Saturday - day with children

In today's session we worked with a lovely group of young children.
I must be honest and say that I chose to sit back and do a lot of observation today - working as a teacher I feel I am always "hands on", I don't get the time to sit back and observe.

Observation is interesting - especially when you don't know the people.  I had not really met anyone in my group before today thus I was able to have a very objective view point.

We were to bring in a culturally diverse book - which I found challenging to find.

My group chose  "We All Went on Safari", author Laurie Krebs.

Yes this book is culturally diverse, it is set in Tanzania and has illustrations of people walking through the grasslands...but how does this book challenge our thinking?  How would it challenge our children's thinking.  Not once did any of the children mention anything of culturally difference.

In one of England's policies they state that the type of fiction we share with our children should include:

• everyday stories featuring British-born characters from various
ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds;
• stories set in children’s heritage countries;
• traditional stories from their cultures;
• biographies of people from diverse backgrounds who have made
outstanding contributions of various kinds;
• dual-language books;
• poetry and drama from a range of cultures;
• stories which explore or provide a stimulus to explore discrimination,
racism, feelings of isolation, justice and equality, change, loss,
friendships across cultures, living within two cultures, etc.

Primary National Strategy

Everyday stories - this is what we are missing from our libraries - from our schools!  Everyday Stories.