Our South Bronx school community thrives on the diverse strengths of our bright, young students. They come to us from households primarily at or below the poverty level. They often come to us as English language learners with families hailing from dozens of countries around the world.
Despite the challenges of their environments, our students come to us as enthusiastic, determined, and insatiably curious learners with a particular affinity for the arts.
Their time with me in the music program allows them to express themselves, explore their creativity, and build a supportive, cooperative community with their peers through pathways unique to the performing arts.
My Project
Kids love stories. They learn from them, identify with characters in them, gain inspiration from them. With restrictions in place on many of our “normal” music class activities this school year, picture books provide a unique, safe opportunity for students to engage their creative selves, musically and beyond.
The books on this list are culturally responsive, musically rich pieces of literature that will help students develop their musical abilities and creativities while allowing for safe, flexible learning both in the classroom and at home.
Our Bronx children will see themselves, their families, and communities in these stories; the majority of the authors are BBIA (Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian), and our vendor is a black-owned bookstore in the Bronx.
In the classroom, students could attend to a read-aloud of “Canta, rana, canta/Sing, froggie, sing” while eating lunch and then when finished work together to create musical patterns to represent each animal sound in the story. In remote instruction, students could interact with a narrated video of “Violet’s Music” with pauses to perform their own musical improvisations along with Violet. The possibilities are endless, and we are grateful for your help as we reimagine musical learning at Grant Avenue!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. P. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
