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https://www.mafomn.com/listing/pact-for-families-collaborative-willmar-willmar-2/
This resource is a great resource to help children who may be struggling with any of these topics. When I called the lady said that they have many tools to help parents and others with all of these topics if they should have had to face these.

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PACT for Families Collaborative - Willmar, Willmar

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Name: PACT for Families Collaborative - Willmar Services: Integrated Children's Mental Health & Family Services Collaboratives Date Opened: 11/26/2001 Address: 2200 23rd St NE, Willmar, MN, 56201-6608 County: Kandiyohi Phone: 3202317030 Features: Assistance with community resources, Children and/or youth with disabilities, Family, Mental healthThe collaborative plans and coordinates the local service systems serving children and families, including children and youth with mental health needs.

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Gender bias can start before our children are born, but this article shows you just how much gender bias actually happens. Gender biases can follow children all the way until we decide not to let it.

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https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/honor-diverse-families/
Not only does this resource have a fun and loving graphic to pull you in. It also has great ways to include diversity into our classrooms such as allowing kids to talk about differences, add culture to dramatic play areas and talking with families.

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"... And the very sleepy bunny said, 'Goodnight Mom, goodnight Dad.'"

A line like this wrapping up a sweet children's story probably doesn't cause you any surprise. But if you are a preschooler with two moms or a toddler living with an auntie, then these familiar lines are painting pictures-and parameters-of what a family looks like.

Make no mistake, families with one mom and one dad are wonderful. But other family structures are wonderful as well. When kids know their family looks different than the stories represent, they can feel excluded or confused about where they fit in and if their family counts.

The importance of recognizing diverse families

"The early childhood school setting is often a child's first experience with diversity," says Dawn Kurtz, Ph.D., chief program officer at Child360. "Research has shown that between the ages of two and five years, children become aware of differences, such as gender, ethnicity, disabilities-even differences in family structures."

This can be excellent news for educators who want to instill a sense of confidence in students in the face of their differences. Kurtz explains that talking about our differences is beneficial for children's identity development, while also fostering a sense of curiosity and appreciation for other people.

"You're teaching children about respect for others. Celebrating the beauty in our differences helps to build a stronger community, diminishes prejudice or fear and enriches our society by creating global citizens in our children," Kurtz says.

On top of that, honoring diverse families in your classroom will help children feel included in their learning environment. "When children know that their family-the people they love most in the world-are valued and truly seen by their teachers, it helps send the message that they belong in that classroom," says Chelsea Myers, early childhood educator at Hilltop Children's Center. "Children learn best in that environment."

Since the heart of education is to help children learn, including diverse families in your classroom is a great goal to set for any classroom. To get your ideas flowing, we asked experts in early childhood education to weigh in on honoring diverse family structures.

8 Ways to create an inclusive environment for students from diverse families

1. Recognize that your assumptions carry weight

Teachers know even the youngest students are extremely perceptive. That definitely includes observing the teacher. Your reactions to questions kids ask about the differences they observe in people around them, for example, paint a landscape for your students. And at an age where you might be one of the only adults they interact with outside the home-your opinions have major impact.

"An educator plays an integral role in helping to shape how a child views themselves, their family unit and the world," Kurtz says. "Research reveals that by age two, babies use observations to classify who 'their' people are, and show preference based upon skin color. These conclusions are often learned by what they perceive from their caregivers."

In the same way, Kurtz explains, children make connections about how their caregivers perceive family systems. If teachers speak about families in exclusively "mom and dad" terms, kids notice. But even a little awareness goes a long way. Teachers who are aware of diverse families can intentionally loop in examples and encourage children to realize that every family looks different.

"The most natural approach is to create an environment that celebrates all differences as a whole," Kurtz says.

2. Add a few characters to dramatic play environments

If your classroom has a play area, a dollhouse or any zone that encourages kids to play act, be sure to include characters and dolls that encourage inclusion.

"Offer persona dolls in the dramatic play areas and have displays around the classroom that include photographs of people from around the world," Kurtz suggests. Maybe this means adding a grandma and grandpa to the dollhouse-or costume clothing choices from around the world. According to Kurtz, a classroom that celebrates differences in all categories will best honor diverse families.

3. Allow kids to notice and talk about differences

This one might seem obvious, but it can be tricky to know what to say when a student blurts out something an adult would never say. But it's very natural for children to make observations and ask questions about race, gender and family structure differences.

"Remember, children are merely making observations of differences-what makes a boy or a girl, differences in skin color-they are not making assumptions that fall into what we, as adults, know as racism or prejudice," Kurtz says. "Every conversation and interaction is a valuable opportunity to begin supporting inclusive ideas and identity development early in life."

4. Be intentional with story time

"Books are an excellent way to start," Myers says, adding that you can find stories that lay out a counter-narrative from the norm as well as stories depicting the many ways to make a family. "These books help validate my children's own lives, they showcase ways that others live and they spark rich conversations."

"There are all types of families, including same-sex parents and multiracial parents, which can be celebrated and embraced through classroom practices," Kurtz says. Representing different kinds of families in picture books is one of the most straightforward ways to showcase diverse families.

5. Invite family members to share in class

Any activity that puts your students' family members in the classroom spotlight can teach more than words ever will. Kurtz suggests inviting family members to visit the classroom and share about their heritage. Even inviting family members to participate in show and tell for a day-or to talk about a meal they love could work.

"All of these actions help normalize the idea that all of our families do not look the same," Kurtz says. Activities like these offer the added bonus of giving you more time with your students' families. Those partnerships are known for supporting student learning.

6. Model curiosity

Curiosity about other people and their families can find roots in an amazing imagination. "When talking to kids about their play, we can help open their worlds," Kurtz says. "They are so creative already-if a baby leopard can run the fastest and fly, then it can easily also have two moms."

This is another way where the creative and imaginative environment of your classroom can have a huge impact. Dream big, imagine things and ask questions. "When talking to kids about their home life, we can be the ones modeling curiosity about others instead of judgment," Kurtz says. "We can ask questions instead of making assumptions."

7. Look into free resources

Trying to add diverse families to your curriculum or classroom environment can feel like a big task, but Myers encourages everyone to take advantage of free resources. "You don't need to reinvent the wheel-people have been working on this for a long time."

For ideas, Myers suggests checking out your state's ECE licensing website. "They may offer financial assistance, calendars of trainings or maybe even book lists or other classroom resources." Expanding your work in this way might not feel easy, "But it will be worth it," Myers says.

8. Emphasize the importance of family

In a sense, honoring diverse families boils down to the idea that every family is valuable and important. Family structures, no matter what they look like, are the foundation your students are standing on. That is always worth encouraging.

"It's important to have a baseline of valuing the families that are in your classroom, even if they all look like the stereotype," Kurtz says. "Making a family book from photos or displaying photos of your children's families around the classroom or school is one way to get that ball rolling."

Making every family important in the classroom space is an excellent way to encourage your students to understand and respect the value of all families and not just the ones that look similar to their own families.

Building on a solid foundation

The best teachers are always going the extra mile for their students. When you see those little eyes light up with understanding, the extra effort you put into your job feels so worth it. In the end, it's about how they develop and approach their own lives.

"As these children grow up, I want them to know that it's wonderful that the people around them are different," Myers says. "I also want them to know that however they make a family later in life is wonderful."

Education is the foundation for a diverse and prosperous future-and while it may seem easy enough to follow the "Golden Rule" of treating others as you'd like to be treated, we all have our blind spots. One way to fix that is to enroll in an ECE program that challenges students to recognize these biases. Learn more in our article, " 5 Ways Rasmussen College ECE Students Are Equipped to Educate in a Diverse World."

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8 Ways to Honor Diverse Family Structures in the ECE Classroom

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Diverse families are represented in every classroom, so how are you incorporating this into your lessons? Get some ideas from early childhood experts on how to honor various family structures in your curriculum.

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This reference has great tools in this article, more than just one! There are ways to help children understand disabilities and not even just children but yourself as well. It states to make sure you stay age appropriate when talking so that they can fully understand.

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Activities to Teach About Disabilities

What better day than today to publish this post! Today is the first day of Developmental Disabilities Awareness month.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963

We're not quite there yet, are we? As far as teaching non-disabled children about their disabled peers?

According to the US Department of Education, 15-20% of our school children have IEPs. Why are we not teaching kids about disabilities on a regular basis? We owe it to our kids, both the non-disabled and disabled ones.

They have to learn how to interact, how to live and work together. This is their future.

Get the list: 25 Amazing Inclusion Books for Kids

Disability Awareness Month Activities

March and April are here. Disabilities Awareness Month and Autism Awareness Month. Both are great months and great conversation starters to start to share with the rest of the world how great our kids are.

Teaching kids about disabilities isn't that hard. It is important that we engage the actual disabled people in explaining disabilities to students. They should be the ones to determine the message conveyed.

Disability Awareness in Schools

I am proud to say that I approached my non-disabled child's preschool and asked her to include this in the upcoming months. Teaching preschoolers about disabilities is an opportunity not to be missed. Create understanding now when kids are young to avoid bullying and fear later. We met, we chatted online, and they are doing it!

His school does a bunch of MLK Day activities, and about people who are different from you. And, in February they do a whole thing on love and friendships and it will be discussed then. She (the preschool director) then shared with me a book she found in their library that they are going to use, and the whole thing inspired this post. {note, this post is frequently updated, he's not in preschool anymore!}

So here you go, not only do you approach your school or church or scout troop and say "I'd like to encourage you to teach kids about kids with disabilities, and I will help if you'd like" but now you have some resources to send to them as well.

Note, this is about teaching inclusion and teaching acceptance, and tolerance. This is not a teaching strategy for an inclusive classroom. This is to answer questions that kids may have about other kids who are different.

Understanding is the first step and it's OK for kids to be curious.
Amazon.com Widgets
So here you go, I combed the web and found many printables and downloads, and websites for you to use. I did not create any of these, merely sharing them.

Teaching Kids about Disabilities

When readers find this post, I am often asked about disability awareness activities for adults. Definitely needed! I hear you. But I was unable to find any disability awareness activities for adults, so you may want to adapt these to an older audience. I know it is very needed in the workplace.

1. Disability Awareness Packet (note: This packet is good, but it contains some outdated language and concepts. It contains the phrase "mental retardation" because that is the language used then. Adapt to modern philosophy as appropriate)

2. Learning About Disabilities- from Teaching Tolerance; different disability lesson plans for different age groups.

3. Disability Awareness Tips from the Huffington Post

4. Hasbro recently came out with some pretty cool stuff to teach empathy to kids

Teaching youth to share and accept each other's differences is part of building an inclusive culture that shields students with disabilities from bullying.
https://onlinegrad.baylor.edu/resources/teaching-children-disabilities-inclusion/

Disability Awareness Lesson Plans

Disability awareness in schools is starting to become more common, but there are limited resources out there. I am working with a few other moms and teachers to develop a disability awareness curriculum . When it is complete, I will definitely share.

Until then, here are some special needs lesson plans and activities that you can use and adapt for your classroom or setting.

This video is a bit dry, but it's all I could find. He has some good thoughts and ideas.

Even if your own child's teacher or troop leader won't do this, don't get discouraged. If you have non-disabled siblings in the home or nieces/nephews, the opportunity will present itself and you can use these tips then.

How to Teach Kids about Disabilities

As appropriate, let children be curious. Children are always learning, even if you are not consciously teaching them. So let's make sure they get the right information.

Focus on your (disabled) child's strengths. And what they like; find common ground with the other kids. Create understanding.

Allow them a safe place to ask questions. So they don't create fear-based hate later on. Allow open conversations in your own, invite them.

Disabilities Awareness Month Activities

Disability Awareness Activities are great to do in schools. However, real change begins at home.

Just yesterday, my family was at Longwood Gardens and I noticed several toddlers and preschoolers starting at Kevin. Teaching preschoolers about disabilities is important too!

Explaining disabilities to students at home can go a long way to improving a school's climate.

1. Move past awareness and into acceptance. I'm updating this post for 2015 and this one is going to the top! Let's move past awareness...is there anyone who is not aware that autism exists, or that there are children and adults living with either disease or disability? We don't just want you aware....we want to be accepted and included. And inclusion means contributing! Not just passively watching, participating.

2. Make an effort to change your vocabulary. It's not a matter of being overly PC. It's about being sensitive and respecting children. I'm not just talking about the R-word, though that is the next thing on the list. There are other phrases that also get said that are really cringe-worthy if you are a parent. Think about phrases like "they said she might only ever be a vegetable" or "they say she has the capacity of a 2-year-old" (and the child is 15). Now imagine what it would feel like if you were that person or parent! You know what, ask. Most special needs parents would rather open up the communication instead of having you guessing about what to say.

3. Take the pledge. Spread the Word to End the Word has an online pledge and other information to read and share. This is not an item up for discussion anymore. Plain and simple, it's not OK to say it. Don't try to justify it, just take it out of your vocabulary.

4. Offer to run an awareness program at a Sunday school class, scout troop, or other related groups. I did this with my son's preschool director. She actually helped me with some of the resources and they are going to do it as a unit at the preschool. How cool is that? Literally, hundreds of preschoolers in our community will be made aware of others' differences, which is just so awesome. You can make this happen in your community too.

5. Amazon.com Widgets Reach out to a special needs mom. This can be a very isolating life sometimes. I get tired of only talking about IEPs and medical appointments and would love to just talk about normal stuff or shop for an afternoon.

6. Make an effort to reach out to a neighborhood family or one you see at church and try to include them. Our kids don't often get invited to birthday parties and play dates. Our kids often lack the skills to make friends but would very much enjoy being around typical children even if the play doesn't look like normal play.

7. Add bullying and differences to your dinner table conversation. Bullying seems to be on everyone's radar these days so bring it to your dinner table conversation. Are your kids seeing other kids (who are different) being made fun of? Encourage them to reach out and be a friend, be a hero. Sometimes all it takes to end a pattern of bullying is for one strong person to stand up and say something. Encourage your child to be that person.

8. Support a charity and not necessarily just money! There are many ways you can support a cause. Of course, monetary donations are always welcome but it's not just money. You can sometimes collect bottle caps, Box Tops for Education, run a 5k or 10k that supports a charity, use a search engine (like GoodSearch) that supports a charity...even Amazon now has Amazon Smile which supports charities when you shop on Amazon.

9. Remember that everyone is better for this. There are many studies that show that children who are aware of the differences of others, who do participate in inclusive classrooms and extra-curricular activities, and who are the friend instead of the bully....they are better at life. Everyone, not just the child with disabilities but the typical child too, does better academically, and psychologically and scores better on overall happiness tests as compared to those who do not make the effort. Inclusion works, it really does!

10. Be You! Not everything you do is related to disabilities. Bust through those stereotypes and get out there, and show your community that your family is just like theirs most of the time. Being a positive role model and advocate is one of the most useful things you can do.

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25 Disability Awareness Activities for Kids of all Ages

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How to teach non-disabled children about their peers with disabilities: Awesome assortment Disability Awareness Activities and Lesson Plans for Kids.

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This article is great for ways to help others and multiple language speakers interact. A lot of the time the first thing we ask is "how to we help both?" this article had great tips like combing language speakers with each other.

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Having conversations with children who are learning English in addition to their home languages-referred to in this article as multilingual children -is an essential skill for early childhood educators. Such engagement has implications for multilingual children's developing identities as valued and knowledgeable members of their communities as well as for their language learning. Discussions between educators and children have been shown to facilitate language learning by providing children with models for use of language and responsive communication and by offering teachers frequent opportunities to check for comprehension (e.g., Mashburn et al. 2008; Ruston & Schwanenflugel 2010; Chapman de Sousa 2017). Conversations also contextualize topics, making topics relevant to multilingual children and potentially motivating them to practice using their new language just beyond their independent level-a practice that facilitates language development (Swain 2005).

Instructional conversations, which are small group discussions among children and teachers that focus on a learning goal (Tharp & Entz 2003), promote the language development of multilingual children (Institute of Educational Sciences 2006; Portes et al. 2017). Yet, to be effective, these conversations must engage multilingual children as active participants. Unfortunately, research indicates that in preschool classrooms serving culturally and linguistically diverse learners, interactions between educators and children are often in the form of giving and receiving directions, with limited opportunities for children to practice producing multiword sentences (Justice et al. 2008). Multilingual students who attended public schools in the United States have reported feeling "tongue-tied" and "silenced" (Santa Ana 2004). Early childhood educators can address these concerns by using pedagogy that facilitates and values all children's contributions and voices.

As an instructional coach, I have often been asked for tips on encouraging multilingual children to join classroom conversations. In this article, I offer five strategies that take into account the unique aspects of learning an additional language and capitalize on the social and interactive nature of early childhood classrooms: use children's home languages as a resource; pair conversations with joint activities; coparticipate in activities; use small groups; and respond to children's contributions.

The research behind these tips is grounded in the work of the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE). Instructional conversations are a central aspect of the CREDE pedagogy, which has been shown to promote diverse learners' academic achievement (Tharp 1982; Hilberg, Tharp, & DeGeest 2000; Doherty et al. 2003; Portes et al. 2017). This model emphasizes building relationships, and it supports teachers in helping children develop their complex thinking (Yamauchi et al. 2012) as well as their language and literacy skills (Saunders & Goldenberg 2007; Chapman de Sousa 2017).

The CREDE Hawaiʻi project partnered with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Children's Center, a culturally and linguistically diverse preschool on O'ahu. Administrators and teachers at the center helped refine the CREDE model for teaching in early childhood (for a full description, see Yamauchi, Im, & Schonleber 2012). The center serves an international community whose members speak over 30 distinct languages. While the primary language of instruction is English, the educators encourage inclusion of Hawaiian and the children's various home languages. The following engagement ideas include examples from observing and interviewing educators who have developed expertise in engaging diverse and multilingual children.

1. Use children's home languages as a resource

Even if you do not speak the home languages of children in your program, you can still include their languages in conversations. Get help from family members by inviting them to come teach you and the class important words; also ask them for recommendations on literature and songs written and recorded in their languages. Additionally, remember that it is always possible to respond to children's communications, regardless of whether or not you speak the same language. You can do so with body language and other ways to communicate, such as using pictures and objects. Responding to children's multilingual contributions sends the message that diversity is valued in your classroom. It shows multilingual children that they have important ideas and questions to contribute, and that all forms of communication are of value.

Responding to children's multilingual contributions sends the message that diversity is valued in your classroom.

To emphasize how deeply connected multilingual children's forms of communication are, scholars have introduced the idea of translanguaging- using children's full language abilities to encourage learning (García & Wei 2014). This is a conscious effort to alter the widespread concept of multilingualism as fluency in separate languages and instead emphasize that multilingual people have "one linguistic repertoire" (García & Wei 2014, 2). For early childhood educators, this concept may help reinforce the importance of encouraging children to communicate using their complete linguistic repertoires, including multimodal communication such as gesturing and drawing.

If you or other educators at your center speak additional languages, use those as another resource for creating a classroom ecology that celebrates diverse contributions. During my classroom observations in the center, I saw several examples of teachers capitalizing on their own and children's multilingualism during instructional conversations. The children consistently responded with increased engagement.

During one observation, Kisho, a 4-year-old boy who had recently moved with his family from Japan to Hawaiʻi, was painting using mashed-up berries with his teacher, Ms. Rheta, and 4-year-old Cody. Speaking Japanese, Kisho asked things like, "What is in here?," while pointing at the berry dye, and "Can you eat it?" Ms. Rheta, who understood Japanese, answered his questions in English and Japanese while also gesturing, pointing, and showing pictures on her camera. Later, Cody said, "Don't eat" and repeated the Japanese word for "can't eat" that Kisho had used.

This example shows how inclusive practices can benefit multilingual children and their peers: multilingual children have expanded opportunities to engage in learning, and peers discover there are numerous ways of describing the world. As was the case with Cody, peers are often are excited to hear and learn new words. The translanguaging during their conversation created opportunities for conceptual and linguistic development for both children-but they were particularly important for Kisho. Kisho could ask questions in his home language and engage with the nature and art concepts long before he became proficient in English. His engagement increased, and he heard new vocabulary being used in a meaningful way. Ms. Kristi, another educator at the center, said that translanguaging "helps children be part of the group, and it helps them feel knowledgeable . . . so they can share a piece of themselves and the others can learn from them. It brings up their esteem."

2. Pair conversations with joint activities

There are several reasons why joint activities in small groups promote conversation: a shared activity gives participants a common subject to talk about; the tools or props related to the activity can aid in communication; and educators can tailor the activity and, based on the interests of the children participating, guide the conversation, thereby increasing the children's motivation and the likelihood that they will share their ideas. Such learning, paired with activities, is a central component of the CREDE framework for instruction (Tharp & Entz 2003; Yamauchi, Im, & Schonleber 2012).

Ms. Alyson and children having a conversation as they make
bread pudding together.

The educators I observed consistently used relevant and meaningful objects-such as paintbrushes, puppets, spoons, and pictures-when they invited multilingual children to join activities. While pointing to or holding up an object, teachers often coupled an invitation with a question. During the activity, the children could see the topic of conversation and could contribute nonverbally by pointing to or moving the object (instead of trying to rely solely on words). This supported the children's participation and conceptual development, and their motivation to communicate and complete the task. Because there were multiple members in the group working together, communication was required to accomplish the goals of the activity.

A child pours ingredients to
make bread pudding with his
classmates.

Examples of activities I observed included jointly painting fabric, preparing food and cooking, and acting out pictures from a multilingual text. These types of conversations with activities supported by relevant objects have been shown to facilitate children's comprehension and engagement (Hamilton 2014; DiGiacomo & Gutiérrez 2016).

Relationships with family members are fundamental to the Children's Center's philosophy. Educators welcome family members to join classroom activities. The small group format lends itself to having family volunteers in class, sharing their expertise and aspects of their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. For example, during a multilingual book reading activity I observed, Ms. Kristi asked a child whose family was from Argentina how to say crab in Spanish. The child paused to remember, and Ms. Kristi suggested, pointing, "Ask your mom. She is right there." The child looked to her mom, who said, " Cangrejo," and the child repeated cangrejo, smiling and adding, "I have that music," referring to a song they listened to at home.

3. Coparticipate in activities

The educators participated in activities with the children for an extended period of time (15 minutes or longer). Coparticipating enabled the teachers to provide ongoing and responsive assistance as compared with briefly visiting groups while rotating around the classroom or engaging children in a whole group setting. Joining the activities increases opportunities for educators and children to provide feedback to one another, which is essential to the learning process (DiGiacomo & Gutiérrez 2016). Educators can listen to, assess, and assist children's developing conceptual and linguistic understandings. For example, I observed Ms. WenDee working with a small group of 2-year-olds to make pretzels. A multilingual child in the group confused the words for flour and sugar. In response, Ms. WenDee paused the mixing activity to have the children taste both ingredients and discuss the substances' similarities and differences.

Children's responses when teachers paint, draw, or cook along with them can be surprising. Coparticipating in activities with children naturally leads to modeling. It encourages more participation and helps teachers ask more open-ended and contextualized questions than when overseeing from the sidelines or just dropping in to ask questions. Multilingual children tend to watch their teachers and peers for nonverbal cues about what they are supposed to be doing and saying.

Coparticipating in activities with children encourages more participation and helps teachers ask more open-ended and contextualized questions.

When teachers and multilingual children coconstruct a product, they often also coconstruct a conversation. Such interaction constitutes "language learning in progress" (Swain 2013, 6). Collaborating on a joint product requires the contributors to discuss the steps using all of their language resources to negotiate meaning and arrive at mutual understanding. For example, a reoccurring joint activity at the Center is removing worm castings (to be used later in a classroom garden) from a composting bin. The activity requires separating the worms from the castings and then replacing the worms in the bin with fresh newspaper. I observed Mr. Raymond collaborate on this task with three 4-year-old children. Mr. Raymond started the activity by putting on plastic gloves and laying out newspaper. As he worked, three children came to observe him, and he invited them to help. They put on plastic gloves and listened attentively as Mr. Raymond described how to handle the worms gently and put them back in the bin with moist paper. While the children worked, they asked questions about the worms' habitat, the moistness of the paper, and how to care for living things. By being a part of the action instead of just observing from the sidelines, educators can serve as a bridge to the activity for multilingual children and promote their interaction with other children.

4. Use small groups

Encourage other children to join in activities, but limit group sizes to no more than six. Small group settings help make an activity more conversational, relieving some of the performance pressure children may feel when in a whole group setting or one-on-one with an educator. Also, peer modeling and support can promote multilingual children's language development and engagement (Ohta 2000). In the painting interaction described previously, Cody provided conceptual assistance to Kisho by making statements like, "That's how you dye colors." Small groups encourage multilingual children to take risks, such as verbalizing more often and asking questions, as was the case with Kisho while painting with Cody and Ms. Rheta. Language is learned through use, so children need ample opportunities to practice speaking and negotiating meaning (Gibbons 2015). Kisho was motivated to ask questions and to talk about the berries the dye was made from because he was curious and wanted to know if they were edible. He was comfortable verbalizing in this setting, and the group size allowed Ms. Rheta time to hear and respond to his questions. Multilingual children are likely to watch how you interact with others, and your responsiveness can help them feel valued.

Consider the seating arrangement when designing small group activities. Experiment with different arrangements and notice how the children respond. Some may contribute more to the conversation when they are right next to you. Other children may prefer direct eye contact from you to cue them to contribute, so having them across from you may promote their participation. Things like culture, family norms, personal preferences, and gender can influence how children engage in conversation. This is a great time to be a teacher-researcher and notice ways you can adjust the seating to encourage multilingual children's engagement.

At the center, the children are free to join and leave small group activities as they wish; however, the teachers will invite some children to join groups based on the teachers' learning goals. For example, it may be advantageous to have multiple children in the group who speak the same home language so they can support one another's conceptual understanding through use of their familiar language. At other times, it may be helpful to include peers with more advanced English.

All of the educators I interviewed emphasized the importance of establishing classroom values with the children at the beginning of the year that are reinforced daily. These values emphasize helping one another, accepting mistakes, and being kind. The educators embody respect through their use of an inclusive pedagogy that actively elicits children's contributions and builds on their interests and backgrounds; this promotes positive interactions and respectful behavior from the children.

5. Respond to children's contributions

The educators at the center were masterful at responding to the multilingual children's attempts to communicate. The table below summarizes the verbal and nonverbal responses to the children that teachers used frequently.

Responding to children's contributions promotes engagement and learning. For example, recasting during educator-child interactions can benefit multilingual children's language learning (Tsybina et al. 2006). During a pretzel-making activity, Dominic said as he rolled out his pretzel dough, "I rolling round." Ms. WenDee responded by recasting his comment as a question, "Are you rolling it?" That was helpful because it modeled a grammatically correct question; an even more helpful recasting would have also included the vocabulary word dough, as in "Are you rolling the dough?" Ms. WenDee also mirrored the children's gestures, communicating a shared understanding of the concepts in a nonverbal way. At one point, Dominic was counting the three ingredients on his hand; Ms. WenDee mirrored the gesture by holding up the same three fingers, touching them to the child's, and saying, "I have the same as you."

"Language learning is not just a cognitive struggle, it is a cognitive and emotional struggle" (Swain 2013, 11). Being responsive ensures that teachers build on children's thinking and communicates that the teachers value children's ideas, questions, and concerns. One way to study your responsiveness to multilingual children, including how you are communicating verbally and nonverbally, is to have a colleague videotape your interactions. Notice your facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice as you engage with the multilingual children.

Multilingual families and children should have opportunities to serve as experts and contribute to all of the children's learning.

Responding to the children's comments, questions, and body language (such as puzzled looks or gestures) will enable you to make links between the activity and what was interesting to the children. Being responsive helps make instruction relevant and meaningful. For example, during the painting activity referenced earlier, Kisho asked Ms. Rheta, "Kore nani ireta?," which means "What did you put in this?," regarding the paint. Ms. Rheta stopped and responded by gesturing and repeating the word "berries." She then elaborated, gesturing in a picking motion while telling Kisho that a group of children picked the berries from a nearby tree. Ms. Rheta brought out her camera and showed Kisho photos from the berry picking to support his understanding. During our interview, Ms. Rheta told me that the learning goal for the activity was to help the children understand how certain things, like dye, can come directly from nature. Ms. Rheta responsively used Kisho's questions as an opportunity to address the learning goal.

Conclusion

Research and observations of effective educators indicate that coparticipating with multilingual children in small group conversations centered on a joint activity, responding verbally and nonverbally to children's contributions, and using the children's home languages as a tool for understanding are ways to promote their engagement and learning. Instructional conversations give multilingual children opportunities to share their expertise and thoughts, promoting language development (Institute of Educational Sciences 2006; Chapman de Sousa 2017; Portes et al. 2017). Central to these strategies is creating opportunities for children to speak and share their ideas, solve problems together, and value diversity.

Bonus Strategy: Engaging Multilingual Families

To encourage the engagement of families from diverse backgrounds, educators at the center conduct home visits and have meetings with family members throughout the year. The initial family meeting is essential to relationship building. Educators ask important questions about the children and their preferences, and learn key words in the children's home languages. From that first meeting onward, the center communicates to families that family members have expertise and that the program welcomes their contributions. Teachers use families' unique knowledge and skills to develop the curriculum for the year. In addition to issuing in-person invitations, teachers send notes home asking families to come into the classroom and host activities.

During one of my visits, Ms. Amy, an educator at the center who worked with 2-year-olds, was having a conversation about butterflies with several multilingual children. She reminded a child that her mom would be coming into classroom to teach them songs in Japanese about butterflies. The child then said in English, "Mom is gonna bring us a song about butterflies," an important multiword utterance for a 2-year-old who is just starting to learn English.

This type of meaningful engagement of families from diverse backgrounds has been shown to positively influence educational outcomes (O'Donnell & Kirkner 2014). Effective engagement efforts go beyond the traditional methods of having back-to-school nights and communicating only during parent-teacher conferences or when a behavior issue arises. At the center, multilingual families and children have opportunities to serve as experts and contribute to all of the children's learning.

References

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Five Tips for Engaging Multilingual Children in Conversation

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In this article, I offer five strategies that take into account the unique aspects of learning an additional language and capitalize on the social and interactive nature of early childhood classrooms.

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This resource shows us how preventing biases in the school can be so important in how it affects our children. They said that they help children not only by feeding their brains but also their hearts. It is important that we show them how to create love and not hate.

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Engages Preschoolers in Discussions  of Diversity and Inclusion

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This video is a great resource for others to understand how not respecting differences in children can impact others. This little girl has great tips about how to accept differences and similarities.

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Respecting the differences between people | Mariana Chartier | TEDxYouth@BSCR

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https://www.amazon.com/Find-Out-About-lift-flap/dp/1526383292
August 19, 2021

by Dr Pragya Agarwal (Author)

This book is a great reference to help children learn about what racism is and how to stand up to it. It teaches children about diversity in all different families in a language that is appropriate for kids.

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Find Out About: Standing Up to Racism: A lift-the-flap board book about standing together

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by Kathryn Heling (Author), Deborah Hembrook (Author), Rosie Butcher (Author)May 7, 2019
This book includes all different types of families and children and is a feel good story for you and your children to read to create self confidence!

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