Celebrate Diversity Theme

Our school is becoming increasingly racially diverse and we want all children to feel welcome and accepted. Our community and country are becoming more diverse and children need awareness about differences and help understanding how culture influences beliefs. We have to get along with people who may have very different values. Culturally sensitivity begins with an awareness of our own background. We need to teach young children about race and culture because stereotypes can become fixed by age 9 http://identity_stages.pdf Each fourth grader did a family interview about their heritage and background before I taught the counseling lesson in January. As part of my lesson they each decorated a hand cut out with symbols of what makes them uniques. Many of the fourth graders told me how much new information they learned about their family from this assignment and they love seeing their hands on the bulletin board. I would definitely repeat this lesson!