Faces of a Family
Annotated Bibliography
Anonymous. (n.d.). Talking about our families: Primary grades: K-2. Teaching Tolerance: A
project of the southern poverty law center. Retrieved at <http://www.tolerance.org/
supplement/talking-about-our-families-primary-grades-k-2>
I adapted the second part of my lesson from the activity found at this website. On the website, one can find an introduction to the lesson, this lesson, as well as a lesson for older elementary students. This site also gave me great ideas for lesson extensions, particularly for English Language Learners. There was also an additional extension activity that has student interview someone in their family to find out more about them. I have used the Teaching Tolerance website in general for many of my lessons and think it is a great resource.
Groundspark. (2005.) That’s a family. Women’s Educational Media. <http://groundspark.org/
our-films-and-campaigns/thatfamily>
This is the website for the video “That’s a Family.” The video profiles children talking about their families and includes many different types of families, including gay and lesbian parents, children who are adopted, and biracial families. This website offers a place from which you can order the video. It also includes lesson plan ideas and ways to discuss different types of families. Specifically to the seond lesson, I adapted an activity for this website, called “Windows and Mirrors” to discuss similarities and differences between families.
Kerley, B. (2005). You and me together: Moms, dads, and kids around the world. Washington,
D.C.: National Geographic
This picture book is a very easy read and a great book for discussing families with children. It specifically focuses on common things that families do together that can be found around the world. The pictures are vivid and striking and add to the overall message of the book. The book ends with a description of the origin of each of the pictures from the book.
Morris, A. (1990). Loving. New York: Lothrop, Lee % Shepard Books
This picture book is at a lower to middle elementary school level. It discusses different ways families provide for us and why families are important. The photographs in the book are from across the world and show families from all over to similar things, such as eating together and walking together. I used this book as a read-aloud for this lesson to talk about why families are important but would also leave this out in the classroom library as it would be accessible for many students to read on their own.
Osumi, T. (n.d.) Making murals, making history: A mural making guide for k-12 teachers.
Retrieved at http://www.kuidaosumi.com/murals/muralguide.html.
This lesson is a great resource for any teacher or adult working with children who wants to make a mural with their students. The article begins by explaining why murals are a great tool for discussing and assessing students' knowledge of a particular subject. The article then gives detailed instructions on how to walk children through making a mural. It also contains helpful tips for making the mural the best possible. I used this article as a guideline for the mural-making portion of the last lesson.
Ryan, P. M. (1994). One hundred is a family. New York: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children.
This picture book introduces families of different sizes, from one person to a group of 100 people. It also provides a great introduction to a discussion on the meaning of family. This book shows families of traditional size, but also highlights the importance of a neighborhood, school, community, and global family. I am using it as a read aloud for the first lesson, but it is also a book I would keep out for students to read on their own.
Schniedewind, N. & Davidson, E. (2006). Open minds to equality: A sourcebook of learning
activities to affirm diversity and promote equity. Wisconsin: Rethinking Schools, Ltd.
This book is a great resource for anyone thinking about teaching equality and social justice in their classroom. It includes resources and activity ideas for topics such as creative cooperation, looking at new perspectives, discrimination, and the important fact that we can all make change happen. I will be using this book to guide some of the activities throughout my unit. Specifically to the first lesson, I adapted an activity from the book called, “What’s in the picture?” to introduce the idea of different perspectives and “seeing the whole picture.” For the second lesson lesson, I adapted an activity from the book called, “Left Out” to discuss with the students what it feels like to be left out and what we can do if our friend is feeling left out. I have adapted the activity “Intriguing Interviews” to introduce my students to conducting interview as a way to gather information for the fifth lesson.
Skutch, R. (1995). Who’s in a family? Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press
This picture book talks about different members of a family. It includes examples of homosexual, biracial, divorced, and even animal families. It also includes examples of what all families like to do together, which can be a great point of similarities between families. At the end of the book, the author ends with his message of, “Families are those who love you the most.” I used this book as a read-aloud during the third lesson to discuss people who are in a family and to introduce new vocabulary to the students. Although I believe this book is at a middle elementary school level, I would still leave it available for students in the classroom library so that they could use it as a reference or silent read throughout the unit.
