Multicultural storytime.
Hooray for Me!
Whatever I was
Whatever I’ll be
Hooray for you!
Hooray for me!
Whatever you do
Whatever you’ll be
Hooray for you!
Hooray for me!
Hooray for us!
Whatever we be
Hooray for you!
Hooray for me!
From Hooray for Me! (Tricycle Press, 1996) by Remy Charlip and Lilian Moore.
Title: On Mother’s Lap
Author/Illustrator: Ann Herbert Scott
Publisher/Date: Clarion Books, 1992.
Title: Jingle Dancer
Author/Illustrator: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Publisher/Date: Morrow Junior, 2000.
Title: Join Hands! The Ways We Celebrate Life
Author/Illustrator: Pat Mora
Publisher/Date: Charles Bridge, 2008.
Title: Shades of People
Author/Illustrator: Shelley Rotner and Sheila Kelly
Publisher/Date: Holiday House, 2009.
Title: Hush: a Thai Lullaby
Author/Illustrator: Minfong Ho
Publisher/Date: Orchard Books, 1996.
Comments: Caldecott Honor book
Title: Mahjong All Day Long
Author/Illustrator: Ginnie and Beth Lo
Publisher/Date: Walker Books for Young Readers, 2005.
Comments: Bilingual and illustrated by a professor from the University of Montana.
Title: Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America
Author/Illustrator: Joseph Bruchac
Publisher/Date: Scholastic, 1997.
Title: We are All Related: A Celebration of our Cultural Heritage
Author/Illustrator: Students of G.T. Cunningham Elementary School, Foreword by George Littlechild
Publisher/Date: Polestar Book Publishers, 1996.
Comments: This book is out of print.
Invite family members to tell their family stories. You can prompt them with sentences like, “remember the time when we”… or talking about hobbies and interests, or even the birth of the child (every child’s favorite story!).
You can provide a basket with natural items such as twigs, dried grass and flowers, leaves, feathers, pinecones, etc. Pass the basket around and have children tell stories about the objects. Children can even collect or bring the objects that have special meaning for them.
Kids’ Pow-Wow Songs by the Black Lodge Singers (CD). http://www.amazon.com/Pow-Wow-Songs-Black-Lodge-Singers/dp/B00000137J
Make a collage celebrating family, culture and heritage. Materials can include photocopies of family photos, magazine pictures, even bits of lace and fabric, beads etc. The children can also draw and color or use stickers.
A joined hand activity like Ring around the Rosy
A round dance from the Kids’ Pow-Wow Songs CD (above)
Perform the pantoum (a Malaysian poetic form) from the book Join hands! (Charles Bridge, 2008) by Pat Mora.