This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students are children who remind me of the people that Alicia Keys sings about in her song "Underdog." They are children who often believe that they'll "never make it," but I know they were "built to break the mold." They are children who have dreams that are worth chasing. They are children who have been exposed to at least one and sometimes more Adverse Childhood Experiences, but still have a sense of why family is important. They are children who deserve the opportunity to learn about African Americans who may have struggled but continue to rise up. Many are children, who are growing up learning that family is the "foundation" of African American life and history. They are children who know that "Family is the anchor that holds them through life's storm." They know that "family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are." My students know that "A person's own family is, without doubt, the greatest wealth that they'll ever possess."
My students are children who will "Keep on keeping at what you love...You'll find that someday soon enough...You will rise up."
My Project
For Black History Month, Barrett Elementary comes together to create an Interactive Living Museum, which brings students, parents, administration & community together to honor the past & inspire the future. The Black History Month Theme for 2021 is "The Black Family" and what a better way to bring families together than engaging them with great books and literature written & illustrated by African American authors & illustrators. Growing up as a child, I remember gathering on my living couch nightly with my mommy & siblings to listen to our favorite bedtime stories. With my mommy's help, we would go on adventures to far away places, pursue our dreams & transform into magical characters that we wished we could be.
By expanding our African American Children's Literature Exhibit in our "We Are Family: Black History Month 2021 Interactive Living Museum," we are opening doors and allowing children and their families to imagine a world through a different lens.
They say a photograph is the pause button of life & according to J. Pinkney; his goal is "I want kids to understand that making pictures is similar to making music; there are so many instruments & so many tunes that the possibilities for how you play are truly limitless." I want my students to discover with the help of their families that they could be the next T. Morrison, who believes that "If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it." I want my students to learn what M. Angelou believed, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you." I want them to see themselves as Scientific Pioneers, Trailblazing Entrepreneurs, Barrier-Breaking Activists & Afro-Futurists...I want them to write their own stories.
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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. Bost and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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