CULTURAL LITERACY IN THE CLASSROOM
Teaching students about the varying differences of people and their cultures and incorporating that into written and verbal literacy, enhances students literacy in more than one area. Cultural literacy is extremely important to teach in the classroom because it opens students eyes and minds to the multicultural world, and sometimes classroom, around them. Teaching students about differences and helping them discover unique ones, makes for a deeper level of understanding and a larger platform to teach and learn about various things. Students learn to appreciate their peers differences and begin to see them as unique vs. strange and unknown, it piques their curiosity and encourages them to want to learn more. As a result students teach each other about cultural differences and ask each other questions. Having students create journals to talk about their own personal culture helps them to deeply culturally identify and gives them the opportunity to share that with others. Cultural literacy spans across so many areas, this makes implementing it into classroom curriculum easier and more engaging for students.
Our MISSION
In our classroom, we believe it is our group responsibility to preventing '-ism's such as 'racism', 'sexism', 'handicapism', 'classism', or 'ageism' by creating an ant-bias atmosphere. From a young age, children observe adult interactions and construct understandings of differences in outward appearance, culture and ability. Our goal in having meaningful discussions about differences AND similarities will help children to feel pride in themselves without feeling a sense of superiority. We believe that by honestly addressing differences rather than 'covering them up' can empower children, foster empathy and create a safe environment for learning.
Remember, children of today are the leaders of the future. Helping our youngest generation to become more culturally literate will contribute to a more accepting and understanding society. Please, support our mission by helping us to learn more about your family. If you have cultural celebrations, food, art, music, skills, stories or any contribution to share with our class please let us know. As we see, hear, feel, taste and see our class will develop into a strong community. The experiences the children have learning about one another this year will impact and support the cultural literacy they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. We welcome discussion on our mission and understand that the families in our classroom may have questions about our in class practices. Please feel free to call, email or schedule a coffee-date to talk about what is happening in our classroom. We love to answer questions about our philosophy!
Below is a video, showing how culture and literacy merge together in an elementary classroom.
Our MISSION
In our classroom, we believe it is our group responsibility to preventing '-ism's such as 'racism', 'sexism', 'handicapism', 'classism', or 'ageism' by creating an ant-bias atmosphere. From a young age, children observe adult interactions and construct understandings of differences in outward appearance, culture and ability. Our goal in having meaningful discussions about differences AND similarities will help children to feel pride in themselves without feeling a sense of superiority. We believe that by honestly addressing differences rather than 'covering them up' can empower children, foster empathy and create a safe environment for learning.
Remember, children of today are the leaders of the future. Helping our youngest generation to become more culturally literate will contribute to a more accepting and understanding society. Please, support our mission by helping us to learn more about your family. If you have cultural celebrations, food, art, music, skills, stories or any contribution to share with our class please let us know. As we see, hear, feel, taste and see our class will develop into a strong community. The experiences the children have learning about one another this year will impact and support the cultural literacy they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. We welcome discussion on our mission and understand that the families in our classroom may have questions about our in class practices. Please feel free to call, email or schedule a coffee-date to talk about what is happening in our classroom. We love to answer questions about our philosophy!
Below is a video, showing how culture and literacy merge together in an elementary classroom.
Cultural literacy: A few of it's many forms!
Feel free to explore!!