussion
February 16, 2017 · curriculum
Image from the Women's March on 1/21/17. Sunday, February 19th is the 75th anniversary of the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 (in 1945) which led to the removal and internment of approximately 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry. Many of them were US citizens. Many of them lost property or were forced to sell at a loss when they were removed and relocated. I personally find “relocation” and “internment” misleading as people were incarcerated and given no choice about their removal from their homes. Image credit: http://hdjapaneseinternment.weebly.com/uploads/6/8/7/3/6873644/9418554_orig.jpg While this shameful occurrence in American history is and always will be relevant, it feels especially relevant today with the recent Muslim ban, fears of a Muslim registry, and frequent executive orders. You know your students and school best, so I compiled some
historySocial Studiessocial justice educationMuslim bandiscrimination
February 13, 2017 · curriculum
The cards we used for "life twists" that different students received throughout the simulation. “I don't understand why other companies treat their factory workers inhumanely if you can still be successful if you treat people like people.” Economics 101 is in full swing in 5th grade! We tried out a BRAND new simulation today and were reminded how difficult it is to check all of the details for experiential learning activities. Whew! That being said-- we are pleased with what our students experienced and how they are now thinking about different types of work, wages, and the many levels and layers of circumstances that can alter people's financial stability. SET UP: This one is complicated to set up. We have three groups, and each group had different tasks and varying working environments: Office workers (5 students) Task: read news articles and created a presentation Could takes breaks
simulationsEconomicsSocial Studiessocial justice educationsocial class
January 30, 2017 · curriculum
Protesters at Dulles Airport on Saturday night. We were demanding entrance to the United States for people affected by the ban. Coming off a weekend of protesting, I find myself thinking hard about what to say to my students tomorrow when they ask me about the news. We saw some of our students at the rally at the White House today. They will want to share observations from their experience tomorrow. Students will also have questions about checks and balances since we recently concluded a unit on US Government. They will have overheard conversations between adults and understood only snippets of what was going on in the media. Where do we start? Our planned read aloud for tomorrow! Start with a read aloud. Ask students what connections they can make to the story. Can they make text to self connections? Model by thinking of a time you yourself were homesick or scared or missed someone.
protestresistcurrent eventsread aloudSocial Studies
January 23, 2017 · curriculum
Hi everyone, Gabby here. I'm excited to share this idea with you today. It is one of my favorite ideas and tool we have used so far this year. You may have also noticed (we are 110% sure you have) that writing is a process and writing can be hard! We all have our moments where we slump into the doldrums and lows where we just do not know how to get out. I noticed this with myself when working on storytelling pieces.. Each time I started to take on a story, I found myself landing in the same slumps and moaning at very similar times in the process. My friends would laugh on the phone, "Gabby, this always happens to you.. Right about now!" What helped me was recognizing that the lows came specifically during the brainstorming process (and deciding which idea to use!) and just that knowledge that this was a part of my process, gave me some perspective to work through it. And thus, the
writingcurriculumprocessmapreluctant writers
January 18, 2017 · curriculum
"I learned that the small population of the upper class have more money than the huge population of the middle class. I do not think it is fair because a small amount people get a huge advantage over the massive amount of people in the middle/lower class." That's right, today in class we talked about the very agreeable subject of…. Money! We started our Economics unit yesterday with a simulation. In our activity we had the students do IR (independent reading) in spaces that simulated how wealth is distributed in the US. For example: 1 student has 11 chairs (wealthiest 1% has 42% of US wealth) 3 students have 9 chairs (next 9% has 36% of US wealth) 22 students have 6 chairs (bottom 90% has 22% of US wealth) This part of the simulation was all fun and games for us. We squealed and giggled and playfully whined about our legs being squished trying to cram onto those 6 chairs. But then… We
curriculumEconomicssimulationsactive learning
November 22, 2016 · curriculum
We submitted a piece about our storytelling unit to Bright, Medium's platform for news about innovation in education and it was published today! Please read Telling Truth: Why we teach storytelling to fifth graders and let us know what you
storytelling
November 20, 2016 · curriculum
"It's personal." "No one has ever talked about race in front of me so I think you don't talk about it. Ever." "My parents have only talked about it once in front of me and they were REALLY uncomfortable, so I learned you shouldn't talk about race." Earlier this school year, we asked our students what they know about talking about race. A few representative responses are quoted above. All of our students also agreed that race is confusing and they don't know much about it. We discussed how when something is confusing or we don't know much about it, the way to learn more about it IS to talk about it, even if it is uncomfortable. So, this week was "race week" in our classroom. We started with a drawing activity , challenging students to realize stereotypes and expectations they've internalized without realizing, and continue on to learning about institutionalized racism and learning
raceanti-biasdrawingstereotypesilent conversation
October 19, 2016 · curriculum
The newly opened National Museum of African-American History & Culture ! What an AMAZING museum. Our minds are still reeling with personal thoughts and our own identity politics, along with the incessant thinking that teachers do about every single one of their students and their learning. Our brains are on museum-fire! Here are few things we are thinking about post-trip. As adults -- we were reminded yet again the beauty, pain, and necessity of education. We especially loved the quote above. We also felt immensely grateful to be teaching at a (progressive and independent) school where we have autonomy over our curriculum and discussion topics. We feel even more well-equipped (even just taking photos at the museum has given us so many resources and jumping off points). In addition, we feel even more charged to continue educating, re-educating, and unlearning with our students this year!
field tripsracecivil rightsprotestsNMAAHC
October 12, 2016 · curriculum
We must be the luckiest humans in the world! (Well, that and Nina spent a good 7+ hours on the phone listening to Wade in the Water ). Can you guess where we are going with our students? We are going to the NMAAHC ! After this elated moment of realization, it hits us.. Wow. We are going to the NMAAHC. That is phenomenal AND… How in the world do we prepare fifth graders for such a monumental moment, challenging and remarkable history, and then of course, logistically how many hours can we stretch with 26 ten and eleven year olds in a museum?! The questions, concerns, and backwards planning gears all began cranking at terrifying speeds. So here we are. Sharing with you some of the first pieces of preparation before we head to the museum on Tuesday (!!). 1. We think together as a class about: why do we learn about history? Why does it matter? We did this before we studied Indigenous
social justice educationfield trips
October 10, 2016 · curriculum
Map of the four voyages of Christopher Columbus from Britannica Kids . We love debating as a way of developing critical thinking, practicing analytical skills, and thinking through persuasive arguments before we start writing them down as essays. Today, on Columbus Day (still a federal holiday), we had our students debate whether or not Columbus Day should be a holiday. To set up this lesson, we have the students in two groups and give each group a different text. One is framed to be pro Columbus and one is framed to be anti Columbus. We have them read and learn more about Christopher Columbus and then we offer them the opportunity to choose a side for the debate. This series of lesson serves to introduce debating and giving them an opportunity to be try it out themselves, help students recognize the problematic nature of history from one perspective, and demonstrate that author’s
ColumbusSocial Studiessocial justice educationIndigenous American Studies
October 5, 2016 · curriculum
Protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline! Service learning has been really tricky for us in the past as it can feel contrived or otherizing or at the very least, feel less than meaningful for our students. Below are two ideas we have to incorporate thoughtful, beneficial service learning into our new school year. We are very excited about some programs that are in the Dominican Republic, specifically, Alta Gracia , which would go really well with our Economics unit. Alta Gracia pays their workers a living wage and says that, " In addition to this salary, we respect our employees’ rights as workers and as human beings, including the right to a safe and healthy workplace, the right to be treated with dignity and respect on the job, and the right to form a union." We met with Alta Gracia employees and multiple union leaders and workers this summer, and feel like this could be a great
service learninglabor
August 26, 2016 · curriculum
We were so excited to visit the Alta Gracia factory and meet with employees! And we're back to continue our reflection on preparing for the upcoming school year. In this post we want to share with you some of the things we want to change for the upcoming school year. Change is constant, and we are excited to take it on, even as it brings some discomfort (and often a little extra work) into our lives. As Emily Style says, "Half the curriculum walks in the room with the students on the first day.." Which to us means that this list will most definitely get a whole lot longer and intricate as the year progresses! We are going to try… Mini-home groups: We already made a push to have affinity groups at our school. We now run an affinity group for 3-5th graders that we feel has brought so much life and love to our students of color. We love it so much that we have been wondering how to bring
back to schoolservice learningactivism
June 30, 2016 · curriculum
Two students dressed up as US on "Character Day" (for Spirit Week at the end of the year)! Now that it is FINALLY summer (happy summer, teachers! Congratulations on the end of the school year!) We had free time to work on a summer curriculum and instruction program within our entire school. We compiled a social justice education scope and sequence based on existing work and needs from an anti-bias perspective. I (Nina) worked with one of the Art teachers and our author in residence to come up with common vocabulary, document existing work, and identify gaps or areas we'd like to see more work done. For reference, our school is K-8 and independent with one class per grade. First of all, it was fascinating and inspiring to hear about and detail the work our colleagues are doing! We have some amazing investigative work around gender in Kindergarten, work around social class, wealth,
social justice educationscope and sequencecollaboration