Juneteenth

With Juneteenth coming up, we wanted to share some resources. I have never actually taught about Juneteenth as school is usually out for us by then, but it is definitely worth addressing even as you finish up and get ready for summer. The book pictured above, Juneteenth for Mazie, would be a great place to start with elementary school kids, but more ideas from the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) are linked below.

 Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but was a public holiday in Washington DC and many other places before that. Originally, it was celebrated in Texas and slowly spread through migration around the country.

We are including some reading lists and information for children and adults below.

Happy Juneteenth (and summer break or almost summer break!

Celebrating Juneteenth | National Museum of African American History and Culture

Understanding & Celebrating Juneteenth NMAAHC Kids

Juneteenth Reading List | National Museum of African American History and Culture (for adults!)

Teaching About Juneteenth Educators 4 Social Change

Teaching Juneteenth- Learning for Justice

Juneteenth: Teaching Outside the Textbook -Zinn Education Project

Lesson Plan: History of Juneteenth and why it's now a ...PBS

Five Ways to Learn About Juneteenth With The New York Times

Valentine's Day 2023

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. However, it won’t be out in time for this year’s Valentine’s Day, but it’s a good one to keep in mind for next year and just learning and reading in general.

Another book that is a perfect Valentine’s Day and everyday read aloud is How We Eat by by  Shuli de la Fuente-Lau (it’s book number 5 in the We Are Little Feminists series). My 3 year old loves this book and we read it all the time. Food is love, and as the book says, “eating is close to the heart.” so it’s a great Valentine’s Day connection and a way for students to think about different ways of eating and how we each have our own food that means love to us. This could be a lovely share and writing/reflection activity.

Another heart activity is to think about what is close to our heart(s) for writing inspiration. I often do this at the beginning of the school year as part of setting up our Writer’s Notebooks, but it’s a nice activity (or a nice re-do or refresh) for anytime. Students can create their own hearts, color and decorate them, and then write down things that are close to their heart that might help them find inspiration when thinking about what to write about.

Of course, it’s always nice to make cards for others on Valentine’s Day. One year, I made cards for nursing home residents with my class through the DC Public Library, but even if you don’t live in DC or they are not running the program this year, it would be relatively easy to organize something like this on your own too. Or think of adults in the building who don’t always get appreciation from others (librarians, custodians, receptionists, IT, cafeteria staff, and more).

With so much tragic news occuring lately, I was remembering when we tried to send some love and support to a community that was having a hard time. You can read about it and see examples with this post: Writing Postcards for Charlottesville with 3rd Graders). Thinking of so many communities who might appreciate a little lift today.

However you celebrate Valentine's Day (or choose not to), remember that we are halfway through February and that much closer to spring. Happy Valentine’s Day to all of the teachers!

Martin Luther King Day in 2023

When Barbara Walters died at the end of December, I saw a tweet noting that she and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were born the same year (1929) and that is how much (potential) life was stolen from him. It was a stark reminder for me. This year marks 55 years since Dr. King was assassinated. 

How to best address Martin Luther King Day in the classroom is a constant question for us. We’ve written about it before and always wonder what the best approach is. Doing or saying nothing doesn’t feel right, but neither does a quick one day activity. You can read about our approach last year here: MLK Day 2022: Reminders & Ideas and our approach with 5th graders here: Observing MLK Day in the Classroom. Teaching the History of Voting Rights in the USA is also always a timely reminder and important lesson.

There are so many book lists out there already, so we will just share a few books for read aloud ideas below. I keep coming back to thinking about his larger legacy and the legacy of his family members (especially Coretta Scott King) as well. Even if you don’t end up reading the books to your entire class, you can have them available for students who would like to learn more.  (Thanks to Diverse Book Finder for inspiration in my search for read alouds).

Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange and Kadir Nelson (pictured above).

I have a dream by Martin Luther King and Kadir Nelson

Love will see you through by Angela Farris Watkins and Sally Wern Comport (written by Dr. King’s niece),

Someday is now by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Jade Johnson (I definitely need to learn more about Clara Luper!).

One last note - many schools and communities have a day of service in honor of Dr. King. Make sure your students know why this is taking place and answer their questions (they will have questions!).

Leading Up to Winter Break

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 be, letting them know I’ll miss our wonderful daily routine together, I might be nervous about traveling (especially during the pandemic) or my baby not sleeping in a new place, but I’m also looking forward to seeing family. Modeling processing and acknowledging mixed feelings can be very helpful if any of your students are anxious or similarly conflicted.

I’m sure this goes without saying, but remember that not everyone celebrates holidays, be it Christmas or any holiday. I’ve always provided family surveys at the beginning of the year so families can share any traditions that are important to them, and I will ask my students about family traditions, but try not to assume that they are centered around Christmas or winter. Snowflakes or festivity around snow (this is the season of hoping for snow days after all) is a great way to bring some seasonal festivity into your class without using religious symbols. Holidays can be hard for some families, especially anyone who has recently suffered a loss or a big change. And again, some families don’t celebrate, so assuming that everyone does might make students feel left out or alienated. 

Some festive activities that I’ve used in the past to get through December and channel some of my students’ excitement/restlessness/general energy are below.

• Making snowflakes to decorate the classroom. You can make this as academic or artistic as you like - we’ve written adjectives on snowflakes, used them for a Math lesson, written poems on them, or used art supplies to embellish them!

• Coming up with “gifts” for people in the building. While cards are great, what else can we do for others? Students are very creative and will think of acts of kindness and appreciation that will surprise and amuse you.

• Share family winter traditions! If possible, invite family members to join. I’ve done this in person or over Zoom and both ways were lovely. 

• Have a hot cocoa and reading party! We’ve let students bring in stuffed animals or pillows and spent the morning before the school winter concert reading. It’s such a nice calm way to head into the break and gives you an opportunity to catch your breath and make sure every student has something to read at home over the break.

• Read Elijah’s Angel: a Story for Chanukah and Christmas by Michael J. Rosen (again, you know your students, so if you do have students who don’t celebrate who might feel alienated by this book, find something else to read!). I love that this book models sharing what feels comfortable for you and your family and navigating this while caring for friends. 

• Clean and organize to get ready for the break/new year! I’ve found that students LOVE cleaning up the classroom especially if you allow them to use cleaning supplies. They can work in teams and each be responsible for one part of the room, or have the reward of using a duster somewhere in the classroom once their desk or personal area is clean and organized.

• Learn about Winter Solstice Traditions around the world. 

• Learn about Human Rights Day. This is also a nice counterbalance to a focus on presents or possessions.

• Do some prep work to make coming back in January easier for all of you. This might include laying the groundwork for some good activities by talking through some ideas with your students and physically getting some things ready to make it easier on yourself. 

  • I often have students write New Year’s Resolutions in January and I always make those copies in December so I have at least one activity ready to go when I come back. 

  • Another fun activity for coming back to school after a break is writing book reviews or book recommendations. I tell students we will do this when we return and then they have an extra incentive to read over the break!

Happy December and almost winter break to all the teachers (and students)! Hope you have some time to rest and take a deep breath as well as moments with loved ones and delicious food. 2022 has been quite the year.

Navigating Fall Holidays

Rebecca Nagle reminded me that it was suddenly fall and a perfect time to share resources and reminders for the upcoming holidays. Her tweet thread explains it beautifully and shares helpful resources. Our blog posts below share different strategies and ideas for addressing Columbus Day (Indigenous Peoples Day), Halloween, and Thanksgiving in the classroom. 

We taught these lessons with elementary school students (3rd or 5th grade), but they can easily be adapted for older learners.

Columbus Day (Indigenous Peoples Day): October 12th

Unfortunately, Columbus Day is still a federal holiday, although more and more communities have voted to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead. We facilitated Columbus Day Debates with our students one year and led a Holiday Inquiry: Columbus Day another year. If you choose to have a similar debate in your classroom, make sure you have time for debrief and a more general conversation about critical literacy and historical narrative. The holiday inquiry post also shares how we celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day in our classroom.

Halloween: October 31st

Halloween is already a lot for elementary school teachers without adding racist or appropriative costumes to the mix. We found it really helpful to talk to students beforehand and share notes from our conversation with families so everyone knew what the expectations around costumes were before they got around to bringing anything to school. Prevention and preparation are key for Halloween! We also loved having our students investigate and analyze different commercial costumes and share out what they noticed. Read more at Holiday Investigations : Halloween! 

Thanksgiving: November 24th

Here are some Gratitude Activities We Love and Thanksgiving & Native American Heritage Month Resources & Reminders. The second post includes general tips to keep in mind when looking for resources about Native Americans, as well as some of our ideas for addressing Thanksgiving in our 3rd grade class that year. 

We also wrote this post earlier this school year to help frame your thinking as you choose books or other resources for your classrooms (and yourselves!): Choosing Nonfiction Resources Critically.

Happy October!

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Learning & Teaching about Ramadan

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 important holidays which I know sometimes felt stressful for them. However, after I moved on, New York Public Schools added both Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr to the school holidays list. Later, Lunar New Year was added as well. It’s great to see a public school system respecting the holidays that many of their students celebrate, but in my experience, this is unusual, even in districts with large numbers of families that observe Ramadan or celebrate Lunar New Year. Hopefully this will continue to change!

I always start by asking my students what they know about Ramadan and going from there. It’s important to dispel the myth that Ramadan is something that only happens in other countries as many Americans observe Ramadan as well. As always, it’s a good time to look at a map! This interactive map shows the Muslim population by country and students love interacting with it. I also found this graphic showing the different fasting hours based on location interesting and very clear. It’s also another opportunity to practice our map skills! My next step would be to have students read something to learn more information (or multiple things) and my go to is always a read aloud followed by a Newsela article. Providing a bin of books for students to continue learning more on their own is always helpful as well. Brainpop also has a movie about Ramadan, which is a good way for students to build some background knowledge before moving on to learn more on their own.

Resources to Highlight and Bookmark:

• I found this letter for educators from Dr. Sawsan Jaber, a high school English teacher in Illinois, very helpful and informative. It includes some great resources. Please read it and share it. 

• I also discovered a great new blog: Notes from an Islamic School Librarian. There are so many wonderful book recommendations! Again, please read and share. Remember that everyday is a good day to read books with varied representations. 

Books!

A Party in Ramadan by Asma Mobin-Uddin: I have this one in my classroom! The characters are very relatable and students often find both windows and mirrors in this story as they have friends who follow different traditions. The book includes an author’s note at the end that shares more information about Ramandan.

Rashad's Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr by Lisa Bullard: I haven’t had the pleasure of reading this book yet, but it comes highly recommended and has a glossary and information boxes sprinkled throughout for more learning. It also seems to be appropriate for younger learners (K-2).

All books by Rukshana Khan! I have to give Big Red Lollipop a shout out as we used it as a mentor text when writing our own stories, but also because my students connected with it on so many levels. They had so much to say and didn’t require any questions or prompts to think deeply about the characters and text. Her books are beautifully written and illustrated and while many of the characters are Muslim, their stories are bigger than a sole focus on identity..

A Sari for Ammi by Mamta Nainy: this book is full of bright, gorgeous illustrations and saris. It always makes me happy to see saris in a book because I remember both of my grandmothers wearing them. I also appreciate how this story disrupts the single story about India and teaches us all about a mostly female and Muslim artisan community. The book includes a glossary and an information page about Kota Doria sari weaving in Kaithun, Rajasthan. There is a reference to Eid, but this book is not specifically about Ramadan.

Another author to check out is Reem Faruqi for both Lailah’s Lunchbox: a Ramadan Story  (cover photo) and Amira’s Picture Day. Both books address Ramadan directly and the main characters’ simultaneous excitement and trepidation about managing at school. They both include a glossary and address the challenge of a home/school balance when your classmates might not share many of your traditions or customs.

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Valentine's Day

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 while bringing cards was optional, you must bring one for everyone if you are going to bring them in. 

Even if exchanging cards doesn’t work for you or your class, there are many different ways you can approach Valentine’s Day. We’ve included some resources below with a list of possible read alouds. We’ve also written cards for seniors (through DC Public Library) and focused on writing cards for people in our school community that might not get a lot of cards on Valentine’s Day as they aren’t part of a class. I’ve had students make cards for someone at home or share appreciations about classmates. 

One of my favorite memories of Valentine’s Day at school, however, is when Gabby and I gave our 5th graders some Valentine’s Day commercials to peruse with a few different lenses. Students worked in groups to investigate and share their observations and questions, and then we shared out as a class. The students had a lot to say about the commercials (this was in 2014 so maybe/hopefully commercials nowadays would have more representation?) and were especially upset that no one in the commercials was wearing glasses. I sometimes wear glasses and my students took the exclusion of glasses from the commercials very personally on my behalf! It was unexpected and very hard not to laugh as you truly never know what students will come up with.

We started by asking students what they think of when they think about Valentine’s Day. Students shared different associations and traditions. Then, we put students into small groups and gave them a tracking table to record observations and questions (pictured above). Each group watched the same 4 commercials, but did an in-depth analysis of one commercial through the lens of gender, sexuality, racial or ethnic representation, and socio-economic status. We taught into some of these terms earlier in the school year and in general, made sure students knew what they were investigating. 

Here are the commercials we used:

1. FTD (flowers) - we weren’t able to find a working link to the commercial we used in the past, so here is another example.

2. Jewelry (Pandora) - again, we weren’t able to find a working link to the original commercial we used, but here is another example. 

3. Chocolate (Russell Stover)

4. Verizon

In addition to the frustration over no one wearing glasses, students had A LOT to say. They felt that the commercials depicted women as “greedy” because they “just wanted people to buy things for them” and that everyone had to have a relationship a certain way even though there are so many ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day or care about someone. Students also noticed that everyone in the commercials was white, straight, and seemed to have a lot of money or at least not be at all worried about money. We also pushed them to think about why this messaging matters or what impact it might have outside of Valentine’s Day. Students had a lot of ideas and reflections and many made personal connections with feeling alienated or not seeing themselves or their families represented.

Read Alouds:

Both of these could be combined with a writing exercise asking students to write/create in answer to the prompt what is love? Or what does love mean to you? 

Love by Sophia by Jim Averbeck

Love by Matt de la Pena

Other Resources:

The Dark Origins of Valentine's Day: NPR (this is definitely a read for adults)

Resources for Learning about Empathy on Valentine's Day: Edutopia

Resources for Teaching About Love: Rethinking Schools

Happy Valentine’s Day (or halfway through February!) to all of you - however you choose to celebrate, or not. We know you show love to students every single day in so many different ways. Please share any other ideas you have for activities, investigations, read alouds, or more.

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Observing MLK Day in the Classroom

Every year, when we have a long weekend for Martin Luther King, Jr. day, we wonder how to address the holiday. Issues of inequality cannot simply be explained and dismissed in one day, and simplistic or one-dimensional descriptions of Dr. King don’t do him justice. We also try to incorporate social justice education into our classroom everyday, as oppression, prejudice, and discrimination are always relevant to teaching and learning about the world.

We often find that our students think that racism and segregation were a problem, and Dr. King “fixed” that problem and everyone is equal now. They make statements about how everyone is equal now and Dr. King caused that through nonviolence and an inspiring speech. So we start by asking students what they know about Dr. King. Younger students in particular focus on the fact that he was shot (and yet still fixate on nonviolence when recalling the Civil Rights movement). This year, we heard a lot about his “I Have a Dream” speech and the fact that it took place here in Washington, DC, as well as the usual answers about how he spoke and acted against racism and wanted equality for all people.

We wanted to take a closer look at his “I Have a Dream Speech” as it is something students seem to have been hearing about for years, so it is very familiar to them. It’s also helpful context that it occured in Washington, DC. Third graders (like all of us) benefit from background information and contextual knowledge, especially when studying events that happened in the past. We also wanted to take a closer look at Dr. King’s speech as it is often referenced in the simplistic or one dimensional discussions and portrayals of Dr. King in our media and society.

So we gave each student a copy of his “I Have a Dream” speech. We used Newsela’s Primary Sources resource (which we recommend all Social Studies teachers use often!) so it was adapted to be at a 3rd grade reading level. We had students read the speech and indicate what they agreed with or had questions about. We also listened to and watched this excerpt from his speech so students could hear Dr. King’s voice instead of a different version or interpretation of it.

Finally, we talked to our students about how Dr. King’s dream is still relevant today on a variety of levels. In the past, students have told us that his dream was realized or “mostly accomplished,” but with our current political climate, more of our students are aware of the existence of racism, injustice, and inequality than ever. When President Obama was in office, we had students share variations of the idea that racism was “fixed” because we had a black president. Our current president has demonstrated to our students how racism is not “fixed” and is as pervasive as ever. However, they still benefited from a discussion of injustice and lack of equal opportunities to help push their thinking about equality (or equity) and how it is so much more than white and black children “being friends.”

We ended by reminding our students that we are all complex humans, and one day is not nearly enough to learn about someone’s life and beliefs. We are moving into a study of biographies and will have more opportunities to learn about many inspiring humans and their multifaceted beliefs and causes.

How do you commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in your classroom? Do you hear similar statements about racism being a past problem from your students (or other adults)? We’d love to hear about it.

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Holiday Inquiry: Columbus Day

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 the book.

We then had a whole class discussion about who Christopher Columbus was, with students calling into question the idea that “he discovered America.” We found San Salvador on a world map, and looked at this map showing his Columbus’s four voyages. Students were surprised that he never actually came to the continental United States, and confused by the idea of “discovering” a new place when people already lived there.

One student clarified, “He discovered the Americas for white people in Europe.”

Other students had questions about how Columbus and the other Europeans with him treated the Taino people. In Encounter, the narrator (a Taino child) describes touching a sword and getting “bitten.” We discussed how there will be an imbalance of power between someone who has weapons and someone who does not. Students asked what Columbus did that should be celebrated with a holiday (other than the previously mentioned “discovered the Americas for white people in Europe.”)

Next, we watched Reconsider Columbus Day. Some of our students had heard of Indigenous People’s Day, but most had not. They liked the idea of going back to their original idea of a holiday to celebrate someone or something positive. One student asked, “Why would there be a holiday for someone who was bad?”

We let students reflect and discuss that question, and then had them write responses to what they had learned and what they were still thinking or wondering about. Many of them still had questions and continued to grapple with the idea of a holiday for someone who hurt other people.

One of our student's written responses after our discussion.

On Monday, in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, we watched Indigenous People’s Day and Daunette on Being Native American. We will continue our investigation of holidays, monuments, and whose perspective is heard, valued, and prioritized all year.

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Holiday Investigations : Halloween!

Hallo again! (see what we did there? Nina says this wasn’t my finest). Yours truly were there, and they're (their was also a costume but is not pictured). Of course we can all have a reminder about homophones on Halloween! 

It was just recently Halloween in 5th grade and we wanted to share one of our favorite parts of prepping for the holiday. 

In 5th grade since we are constantly examining systems and institutions, we examine many holidays throughout the year and Halloween is no exception! 

Halloween is a jackpot for discussing stereotypes, cultural appropriation, gender norms, “trends” and media. In short, we LOVE it as a way to inspire even more social justice conversations. 

We do an investigation into Halloween in which students are broken into four groups: “boys" costumes, "girls" costumes, cultural/international costumes, and "women’s" costumes.  

We have either found appropriate pages that work for us or we create our own. For example, for the cultural/international costumes page, we created a google doc with a bunch of images we pulled from Halloween costumes websites. We are sure to leave in details like “Sold Out!” so that students can see the level of demand for certain costumes. 

Students then use a tracking sheet with their group mates to collect data about the costumes on the page assigned to their group. They collect information about what gender they perceive the person to be, details about the poses, colors, whether or not the model presents as a person of color or not etc. We also give them a space to add other notes. 

After collecting all of this data we ask students to look for trends. What patterns did they notice? “Skirts, skirts, and MORE Skirts!” said our group looking at the “girls” costumes. And then we discuss. Each group shares out their data/trends and we talk about overall findings. 

Some of the thoughts the 5th graders had were: 
On girly costumes: "I wouldn’t want to wear any of them! It was sexist" (They also noted Coach Arca wouldn't let any of the girls step onto her basketball court in high heels!) 

They also asked some important questions like, "Why would you say someone else’s culture is silly?" and "Isn't it really weird to put on someone else’s skin?" "Not all rappers are the same - why would they say/think they are? These questions ended with a comment in which one student said, "It is starting to seem like costumes are just made up of stereotypes.."

We also reflect on what we think about when we choose costumes? What is Halloween about for us personally? 

We are sure to do this investigation BEFORE the big day so that students can transfer this type of thinking to their own costume choice. 

And here we are— on Halloween! Excited, dressed up silly, expressing ourselves respectfully and with joy. We also celebrated our poetry on Halloween with a publishing party in the afternoon. All in all, a great build up and actual Halloween. 

We love having fun with the holiday, and we LOVE using holidays and investigation as a way of doing some critical thinking and in depth observation of systems and stereotypes we have in place. 

Happy (belated) Halloween! 

Let us know how you investigate holidays in your classroom! How do you take on Halloween? 

Below are some images from our investigation: