Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Adventures in Home Learning: Episode 11



With the culmination of events that led to protests and demonstrations this past week, I found myself wondering what I could do to be of help. A page I follow on Facebook linked to a helpful list and one thing that caught my attention was to talk to my child about diversity.

Did I really need to talk to my child? I wondered. I had imagined she would understand what my husband and I believe just by how we live our lives. But does she?

As events have unfolded, I’ve found myself talking to my husband while she is safely tucked into her headphones, not wanting her to hear how upset I am by the events that led to protests and then how some protesters were being treated. I didn’t want to scare her with my own questions and concerns.

I decided to have a talk with her. I got out the ingredients to bake something and got her to join me.
I asked, did she know about melanin and how the amount in a person’s skin can be different? She didn’t so I explained that. I also explained that though different groups of people can have different cultures and philosophies, there is only one “race” on Earth, the human race.

It was a place to start.

Today, I received a reference question about folktales from Africa. Although I read a couple wonderful picture books on individual tales years ago in library school and I love Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, I knew this was for a middle grade child and neither of those things would fit the bill. I didn’t find much in our online catalog, so I expanded my search to Project Gutenberg where I did find some.

It got me wondering about resources in our online library, and on the Internet in general, to teach children about a more diverse perspective of history. Here are some of the things I’ve come up with.

A History in Which We Can All See Ourselves
Educators are finding ways to tell a richer history of America—responding to the demands of an increasingly diverse student body.
May 23, 2018

Teaching Kids about Diversity and Acceptance
March 4, 2019

Scholastic Magazine
Lesson Plan: Multiculturalism and Diversity

Culture and Diversity
Resource collection

30 CHILDREN’S BOOKS ABOUT DIVERSITY THAT CELEBRATE OUR DIFFERENCES
Danika Ellis Sep 19, 2018

#BLM Books Available Through Overdrive

·        Some Places More Than Others by Renée Watson https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/4879672

·        Separate Is Never Equal Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/1762792

·        Now or Never! Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry's War to End Slavery by Ray Anthony Shepard https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/3591422

·        Little Leaders Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/3280049

·        Lillian's Right to Vote A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter Shane W. Evans https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/account/lists/wishlist

·        It All Comes Down to This by Karen English https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/2875515

·        I Look Up To... Michelle Obama by Anna Membrino Fatti Burke https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/3924206

·        Hidden Figures Young Readers' Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/2830082

·        Enough! 20 Protesters Who Changed America by Emily Easton Ziyue Chen https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/4147784

·        Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton Raul Colón https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/508352

·        Brave. Black. First. 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World by Cheryl Hudson Erin K. Robinson https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/4837093

·        The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/842890

·        Ada Twist, Scientist The Questioneers by Andrea Beaty David Roberts                 https://stls.overdrive.com/library/kids/media/2877546

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