5 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month

5 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month

5 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month

Whether you celebrate Black History during February or during the entire year, below are 5 different ways to recognize the history of African American and Black individuals.

If you are looking for Black History Project Ideas, click here for some.

1. Visit a site

If you live or can drive, there are historical sites in the U.S. that have previously owned plantation sites. Some sites are preserved, and you can view them.

There are hundreds if not thousands of former sites that housed enslaved individuals in the United States. Take some time to visit, and you can see the pros and cons of how the owners lived compared to the 1,000s who were forced to build the wealth of the ones who owned them.

Visiting the site can make the experience more real, and recognize that humans were trafficked.

Some sites here

2. Talk to an elder

Our African American grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, and cousins are living history books. In the 1930s, Black Americans were sharecropping and picking cotton.

Sharecropping explained here

Even though slavery was abolished, the actions of enslavement remained with laws such as Jim Crow. Elders can give you a 1st person perspective on life and what it meant to have limited freedoms.

3. Museum Visit

The National Museum of African American History & Culture celebrates Black History each day. You can find stories and https://nmaahc.si.edu/

4. Read

There are beautifully written texts written about Black History Month.

Here are a few suggestions for children ages 0-12.

1. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre    Ages 8-12
2. Evicted! The Struggle for the Right to Vote Ages 9-12
3.Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free:
The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth       
Ages 4-8
4. The Me I Choose to Be    Ages 6-8
5. The ABCs of Black HistoryAges 5-8
6. The Hair Book Ages 0-5

5. Visit a Black or Caribbean Restaurant

The Black experience flows from not only Africa but from the Caribbean to the Americas. Eat at a restaurant to not only support this establishment economically but experience the culture. If you want to learn about Black History, you can learn it through the vibrant food experiences.

Have fun celebrating!

Start to Read, 60 Easy Tips & Lessons

Start to Read, 60 Easy Tips & Lessons

Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels

 

  • Help my child read fluently

  • Help my child read

  • Help my child read and write

Looking for ways to teach your child to read, below are 60 different tips. A list of suggestions to help your child read fluently, to encourage them to read at home. We have tips for children ages 0-16. A list of 20 tips for different ages.

 

 AGE 0-6

  1. Letters-Uppercase & lowercase

Write letters each day. Have a notebook so your child can scribble or write at anytime.

Take it a step further, make an ABC book to demonstrate the use of uppercase & lowercase letters here

2. Conversation

When your child begins to speak, it is important to have fun and meaningful conversations. For example, if you are doing the dishes, count the number of forks. If you are eating dinner, ask you child to tell you about their food. Even if their words are inaudible, this engages your child with the beginning frameworks of dialogue.

3.Read Aloud Daily

You have to be intentional to read aloud. Reading aloud might seem hard, but if you have the consistent reminder: reading is for 30 minutes before bedtime, reading is 30 minutes during breakfast. This, of course will vary with your home life, but you can make this happen. Also don’t forget to ask questions from: what color is that, tell me what you see, or what happened?

4. Flashcards

There are hundreds of flashcard publishers. But use flashcards that can have the quick way of checking memory, and providing information.

5. Routines

Establishing routines with your little one for eating, potty, outside play, nap time can provide you with opportunities of reading. You can find more here.

6. Listening

If your child hears, they are building an understanding about what is heard from that spoken language. Listening guides them on learning how to talk and tell stories. 

7. Magnetic letters or physical letters

Allow your baby to touch, see, and feel the letters. Even though you do not know what letters are, it can help them to feel them and provide the early development of letter and word recognition.

Pegboard Letters Here

8. Repetition

When reading, it is important to repeat important words. Repetition helps your child remember what was said, and helps them practice the sound and speech pattern. More Here

9. Make it a game

Children love having fun, and anytime that you can make reading/literacy a game you have made their day.

10. Real World

It is critical for our littles to know what the real world is. So if you are outside, at the store, point things out so they know what is around them. Describe and explain what they see, because this world could be confusing and overwhelming for some. So the more that you can take them into the real world and explain, describe what is around them will not only build their senses but vocabulary.

11. Music

You know if the right music is played, your child lights up. In this article, “Making music helps the body and mind work together, stimulates thinking and expressive skills, and enhances creativity. So with music, you are helping your child to connect their thinking and neural development. Article here

12. Rhyming

Rhyming can help a child understand phonemes and phonological awareness or word sounds. For example with rhyming a child does not realize they are saying consonant sounds, short vowel sounds, blended vowels, and more. With the repetition and flair of rhyme gives the child a foundational ability to “play” with the words.

13. Colors

Encouraging the learning of colors and art can reinforce the vocabulary. For example, when you read a book encourage a child to tell you the color or you can tell him/her the color. When you ask them to point out the animal or person on the page.

14. Sight Words

Sight words are words that we hear all of the time. Words such as a, and, must, and more.

  • The lists are here
  • You can find an activity here
  • Resource here

15. ABCs

No matter what language you speak, learning the ABCs and their sounds is a step.

  • You can find an activity here

 16. Alphabet Sentences

When your reader is ready, they can read sentences that are in alphabetical order.

17. Matching/Sorting

Matching and sorting is a known skill to improve your child’s thinking skills. When you read, you can find words, images, and new ideas from the readings. More information here

18. Learn Names

A way to get a child ready for writing is to learn how to write their name.

  • Dot Sticker-First Name Activity here

19. Learn Home Address

Teaching your child their own address or even phone number is an easy way to teach them about capitals, commas, and numbers. 

20. Encourage Creativity

Anytime during readings, encourage your child to draw or illustrate their thinking. You can encourage singing, rhyming, or acting out!

 


AGE 7-12

At this age, your reader is learning how to read. They will also have numerous opportunities to measure their understanding as well.

  1. Learn storytelling or spoken word 
    The spoken word is a creative activity. Through the spoken form, one can learn the story structure (beginning, middle, and end). The different ways of personification, and shifting the tone in one’s voice. No matter how sophisticated you get, speaking the story aloud builds comprehension and vocabulary. Click Here to read more. 

2. Spelling
Spelling acknowledges if your reader can write a word ini the correct order. A good speller indicates their ability to breakdown the word and knows the different sounds. There are different ways for spelling: (a) different lists given each week/month. (b) words pulled from the books they read. (c) lists of words that interest them. 

3. Spelling Games
There are hundreds of free and purchasable spelling games. Here is a sample product. Here

3.Writing
For writing you can have a variety of skills such as: responding to the reading, persuasive writing, creative writing, poetry, and many more. With writing, you are providing the specifics on the different methods to write.

4.Journaling
Journaling can be a free flowing of writing or a usage of prompts. The difference of journaling is allowing the reader to get their thoughts out without judgement. Example here from a homeschooling mom.

5. Encourage art
At this stage, readers need content that is visual so they can have deeper concepts of the vocabulary and readings. I always encourage readers to have a pencil, notepad, and colored pencils. This could help them on remembering to sketch what they see. 

6. Prefixes, Suffixes, Affixes
Prefixes and suffixes are highly useful to learn.

  • For example the word help is a verb.
  • Help +er(suffix) now is helper.
  • Helper is now a noun meaning a person who helps.

Learning a prefix/suffix each week can give your reader the tools to understand the different words.

7. Listening Comprehension
Listening is a challenge, but asking a reader to listen and understand is even more difficult. Ultimately, practicing listening comprehension in your conversations or if listening to a program you can ask questions. Learn More Here

8. Act out
As your reader advances, allowing movement addresses their different learning styles. You can go as big as creating a play, or as low as asking them to express the character’s emotions in their face. However, these unique moments will be memorable for your reader.

9. Reading Comprehension
Reading to build understanding will be a continuous skill they will need in their lives. With the rise of social media, they will need to learn those skills to find information and make clear decisions.

  • One way to start is by asking your reader to describe what happened.
  • For fiction one would describe-the characters, setting, actions of the character, main events/plot, if there was a twist, and conclusion.
  • For non fiction-one would explain the categories, main idea and details, what would happen next, and many others..
  • Describing: Activity Here

10. Read Science & math

Practical application, vocabulary

11. Phonics

Do not be afraid to reteach/introduce phonics. Reading is developmental and ensure they have the foundation of knowing their phonemes, vowel sounds, consonant sounds, word blends, graphemes, and each of them.

 12. Vocabulary

With vocabulary, one should focus on learning the word meaning.

13. Games

At this age, you can use digital games or the good old-fashioned board games. When you are using a game, then you can integrate the usage of words or comprehension about readings. 

14. Academic/Leisure Reading

As a parent, you have so much hope for your child. You also realize that your child has their own personality, likes, and dislikes. So at this age, encourage reading for fun and reading for academics. Click Here to learn more.

15. Book Club

Encouraging the aspect of book club can encourage your reader to keep up with the readings that is assigned for the book club. 

16. Library
The library is always a useful place with resources and information. If you do not check out books often, then talk to your librarian about resources and databases that can be helpful.

17. Read as a family
Reading as a family has huge benefits of being able to engage and discuss what you all are reading. You can read at different times during the week that best suits you, and even create a group book text chat. 

18. Stay Positive
Readers will not have the best days, because they are still learning how to read. Find the bright spots in their success and keep encouraging them if they lose confidence at anytime.

19. Syllabication  
Syllabication is summarized here and the importance.
“When students are faced with reading multisyllable words, it is extremely helpful that they are familiar with the different syllable types or patterns. They will then have strategies to divide such a word into its syllables, and from there to blend the syllables so they can pronounce the whole word. Being able to spot the common spelling patterns or syllable types will aid them in the division. Instead of guessing, they will be able to attack long words and read them accurately and fluently. Entire article here

20. Have a book budget
If you have the means, consider having a budget to purchase books for your home library. At home libraries give readers immediate access to stories.


 

Age 12-16

Helping an Older Child with Reading Problems

You can find the full article here

1. Focus on a Reading Skill

In the 21st century, learning has taken a new approach. Learning is less about the retention of large amounts of facts and datasets. Learning is about manipulating and utilizing those data sets. As you encourage your child to read they can focus on skills such as vocabulary skills, comprehension skills, fluency skills, phonics skills, and writing skills. Each skill has a unique pathway and keeping this in place. Learning is also about collaboration, and communication to solve future problems in the world they will live in.

2. Recognize their developmental stage

Children go through a variety of developmental stages.

An example about an eleven to fourteen-year-old,

What I’m Like: I’m more independent than I used to be, but I’m quite self-conscious. I think more like an adult, but there’s no simple answer. I like to talk about issues in the adult world. I like to think for myself, and though I often feel confused, my opinions are important to me, and I want others to respect them. I seem to be moving away from my family. Friends are more important than ever. To have them like me, I sometimes act in ways that adults disapprove of. But I still need reasonable rules set by adults. However, I’m more understanding and cooperative. I want nothing to do with babysitters—in fact, if I’m mature enough I can often be by myself or watch others.” You can find more about their Stages Description Here.

When your child hits the preteen stage, then their ideas of realism are stronger than before. The best way to make their experiences, “REAL.” Is by identifying the core reasons why your reader does not read.

3. Magazines

Read teen or child magazines-talk about key points

4. Book series/Booklists

Read a series of books that is their interests.

If the booklist is realistic with topics on space, history, technology, and etc. Extend that experience to take them to the place, write to the author or an expert, or a virtual visit.

Kwame Membalia has a book series about Tristan Strong
Christine Taylor-Butler has a book series called The Lost Tribes
Renee Watson has books for Middle Grade readers

  1. Learn a Real World Skill

Find books where your reader can learn a new skill. Ask them something they would like to do in a set of months. If determined these could be books on sewing, coding, sign language, and this way you could see how they are implementing this vocation and reading.

6. Create digital content about readings

Make a blog, podcast, or private channel in TikTok or YouTube

7. Make it social

If you start a reading club with the adolescent’s friends, then ask them to decide: what they will read, how often they will read, and etc. Allowing readers to “own” the responsibility.

 8. Encourage What they like

1:1 if your reader “HATES” reading, I always encourage parents for every 1 book that YOU like, you will read an ACADEMIC text that is required by your school. Starting off will be painful, but it can work.

9. Let them choose

As a teen/preteen they want to make decisions. So think about giving reading what they want and reading what they should.

 10. Design something

Have the child to read aloud complex directions such as what an architect, building developer, and etc read. Have them illustrate those items over the course of weeks.

11. Meet with their Teacher

Beyond the conferences, gain a general understanding about their strengths and weaknesses.

12. Syllabication

Reinforcing syllables can assist your reader on decoding, and spelling.

  • More information Here

 13. Prefixes, Suffixes, Affixes

Prefixes, suffixes, and affixes change the meaning and spelling of a word. For example READ is the root word, READER has the prefix -er. Which now makes the word read a noun instead of a verb. So learning the prefixes, suffixes, and affixes can 

14. Vocabulary

As your reader advances into reading to learn, encourage your reader to keep learning vocabulary for their own work.

15. Encourage writing

Make this real for them. Ask your reader, how they want to produce the topic. For example your reader can write to their legislators, can develop a pen pal, write a series of stories and make into a video or a web series. Writing should be a decided effort so your reader will feel that they owned the piece.

16. Grammar check

Gives rules of the language, and syntax. Consider having the reader teach you a short 5-minute lesson on the grammar.

17. Reading responses

After reading, encourage their verbal or written thoughts about the readings.  

18. Build Fluency

Encourage daily read aloud. The more your reader reads aloud daily, the more he or she can build their fluency.

  1. Comprehension

Continue the building of comprehension. At this stage, they are reading to learn information and less on learning how to read. If your reader is still learning how to read then have patience and continue

  1. Problem-Based Learning Encourage your reader to read about a topic that affects their community. Then, when ready you can have your reader to an activity or project that is real or authentic.

 

Reading Books for Academics and Pleasure

Reading Books for Academics and Pleasure

  • Critical reading English for academic purposes
  • Encouraging reading at home
  • Pleasure of reading books

Ensuring that your child reads for fun or reads for school or academics requires stamina and balance. Particularly, these experiences include different books, skills, and ideas. Reading academically and for pleasure has unique differences. For example, reading for pleasure is when one is intrinsically motivated to read a book and they are not solely focused on reading for learning. Academic reading is meant to advance one’s knowledge or studies.

What does reading for pleasure look like?

ClassroomHome
15-20 Minutes each day, depending on age group.
During times when there is center or guided reading work.
Right after or before lunch.
A set time at the end of the day before it is time to go home.
In the morning before breakfast or in the evening before bed.
Before you turn on the TV for late-night cartoons.
Driving in the car.

What does academic reading look like?

Critically reading to understand the purpose of the text, build connections of the text, and to show the skill that the teacher or curriculum desires. 

Ensuring the reader picks up vocabulary, syntax, and building of their comprehension. 

Ultimately, finding books that are engaging and motivating takes time. There are online book finders and of course your local librarian who can help you find the books that are just right for your child. 

Reading for Pleasure and Reading for Academics has stark differences. Ultimately if integrated on a daily basis, the reward can be great. Your child will be a reader and he or she will have the skills, stamina, and internal motivation to read.

Here at Pennez, we are looking to support you and your child in your online reading experiences. We have tutoring services, and a product called Read2Think. At Pennez we cater our tutoring services to ensure the books are inclusive and the lessons are on pace for your child. We also encourage parents to listen in on the first few times to exchange knowledge. 

How to Read Different Nonfiction Books

How to Read Different Nonfiction Books

  • Reading Nonfiction Picture Books

  • Reading Nonfiction Using Text Features

  • Reading Nonfiction with 0-10 year olds

Reading Nonfiction stories introduces new vocabulary words, truthful ideas, and new information about our world. Nonfiction can be defined as, informational text that expresses researched content from science, art, mathematics, history, engineering, and many other areas. As your child progresses into different stages of reading features will be important to know such as the text, the vocabulary, and topics. Many of these features will become more complex, and eventually, when they are in secondary or high school your reader will have more informational text to advance their studies.

In this article, you can find additional information about nonfiction reading here. 

At any stage that your child is in, you can read nonfiction text from infant, toddler, child, teen, and up. The best way to select nonfiction stories is to think about what your reader likes to do, and what you as a parent/guardian like to do. For example, if your child loves trucks, food, and planes then you can read about those topics. Alternatively, if you work in the arts or software then it would be good to read books about your areas of interest as well. 

Below you will find suggestions on How to Read Nonfiction Texts using examples from these nonfiction books.

My First 100 Technology Words

 

 

Baby Loves Aerospace Engineering

 

Little Legends


 

Ocean (Magnetology)

Nonfiction Feature: Photographs, Illustrations, Icons & Captions

Pre-K book Examples

Imagery can help your reader understand the language throughout the book. The image gives a reference to what the word means. To read nonfiction books such as, My First 100 Technology Words  or Baby Loves Aerospace Engineering series, the books use illustrations to expand on complex topics.

My 100 Technology Words is a visual text using images and captions. This book can support learning vocabulary. In addition, you can describe the word or icon as an example, stating in a sentence, or looking for other examples that you might see.

Example Questions

  • Hammer “A hammer is a tool used to… What can you use a hammer with?
  • Cloud “You can see clouds outside, but a cloud lives in the computer which keeps information.”
  • Lever “A lever can be found on your belt, the handle on a car door, even if place it right your arm.

Furthermore, using the word in different ways can build a deeper connection to the text and allow for you and your reader to have conversations. To make an iconic book even more real you can encourage them to draw/scribble, or even use their toys if it is similar to an image in the book.

A series of narrative nonfiction books are written in Baby Loves Series. These are a series of STEM and history books for children ages 0-3. The author takes complex topics and breaks them down with a character who demonstrates or plays with the topic. For example in the Gravity book the baby practices dropping things. In Aerospace Engineering, the baby sees a bird fly and then sees an airplane fly. The author explains how flying is a form of aerospace engineering. In this example of a narrated nonfiction book, the characters are experiencing the topic and having a lot of fun as well. To expand on the vocabulary and illustrations, you can ask questions about the book.

Example Questions

  • What do you see?
  • I saw you do this too, let’s try____.”
  • What happened when__?” “I like ___”

 These are examples and you can ask many more.

 

Nonfiction Feature: Headings, Index, Bibliography
Elementary-Aged Books

Little Legends Exceptional Men in Black History, by Vashti Harrison

Little Legends Bold Women in Black History, by Vashti Harrison

Little Legends shares different historical stories about prominent Black men and another book about prominent Black women. This book is for readers ages 6-10 due to the word complexity and information. Each character is shaped the same, but she uses the different text features, colors, and wardrobe illustrations to differentiate the characters. In this nonfiction book, you can learn important details about each character.

Additionally, as you read use the text features to guide your questions.

Example Questions

  • Look at the Heading, “What is his name and where was he born?”
  • “Let’s find___ in the index.”
  • “Look at the backgrounds how is this page illustrated?”

Nonfiction Feature: Captions, Images, Types of Print

Ocean by Ines Adam
Books for children ages 4-8 years old

Twirl books have a different mechanism so the reader can manipulate objects. In Ocean, Magnetology you can place objects on different pages. The book has backgrounds so these magnet pieces support the text. Also, different types of print are used to show the difference of text to read, captions, and headings of each page. You can discuss how the object moves on the page and what it does in the real world.

Click here for a full list of nonfiction text features. If you are lucky enough to have a library or books at home, take many chances to read nonfiction and fiction text with your reader.

 

 

Booklist: Inspired by #BrownBoyJoy

Booklist: Inspired by #BrownBoyJoy

Derrick Barnes wrote I Am Every Good Thing to celebrate the experiences of black boys. The imagery captivates a brown boy’s experiences of skating, swimming, and growing into a future leader. Barnes stated, “I wrote this book for Black boys and the people that love them all over the globe.” His storybook amplifies this message and positively shows them. 

The hashtag #BrownBoyJoy is trending for the reason that Black boys should have more positive images seen in their lives. A parent from The Bump said, “The hashtag is not a put-down of anyone else’s joy. The more joy the better! #BlackBoyJoy was created to show positive images of happy Black boys to reinforce confidence, release some of the emotional baggage and reaffirm the existence of and right for Black boys to be happy. #BlackBoyJoy helps to debunk the stereotypes that some people hold and the media sometimes portrays about who Black boys and men are—a menacing threat.”

Below is a small booklist that was inspired by Derrick Barnes’ book, I Am Good Everything. You can find more books about Black Joy Here from The Brown Bookshelf.

1. I am Every Good thing by Derrick Barnes
Experiences that celebrate the joy and love that black boys bring. A book demonstrating the strength, the humanity, and the experiences of who he is. 

2. Black Boy Joy,Edited by Kwame Alexander
Celebrated authors provide experiences of Black boys. 

 

3. Chocolate Me by Taye Diggs
A young boy deals with name-calling because of his chocolate skin color. In the end, he learns to accept the way that he looks.

4. Crown an Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
Celebrates the experiences of what it means to get a “Fresh Cut” in the barbershop. Barnes’ rhythmic language keeps the story flowing, and makes the reader understand what it truly means to get a haircut at a Black barbershop. Barnes even builds your imagination about the different characters in the shop and what they can be. This story opens the reader into another world and celebrates #Brownboyjoy.

Listen to the story here

5. A Place Inside of Me By Zetta Elliott
A poem that narrates a young person’s emotions and experiences on what occurs in the real world. He feels hope, anger, sorry, joy, and much more. But through the challenges that he faces as a black man, he is proud of who he is.

6. Be Boy Buzz By bell hooks
bell hooks share the different things that boys can do. The simplicity in the illustrations demonstrates the different actions that boys do. She uses jazzy language.

7. Brown Boy Joy by Thomishia Booker
A book for pre-k-kindergarten readers. Brown Boy Joy celebrates a young boy’s life, provides positive affirmations, and about what it means from the lived experience.

8. A Boy Like You, by Frank Murphy
A story celebrating the emotions and experiences. The book tells the reader that he can be or do anything in life.

9. Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration By Samara Cole Doyon
A poem where a little girl sees the different shades of brown in tree branches, honey, sandcastles, and more. These different shades remind her about the brown skin that she is in.

10. Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison
A nonfiction book celebrating bold and courageous leaders, athletes, scientists, and musician. Ms. Vashti Harrison illustrates the characters similarly but their clothes and background represent their differences.

11. Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
A little girl who attends an American school does not feel comfortable when others have to say her name. Her name is Kora-Jalimuso (KO-rah-DJAA-lee MOO-so). Her mother tells her the beauty of her name. Her mother shows her how her name fits into the rhymes and beats in a song. Kora-Jalimuso returns to school and sings her name making all of the children laugh and sing along. 

 

 12. A Girl Like Me By Angela Johnson
A story and collage celebrating the aspirations these girls proclaim. View their experiences, joy, and ideas of standing up and shining.

13. The Night Is Yours by Abdul-Razak Zachariah
Join Amani on an evening where she plays hide-and-seek with her friends. The moon keeps her company which shines bright at night. Amani’s name means wishes, and on this night she has the luck of winning hide-and-seek. A story about the joys of being a child, celebrating the shades of brown in the night sky, and the goodness that a child has.

Booklist: Nature Books for Children

Booklist: Nature Books for Children

  • Books about Earth & Climate Change Books for Kids

  • Nature Books for Children

Enjoy these picture books about nature that your child might love to read. These books range from riddles, fiction nature books, and non-fiction books. With broader topics about healing the earth and climate change, these books can bring conversations about protecting our Earth.

A New Green Day by Antoinette Portis
Nature is described in this book of riddles. Discover the voice of a snail, the sunlight, my, lightning, and so many more wonder that our world has. I’m a chorus of a million tiny voices. Come splash in my song, says rain. You will have fun guessing the riddle as you read this colorful book.

The Very Last Leaf by Stef Wade
A leaf learns that he spins the summer learning about his life period of then when fall comes he learns that he must fall to the ground just like his answer. Even though this small leaf is a great student and loves who he is he is terrified to fall. We learn what it means and why leaves must fall each year through the eyes of a leaf.

Honeybee by Candace Fleming
The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera
Learn how the honeybee grows from larva, to worker bee, and then passing on. The illustrator takes us inside the beehive where the queen lays 2,000 eggs per day. We follow the life of one bee named scientifically Apis. Once Apis emerges from her cell we learn how busy her life is-tending eggs, cleaning, caring for the queen, building the hive, and even protecting this. She must do all this work well before she searches for flower nectar.

Heal the Earth by Julian Lennon
Children are on an adventure exploring every continent. They learn how to protect the ocean. They learn about rainforests. They also learn how to make cities greener. With these children learn how caring for them is a fun.

Rubies Birds by Mya Thompson
Ruby is a happy little girl. She spends her time doing great things. But she loves visiting Central Park to watch all of the unique birds. She also joyously takes her family to the park to see another bird that she loves to hear.

Over and Under the Rain Forest by Kate Messner
Walk into the rain forest with a little girl and her Uncle as they view the wonders of a hidden. Sometimes, a lizard scrambles across the water. Other times, new songs filled the air as nighttime falls.

Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner
Discover the world of life in a pond. Herbivores take their time to find Decadent plants to eat. Carnivores stealthily wait in till they find the best animal to grab and eat. In the story, a little boy and his mother Canoe in the pine sing all the wonderful life that exists in this ecosystem.

Rocket Cleans Up! By Nathan Bryon
Rocket is a tenacious little girl who will do anything to solve a problem. When she visits the beach at her grandparent’s house she discovers a lot of trash lying around and endangering the animals. Luckily, Rocket does what any young child would do and clean up the beach.

The Tree in Me by Corina Luyken
A story for young readers that shows how nature is a part of all this. The Tree and Me demonstrate how the Sun shines through And Us. How the tree protects us. How we can use fruits and nuts to nourish our bodies.

We Are Water Protectors
By Carole Lindstrom
Native people discuss the dangers of hurting our water system, how they have protected it, and what to do to make a change.

Climate Change and How We’ll Fix It by Alice Harman
This book is for children ages 7 and up. Explains the problems of climate change with graphics and powerful messages.