Remember: The Journey to School Integration

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Remember the Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison Yesterday was the 5oth anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech “I Have a Dream”.  School starts for most Michigan students next Tuesday, and I wonder how many of those students realize that there was a time when many school doors were closed to kids who weren’t white.

Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison is a powerful and poignant nonfiction book full of photographs that bring to life this time in American history. We see a photo of a little African-American girl with a bow in her hair, reading from her school book, and Morrison writes, “The law says I can’t go to school with white children. Are they afraid of my socks, my braids? I am seven years old. Why are they afraid of me?”

We see three white boys wearing cardboard signs that say things like “WE WON’T GO TO SCHOOL WITH NEGROES” and Morrison writes, “I don’t know. My buddies talked me into this. They said it would be fun. It’s not, but these guys are my friends and friends are more important than strangers. Even if they’re wrong. Aren’t they?”

We see a white teenage girl and an African-American teenage girl smiling at each other at a school lunch table. We see a group of students with a variety of skin colors gathered around a picture book.  Morrison includes information about Brown vs. the Board of Education, a timeline, and notes on each photo at the end of the book, but even if you just share the photos and the captions, this book will spark discussions (and hit that CCSS of Range of Reading.)

Since this is a book about something that happened before your students were born, why share it? In Morrison’s words, “Why offer memories you do not have? Remembering can be painful, even frightening. But it can also swell your heart and open your mind… the path was not entered, the gate was not opened, the road was not taken only for those brave enough to walk it. It was for you as well.”

So share this beautiful book with your students. Make time for thoughtful, respectful discussion.  There’s a free teacher’s guide on houghtonmifflinbooks.com with discussion questions and research ideas. Encourage your students to put themselves in the shoes of kids who had to struggle for access to a good education. Take inspiration from the powerful photos you’ve seen. Bring a digital camera into your classroom so your students can take photos of each other and themselves and write, as Morrison did, what they think the person in the photo was thinking.  Celebrate the fact that each and every one of your students is safe and welcome in your classroom.

 

Go Out and Play!

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gooutandplay Go Out and Play! Favorite Outdoor Games from KaBOOM! is like a chocolate-covered peanut butter cup: it combines two good things to make something wonderful, and it is something I cannot resist.

The peanut-butter-part: Go Out and Play! is a nonfiction book, so sharing it with your students hits that Range of Reading Common Core Standard. Use the the table of contents (nice informational text feature) to help you choose from the dozens of games listed. Use the key at the bottom of each page (another nice informational text feature) to see how many players you’ll need, the recommended age group, how large an area you’ll need, and what, if any, materials you’ll need. Each game has one short page of information explaining how it is played. To build informational reading comprehension, give each student or group of students a page from the book to read. Each group can teach the class how to play that game. (Key Ideas and Details? Check!)

The chocolate part: Go Out and Play! will make your students want to go out and play. So yes it’s an informational book for teaching reading skills, but it’s all about games and playing outside – woohoo! Physical Education teachers will want to keep a copy all to themselves, but get one for your classroom, too, so when your students (or you) need a brain break you can grab this book and play.

For more information about KaBOOM! and its mission to encourage outdoor play, please visit: kaboom.org.

My First Author Gig

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Next week I am speaking to a group of elementary teachers about writing and publishing. It’s my first gig speaking as an author to a group of adults. I am 1/3 nervous, 1/3 excited, 1/6 fearful that I will be revealed as an imposter, and the leftover bits feel like I’ve been preparing for this for a long time.

And, according to the ancient documents I found while moving, I have been preparing for my place in the book world since at least second grade. The lesson here is to encourage your students’ passions because it may be the path of a future career. Tell students to save their work so they can look back one day on who they used to be. And most importantly, teach students to write daily affirmations like “I have a nice complexion.” These will come in handy during the tough teen years.

kkw

Brothers at Bat

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brothersatbat

Because it is baseball season (go, Tigers!) and because I just found out that I get to go back to New Jersey in September to teach a seminar for preschool and kindergarten teachers, this week I’m featuring a book about baseball written by one of my favorite Jersey girls.

Brothers at Bat: the true story of an amazing all-brother baseball team  is written by Audrey Vernick and illustrated by Steven Salerno. In 1938, the twelve Acerra brothers formed their own semi-pro baseball team.  With their dad as their coach, the brothers went on to win league championships four times, and earned a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame as the longest-playing all-brother baseball team. Salerno’s art perfectly captures the feel of the 1930s and 1940s. I love the photo at the end of the book showing all the brothers in uniform.

More than just a book about an interesting bit of baseball trivia, the heart of this story is how the brothers were a team for life, both on and off the field. “As the younger brothers grew up,” Vernick writes, “the older ones shared playing time.” When Alfred loses an eye due to a bad bounce of a baseball, his brothers work with him so he can rejoin the team. “He was a pretty good catcher for a guy with one eye,” one brother says. You can discuss with your students all the examples of teamwork in this book to hit the Common Core State Standard of Key Ideas and Details. Talk about teamwork in your classroom. Your students can each make a “baseball” card for themselves, and even team uniforms with white t-shirts and Sharpie markers! Take your students outside for a game of catch with the little bouncy balls from the dollar store. You’ll build hand-eye coordination, cooperation skills, and a sense of teamwork in your classroom. Play ball!

Audrey Vernick has a curriculum guide with lots of discussion questions and ideas on her website: audreyvernick.com. On Steven Salerno’s website you can see some of the illustrations for this book in process: stevensalerno.com.

This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations

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This Plus ThatNot only is this week’s picture book a fun way to teach some of the Common Core State Standards in Reading, it is also the best inspiration for your “welcome back to school” classroom bulletin board.

This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace is sheer brilliance. It starts with:

1 + 1 = us

I love it! Not only will your students know how to read math symbols after sharing this book, but they’ll look at math much more creatively.

Smile + wave = hello
Smile + ocean wave = beach

Some are compare and contrast (I love what does and does not equal a sincere apology!), some are stand-alone sentences. Most are addition, but other math ideas come into play as well:
cozy + smell of pancakes – alarm clock = weekend

This would be fun to pair with 1 + 1 = 5 by David La Rochelle and Brenda Sexton if you’d like to hit Integrating Knowledge & Ideas, but all on its own This Plus That teaches Print Concepts and works beautifully to build Fluency.

After you share This Plus That, brainstorm and write equations with your students. In the book:

leaves + hot soup = fall

What things add up to fall for your students? And I’d love to make a welcoming bulletin board with:

1 + 1 = us    and       Joe + Gabriel + Julia + Matt…. = our class

This Plus That + your students = a whole new way of writing with math symbols!

For more information about the author, please visit whoisamy.com.

For more information about the illustrator, please visit jencorace.com.