As educators at West Tualatin View Elementary, we stand for racial justice. In light of the recent necessary uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, this summer we as colleagues formed a book club to start doing the work of unpacking our own internal biases and racist beliefs as well as viewing our teaching practice through an anti-racist lens. Through our work together, we feel it is important to take action in order to ground our work in the real world and have an impact on our students. Our aim is to connect with our community, support our students of color, and work to empower all students to think critically about issues around racial justice.

Through the power of storytelling and representation we hope to have these critical conversations with our students this year and for many years to come. The Conscious Kid has put together an amazing reading list of 41 titles that address race, racism and resistance. Our goal is to purchase multiple sets of the books on the reading list to be divided and distributed amongst our classroom teachers and specialists. Please consider supporting our fundraising effort to bring these books to our classrooms!

It will cost $670.62 to purchase one complete set of 41 books (purchasing from Powell's Books and Amazon). If we reach our fundraising goal of $2,500, we'd be able to purchase 3 complete sets and one partial set of books. These books would be distributed and shared amongst our 13 classroom teachers (k-5 and a 3-5 social communication classroom) as well as our specialists (ESL, Learning Specialist, Technology, Library, Speech Pathologist and Counselor). 

From The Conscious Kid's website:

"To counter racism and racial bias, experts recommend acknowledging and naming race and racism with children as early and as often as possible. Children’s books are one of the most effective and practical tools for initiating these critical conversations, and can also be used to model what it means to resist and dismantle oppression. Beyond addressing issues of race and racism, this children’s reading list focuses on taking action. It highlights resistance, resilience, and activism; and seeks to empower youth to participate in the ongoing movement for racial justice. Children not only need to know what individual, institutional, and internalized racism looks like, they need to know what they can do about it. This list of 41 children’s books was curated by critical literacy organizations, The Conscious Kid and American Indians in Children’s Literature."

Find the complete list of books here: https://www.theconsciouskid.org/antiracist-childrens-books

Thank you,

The West TV Anti-Racist Book Club

Erin Rosett, SCC Teacher

Marisa Knudsen, 5th grade Teacher

Courtney Hauser, 4th grade Teacher

Andy Blanc, 4th grade Teacher

Darleen Anderson, 3rd grade Teacher

Monica Paas, ELL Teacher

Lisa Gerig, Learning Specialist

Ana Brown, Technology

Barb VanKleek, Library