With everything going on in the world right now, I think we can all agree that this is the kick a lot of us needed to ensure that we are thinking about ways to make your classroom more inclusive.
I know for sure, it’s made me take a step back to make sure that I am doing everything possible in my power to provide a diverse and inclusive environment where all students are represented.
And that’s why today in this blog post I wanted to share some tips and ideas with you all that I have been working on.
Picture Books
I was actually really saddened recently to find a graphic that had statistics about books, and I’m going to share it below.
This is from 2018, so 2 years ago now. But I’m sure the figures are still pretty similar. It threw me to see that animals/other representations have MORE characters in books than any other representation, except for white characters.
Like.. WHAT?!
How can this be happening? And that’s when I walked over to my collection of books and looked through them. I was mortified to find out that my collection of books looked pretty similar, and that’s when I grew angry at myself. Why had I never paid enough attention to this before? How did I miss this? Why do I not have more books with characters from diverse backgrounds for my students to access?
And that’s when I decided; I could either be upset with myself, or I could make a change moving forward. And so, I decided on the latter. There was no point being upset with what I hadn’t done up until now, when I now have the opportunity to change that.
So, I spoke with you all over on my Instagram page and I devoted a full week to researching a bunch of picture books that had characters from all backgrounds and adding them to my book collection. And you can read about some of the books that I added here.
Have you got some great book recommendations? Share them in the comments down below. I love adding to my library and being able to offer a range of books for my student to access.
Skin Color Crayons / Pencils / Markers
When I was in school – many, many years ago… I remember that the ‘skin’ color crayon was always the peach one. So when Crayola – and I know other companies have now followed suit – released a pack of ‘skin color’ crayons.. I almost cried my little teacher heart out.
Finally! A pack of crayons/pencils/markers that would represent ALL students! And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check them out below;
- Large Crayons.
- Crayons.
- Washable markers.
- Colored pencils.
Is there really anything better than being able to provide your students with the tools needed to be able to represent who they are and their skin color? I don’t think so!
Toys
After I had finished going over my library, I decided to look at the other resources I was offering too. Now, in the resources that I create and have here on my website, Teachers Pay Teachers and in my membership, I’m always making sure to use clipart that is inclusive and represents a wide range of our students.
So again, I reached out to the wonderful educators on Instagram to get ideas from what others were using in their classrooms, and as always, I was hit with a bunch of great suggestions! I’ve included some links below for you to check them out – they are affiliate links so if you purchase through the links, I will get a very small % of commission – at no extra charge to yourself – which helps me continue to run this blog and my podcast.
Here are some of the toys and resources that I’ve purchased to promote inclusion;
I Never Forget a Face Memory Game
Basket of Babies
Children of the World Memory Game
Wonder Crew Superhero Buddies
Friends With Diverse Abilities Set by Marvel
Queens of Africa Dolls
China World Village Playset
Nice2You African American Doll
Wooden Little Friends Jigsaw Puzzle
Miniland Family Diversity Blocks
Multicultural Duplo Figures
Other Ideas
- Play figures.
- Food play sets from around the world.
- Dolls.
- Games.
- Dress up costumes from around the world.
- Puppets.
- Jigsaws.
Crafts
I also wanted to be more intentional with craft activities that I had available. If you follow me, you know I love to scope through Pinterest for craft ideas. But I also come across these on Amazon;
Springboard Pre-Cut Multicultural Card Bodies (Pack of 30)
Die Cut Multicultural Hands
Other Craft Ideas;
Cooking
I don’t know about you, but we love to cook and bake in our classroom. Not only is this a great life skill, but there are so many other skills you can work on when you’re cooking. We intend to be more intentional with our cooking choices this year, and we plan on making dishes from countries all around the world.
This isn’t exactly a new idea, we’ve often done a lot of cooking when we’ve celebrated Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo, Christmas around the world etc. But now we are stepping it up a gear and we’re going to tie it in with our monthly countries for our music and match them up.
On top of this, I’m also going to include more food themed toys in our classroom to work with new dishes. These are some that I’ve found;
Melissa & Doug Taco & Tortilla Set
Melissa & Doug Wooden Sushi Set
Chinese Foods
Music
We are going to be studying music from different countries and using different instruments. There are so many great instruments you can buy online – or even ask your admin to get them for your whole school to use and rotate through classes. You can also make instruments with your students.
Other Music Ideas;
Talk
Don’t be afraid to talk with your students. I know these conversations can be really hard, and if you’re overly nervous – look online for other educators who have shared videos and talks. The TuTu Teacher on Instagram is a wealth of knowledge and has some great videos that you can share with your students to start discussions.
Celebrations
Celebrate other cultures all year long with their holidays. Some of our favorites to celebrate and learn about are;
- Christmas Around the World
- Thanksgiving
- Ramadan
- Eid
- Chinese New Year
- Cinco de Mayo
- Black History Month
- St Patrick’s Day
- St David’s Day
- Easter
- Halloween
- Diwali
- Hanukkah
You can continue to work on IEP goals, targets, and skills while still celebrating and learning about all of the amazing cultures and holidays in our world.
Don’t Be a Sheep
If you see something wrong; in your classroom or school; don’t be a sheep and follow the crowd. Can you really sit back and watch/listen to something happen that you don’t agree with and stay silent?
You don’t have to tackle opinions aggressively, you can use this moment as an opportunity to teach. Help others change their mind. Get them to see the bigger picture. Why should they be campaigning? And why should they be teaching about inclusion and diversity in their classroom and/or school?
Most of the time, it only takes one person to stand up to instil the confidence in others to stand up next to you. You are an educator, you have students in your care who are all different. And it’s them that you are campaigning for. You can be the one who takes the steps to ensure that they are going to be accepted for who they are in the future. Remember that.
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