Listen. Connect. Empower.

Our entire school is focused on being thankful this month.  Daily announcements suggest ways we can express this in our school and recognize students who are exemplifying this.  The gym and wellness teacher is playing games and starting conversations about what this looks like.  We are showing what we are thankful for in our library classes. We began our library class by reading  We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga.    We practiced saying the Cherokee word and every time we saw it in the text, students read it with me. I shared with students my reasoning for choosing this book.   The author's note explained how the Cherokee culture puts great value on being grateful all throughout the year and not just on one Thursday in November.  I wanted to see what another form of giving thanks would look like in another culture.  Students were intrigued with the Cherokee language (how it sounds and how it is written).  Following the reading...

Our school is beautifully diverse and we celebrate this every November with an International Night.  I like to celebrate in some way in our library as well.  Last year's celebration included reading Yuyi Morales' Dreamers , and virtual traveling with Legos and green screens.  This year, I was inspired by Yamile Saied Mendez's Where Are You From? This made for an ideal read for me because  It is about a young girl with big questions, much like many of my students.  Identify and belonging drive the story which felt so natural to read as we celebrate our heritage.  The poetic use of language made it an exquisite read.    We lingered over the word choice. I read this page slowly, deliberately.  There is no other way to read it. We finished and students asked, "But WHERE is she from?"  After reading more about the author, we decided that perhaps the girl in the story was just like the author, from Rosario, Argentin...

The focus of our school in November is empathy.  To prepare, I had our 1st-3rd graders look at books as "mirrors" and "windows." Day 1 I shared some mirror books with students, demonstrating how certain books: looked like me as a child. reminded me of me dancing everywhere (from Angelina Ballerina). shared my favorite food. (from Saffron Ice Cream) took place in a favorite place of mine (from Saffron Ice Cream). I asked students to find a mirror book and bring it to the rug.  I asked students to share their mirror books with us and what makes it a mirror book. My mirror book looks like me. This is a mirror book because I have fun friends. This is a mirror book because I am sneaky. This is a mirror book because my dog looks like this. After sharing, students had the option to take their book home.  Many students DID choose to take this book home. Day 2 I shared my window book (which also happened to be one of my mi...