The One School, One Book project began at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year with the goal of further supporting the work teachers are doing to celebrate our students’ diverse cultural experiences and heritages.
One School, One Book gives every classroom (all grades at both the ICT and the ASD sites) the same Read-Aloud book to read and discuss each month. Books are chosen with the goal of ensuring that all students are exposed to stories that feature diverse characters, including books that center on people of color, gender diversity, LGBTQ identities, people with disabilities, immigration experiences, and ethnic, cultural and religious traditions that are historically excluded from school curricula. Our goal is to create a school in which all students see themselves in the pages of classroom texts, and are exposed to cultures and perspectives from our diverse community and beyond.
Here is a recap of the titles our students have read this year:
September: The Best Eid Ever by Asma Mobin-Uddin
October: The Storyteller’s Candle by Lucia Gonzalez
November: Where the Shadbush Blooms by Carla J.S. Messinger
December: We Are All Born Free by Amnesty International
January: Eight Days, A Story of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat
February: SIT-IN: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney
March: In Our Mother’s House by Patricia Polacco
April: My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete
May: The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
June: My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis (pre-K through 1st grade)
10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert (2nd through 5th)
Families are encouraged to submit titles of their favorite books exploring diverse characters, cultures, perspectives and authors. Next year there will be announcements of the book titles and reminders in class communications to help facilitate family-led enrichment activities in the classroom. Activities can be brief samples of music, food, dance, arts/crafts, photos or stories. The school will plan for some school-wide celebrations as well.
One School, One Book was funded through a PTA mini-grant.