Very Good Teacher Promoting Diversity

Funded Dec 15, 2022

We are so excited to have received this donation for our classroom. My preschool students eyes lit up when the box arrived & we opened it and saw what was inside. The students were so enthusiastic about the materials we received, they wanted to open them all at once; but I had to teach them that we needed to open just one thing at a time.

I have introduced the materials to my preschoolers and they have many opportunities to learn and play with them. We were so excited, because four different diverse color skin dolls were donated to us. We really needed diverse dolls in our preschool. As as cooperative & meaningful learning opportunity, I had the students look at their skin color and their friends skin color and talk about the differences between their skin and that of others. Then I had them touch the hand of the baby doll to compare similarities to their skin tone. I had each child touch an opposite doll with a different skin color than theirs so they could begin to understand that people in the world and around them are all different, and that it is okay to accept all people no matter how different they are from us.

We talked about the importance of acceptance and about how it is important to love other people no matter the color of their skin.

Also in the materials we received were wooden family blocks of different races, and multicultural books. I used these materials to explain how people and families from around the world and community are all different but we all have something in common and that is "kindness and love".

We also received a blind dog and cane. This has been a wonderful addition to our dog house area. The children absolutely love playing with the Seeing-Eye dog. I have taught the children that this dog is very special because it is helpful for people that might be blind get around. Children have been playing with the dog, cane and walker that came with the dog and have come to understand that people who are blind use and need special tools to help them understand their world and to help them get around. We talked about how important Seeing Eye dogs were to blind people.

Children also got to play with and use the squishy blocks that represent differently abled people. We talked about how sometimes people need aides and supports to help them learn and do things in our world.

The children are using the diverse materials in small group lessons and in different learning areas in the classroom. We have very much appreciated the materials provided to us and the impact your donation has made. You have made my preschool students world a little brighter with all the materials you gave. Thanks for your thoughtfulness!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Lombard