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Block and Dramatic Play: Community Building & Diversity Lessons

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Block and Dramatic Play: Community Building & Diversity Lessons

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'Teaching Mathematics Through Multicultural Literature' by Ilive & D'Angelo

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Math in the Kindergarten classroom focuses on key concepts of number sense which includes counting by 1s, 5s & 10s, patterning, grouping, and adding. Texts such as "My Granny Went to Market" by Blackstone & Core, partners these foundational skills with the study of cultures and countries. I plan to work with our school librarian for resourcing more texts like these into my math curriculum.

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Making Space Curriculum: Teaching For Diversity and Social Justice 

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Making Space Curriculum: Teaching For Diversity and Social Justice 

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Prior to this course, I had not considered incorporating Social Justice skills into the Block Building Center in my classroom. This curriculum, which is available at no cost online, provides many age appropriate lessons for "building" community while building.

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                       Social Justice Literature

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                       Social Justice Literature

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Admittedly, I do not have a large repertoire of social justice titles and this is not acceptable. I have discovered the site, teachingforchange.org, which has a recommended collection of Early Childhood, Anti-Bias books which would be an excellent addition to my kindergarten library. I plan to write a grant through donorschoose.org for this social justice book collection and will use learnings from the course, such as Critical Theory, Socialization, and Intersectionality in my proposal.

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                     Book Baskets/Kindergarten Literature

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                     Book Baskets/Kindergarten Literature

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Literature is a high value in my classroom, and pictured are the book baskets which rotate by themes and seasons. I now plan to expand upon my classroom library book baskets to include more holidays & festivals based upon those celebrated by the students in my class. By doing so, I believe my instruction will include texts and strategies for helping my young learners understand and connect who they are in relation to the groups they belong. "Humans are social beings who depend on the humans around us to make sense of our world", (Sensoy & DiAngelo, p 43). Through this course, I have come to deeper levels of understanding my obligations to help my young learners grow as individuals, members of our classroom community, and the school community at large.

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In kindergarten, students often have the opportunity to express themselves through art, but I rarely incorporate social studies into art planning. The linked lesson plan from teachingtolerance.org includes lessons for introducing community activism through grade level literature and art. After reading this lesson plan, I adjusted my previous thinking that kindergartners were not old enough to understand activism. These lessons not only provide age appropriate descriptions and examples, but also literature which I am already able to access!
Through my School and Community Research I also discovered local organizations; The Well, Care Bags, and Crossroads which provide opportunities for classrooms to become involved with age appropriate activities to support community members. I plan to team up with a Third Grade colleague through our "Reading Buddies" partnership to engage our students in the literature, art, and local service and activism options.

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Overview

Art and Activism is a series of 12 mini-lessons in which students look at, think about and make art together. Each lesson prompts children to examine how art relates to community, leadership, and activism. Note: These mini-lessons can be used individually or together, and are not dependent on sequence.In this lesson, students are introduced to the concepts of art and community activism and have a chance to discuss their understanding of these terms.

Most children have some experience with being part of a community through connections with their family, their school, and their neighborhood. They need opportunities to think about what community means before they are able to think about the leadership roles in a community. Talking about activism, activists and leaders, helps children understand how change can happen in a community. This lesson will give students a chance to think about what these concepts mean and to consider the relationship between community activism and the visual arts.

Vocabulary

activism [ak-tuh-viz-uh m] (noun) vigorous action or involvement as a way to achieve political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations or protests

activist [ak-tuh-vist] (noun) a person who is very involved in supporting a cause, especially a political cause

community [kuh-myoo-ni-tee] (noun) a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and may have a common cultural and historical heritage

Suggested Procedure

1. Assign students to work in three small groups. Give each group a piece of poster board with one word written in the middle of each: community, activism, art. Instruct students to work cooperatively and write as many words as they can think of that connect to, define, or question the word on their chart. (Note: Students may also draw pictures or you may choose to lead this lesson as a whole group shared writing activity.)

2. Allow each group to share the poster they have created with their classmates. Then help students come up with definitions of the three terms. Guide them by explaining that these words are not easy to define. Offer some variation of the following explanations: "We often think of community as a group of people living or working together and sharing some common ideas. Activism is a way of working for change or for what you believe in. And we can say that art is a creative way of showing people, feelings, stories and ideas." Continue the discussion until your students are comfortable using these terms.

3. Optional: Assign students to work in pairs, matching each student with someone who had a different term. (For instance, if a student was part of the "activism" group, pair him with a student from "art.") Note: If you did the first step as a shared writing activity, you can pair up any students. Ask each pair to collaborate on sketching a picture that shows how the two terms relate to each other. Ask: "How does activism relate to community? How does art relate to community? How does activism relate to art?" Encourage students to be creative and take risks with the their picture. Emphasize that the questions do not have right or wrong answers. Challenge your students to think of examples from their lives to illustrate relationships or connections. After students have had ample time to create their illustrations, ask them as a whole group to discuss the illustrations each pair created.

Common Core State Standards: ELA-Literacy. CCRA. W.2; W.4; SL.1; SL.2; SL.3; SL.4; L.1; L.2; L.4

Extension Activity

Encourage students to be more aware of the art that they see in their everyday lives and think about the role it might play in the different communities they are part of. Ask students to think about the way community, art, and activism relate to each other. Ask them to return to school ready to share examples of the way the three different ideas can be connected.

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Talking about activism, activists and leaders, helps children understand how change can happen in a community. This lesson will give students a chance to think about what these concepts mean and to consider the relationship between community activism and the visual arts.

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Gonzales, J. (2016). Creating a welcoming classroom for students with special needs, retrieved June 4, 2018. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/welcoming-special-ed/

Iliev, N. & D'Angelo (2014). Teaching children mathematics through multicultural literature. Retrieved June 8, 2018: file:///Users/huerterk/Downloads/tcm2014-03-452a.pdf

Making Space, Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice Throughout the K-12 Curriculum. Retrieved June 5, 2018: https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/making_space/makingSpace_full.pdf

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (2nd ed.) (J. A. Banks, Ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Storey, K. (2007). Combating ableism in schools. Preventing School Failure, 56-58.

Teaching for Change, retrieved June 5, 2018: http://www.teachingforchange.org/socialjusticebooks-org

Teaching Tolerance. Art and community activism, retrieved June 3, 2018. https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/art-and-community-activism

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   Creating a Welcoming Classroom For All Students

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   Creating a Welcoming Classroom For All Students

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Of the two elementary schools in the district, Madison Elementary provides the resources for students needing physical, behavioral, and cognitive support. While I have considered myself and my students to be fortunate to be teaching and learning in an environment which supports the inclusion of all students, through this course, I have become aware how these students can become marginalized and we may begin to believe it is better not to have a disability, known as ableism: "the oppression of peoples with disabilities" (Sensoy & DiAngelo, p82). Although it may be unintentional, ableism is at play within my school. According to Storey (2015), “It is unlikely that the mere physical presence of students and others with disabilities is likely to change negative attitudes” (p57). Although all students in my classroom are valued, I plan to engage greater understanding through ideas from both Storey and Gamble:

Parental/student sharing

Accessible spaces and attitudes

Student understanding through sensory challenges

Literature

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/welcoming-special-ed/

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Multimedia such as the following YouTube video is designed with young learners in mind and is an example of how I plan to incorporate more multicultural holidays and festivals into large group learning, as was suggested by parents through my Funds of Knowledge Research.

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Celebration Of Festivals ~ Names & Types

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Included in my Funds of Knowledge interviews with parents, were suggestions for incorporating additional music, holidays, and cultural festivals. Pictured is our Kindergarten Large Group Gathering space which includes calendar and music time. Based upon the information provided by families, I plan to include more cultural learning into our large group meeting time through songs, multimedia, books, and holidays which are significant to the students in my classroom. I will invite families to share in person or through video and will also utilize online and school library resources.

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                             Language Study

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                             Language Study

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Based upon my Funds of Knowledge Research, the students in our school who have Indian heritage also speak additional languages such as Hindi and Gujarati. The Superstar Student Week is a prime time to provide language study by incorporating common phrases, greetings, color words, etc. into our Literacy learning. I plan to invite parents to either record themselves and their student or teach us in person. This invitation will be extended to all families during their student's Superstar week. The words and phrases will be added to our classroom Word Wall pictured below.

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Of the five school buildings in the Pella Community School District, Madison Elementary has the highest percentage (21.4%) of students eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch. Source: http://db.desmoinesregister.com/iowa-free-reduced-meals/?searchterms%5Bcol1%5D=pella&searchterms%5Bcol2%5D=
These finding were not surprising to me based on our geographical location within the district; however, it has prompted me to form "Lunch Bunch" groups of 5-6 students. Through this research and the student interviews from the Funds of Knowledge, I have rediscovered how students enjoyed talking with me in a relaxed setting. Each group which will include students who bring their own lunch, receive free and reduced lunch, and pay for school lunch. The conversations will be open ended and we will alternate eating in the classroom and the lunchroom.

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                          Student Artifacts

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                          Student Artifacts

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I plan to redesign my "Star Student" wall to include not only pictures of students, but meaningful artifacts as well. Previously, the Superstar Student of the Week was asked to bring pictures from home to share with the class and hang on the bulletin board. I plan to expand this idea to include a display shelf for meaningful artifacts students choose to bring, which will provide more connections to their heritages. I will move the location of the Superstar Student to a bulletin board which includes a bookshelf directly below it for displaying the students' treasures. Artifact suggestions will include:

special toys

personal artwork

menus from favorite restaurants

additional languages

clothing

awards

symbols of their belief systems or religious books

representations of their ancestry

I will be especially mindful of students with minimal home to school involvement so they have equitable artifacts and feel part of our classroom community. I plan to utilize the information provided to me in our Infinite Campus data base and the support of the school guidance counselor to ensure each child has representation during the week s/he is the Superstar Student. I will also encourage these students to select favorite library books, activities from the classroom, and works they have created in art class to display on the shelf.