Young children are exposed to race and racism from the beginning of their education. How can we change the way they see themselves and others? This unit begins to embark on that adventure. Through the use of literature, arts and music, this unit will allow students to speak about their community and have a better understanding of what makes up the community. This unit will use various authors to focus on story structure, author’s purpose, and open discussion on the impact of these stories and how they contribute to our community. This unit will stay with them and allow them to find the same themes in all their education. This unit is designed to integrate social studies concepts with the reading standards that are required for all teachers to use in their classroom. By using these standards, it creates a cross-curricular unit plan. This unit will create curriculum that has never been available for the students. The unit will incorporate activities for the students as well as assessments that will benefit the students in kindergarten.  

(Developed for Language Arts, grades K and 2; recommended for Language Arts, grades K-5)