A Redhead Angel
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- Posted: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:57:20 +0000
I am a 1st grade teacher so I have a huge collection of Black History Month picture books, mostly biographies. I have a collection for Hispanic, Muslim, Asian, and women as well. I haven't tackled LGBT history yet. I think that might push my school board over the edge.
I don't put all my specific history books up for the special months. I think it is important that they are integrated into the regular reading books so the kids don't associate black, Asian, etc history with something you do for special occasions.
Ok, what I do for black history month....
We talk about equality and what it means. This goes perfectly with math right now since we are doing fractions. We talk about rights and what they are. Then we talk about slavery since it isn't covered in kindergarten. We move up to the civil rights movement. I try to bring it close to reality for the kids. I tell them that when their grandparents were kids this was going on. Also, my husband is black. He is a regular figure in my classroom through out the year. He comes in for Friday centers, does PE lessons on football, and on occasion he comes and eats lunch with us. So telling the students that their friend/my husband couldn't have done this or that really makes it pop for them.
The big project we do is an essay. The kids pick a black history month hero that we have talked about. Then they get to go on the computer and search for their hero. They get to find a picture and print it off for our bulletin board. They can find other information about their person. They are told they need to become an expert on their person. They write an essay about "what is equality, what are rights, someone who was important in the fight for equality and why they are important." We just finished typing them on Friday and next week they will be giving a presentation on their person. My husband comes in to watch their presentations and conducts a question and answer session afterwards.
We also do an art project. At the beginning of the month's lesson I always have at least one student say " He is more brown really." I love this innocence. The kids do not understand why some people are 'black' and some people are 'white' when they are obviously brown and they are peach. smile This makes a good segue into skin color and how it means nothing really.The kids use different color flesh tone paints and they have to mix their skin tone. Some of the kids do a really impressive job. We make hand prints that I hang on our bulletin board with our essays and pictures.
I don't put all my specific history books up for the special months. I think it is important that they are integrated into the regular reading books so the kids don't associate black, Asian, etc history with something you do for special occasions.
Ok, what I do for black history month....
We talk about equality and what it means. This goes perfectly with math right now since we are doing fractions. We talk about rights and what they are. Then we talk about slavery since it isn't covered in kindergarten. We move up to the civil rights movement. I try to bring it close to reality for the kids. I tell them that when their grandparents were kids this was going on. Also, my husband is black. He is a regular figure in my classroom through out the year. He comes in for Friday centers, does PE lessons on football, and on occasion he comes and eats lunch with us. So telling the students that their friend/my husband couldn't have done this or that really makes it pop for them.
The big project we do is an essay. The kids pick a black history month hero that we have talked about. Then they get to go on the computer and search for their hero. They get to find a picture and print it off for our bulletin board. They can find other information about their person. They are told they need to become an expert on their person. They write an essay about "what is equality, what are rights, someone who was important in the fight for equality and why they are important." We just finished typing them on Friday and next week they will be giving a presentation on their person. My husband comes in to watch their presentations and conducts a question and answer session afterwards.
We also do an art project. At the beginning of the month's lesson I always have at least one student say " He is more brown really." I love this innocence. The kids do not understand why some people are 'black' and some people are 'white' when they are obviously brown and they are peach. smile This makes a good segue into skin color and how it means nothing really.The kids use different color flesh tone paints and they have to mix their skin tone. Some of the kids do a really impressive job. We make hand prints that I hang on our bulletin board with our essays and pictures.
