Resources For K-8th Grade Children to Support Care, Action, and Learning During These Important Times
On June 16, 2020, the faculty and students at Community Roots took a Day of Care, Action, and Learning. Each stakeholder could choose for themselves how they wished to spend the day. The following resources were compiled by Jillian Pereg, Jayne Sohn, and John McCann Doyle, a group of faculty at the school, to support the community in this work.
The resources are broken up by grade level K-2, 3-5, and 6-8, and we hope that they are helpful as you continue conversations, learning, action, and care with your own families.
K-2 RESOURCES FOR...
Here are some resources around taking care of ourselves while we engage in our ongoing work and activism. Feel free to add to this list as there are many more sources and websites to choose from when it comes to self-care and compassion.
Calm Down Cards: printable cards with multiple suggestions for breaks and calming activities
Make a mindfulness glitter jar
Social-Emotional Learning Activities (can filter by grade)
GoNoodle: has guided breathing, dancing, yoga!
Here are some ways that people are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Along with some inevitably flawed and incomplete resources and websites.
Feel free to add to this list.
Attend an event:
These two lists of events, protest and marches in support of Black Lives Matters are updated daily:
Support people and communities
Create and Communicate
letters and conversations
Put posters up in your neighborhood
Grow together
observe, read, discuss, act, repeat
Here are some stories that honor Black lives; describe the fight for justice; and show how you can be an ally.
Click on a book title and watch the read aloud!
A is for Activist, by Innosanto Nagara
Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman, Caroline Binch
The Day You Begin, by Jacquiline Woodson
Get Up, Stand Up, by Cedelia Marley
I Am Enough, by Grace Byers
ISLANDBORN, by Junot Díaz
Hair Love, by Matthew A. Cherry
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, by Javaka Steptoe
Michelle, by Deborah Hopkinson
Say Something!, by Peter H. Reynolds
The Skin You Live In, by Michael Tyler
You Matter, by Christian Robinson
For the resources below, we recommend that a parent/family member watch the resource with their child and have a discussion to support their learning.
3-5 RESOURCES FOR...
Here are some resources around taking care of ourselves while we engage in our ongoing work and activism. Feel free to add to this list as there are many more sources and websites to choose from when it comes to self-care and compassion.
Calm Down Cards: printable cards with multiple suggestions for breaks and calming activities
Make a mindfulness glitter jar
Social-Emotional Learning Activities (can filter by grade)
GoNoodle: has guided breathing, dancing, yoga!
Here are some ways that people are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Along with some inevitably flawed and incomplete resources and websites. Feel free to add to this list.
Attend an event
These two lists of events, protest and marches in support of Black Lives Matters are updated daily:
Bushwick Daily Updated Protest Schedule
Support people and communities
Create art and Communicate
letters and conversations
Put posters up in your neighborhood
Grow together
observe, read, discuss, act, repeat
Here are some resources to help you learn more about the Black Lives Matter Movement and policing. If it helps, as you read/listen/watch, think about some of the following:
What surprises me?
What is interesting to me?
What is troubling to me?
What questions do I have?
RESOURCES:
ARTICLE: ACLU - How Black Lives Matter Changed the Way Americans Fight for Freedom
VIDEO: Artists Paint Black Lives Matter Mural Down Brooklyn Street
VIDEO: DC artists paint massive "Black Lives Matter" street art near White House
6-8 RESOURCES FOR…
Here are some resources around taking care of ourselves while we engage in our ongoing work and activism. Feel free to add to this list as there are many more sources and websites to choose from when it comes to self-care and compassion.
Make a mindfulness glitter jar
Meditation and exercise resources
Social-Emotional Learning Activities (can filter by grade)
Here are some ways that people are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Along with some inevitably flawed and incomplete resources and websites.
Feel free to add to this list.
Attend an event
These two lists of events, protest and marches in support of Black Lives Matters are updated daily:
Bushwick Daily Updated Protest Schedule
Join an organization or start a club
Donate money to groups and organizations
Support people and communities
Create art and Communicate
letters and conversations
Put posters up in your neighborhood
Sign Petitions and support legislation
Create or join a book club or study group
Grow together
observe, read, discuss, act, repeat
Here are some resources to help you learn more about the Black Lives Matter Movement and policing. If it helps, as you read/listen/watch, think about some of the following:
What surprises me?
What is interesting to me?
What is troubling to me?
What questions do I have?
RESOURCES:
ARTICLE: ACLU - How Black Lives Matter Changed the Way Americans Fight for Freedom
ARTICLE: A Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Explains Why This Time Is Different
ARTICLE: Here’s Why It Hurts When People Say, “All Lives Matter”
ARTICLE: NEWSELA - How "Black Lives Matter" became a U.S. protest cry
ARTICLE: NEWSELA - When protesters say "defund the police," what does it mean?
PODCAST: THE DAILY - The Case for Defunding the Police
VIDEO: Artists Paint Black Lives Matter Mural Down Brooklyn Street
VIDEO: DC artists paint massive "Black Lives Matter" street art near White House
VIDEO: Great Big Story - Black Lives Matter Protests Around the World
VIDEO: NEW YORKER - Eric Garner’s Family Is Still Grieving This is an interview with Jason, a member of our CRCS faculty.