Hi Reader, I'm currently taking a class on Teaching about Native Americans from Kelly Reagan Tudor. We're spending the first three class identifying and countering stereotypes about Native Americans (including stereotypes that seem positive) because they are so commonplace. One of the statistics that Kelly shared with us is that forty percent of adults believe that Native Americans no longer exist. While this number is jaw-dropping, that mistaken belief is communicated often to children. For...
8 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Figuring out how to talk to kids about racism isn't easy. A lot of times when adults try, we only talk about the words and actions of individual people. It can be easy for kids to get the false impression that racism is just something “mean people” do. No matter what age children are, caregivers and educators can help them understand that racism is also about systemic injustice. One definition of racism I use with younger kids explains that racism is about patterns - it's all the...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, There are just 20 days left until the midterm elections, but that's plenty of time to do a few voting related activities at home or in your classroom. Been thinking about getting my Past and Present Fights for Voting Rights Activity Pack for Kids and Teens? Save 20% for one week only! Here are four activities to try at home, and four activities to try in the classroom. A star next to the activity indicates that my voting rights pack has resources to help. Activities to try at home...
22 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, My teen has loved Greek mythology for a long time. Many of the fantasy series he's enjoyed have characters who are living out aspects of Greek, West African, and Indian mythology. So when it was time to think of electives for his first year of high school, I asked how he'd feel about a world mythology class. He was all for it, but unfortunately I couldn't find a curriculum for world mythology. (Only Greek mythology stuff was available.) That meant I spent a lot of time pouring...
29 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about changes to my language that I was working on in my effort to be an antiracist parent. One of the language shifts I focused on was abandoning the phrases "good schools" and "bad schools." Kids do pick up on these labels, even if they only hear adults use them when talking to other adults. From there, they form ideas about the children who attend these schools and the neighborhoods the schools are located in. Today, I want to expand on...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, About a month ago, a newsletter reader asked me if I could recommend any books for her preschooler about the history of residential schools for Indigenous children. This is a topic I'd been thinking about addressing, and her email prompted me to pull together a blog post of books about this painful history in both Canada and the United States. You may not be familiar with the residential school era (usually called the boarding school era in the U.S.). This was a period of over 100...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Because Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month starts in the middle of a calendar month, it can be easy to miss. This celebration of heritage, culture, and history begins on September 15th and ends on October 15th. (The beginning date was chosen because several Latin American countries celebrate their independence days on September 15th, 16th, and 18th.) As always, I believe that reading books together is one of the best ways to participate in this celebration. I've updated and expanded...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, For those of us in the U.S., Labor Day is just one week away. As a former workers rights organizer, I love sharing stories of workers standing up for their rights with kids. I've expanded my blog post of workers rights books for kids and teens just in time for Labor Day. (If you have an 8 - 12 year old, there's a novel set during the Great Depression that's one of the best kids' books I've read in a while. Do not sleep on Three Strike Summer!) When I was creating Past and Present...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I've just updated one of my most important blog posts: 11 ways to teach kids about voting and democracy (with 23 recommended books for kids & teens) This is the fourth time I've updated and expanded this post, which I wrote back in 2019. My thinking about the post has changed a lot since I first wrote it. The original edition focused heavily on the democracy and active citizenship part of the title, and less so on voting. As a former community organizer, I was frustrated by how...
2 months ago • 1 min read