Diversifying Books For Local Schools
Donation protected
After purchasing books for my own classroom I realized so many schools lack texts that feature characters of diverse backgrounds. The conversations about race, equity and racism should start in the early years! As an educator I know there are limited resources available in the school library and in the art cupboard. If there are books that have multicultural heros or main characters they are usually centred around bullying, slavery or the civil rights movement. While these messages are important, we need more!
Students need to see themselves reflected in the materials we bring into the classroom EVERYDAY, not just during Black History Month or Orange Shirt Day. We need texts that promote messages of equality, celebrate diversity, loving the skin you are in and books that star black characters written by black authors. Children’s books are one of the most effective and practical tools for initiating critical conversations, and they can also be used to model what it means to resist and dismantle racism.
Books are a gateway for teachers to have discussions about race, and also a way to reflect the students that are in our classroom. I had a discussion with a friend and we discussed that inclusive teachers make sure their resources are diverse, but anti-racist teachers intentionally include books that go beyond slavery and the civil rights movement, beyond black history month. They open up a bigger conversation.
This inspired us to start a little book fundraiser that we have been working on the past couple days. My teaching partner and I have been selling cookies and brownies to raise money to purchase racially diverse texts, toys and art supplies for local schools. Within the first two days we had rasied close to $2000 in donations and purchases. We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support this cause has inspired. We decided to create this go fund me page so individuals who would like to donate have the opportunity to do so, even if they do not know us directly!
With each donation you will be buying a text, toy and/or multicultural art supplies that will be donated to a local school library!
#blacklivesmatter #blackvoicesmatter #ourstudentsmatter
Students need to see themselves reflected in the materials we bring into the classroom EVERYDAY, not just during Black History Month or Orange Shirt Day. We need texts that promote messages of equality, celebrate diversity, loving the skin you are in and books that star black characters written by black authors. Children’s books are one of the most effective and practical tools for initiating critical conversations, and they can also be used to model what it means to resist and dismantle racism.
Books are a gateway for teachers to have discussions about race, and also a way to reflect the students that are in our classroom. I had a discussion with a friend and we discussed that inclusive teachers make sure their resources are diverse, but anti-racist teachers intentionally include books that go beyond slavery and the civil rights movement, beyond black history month. They open up a bigger conversation.
This inspired us to start a little book fundraiser that we have been working on the past couple days. My teaching partner and I have been selling cookies and brownies to raise money to purchase racially diverse texts, toys and art supplies for local schools. Within the first two days we had rasied close to $2000 in donations and purchases. We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support this cause has inspired. We decided to create this go fund me page so individuals who would like to donate have the opportunity to do so, even if they do not know us directly!
With each donation you will be buying a text, toy and/or multicultural art supplies that will be donated to a local school library!
#blacklivesmatter #blackvoicesmatter #ourstudentsmatter
Fundraising team: Emily Chafe (2)
Vanessa Wolf
Organizer
Mississauga, ON
Emily Chafe
Team member
