Students across our elementary schools focus on thinking routines and strategies across disciplines around what they notice, what they wonder, how they name their new learning, and how they can compare and contrast information. In several elementary classrooms, we have been pairing this work with developing students' skill sets around: 1) expressing comfort with people who are both similar to and different from them and engage respectfully with all people, 2) developing language and knowledge to accurately and respectfully describe how people (including themselves) are both similar to and different from each other and others in their identity groups and 3) respectfully expressing curiosity about others.
See below for some photos of this work in action from 3rd grade at MES in Mrs. Samson's class and 4th grade at GES in Mrs. Rausch's class. Specifically, students have been drawing on fiction and nonfiction resources for teaching and learning around various observances and traditions such as Lunar New Year, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Christmas, and more.
