Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our webinar, “LGBTQ+ Children’s Books: A Conversation with Authors.” If you missed it live, or just want to watch it again, here is a recording of the webinar:
Tag Archives: Educators
How to Critically Select Children’s Books with Representations of Disability Experiences
In this guest blog post, Monica Kleekamp, a PhD candidate in the department of Learning, Teaching & Curriculum at the University of Missouri-Columbia, discusses the importance of inclusive children’s literature and how to critically select texts with regards to representations of disability experiences.
What is inclusive children’s literature? What is it not? Why is it important?
As students look to the shelves in their classrooms and school libraries, they seek representations of themselves—characters who look, feel, and experience the world in similar ways. The field of children’s literature continues to problematize the ways our bookshelves perpetuate representations of white, cisgender, heterosexual, and middle-class characters. A term often added to the end of this list is “able.”
Inclusive children’s literature that features characters who are either physically and/or intellectually diverse—characters who have been labeled as disabled—remain few and far between. Additionally, those texts that do exist often follow tropes of pity or dehumanization. These texts have also been heavily critiqued for their over-representation of white male characters who access prosthetics. Continue reading
Social Activism Books for Third Grade
Books can encourage kids of all ages to enact change in their communities. Because it’s never too early to make a difference, we’ll be sharing a list of social activism books for each grade level. Check out our social activism book roundup for third grade below and for more social activism titles, check out our full printable Social Activism Diverse Reading List!
Teaching My Kindergarten Class about the Refugee Experience
In this guest post, Rona K. Wolfe, Junior Kindergarten Teacher at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, explores methods of teaching her kindergarten students about the experiences of refugees around the world.
Rethinking
As a kindergarten teacher, I wanted to expose my students to global experiences. What does that look like in a class with our youngest students? After careful thought, I wanted the young children in my class at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School to learn about the difficulties and experiences of refugees living in our community.
Social Activism Books for Second Grade
Books can encourage kids of all ages to enact change in their communities. Because it’s never too early to make a difference, we’ll be sharing a list of social activism books for each grade level. Check out our social activism book roundup for second grade below and for more social activism titles, check out our full printable Social Activism Diverse Reading List!
Social Activism Books for First Grade
Books can encourage kids of all ages to enact change in their communities. Because it’s never too early to make a difference, we’ll be sharing a list of social activism books for each grade level. Check out our social activism book roundup for first grade below and for more social activism titles, check out our full printable Social Activism Diverse Reading List!
Social Activism Books for Kindergarten
Books can encourage kids of all ages to enact change in their communities. Because it’s never too early to make a difference, each month we’ll be sharing a list of social activism books for each grade level starting with Kindergarten. Check out our social activism book roundup below, and for more social activism titles, check out our full printable Social Activism Diverse Reading List! Continue reading
Authentic Spanish Books List for Grades PreK-5
Check out our new printable Authentic Spanish Book List that features some of our most popular award-winning bilingual and dual language texts written by authors from the cultures featured in our books.
The read alouds featured in this list will help build a solid foundation to achieve Spanish literacy or bilingualism while also affirming and validating a child’s identity, culture, and home language. These stories celebrate cultures, voices, and experiences of communities historically underrepresented or misrepresented in children’s literature.
Included in this list are culturally and linguistically authentic books that all children can enjoy.
Authentic Spanish Book List Collections:
Authentic Spanish Book List Collection
Authentic Spanish Book List Grades PreK-2 Collection
Authentic Spanish Book List Grades 3-5 Collection
Download, print, and share the Authentic Spanish Book List here.
Watch the Webinar: Teaching Social Activism through Children’s Books
Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our webinar, “Teaching Social Activism through Children’s Books”! If you missed it live (or just want to watch again), here is a recording of the webinar:
Oprah Winfrey Reads The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen For Storyline Online
The itch. The Hula-Hoopin’ itch. My fingers start snappin’. My feet start tappin’. My hips start swingin’.
The Hula Hoopin’ Queen was selected by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation for the first read aloud of 2019 on Storyline Online, an interactive literacy website where world-renowned actors and celebrities read popular, award-winning children’s books to help students fall in love with reading.
The Hula Hoopin’ Queen was written by Thelma Godin, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton, and is now read by Oprah Winfrey on Emmy-nominated Storyline Online.