First Grade Fun with Black History Biographies

Ms. Green is currently doing her unit on Famous Americans.  She made a purposeful effort to expose the kids to famous Black historical figures both men and women.  Check out her creative usage of graphic organizers on Harriet Tubman.

Cultural Awareness through Art - Joan Chapman

Joan Chapman is Woodbrook's art teacher.  Joan has a self portrait of every child in the form of a rainbow posted in the school hallway.  She also asked every student at Woodbrook to draw a picture of their home.  With student work, she created a community bulletin board.  These projects show the diversity of life experiences within our school community and also serve as excellent examples of taking the initiative to cultivate the home school connection.

Hispanic Heritage Text Set - Alison Carver

Alison Carver and school volunteers created a text display with books depicting Hispanic culture.  Also, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month, Alison wrote her library message in Spanish.  This was an incredibly creative idea that has started a trend for our Woodbrook staff.

Teacher Feature - April Sommer explores culture through illustrations and writing.

April Sommer asks her first grade students to draw a picture of one of their family traditions.  This is a simple but very impactful way of inviting cultural diversity into the classroom.  April said, "This activity gave me a springboard for conversations with my students about what is important to them.  It also gave me insights about their family life."   What kinds of activities or discussion topics have you initiated for students to think about this word, "culture?"  Feel free to share your thoughts about April's activity or student thoughts and reflections about the word culture.