Multicultural Monday Read-Alouds
Monett Intermediate School and Pierce City Middle School
Mareena Snarey
Introduction
The goal of this project is to increase multiliteracy and multicultural awareness with students through select read-aloud books. Of the many excellent books available, thirty were chosen as read-alouds for sharing weekly with the class throughout the school year. For each book, I also created a mini lesson on how the book could be used in the classroom to foster multiculturalism or multiliteracy. Additionally, once books had been read to the class, they became available for students to reread and practice the languages found within.
Many of the books are bilingual and include the complete text in both languages, and each of the books is either a mirror or window for the students. As mirrors, the books reflect the cultures and languages spoken in the homes of my students. The other books act as windows for students to look though to gain
understanding of other backgrounds and cultures beyond their own. “Window books show human experiences different from your own. They help strengthen your sense of empathy. They help you see things from another perspective and learn more about the world” (Snyder & Staehr Fenner, 2021, p. 209). Both types of books foster cultural awareness and understanding among children.
The mini lessons I created include opportunities for students to share their first languages with the class, foster discussions about cultural differences, and build awareness of the struggles that students may be experiencing learning new languages or adjusting to new places. Ultimately, the goal is to increase awareness among all classmates of the assets each student brings to the classroom, regardless of the
languages they speak or where they come from, lowering the affective filter for all and improving the classroom environment by building compassion and understanding.
Step-by-Step Plan
Step 1: Research the languages and cultures of students in my district and classroom. Reach
out to the district ELD coordinator for district-wide information. Reach out to families
through a culture survey for detailed information about their heritages.
Time frame: 3 weeks
Step 2: Research read-aloud books that include the diversity of our district and my class,
including books that are bilingual or include languages from the cultures represented.
Time frame: 3 weeks
Step 3: Narrow book list to top 30 books representing cultures in our area and place order.
Time frame: 2-4 weeks
Step 4: Acquire approved books and create a suggested timeline of when to share each book,
based on content being taught, seasons, holidays represented, etc.
Time frame: 1 month
Step 5: Begin sharing read-alouds with the class while creating mini lesson enrichment activities that can be used as follow-up with the class after reading each book. The mini lessons will be designed to support cultural awareness, language activities, and foster discussions based on the content of each book.
Time frame: 6 months
Step 6: Create an evaluation survey for students to give feedback on the “Multicultural Monday”
read-aloud project. Share Google form with all students including questions about gaining multicultural awareness and likeability of the mini lesson follow-ups.
Time frame: 2 weeks
Step 7: Make mini lessons publicly downloadable files to share.
Time frame: 2 weeks
Timeline
Budget
For this project, I requested three of each book - one for the fifth-grade team to share, one for the fourth-grade team, and a personal set for myself. Below is a list of the books I selected, along with the suggested timeline for sharing each book and a link to each of the corresponding mini lessons.
| Multi-Cultural Read Aloud Timeline and Mini lesson Activities
| Book Title | Author | Country / Culture | Language in Book | Month to Share | Mini Lesson
| My America | Karen Katz | Multi- cultural | | Aug. | Create a "my culture" collage
| Islandborn | Junot Díaz | Cuba | Spanish | Aug. | Create a classroom heritage mosaic
| I Love Saturdays y domingos | Alma Flor Ada | Mexico | Spanish | Sept. | Venn diagram and celebration reflection
| I Hate English! | Ellen Levine | China | Chinese | Sept. | Language reflection journal entry
| Anh's New Word | Hanh Bui | Thailand | | Sept. | Create brave new steps path
| The Name Jar | Yangsook Choi | Korea | | Oct. | Create a name starburst
| Mi papá es un agrícola / My Father, the Farm Worker | J. Roman Perez Varela | Hispanic | Spanish | Oct. | Write letter of appreciation to parent
| The Book Rescuer | Sue Macy | Judaism | Yiddish | Oct. | Preserve a memory
| Mango Moon | Diane de Anda | Hispanic | Spanish | Nov. | Create helping hands of support
| The proudest Blue | Ibtihaj Muhammad | Muslim | | Nov. | Create a symbol of pride
| Agua, Agüita/Water, Little Water | Jorge Tetl Argueta | Hispanic | Spanish | Nov. | Act out the water cycle
| From the Tops of the Trees | Kao Kalia Yang | Thailand | Hmong | Dec. | Build a tree of resilience and hope
| Dancing Hands | Margarita Engle | Venezuela | | Dec. | Share music and artistic talents
| Caribou Song | Tomson Highway | Native American | Cree | Dec. | Create a caribou song
| The Subway Sparrow | Leyla Torres | Poland | Polish | Jan. | Create a kindness plan
| My Mother's Tongues | Uma Menon | India | Malayalim | Jan. | Create a tapestry of languages
| Playing Loteria / El juego de la loteria | Rene Colato Lainez | Hispanic | Spanish | Jan. | Play Loteria with the class
| Marvelous Mabel | Crystal Hubbard | African American | | Feb. | Standing up against racism
| The Girl With a Mind For Math | Julia Finley Mosca | African American | | Feb. | Create a path to success map
| Yefferson, Actually | Katherine Trejo | Hispanic | Spanish | Feb. | Role play courage scenarios
| Half Spoon of Rice | Icy Smith | Cambodia | | March | Discuss survival scenarios
| A Spoon for Every Bite / Cada Bocado con Nueva Cuchara | Joe Hayes | Hispanic | Spanish | March | Design your own spoon
| A Place Where Sunflowers Grow | Amy Lee-Tai | Japan | Japanese | March | Create sunflowers of hope
| The Ugly Vegetables | Grace Lin | China | Chinese | April | Conduct vegetable comparisons
| To Swim in Our Own Pond | Ngoc Dung Tran | Vietnam | Vietnamese | April | Create a school proverb
| Powwow Day | Traci Sorell | Native American | | April | Watch a jingle dance/research powwows
| Watercress | Andrea Wang | China | | April | Illustrate a memory
| A Movie in My Pillow/Una pelicula en mi almohada | Jorge Argueta | El Salvador | Spanish | May | Write a poem about or illustrate a memory
| Where We Live: Mapping Neighborhoods of Kids Around the Globe | Margriet Ruurs | Multi- cultural | | May | Create a map of your community
| Little Roja Riding Hood | Susan Middleton Elya | Hispanic | Spanish | May | Create your own fractured fairy tale
What did it look like?
Sustainability
This project is easily sustainable because once books are purchased, they can be used for many years, potentially throughout a teacher’s career. The mini lessons can be downloaded at any time and used or modified as needed.
Reflections
I began this project as a fifth-grade teacher but then moved the next year to teach seventh- and eighth-grade English Language Arts. Fortunately, I can confirm that students from fifth- through eighth-grade are all captivated by these books.
We often think of read-alouds as something predominately used in lower grade levels, but there is compelling evidence that sharing multicultural read-alouds can also strengthen grade level standards and motivate readers at higher grades as well.
When fifth grade students were surveyed about their experiences with the multicultural read-alouds after four months of having books shared with them, 81% stated that the books helped them understand other cultures or backgrounds better, and 85% expressed interest in learning more about other cultures. Additionally, it was evident in our discussions and activities that they were engaged with the stories and enjoyed the activities that we had time to complete.
Due to time restraints, we didn’t always complete each mini lesson. But when surveyed, my co-workers reported that they liked having the lessons printed off with the books, making them easy to grab and go. They indicated that their students enjoyed the activities and that they enjoyed reading these books with their classes.
Reference:
Snyder, S., & Staehr Fenner, D. (2021). Culturally responsive teaching for multilingual learners: Tools for equity. Corwin.
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