Adding Windows and Mirrors to our Classroom Library

Funded Dec 10, 2019

Thank you so much to all of our donors. My students have greatly enjoyed poring through the new books in our revitalized and updated library. This has made Monday, our "book shopping" day, the most exciting day of the week! After students go book shopping, they keep their books to read at school and at home.

My students have delighted in the new titles and series featured in our library, especially of characters that look and sound just like them! Titles from the series Pedro, Katie Woo, and Elephant and Piggie have been flying off the shelves every week.

Additionally, I have used many of the new texts to model reading comprehension strategies as well as spark conversations about diversity, difference, and race with my students. Last week, after reading The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad, many of my students shared their experience of friends and family members who wear a hijab and who may have experienced discrimination. This is one example of the ways our new books affirm student identities and experiences while also opening the door to greater conversation about valuing each other's differences and being an upstander in the face of unjust treatment.

Thank you all again for supporting this important work.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Cheung