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
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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
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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
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
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
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
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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
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