Multicultural Monday Read-Alouds

Mareena Snarey, Monett Intermediate School / Pierce City Middle School

Monett and Pierce City, Missouri

Intro:  

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 and Timeline:  

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 

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

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.