Rachel Cogbill Reads "Amazing Grace"

Rachel read Amazing Grace to the kindergarten. (See here for a description of the book). Rachel's summary:

Grace wants to be Peter Pan in the class play, but one classmate says she can't be because Peter Pan is a boy, and another says she can't be Peter Pan because she is black. Her Nana says Grace can be anything she puts her mind to, and in the end her classmates agree! The play is a great success!

We believe it is essential to provide children with diverse role models, in terms of skin color, cultural heritage, ability, national origin, etc. This book is a lovely example of this perspective.

Activity: Rachel created a booklet with an image of the book's cover on the front, the name of the class, and a line stating "Read aloud during the Reading to End Racism Day."  Inside the booklet, it said "Grace can be anything she wants to be, and so can I!" There was a page for each student to draw a picture and write what he or she wanted to be. This boy wanted to be a baker! This activity provides a great little brochure that students can take home to talk with their families about.

Hannah Morvan reads "Amazing Grace"

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Caroline Binch 

I read Amazing Grace to a kindergarten group. In it Grace uses her imagination to play different roles, which kindergarteners always love to do. Grace is told by her classmates that she can’t be Peter Pan in the school play because she is a girl, and she is black. Her grandmother takes her to see a ballet of Romeo and Juliet with a black girl playing the Juliet role. Grace practices being Peter Pan and earns the part, and plays it  beautifully.

Activity: As an activity, the children were randomly partnered and they were to listen to their partner tell about a talent they had or something they were good at. Each partner then drew the other doing that activity, and told the class about their partner. At the end, we played a "guess the animal" imagination game.

The message was that ALL people have talents and strengths that have nothing to do with skin color (or gender) and that we should appreciate what our classmates have to offer, and build admiration into our ways of thinking about each other. Exclusion always leaves some out (hence racism) but inclusion allows everyone to opt in!