All Are Welcome: Celebrating Diversity Through Literature

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 410

On behalf of Seacrest Country Day School, I am grateful for the generous grant to fund the "ALL ARE WELCOME: CELEBRATING DIVERSITY THROUGH LITERATURE" curriculum.  Through this grant, I was able to purchase a collection of 75 beautiful literature books, all centered on diversity and inclusion.  Additionally, the grant provided funds to purchase Brodart Archival Book Covers to protect the collection.  Seacrest parent volunteers generously donated time and TLC to cover the books.

The literature collection is purposed to be used in conjunction with lessons and activities supporting various themes of diversity and inclusion.  This is an exciting and ongoing process and I am thrilled to continue developing the "ALL ARE WELCOME" curriculum over the coming months.  The attached files provide photos of three sample lessons, each of which can be adapted to various grade levels.  Here is a brief synopsis of each lesson:

1.  Book Title:  THE COLOR OF US by Karen Katz 

Book Synopsis:  A little girl named Lena observes and compares the different skin tones of family, friends, and neighbors.  She describes the skin tones using identifiable comparisons such as “warm as French toast’ and “creamy peanut butter” and then mixes her paints accordingly to create portraits of each one.  

Following a reading of the book, Preschool teacher, Mrs. Terry Dalton, asked her students to compare the skin tones of their hands.  She had the children help her mix paints to create their own skin tone and then had the children make handprints.  The handprints were cut out, laminated, and placed on display in the Seacrest Country Day School Lower School hallway with the heading of “BELONGING.” Photographs of the children and their hands were added to the display. 

This story and activity were shared with the PreK and Kindergarten classes.  The handprints of the PreK and Kindergarten children were added to the display to emphasize the array of diversity within these three classrooms and to promote awareness that at Seacrest, all are welcome and that kindness is shown to all children, regardless of skin tone.

2.  Book Title:  A SICK DAY FOR AMOS MCGEE by Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead

Book Synopsis:  Amos McGee is the kind and gentle zookeeper who knows just how to care for his animal friends each day.  When Amos is kept away from the zoo with a bad cold, his animal friends ‘escape’ from the zoo to spend the day at Amos’ home kindly caring for him in the ways they know best.

The Kindergarten children loved the book A SICK DAY FOR AMOS MCGEE.  This book beautifully illustrates the transactional quality of kindness and how “kindness begins with two"--a giver and receiver  Following the reading of the story, the children shared their thoughts about how kindness is meant to be shared, just as Amos and his animal friends were both the givers and receivers of acts of kindness.  The Kindergarten children created wonderful illustrations of how they are kind friends to one another.  As a culminating event to this project, the Kindergarten children invited the Seacrest Leadership Team to a classroom presentation in which the children proudly voiced their ideas and shared their artwork.  These “pictures worth a thousand words” beautifully convey how even very young children understand that no act of kindness is too small to make a difference.

3.  Book Title:  ENEMY PIE by Derek Munson and Tara Calahan King

Book Synopsis: A little boy is having the perfect summer until Jeremy Ross moves into town. He quickly becomes the main character’s “best enemy”. But the boy’s father has the perfect solution to help with the problem, a recipe for Enemy Pie. The boy imagines the gross and terrible ingredients that will be included. As his father begins to assemble the pie, he shares with his son the last step to making this super secret recipe: tricking your enemy into trusting you by being kind and spending a whole day of quality time together. Little does the main character know, this is the most important step, for it changes enemy pie, into friendship pie.

After reading this book, students discussed themes from the story including acceptance, friendship, conflict resolution, multiple perspectives, differences, choices, and relationships. Students shared their thoughts on kindness and how it is important to spread kindness and look for the light in others, even when it may be challenging. Students also discussed the idiom don’t judge a book by its cover, and also how important it is to find ways to come together, versus focusing on the things that keep us apart. After these discussions, students made their own "Enemy Pie Recipes" using the lessons learned from the book to highlight that the best way to get rid of an enemy is to make that person your friend instead.

After creating their recipes, student work was displayed in the hallway for others to read and learn from. The experience was also highlighted during the Fourth Grade Flag Ceremony, where students shared examples of how they learn about and live by the Seacrest Core Values, which include: kindness, integrity, respect, responsibility, curiosity, and perseverance.

The simple truth is that the reading experience of any one of the books in this literature collection can be a lesson in itself.  The thoughtful prose and the wonderful illustrations in each book provide a beautiful celebration of diversity and inclusion with each reading.

I am grateful beyond measure to Champions for Learning for funding the ALL ARE WELCOME:  CELEBRATING DIVERSITY THROUGH LITERATURE initiative for Seacrest Country Day School.

• ALL ARE WELCOME: BELONGING - THE COLOR OF US
• ALL ARE WELCOME: KINDNESS - A SICK DAY FOR AMOS M