Help me give my students books to teach them about diversity and cultural awareness.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Thurman's classroom raised $510
This project is fully funded
My Students
My students are a bundle of energy ranging in ages from 5 to 6. Ninety-eight percent of my students are African Americans. My students love listening to me read stories to them. During read-aloud story time, I have to find literature that is very engaging in order to hold their attention. When the students can identify with the characters, they are more engaged in the question and answer part of the lesson. In my classroom library as well as in the reading curriculum, there is a need for more books that deal with diversity and culture awareness.
My Project
My project is titled “Let’s Have A Conversation.” During my read-aloud story time, I would like to read books about diversity to start a conversation with students about cultural awareness. I would like to read at least 2 to 3 books each nine weeks. By taking a proactive approach at the beginning of the school year, I hope to address some of the concerns or questions that very young students may have about race in America. It is my goal to teach students about events happening in our society in a way in which they will understand. Using books about diversity during read-aloud story time will help students to develop active listening skills. The students will be called upon to share and discuss the books with the teacher as well as with their classmates.
Students will be able to make a real-life connection between the stories using their prior background knowledge.
The use of these books, along with multi-cultural puppets, will help students identify with characters who look like them. Finally, I hope to develop my students’ vocabulary by choosing one or two words from a book and having the students write or draw a picture to describe the word in their weekly journal. By giving my students a platform to discuss diversity in literature, I hope to improve their comprehension skills as well as their cultural awareness skills.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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