Multicultural Read-Alouds for Back-to-School
Add a multicultural perspective to your back-to-school read-alouds with engaging picture books and activities!
Share school experiences of children around the world, develop students’ geographic and cultural awareness, and build a caring and welcoming classroom community.
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It’s Back to School We Go! First Day Stories From Around the World
Ellen Jackson and Jan Davey Ellis portray children from eleven different countries experiencing their first day back at school. Each child’s first-person account is enhanced by a fact box that tells us something about the culture from which the child speaks so that the reader is able to compare and contrast the experiences of children from different parts of the world.
*Recommendation: Share this book over several days, as there is a lot of information to cover (and a lot of fun discussion you should allow time for).
- Discussion Guide for before, during, and after the story
- Video Read-Aloud (approx. 16.5 minutes) with traditional background music for each country
This Is the Way We Go to School
Discover the many different modes of transportation children all over the world use to get to school.
- Download a free printable integrated geography, writing, and math lesson
- Video Read-Aloud (approximately 13.5 minutes)
Learn about the experiences of real children in thirteen different countries. From Marta in Azezo, Ethiopia, and Luciano in Mérida, Venezuela, to Alina in Taraz, Kazakhstan, and Lu in Shanghai, China, the children live in places that truly span the globe.
Discover a school where all young children have a place, have a space, and are loved and appreciated. Readers will follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where students from all backgrounds learn from and celebrate each other’s traditions. A school that shows the world as we will make it to be.
“Everyone has a name, and every name has a story.” – Huda Essa, educator and author of Teach Us Your Name. This story reminds us of the importance of respecting everyone’s name and empowers kids to teach others about their names.
Click here for a Supplemental Resource Guide from the author (themes, ideas, and talking points), a pledge for pronouncing students’ names correctly, and a link to learn about first names and their meanings, pronunciation, history, and more. Includes our free printable for students to teach the class about their names.
Related Product: The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
Unhei, a young girl from Korea, faces many challenges when she moves to a new culture – including what to do about her name. Click here for our #ReadYourWorld book companion.
