Every year I am thrilled to participate in reviewing book(s) as a part of Multicultural Children's Book Day and this year is no different. I wait with excitement each December to hear which book will be sent my way and then to see what my students at school think of the book. This year I was able to read and review Jaden Toussaint, The Greatest by Marti Dumas. I have to start by saying I LOVED the format! It is not written and illustrated in your typical beginner chapter book set up, so students were super engaged looking at the images, and the flow of text. We were so hooked that we read it in one sitting in the classroom and my students are dying to get the rest of the books in the series. The book starts with introducing each character with one line descriptions of their personalities. This helped a lot of my students preview and set up for themselves who each character was and how they were to perceive them. Jaden (or JT, as he is referred to in the book) is a typical 21st century child who loves to use his sister's tablet. Together with his Sissy (sister) they make videos that Jasden tries to convince his parents to post to TubeTube ( ;) ) because he has great aspirations to become an overnight viral sensation. When their parents reject their demands of posting the video online, JT rethinks how he is going to become the sensation. At this point, my a few students made instant connections with JT, because they too have aspirations to become online sensations when they grow up. Back at school, JT and his classmates learn of the Arts Celebration that the whole school will be participating in and he immediately thinks of how he can become the online sensation by having his class perform and then post the video online. With his classmates on board, they discover Winston does not want to be involved and they set out to figure out why. The classmates observe Winston's actions and "symptoms" to why he does not want to perform and head to the library to research a diagnosis. The students come up with a diagnosis of stage fright and immediately out to try and help Winston overcome his stage fright. When reading with my students, some could really relate to the fear of performing in front of others. We talked about how they feel, strategies that help them overcome the fear and suggestions that they could give to JT and Winston. Overall, this book was perfect for my grade 2 (7 & 8 year olds) because it was so relatable. We have gone so far as to make suggestions to our school librarian to look into getting the remaining books in the series so that we can continue reading about JT. Funny enough, my students did not remark about the multicultural diversity in the students within the class depicted in the book. I think because it was an immediate reflection of how our own class is made up of and how it always has been for them. This is something I am very proud and happy about because it did not take away from the story itself and the students could immediately relate. I would definitely recommend this book (and series for that matter) to any teacher or parent looking for books that depict typical children in today's world of technology and social fears. The easy to read language was perfect for my students who are still learning English, yet challenging enough for some students to independently read on their own and still understand what they were reading. I can't wait to get the remaining books in the series to continue following JT! I would like to thank Plum Street Press for sponsoring Multicultural Children's Book Day and providing a copy of Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest by Marti Dumas to review. Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019 (1/25/19) is in its 6th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board!*View our 2019 Medallion Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud- *View our 2019 MCBD Author Sponsors here: https://wp.me/P5tVud-2eN Medallion Level Sponsors Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org.Super Platinum: Make A Way MediaGOLD: Bharat Babies, Candlewick Press, Chickasaw Press, Juan Guerra and The Little Doctor / El doctorcito, KidLitTV, Lerner Publishing Group, Plum Street Press,SILVER: Capstone Publishing, Carole P. Roman, Author Charlotte Riggle, Huda Essa, The Pack-n-Go Girls,BRONZE: Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy Dodge Cummings, Author Gwen Jackson, Kitaab World, Language Lizard – Bilingual & Multicultural Resources in 50+ Languages, Lee & Low Books, Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, Redfin, Author Gayle H. Swift, T.A. Debonis-Monkey King’s Daughter, TimTimTom Books, Lin Thomas, Sleeping Bear Press/Dow Phumiruk, Vivian Kirkfield,MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Author Sponsors on board Honorary: Julie Flett, Mehrdokht Amini,Author Janet Balletta, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Josh Funk, Chitra Soundar,One Globe Kids – Friendship Stories, Sociosights Press and Almost a Minyan, Karen Leggett, Author Eugenia Chu, CultureGroove Books, Phelicia Lang and Me On The Page,L.L. Walters, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Hayley Barrett,Sonia Panigrah, Author Carolyn Wilhelm, Alva Sachs and Dancing Dreidels, Author Susan Bernardo, Milind Makwana and A Day in the Life of a Hindu Kid, Tara Williams, Veronica Appleton, Author Crystal Bowe, Dr. Claudia May, Author/Illustrator Aram Kim, Author Sandra L. Richards, Erin Dealey, Author Sanya Whittaker Gragg, Author Elsa Takaoka,Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo, Anita Badhwar, Author Sylvia Liu, Feyi Fay Adventures, Author Ann Morris, Author Jacqueline Jules, CeCe & Roxy Books, Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, LEUYEN PHAM, Padma Venkatraman, Patricia Newman and Lightswitch Learning, Shoumi Sen, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, Traci Sorell,Shereen Rahming, Blythe Stanfel, Christina Matula, Julie Rubini, Paula Chase, Erin Twamley, Afsaneh Moradian, Lori DeMonia, Claudia Schwam, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLCWe’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE. Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts A Crafty Arab, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Biracial Bookworms,Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Descendant of Poseidon Reads, Educators Spin on it, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joy Sun Bear/ Shearin Lee, Jump Into a Book, Imagination Soup, Jenny Ward’s Class, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Raising Race Conscious Children, Shoumi Sen, Spanish Playground TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Make A Way Media: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/25/19 at 9:00pm.E.S.T. TONS of prizes and book bundles will be given away during the party. GO HERE for more details. FREE RESOURCES From MCBD Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/ Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld. This quick read takes you on a journey of every emotion and feeling one could imagine as you are taken along for a ride through a teenager's diagnosis with diabetes. Quinn Nystrom brings you inside her diagnosis, journey, triumphs and victories as she lives with Type 1 diabetes. Quinn opens up about her feelings, her frustrations and everything that a teenager goes through. Her journey took her on a roller coaster of a ride including handling her friends, classmates, boys, sleepovers and taking on advocacy for people living with diabetes. Quinn's passion to help others brought her to speak at national conferences, meeting congressmen and right to the lawn of the White House. Through all her struggles, she also brought light to eating disorders amongst people living with diabetes.
As a teacher, I will be putting this book on my shelf for when I cannot explain the feelings of classmates who are living with this chronic illness. The easy read and in language that is easy for pre-teens (and up) to understand will help those that are not living with this illness. I also immediately thought that it would be an amazing mentor text for narrative writing and visualization because Quinn takes you right into her feelings, emotions and right down to what the doctor's office looks and feels like. Without a doubt, I will be passing this book along to any friends an colleagues that are experiencing a new diagnosis. I have been given an amazing opportunity to be a part of Multicultural Children's Book Day for the 3rd year in a row and was sent a copy of I Can Be by Felicia Lee.
I Can Be is like looking in the window of my grade 1 classroom in Ottawa, Canada because it is a direct reflection of the students and the diversity we embrace. When I first got the book, I brought it to school and left it on my work table and my students wanted to immediately read it! In reading I Can Be, my students could immediately identify jobs that they were familiar with and if their parents are in any of those professional domains. They could also relate to the characters in the book because they looked like all the friends in our class!!!! My students started to call the different characters by the different names in our class...this was a whole new level of excitement for the class! Throughout the book we stopped to talk about the different professions that we could be and if we find them or identify with the job within our immediate community or if we have experienced other professions. Students loved to share their connections to traditional professions such as teacher, doctor, soldier and police officer, but were also able to share experiences in encountering pilots or airline attendants, stylists, or dentists. We revisited I Can Be as a part of our community helpers theme in Social Studies as well as in our Family Traditions and History theme. Identifying themselves within a picture book impacted our discussion extremely positively. I heard "That teacher is just like E!", "The lady on my airplane from my country to Canada dressed just like her!", "My dad is a soldier and I want to be one too!", all which allowed students to relate and connect to the story. We followed up our reading with talking about what we wanted to be when we grew up and that we have to continue to work hard to get there. We also talked about traditional roles that we see on a regular basis within our community and others that we didn't know what was called or that we don't see on a regular basis. Students were amazed that they could be an author, artist, dancer, florist, or meteorologist! As a teacher in a very multicultural and diverse school, I loved this book. My students could see themselves in the story and the language used was simple enough that they could try to read it on their own. The message of working hard, behaving properly and you can be whatever you want was a message that I have been trying to in-still in my students each and every day. To have it said by someone else (other than their teacher!) has resonated with some students. I hear them reminding each other that they have to work hard so that they can be something BIG when they are bigger! I would highly recommend I Can Be for early primary. Connecting it to the social studies curriculum and community helpers, roles and responsibilities is a direct link. I Can Be would also be a great book to have in a classroom library with the simple and clear language and story for beginning readers to read independently. I look forward to watching of new books by Felicia and adding other diverse books to my classroom library. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. Current Sponsors: MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. 2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild PLATINUM:Scholastic Book Clubs GOLD:Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies SILVER:Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press 2018 Author Sponsors Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo, Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles, Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen, Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and MFL Publishing Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham Author Natasha Yim We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE. This week in our daily number talk, I have been mixing up some subtraction and addition equations with the hope that the students would see that some of their strategies from solving one operation could be used to solve another operation. It wasn't until I made an equation that said 89 + 63, that I didn't realize the effect of using our hundreds chart was having on the students. A number of students immediately said that it was impossible to solve the equation because they couldn't use the hundreds chart to help them solve it.
This had me immediately reflecting what students see in a math tool and their own ability to solve a problem that looks or finished in a way that is unexpected for them. I also reflected on what the magnitude of numbers means for students who may or may not have been exposed to them before. I gave them their regular think time and then we talked about their strategies and how come they thought that the hundreds chart was not going to help them. It was also immediate that I realized that I need to get a second hundreds pocket chart so that we can learn to extend past 100 and see the relationships that those numbers have. I have some work to do over the weekend to ensure that I am able to cycle back and recapture their thinking and how I am going to present the second hundreds chart. I am currently in my (dorm) room at #OAME2017 and I am excited to see if there's some spark from here that will light my way this week. The Barefoot Book of Children is a bright and vibrant look at diversity and similarities of children around the world. This book balances questioning and reflecting with informational snippets supported by careful and detailed illustrations. Thanks to Barefoot Books (@BarefootBooks)I was sent a copy of The Barefoot Book of Children on behalf of authors Tessa Strickland and Kate DePalma (@kate_depalma) as a part of Multicultural Children’s Book Day to review and share with my students. At first read through (and every time thereafter), The Barefoot Book of Children was the perfect fit for my class. With only 10% of children’s books published in the United States containing diverse content, this book was 100% my class. My current class of students are from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds speaking over 10 different languages at home. When reading each page, my students could either see themselves or hear of classmates that made connections to the illustrations and descriptions from around the world. The questions asked throughout the book helped promote think time and reflection beyond their immediate self, helping them better understand their neighbours and classmates. The Barefoot Book of Children also fits PERFECTLY with the Ontario Social Studies and History curriculum for grades 1 & 2. In grade 1, students are inquiring about their roles, responsibilities and relationships and how they change over time connecting well with the portion of the book that describes how children may have different roles and responsibilities to help their family or community. My students were wide-eyed learning that children their age in other parts of the world were responsible for perhaps earning pocket money or doing jobs to help their family. Grade 2s dive into the cultural traditions and celebrations of their own ancestry and those within their community. Understanding the significance of traditional food, dress, celebrations, language are all focuses that students share with one another. Students are immersed in “identify[ing] and locat[ing] various physical features and selected communities around the world, and describe some aspects of people’s ways of life in those communities”. The Barefoot Book of Children provided a fantastic jumping off point as well as a return to reference throughout our units of study. As mentioned in the beginning, the balance between questioning and reflecting was ideal for primary aged students to understand themselves and others in the world around them. This book offered my students a chance to share, learn and connect with their own culture as well as the other cultures within our classroom and beyond. My students greatly benefitted from reading this book as well as studying the images to help understand children from around the world. I would highly recommend The Barefoot Book of Children to any early primary teacher, especially those in the province of Ontario because it provides immense discussion and thought towards the Social Studies and History curriculum. Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that. Current Sponsors: MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books Author Sponsor include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O'Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also work tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE. MCBD Links to remember: MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/ Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teachers-classroom-kindness-kit/ Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i A new year and a new....whatever you want to make new! This year is going to be full of change and challenges in many different facets. Professionally, I am currently at a school that is closing and relocating the students to a brand new school in their community; therefore, it leaves all staff to land new positions else where. Personally, #TeamA starts school in the fall, so I am left clinging the time we have with her as a "little" girl and challenged to make sure she is as prepared for school as possible.
In thinking what I wanted my New Year's resolution to be or what I was going to make a commitment to do, I didn't want something that was a thing or a time. We all want to eat healthier, loose a few pounds, travel the world, but I was inspired by a Twitter friend Marilyn (@RunnerGirl13_1) who tweeted about finding just one word that would be your word of the year. For days leading up to and into 2017, I would read Marilyn's posts and encouragements to find my word and I kept thinking about it (like that program you keep running behind the 25 open tabs in your browser). I thought about it and thought about it and first came up with BALANCE. I want 2017 to be about BALANCE. I want to balance my time I spend between school and home; balance time I give to others vs time I spend working on myself; balance between being hard on myself and celebrating my successes; balance sacrificing my goals for others and making my goals. Overall, I just want to feel that I have given in all areas of my life without tilting the balance too far one way compared to others. Balance was a huge struggle for me last year as I was transferred to a school 40+ minutes from home, in a new grade so I was feeling very overwhelmed. I would spend countless hours at school trying to get myself organized and figure out what my students needed, but that cut into my family time and the time we could get things done at home. At home the balance was often hard to keep in equilibrium due to the nature of DH's job and schedule. We frequently were going in different directions, texting our only conversations of the day and trying to keep it together as we juggled ourselves to get ready in the bathroom or kitchen each morning. I felt that there was nothing happening for me personally. No me time, no passion, no special activities....nothing. Balance was needed big time. The more I got thinking of how I wanted 2017 to be about balance, I got thinking how I was going to make it happen. That's when I was stuck on a second word: COMMITMENT. I was going to have to make a commitment to myself that I was going to make sure I was in balance and I was going to have to make sure my family knew and was committed to having a balance with me. So far, I feel like I am in balance and I have made a few commitments that I feel I can stick with. I've committed to completing my Math Specialist qualifications, committed to running my 3 favourite races and committed to writing online more often. All three of these commitments have also brought me balance...not doing too much or too little...doing something for me while still being there for my family and balancing school life with home life. I think I have found my way thanks to my online friend Marilyn! Recognizing that this is a little late to be called a New Year's resolution (and it's not my resolution), but we can just say, life got in the way for the previous 22 day! But I am here today to make a commitment. A commitment to you, my students and their families and most importantly myself. I am going to commit to writing/posting a minimum of twice a week. My posts will be a combinations of personal reflection, happenings in our classrooms, family time and just things that motivate and inspire me.
I hope you will join me on this adventure and journey and excuse me if I fall a little behind should life get in the way. As 2016 came ot a close there were many things that I found myself reflecting upon. Like everyone else, this past year has been a rollar coaster of a ride. There was the slow start to the year with the winter that felt like it was never going to end, and then it ride moved right into the reorganization and hiring season at school. We celebrated #TeamO's first birthday along with #TeamA's third birthday, had 3 family weddings (all on the same side of the family!), and #TeamA attended her first birthday party. The spring seems like a blur now, but I would have to say it was the most stressful time I've had in a very long time. I was applying to a variety of positions with the sole intention to move closer to home. I had some deep soul searching conversations with the amazing leaders around me and multiple times turned down interview opportunities. I know it sounds weird and almost appauling that I would do such a thing in such a competitive and hard to crack workforce, but the moves were just not right for my family. Looking back, I don't regret a single thing. The summer months had to have been the highlight of the year. I am blessed to be able to spend the summers off with my kids and cherrish each moment. We spent day after day playing outside, blowing bubbles, building in the sandbox and splashing around in our special water table. We were out until it was either too hot to stay out or it was too dark to see. These are the days that I long for again. Our summer finale we visited the most magical place on earth for 12 magical days. It was so refreshing to see the excitement and wonder through the eyes of the kids. We soaked in a ton of vitamin D, something that we are in desparate need of at the moment. Getting back into a routine was easier than I expected, the kids back to daycare full time and both DH and I back to work full time. The drive to and from school seems tollerable this year compared to last; I am using the drive to refelct upon my day, plan what I need to get done and often catch up with a colleague over the phone (yes, using handsfree!). I feel more at peace this year about my school and teaching situation. Going into the new year, I have my own personal goals and resolutions that I am going to try and stick with. Until then, thank you for being along for the ride and hope you will check-in, drop in and be along for the ride of 2017. Stephanie :) |
A snippet about me...I'm a grade 2 teacher; wife; mama to #TeamA & #TeamO; runner; chocolate lover and always wanting to learn. Archives
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