I make a conscious effort throughout the entire school year to include books that feature various cultures, people of all shapes, sizes, and abilities, and people of color. When I create a big sheet that calls for illustrations of people I always try to have people of color and from different cultures included. I don’t make a big deal about it, or even point it out. I simply think it’s important for children who live in a not-so-diverse part of the world to see as much of the world’s beauty as possible.
When Black History Month rolls around in February I redouble my efforts to put diverse images and stories in front of my students, again without commentary beyond the presentation of a book or a song or an artist. We focus on Nat King Cole around Valentine’s Day using his song L-O-V-E as the springboard.
Most days in February the children dance the L-O-V-E Dance, forming the letters with their bodies, making and breaking hand hearts, and miming playing the trumpet.
We typically wrap up the month with Ella Fitgerald by reading her book A-Tisket A-Tasket and listening to Ella sing her song.
We usually watch this snippet of Ella singing A-Tisket A-Tasket in an old timey movie. (If you watch the clip there’s a frozen section in the middle which unfreezes after several seconds.)
The children learn about Ella’s contribution to jazz music and watch videos of an older Ella scat singing.
The children are usually mesmerized by Ella’s scat singing. Here’s a video of several of my students scatting a few years ago. I think Ella Fitzgerald would have loved these Hogarth Scat Cats!
