Hello Redbud Families,

 

This has been an incredibly heartbreaking week in the midst of a heartbreaking season.  I will echo Jarrod’s words from his email last night: if you need anything, please reach out; we are a community, our connection is our strength.

 

I know that many of you are already deeply engaged in justice work; others may be looking for more ways to get involved.  Likewise, some families may already have a practice of talking to their child about race, while others may be wondering how to begin.  We have put together a list of resources for talking to children about race and about racialized violence, and opportunities to engage in anti-racist actions in Philadelphia.  I’m sure CCS will continue to make more resources available, if you have something you’d like to share, please send it to us.

 

Resources for Talking to Children about Race and Racialized Violence and Resources for Anti-Racist Action

 

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Here are the videos and activity for today.  I wrote this last week; if going for a walk to collect natural materials is not comfortable or possible, the counting activity can easily be done with materials from around your home.

Teacher Message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT52uVVGbfI

In today’s video I share the rhyme “Here is the Bee Hive” and do some counting with a new puppet friend!

 

Bonus Teacher Message:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nESmBfEqzZA

In this video I read, Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love.  Over the last decade, I’ve developed a  personal tradition of celebrating Pride Month in June by donating a book to the school; this year, I hope to honor the spirit of that tradition by reading a recent favorite with all of you.

 

 At Home Activity: Counting Natural Materials

Next time your child collects some natural materials on a walk or in your yard, count together to see how many there are.  Then invite your child to arrange the materials in a different way (perhaps laying them out on a sheet of paper) and count them again!   Model strategies like pointing to each item with your finger and counting left to right or top to bottom.  Next time you go on a walk see if you can gather the same number of a different type of object (if it was 3 leaves the first time, can you gather 3 pinecones or rocks?).  Put the collections side by side and help your child notice how number is different than size:  “Wow, these three pinecones fill the whole jar, but the three pebbles we found yesterday take up just a tiny space!”.