The third Monday in October is National Multicultural Diversity Day, adopted to “increase awareness of the tremendous need to celebrate our diversity collectively.” Following are a few ideas and resources to help you celebrate diversity in your classroom:
- Ask students to bring in items that represent their ethnic heritage to share with the class, such as a photograph, flag, or story talking about where their ancestors came from. A great tool to get things started is Scholastic’s “Read All About Me!” poster template, which will prompt students to tell their stories in words and pictures.
- Preschool and early childhood classrooms can discuss their favorite foods. Follow the discussion with where different dishes originated. This Multi-Ethnic Food Puzzle Set may be a good lead-in!
- TeacherVision has some great Diversity Resources for Teachers of elementary, intermediate, and high school students. You’ll find printables that promote tolerance and understanding, lessons about immigrant families, and activities that help familiarize students with the history and traditions of different religions and ethnic groups.
- Take a class-wide survey of eye or hair color, and create an interactive bar graph to illustrate the differences. Follow the illustration with a discussion of how such personal traits and attributes are in their DNA. You could dive in even further with Delta Education’s Let’s Relate to Genetics Book Series.
- The National Education Association has some great resources and creative ways to educate your students on the topic of diversity – such as its Diversity Toolkit, which provides an introduction to the multiple facets of diversity.
Another great place to go for ideas is your fellow educators. Please share with us how you have celebrated diversity in your classroom!
