Multicultural_Lessons

** Multicultural Literature, **** Lessons & Activities **
 * “Reading Takes You Places” **

presented by ** Amy Brownlee ** ** K-12 Library Media Specialist ** ** Sterling USD #376 ** **Email: brownleea@usd376.com** **Web page: @http://www.usd376.com/schools/sterling_high_school/academics/staff_directory/Amy_Brownlee ** **Sterling** **Grade School** **218 S. 5th Street** **Sterling, KS 67579** **phone: 620-278-3112 x1322**

"Reading Takes You Places" Multicultural Activities slideshow highlighting our activities is available online at: @http://youtu.be/wkwU7wThb9s and is also embedded below.

media type="youtube" key="wkwU7wThb9s?rel=0" height="480" width="640"


 * __ Multicultural studies meet __****__ Common Core Standards __****__ by: __**
 * Incorporating literature from other cultures
 * Including text from a variety of genres: fiction, nonfiction, fairy and folk tales, poetry, etc.
 * Incorporating mini-research projects

Multicultural studies can easily be integrated with ** 21st century skills ** in researching and creating an information product.

NOTE: //These activities were not done all in one year, and they were not something I did alone. Lots of people shared ideas and expertise and helped make it all happen. Hopefully you will find some ideas you can use or adapt for your students.//

** Teaching Diversity through a Cross-Curricular approach ** "Each time we read a good piece of literature, we are changed by the experience: we see the world in a new way. For these reasons, literature can be a powerful vehicle for understanding cultures and experiences different from our own.” (E.M. Bieger)

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 * **Children’s literature**– Year-long library theme "Reading Takes You Places"
 * Storytime read-alouds
 * Guest speakers who have traveled or lived internationally
 * Using maps and globes to plot our location and the location of people in literature and guest speakers
 * Monthly theme and book lists
 * Article in fall district newsletter
 * Article in spring district newsletter
 * Excellent Reader's Theater script availble for the book //Faraway Home// by Jane Kurtz. Buzzeo, Toni. "__Faraway Home__ Reader's Theater." __Library Sparks__ Oct. 2006: 17-20.
 * **Culture stations**
 * Games, clothing, music/dance, book browsing under mosquito net
 * Directions for playing mancala (we used homemade boards made from egg cartons and small stones as playing pieces)
 * **Interactive displays**
 * Items to look at or touch
 * Example: use chopsticks to pick up a fortune cookie
 * Jigsaw puzzles
 * **Bookmaking project**
 * Collaborative project between library classes and art
 * All students K-6 contributed a page to a class book (6th graders partnered with kindergarteners)
 * Students as authors and illustrators – writing process (brainstorming, first draft, editing, proofreading, etc.)
 * Book topics: Celebrations & Special Days, Things I Do for Fun, Things That Go, Around My School, Around My Community, Animal Poems
 * Books were donated to a school library in Ethiopia – Fregenet
 * An explanation of the project
 * **Entry points lesson**
 * Multisensory, kinesthetic exploration of artifacts. Items can be scientifical, historical, cultural, etc.
 * Questions for students to use when exploring artifacts
 * **Service learning & empathy**
 * Collecting books for Ethiopia Reads
 * Raising money for Ethiopia Reads, a school, or a water project
 * **“Reading Safari” reading celebration week activities**
 * Included author visit, guest speakers, African art, food, music, and service learning
 * List of week-long celebration activities
 * News article describing the week's activities
 * **Tying in architecture, fine art, music, dance – collaborate with other teachers**
 * **Google Lit Trip – Google Earth**
 * 6th-grade reading class read multicultural books and created annotated Google Lit Trips over their books
 * To see our multicultural book list, visit our class wiki and scroll down
 * **Diversity lessons**
 * **21st Century Skills** Research project: travel postcards
 * **Geography**
 * Mapping activity – color code states on a U.S.map and/or countries in a world map
 * Where have you visited?
 * Where has a family member or close friend visited?
 * Where do you want to visit?