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January 22, 2019

Multicultural Children's Book Day 2019



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.

BOOK REVIEWS

I have two books that I am excited to share with you!

The first is from Language Lizard and I will tell you now, that I am over the moon with them. Their books are exactly what I have been looking for to add to my classroom library. At the beginning of the year I put out on Instagram that I needed some help in finding bilingual books to add to my collection that were other than Spanish. Well thankfully, here is my answer. 

While the book I received from Language Lizard is not completely appropriate for my Kindergartners due to the killing of the thieves at the end, I could certainly skip over those parts. Since this is a popular story I was curious as to what other options they would have. Their books are written in over 50 languages and I was pleasantly surprised to find a strong selection of books. As a bonus, you can find free resources and lesson plans on their website.



Finally a wonderful book from Tim Tim Tom. If you have a child that is bilingual or has two languages in the home this is the a company you NEED to consider purchasing books from. All of their books are offered in two languages. Bilingual and multilingual books are truly hard to come by and Tim Tim Tom takes their books to the next level by allowing you to personalize them to your child. 

Rafael and The Dolphin is about a child who can swim in the big pool by himself for the first time. While he is swimming he encounters a friendly dolphin, chats with sea creatures and helps a sea turtle. Was it a dream or a magical adventure? My book creation was inspired by a friend who I instruct in swim lessons. If you would like to add this book to your collection you can find Underwater Adventure here.

Since you can personalize your book I designed my character off of him and chose Italian. This is a book that I am over the moon to bring into my classroom because I have a student who speaks Italian and they love to share their language with us!

I HIGHLY recommend you looking into both companies as they are doing amazing things to reach our multilingual children and families. 

MCBD 2019 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board

Medallion Level Sponsors Honorary: Children’s Book Council, The Junior Library Guild, TheConsciousKid.org. Super Platinum: Make A Way Media GOLD: 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, Claudia Schwam, Lori DeMonia, Terri Birnbaum/ RealGirls Revolution, Soulful Sydney, Queen Girls Publications, LLC 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. 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.

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: https://wp.me/P5tVud-1H 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.



January 1, 2019

Simple Christmas Activities in Kindergarten

Okay teachers, we made it. We have finally earned our well deserved break. The last week of school before break is NO JOKE!

While I love all the fun activities we do before we leave for winter break they are EXHAUSTING. I love my job, honestly, I would never do anything else. But those days before break I was in bed by 8:30 most nights.

Our students are typically off the walls because they are excited for break just as much as we are. So to compensate we plan all the fun things. However, this is more work because our students are off their routine and ultimately makes one tired teacher.

This year I decided to keep things simple. For example, my team was making gingerbread houses one day. FUN! Or so it sounds. I have never made houses with my students before. Why? Well for one that is a lot of messy work. 2nd - EW. You build the house around a milk carton. The kids can't eat that! Or at least they shouldn't. So I saw an Instagram post by KinderCraze and just knew that I needed to not conform and make myself go more crazy. The alternate? Decorate Christmas Tress.

Decorate Christmas Trees

This was my teacher win of 2018, hands down. Not only was it practically zero mess, but my class of 5 and 6 year olds were SO engaged. The focus they had on spreading the icing was amazing.  


The Materials

Tree decorating materials

I have 19 students and used:
3 cans of frosting
Green food coloring
2 Packs of sugar cones
2 bags of sugar cookies
1 bag of m and m's
Plastic cups - I ordered these and have enough for next year.

The Plan

Ahead of time I used food coloring to make the frosting green. I used frosting and attached the sugar cone to the sugar cookie and also then used the frosting to attach it all to the lid of the cup. I did this a day ahead of time. The next day I passed out their cups with their cone inside (so clean, sanitary and easy to transport home on the bus.) I gave each student a dixie cup of frosting and and a thick Popsicle stick. While my students were coating their tree I passed out some candy for them to decorate the trees. I was so impressed at how hard they worked and how creative they were. I had one student who was a frosting pro and other doing awesome patterns. Some even used a candy as a star on top. (Note - I'll bag a bag of the regular next year so they can each have a yellow).

The Outcome

Super cute trees to decorate the outside of our gingerbread classroom! I think these are much more age appropriate for my Kindergartners. They didn't even know what they were missing by not making a house. 


After we made our trees we went and saw the gingerbread village the 3rd graders did. They were super impressive!


Parent Gifts

In addition to keeping yourself sane and doing simple things - let's talk parent gifts. I always like to make sentimental gifts with my students for their parents. (Also - do not feel guilty if you do not make gifts with your students. It may not be appropriate, affordable or possible. Do NOT FEEL BAD). Last year, post Christmas I purchased ornaments, ribbon and boxes in anticipation of my gift this year. I helped them make the ornament with ribbon to show their height. Simple and a super success.


Another ornament I make every year is the hand print reindeer. I laminate the handprints with my personal lamination because it is thicker. Then my students help place on the eyes and the nose after I hot glue. I give them the choice of a red or black nose and tada! Simple and so CHEAP!


A few days before the start of break I send home their boxes filled with these special ornaments. 


I truly love the holiday season, however, I can not burn myself out because I have my own loved ones to give my energy to. While I did things cheap and easy, I do not feel that my class noticed or missed out in any way. We had a special week and I hope they treasure that!

Student Gifts

This idea goes hand in hand with the parent gifts, do not feel obligated. Maybe you can't afford it (zero zero shame in that!) or it is not appropriate for your school community. I have found that my favorite gifts are coloring books for my class. This year I gifted them two Scholastic Dollar Books I purchased earlier in the year, one for them to work on reading and one for the family to read together. (The reality of the family reading them together is that it may not happen. So I read it to them first.They love following along and reading along with their own book). My mom very kindly bought them all a coloring book and new box of crayons. Ultimately about $4 a student was spent. The first thing my students opened was their crayons. That moment filled me with so much love that I nearly cried. You guys, they screamed they were so excited and yells of thank yous. It was a magical moment that made the rest of the unwrapping even more special.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. These words hold true in so many things. You students love you and you love them. That love does not mean you need to spend lots of time or money. In addition, not doing any of this will make you less of a teacher and they will not love you any less.