https://www.hohschools.org/cms/lib/NY01913703/Centricity/Domain/817/English%2012%20Summer%20Reading%20-%202018.pdf

• It optimizes brain development for success

• It strengthens invisible set of assets (family privilege)

• It fosters connections within the school

• It creates a bully proof climate

• Safety

• Utilizes everyday life, conflicts and celebrations as the social emotional curriculum 

• Integrates social emotional learning

• Bings back joy

• Teaches and models respectful relationships

• Key to building school climate

• Traditional reward and punishment systems are based on the teacher judging the child’s behavior to be good or bad

  • ie. Must be exceptionally good or exceptionally bad for attention

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_3mEeBbS-x_lHrd7xxB8EVt5B3bOMs4gQMSKb1szk3A/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-gS-5UNDcYuOzLvqqvAmoKKhwgE8M_ZdNx7M3skLZ6Y/edit?usp=sharing

• "Mixed Me" and "Chocolate Me" by Faye Diggs

• "Sulwe" by Lupita Nyong

• "The Skin You Live In" by Michael Tyler

• "Same Same but Different" by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

From there, I give students a piece of white play dough and a piece of black play dough. We talk about how no one is made up of only one color, but a mix of colors. I give students buckets of skin color play dough and let them mix together pieces until they find their skin tone. They enjoy comparing the colors they created.

After this project, they color match their play dough with colored pencils and begin creating a doll that represents them. I try to remain as hands off as possible, for example, some children pick a different skin color or hair texture than their own, but the project is for them to create a doll based off their own representation of themselves.

With the exception of this year, I reach out to families to discover a place that is important to them. Initially I framed this as "where your family comes from?," but after learning about anti-racism, I found that not all families know where their ancestor's originated from due to the harsh history of our world.

"The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.” The use of the word “robs” signifies that the removal of dignity is a painful act and shows the importance of not only understanding the term, but ensure that our schools and teachers uphold our student’s and family’s dignity.

I am from paper towel rolls 

From empty tissue boxes and tape.

I am from a tall tan building full of creativity

I am from the stars

The pine trees whose long gone limbs I remember as if they were my own.

I'm from pushing together five tables so my family can sit together

From my mother and my aunts, uncles, And cousins. 

I'm from family vacations and traveling in a clan. 

From laughing until we cry and midnight stories and from late night Pictionary.

I'm from you can be anything and you need to learn to share

And from the little engine who could 

I'm from Christmases in Tahoe and trips around the world with my cousins

From Lolo and Mikey, Katlyn and The twins.

I'm from San Ramon and Lebanon and grape leaves.

From sleeping on the floor at my grandma's house with my cousins. My grandma yelling as we built forts afraid we would suffocate if we closed off the top.

I'm from memories and reminiscing.

From the big round glasses my grandmother used to wear

From scrapbooks full of pictures hiding beneath my bed.

I'm from a family centric world full of hope and believers.

I am from Paper towel rolls 

From empty tissue boxes and tape.

I am from creativity.

Schools are here to be responsive to the needs of students, families, and the community. We achieve this by recognizing families as a child’s first teacher, tailoring our environment to represent the varying cultures and needs of our students, teaching with a culturally responsive and emergent curriculum, and arming our teachers with equitable and trauma informed practices. We recognize that each child brings different experiences, identities, cultures, languages, and stages of development to school. Each of these differences is seen as an asset and through the creation of a School Family we get to learn from and grow with one another.

• Uses developmentally appropriate and restorative practices to support academic learning, social emotional and brain development, and creating equitable environments

• Encourages assuming positive intent, brain smart starts, empathy and compassion, choice, student encouragement, logical consequences, and the creation of a school family (Bailey, 2021)