Why You Should Share Kamala and Maya's Big Idea in Your Classroom

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One of my favourite books of 2020 was Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea by Meena Harris and Ana Ramírez González. This lovely picture book tells a fictionalised story about Kamala Harris and her sister Maya and a project they undertook as children. And - as a story which focuses on civics and community - it’s perfect for the classroom. Here’s some reasons why you should share it in your classroom and some ways you might like to explore it with your students.

 
Why You Should Share Kamala and Maya's Big Idea in Your Classroom. A blog post exploring the picture book by Meena Harris and how you can use it in your classroom
 

1. Being aware of issues in our community

It’s hard to make improvements in our community if we don’t know about or understand the issues. At the beginning of Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, the two girls have a very big idea to create a playground outside. They’ve spotted something which can be improved and have ideas about how to improve it.

Students can have great ideas about their community and the things they’d like to see improved when we give them the opportunity to learn more about different issues and the space to suggest a future they’d like to see. Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea is a great prompting text for students to reflect on their own community and different things they notice or would like to improve.

Activity Idea: Ask students to reflect on what their ideal neighbourhood or school would be like. While some ideas are sure to be a little outlandish, students will also have thoughts on real improvements which can be made.

2. Working with others to solve problems

In the book, Kamala and Maya don’t achieve their goal on their own. They work with other kids in the building, get help from their parents and neighbours in the building to raise interest. They build things together, raise money together and even get donations of old things from local businesses.

Big problems and big goals can be hard to solve on our own, but when people work together those big things can be broken into smaller pieces. This is a great way for students to talk about organising groups of people, about how to make decisions in these groups and how to respect the ideas of others when planning something. 

Activity Idea: Work as a group to choose a charity to raise money for. Brainstorm ways to raise the money and think about how the group can work together to make a big job easier.

 
 

3. Being persistent and trying different ways to solve problems

Getting their playground isn’t easy and Kamala and Maya have to be persistent and deal with setbacks. They have to convince the landlord that the courtyard can be fixed up, then how to source materials for their playground. Then they need to change their focus on raising money to buy an old slide for the playground. They don’t give up, but they’re also happy to change how they approach things when they need to.

This is such a great message for students to hear and to reflect on. Oftentimes it feels easier to give up when things get really hard. But by thinking about whether you need to change how you’re doing something or by just doing something again, you get another step closer to achieving your goals.

Activity Idea: Ask your students to brainstorm phrases they can say to themselves when they need to be persistent. You can use these phrases as a display in the classroom, or students can create reminder cards with their favourites. 

4. Creating community spaces

Kamala and Maya’s goal in the book was to create a happy community space. This is a great opportunity for students to reflect on what makes a great community space and what community spaces exist in their community.

You might like to look beyond playgrounds as well and look at other community spaces which cater to different groups of people. You may include libraries, community centres, communal gardens, nature reserves and walks. Students can reflect on why community spaces are important to people and the benefits of them and what community spaces they would like to see.

Activity Idea: Go on a neighbourhood journey to some local community spaces. Students might like to take photos, draw maps and write notes about the different things they see in these spaces.

Want to take a closer look at Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea? Read more about the book companion here

 
 
 
 

5 Times Teachers Should Contact Parents (and 5 Times They Might Consider It)

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Parent contact can feel like just another thing to do in a busy teacher life, but it can be a vital step to building good classroom relationships with students and their families. Here’s some times when you should get in contact with parents and carers and times when you might consider it

 
5 Times Teachers Should Contact Parents (and 5 Times They Might Consider It) : A blog post exploring times when teachers should reach out to parents and carers and when they might consider reaching out.
 

Five Times You SHOULD Contact Parents and Carers

1. An Introductory Contact

If you don’t have an opportunity to see parents face to face or you’re new to a class, a quick introductory email or message can be a great way to establish relationships with students’ families. These messages don’t need to be long - just a few sentences will let parents know who you are and how to get in contact with you. This can also be a great way to establish contact boundaries - letting parents know when you’ll be able to talk with them or that you’ll restrict email responses to working times.

2. When Parents or Carers Contact You

You absolutely don’t need to respond to parents or carers right away, but you should respond to any emails you receive. It can be as simple as thanking them for their email or asking them to set up a meeting time through the school office, or it might be a more in-depth response. Responding to parent contact allows parents to know that you are aware of any concerns or information they’ve shared with you - plus, it’s just good manners.

3. When Something is Wrong, Different or Changing

If students are demonstrating continual poor behaviour or disengagement from school work, a gentle message home gives families a heads up and prevents surprises when report cards or parent interviews come around. Contact with parents can also open up communication if something different is happening at home or if school and families need to work together to pursue further investigations.

If something is changing in the classroom, giving parents a heads up can prevent misinformation or anxiety at home. This might include changes in days for specialist lessons (especially if uniform changes are required and parents need to consider laundry), changes in teachers or new behaviour management systems.

4. For Positive Events

You’ve just finished a really great unit of work and you’ve got a culminating event. You’d love parents to come along, so you let students know they can invite them. But . . . students are not always the best carriers of information. Things get muddled and confused or just forgotten. A quick email home lets parents know the time, the place, what they’ll see - and you can let parents know if you’ll be taking pictures or videos to share with them if they’re not able to make it.

5. If You Want Family Engagement

Family engagement comes in many different shapes and sizes, from volunteering at the school fete to being members of parents committees to helping kids at home. But if you want family engagement of any kind, you have to communicate with them. If you want parents to read with the students, they need to know this. If you want parents to fill out book logs, they need to know. If you need volunteers for an excursion, they need to know - but they’ll also be more likely to volunteer if you’ve put in the work to communicate with them regularly.

For learning related engagement, don’t forget to explain the aims of the activity. If you can’t explain to parents why you need them to do something, you might need to consider why you’re asking them to do it in the first place.

 
5 Times Teachers Should Contact Parents (and 5 Times They Might Consider It) : A blog post exploring times when teachers should reach out to parents and carers and when they might consider reaching out.
 

Five Times You MIGHT Contact Parents and Carers

1. After Classroom Testing

This can vary depending on your school’s philosophy around classroom testing, but for schools which regularly move students through reading levels, spelling levels or other levelled programs, letting parents know about progress allows them to celebrate those small achievements. This doesn’t have to be a big email - a simple “Yay! Joe moved onto Level 13 books today!” would let parents know where their child is at - and that you consider it an achievement to be celebrated.

2. With Positive Stories

Has a student done something particularly well that day? Or have they shown determination, hard work or great behaviour over a period of time? Let their family know about it! A positive phone call or email home leaves everyone feeling good, lets families know what’s happening in the classroom and creates a positive foundation for working between home and school.

3. With Event Reminders

Is something coming up soon at school? An excursion? Swim lessons? After school event? A quick email home with the details prompts the memories of parents and carers, makes sure that nothing important is missed and opens the door for any questions parents may have. This is particularly helpful for parents who aren’t always comfortable navigating school spaces.

4. A Weekly/Monthly/Term update

A regular newsletter style update allows parents to know what has been happening in the classroom and what is happening in the future. It’s a good opportunity to include any reminders, to celebrate classroom achievements and to build those positive relationships. While some schools have systems which make this easy to produce regularly, you can also make it a quick and easy thing once or twice a term - at the beginning of term to share what you’ll be exploring and at the end of term to share a few class achievements and photos if you are able.

5. When Starting a New Learning Unit or Topic

Letting parents and carers know about new topics or learning units is a great way to just touch base with them. But it can also be a good way for students and your class as a whole to engage in new knowledge or material. You never know when the families of your class have experience with a topic, or can offer a book, photo or other information which will make your learning topic richer. This also doesn’t need to be over the top - you can restrict it to topics which you’re really excited about, topics where you know families can make contributions or topics which have an excursion attached.

 
5 Times Teachers Should Contact Parents (and 5 Times They Might Consider It) : A blog post exploring times when teachers should reach out to parents and carers and when they might consider reaching out.
 

Thanks to all the parents, carers and teachers (and teachers who are parents!) who offered their thoughts on parent contact. When do you contact the families of your students? Let me know in the comments.

 
 
 
 

4 Activities for Exploring Democratic Decision Making in the Classroom

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Democratic decision making is one of the early concepts students come across as they learn about civics and citizenship. It’s an important concept - one which is used in government and community organisations and even to make playground decisions - so here’s some different and fun ways you can bring it alive in your classroom.

 
4 Activities for Exploring Democratic Decision Making in the Classroom. A blog post with 4 learning activities for teaching civics and citizenship in the classroom
 

What is Democratic Decision Making?

Democratic decision making happens when a group of people work together to ensure everyone has a say on the decisions being made. This means everyone gets an equal change to share their opinions and ideas and any votes are held in a fair manner. Democratic decision making may be written into a set of rules or may just happen when decisions are being made.

Exploring Democratic Decision Making in the Classroom

1. What Game Will We Play?

This is a great introductory activity to try when you know you are able to take students outside for a game. 

Bring this activity to the students by letting them know that they’re going to have some free time to play a game outside - but only if they can decide which game the class will play in a fair way. At this point, some classes may be fine to engage in discussion and negotiations and to work out the fairest (and most democratic) way to make a decision. Other classes may need scaffolding around what fair looks like, or help brainstorming ways they can make a fair decision.

When students have chosen the game, ask them to explain why they made a fair decision. Then you can take them out to play!

Follow up activity: Revisit the activity and the steps they took to make a fair decision. You may like to ask students to think of any other strategies they could have used. Ask students to create ‘Fair Decision’ posters to help other students to make decisions together.

2. Compare Fair and Unfair Ways of Voting

Most students engaging with civics will have had some experience of voting - either as part of classroom activities or for data collection in maths. If students haven’t experienced voting, or they’re unsure of the concept, you may like to organise a quick vote to demonstrate.

Present students with a range of scenarios showing fair and unfair ways of holding a vote. Unfair votes could include only some people being allowed to vote; certain people having to complete tasks before they can vote (like running around the oval 10 times or standing on one leg to vote); or some people getting more than one vote. Fair voting scenarios might include everyone getting one vote; voting questions being clear and easy to understand or votes being secret. Ask students to organise the different scenarios into fair and unfair ways of voting and ask them to explain their decisions - this could be a great small group or whole class activity. 

When students have organised the scenarios, they may like to discuss why voting should be fair - what the benefits of a fair vote are.

Follow up activity: Ask students to write rules for a fair vote. When students have written rules, they might like to try out some - either within the class, with another class in the year level or with a buddy class.

 
Democratic decision making happens when a group of people work together to ensure everyone has a say on the decisions being made. 4 Activities for Exploring Democratic Decision Making in the Classroom. A blog post with 4 learning activities for teac…
 

3. Invite a Guest Speaker to Talk About Democratic Decision Making

Inviting guest speakers into the classroom is a great way to engage with a topic. Many people in community organisations engage in democratic decision making and can explain the different ways they do that to the class.

If your school has a parents association - a P and C or P and F, this may be a great place to start. The President of the P and C would be able to explain how they became president and the way that decisions are made when they’re at a meeting. Similarly, members of community groups such as the Lions or Rotary may be able to discuss the decision making processes at their meetings. 

Alternatively, you might like to invite one of the local elected representatives - especially if you can work with different classes within the school so they can talk on a range of topics. Elected representatives are elected on a vote and participate regularly in voting. They also have different methods to make sure all the representatives have a say as well as the people who they represent.

Follow up activity: Ask students to investigate ways of running a meeting and to develop their own rules for running a meeting. 

4. Encourage Students to Have a Say

When my daughter was in kindergarten, her class was very concerned about litter in the local park. Their teacher helped them to express their concerns in drawings and paintings and they worked together to write a letter to the local council. A local councillor then came to visit them and to talk about little and what the council and individuals could do to help. This was a fabulous exercise in even the youngest students getting to have a say about an issue which concerned them.

Ask your students what they are concerned about and discuss who they could talk to about it. Brainstorm and reflect on the best ways to have a say - whether it’s attending a local meeting or writing a letter to a local representative (or even the Principal if it’s a school concern). Let students know that having a say doesn’t always mean something will be done about it, but it does let people who hold positions of power know that it is something which is important within their community.

Follow up activity: Investigate different notable people around the world who have had a say about things which are important to them.


Have you explored democratic decision making with your students? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

 
 
 
 

4 Learning Activities for Thelma the Unicorn

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Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey is definitely one of my favourite books. Afterall, how could you not be in love with the little horse who becomes an internationally famous unicorn? 

As well as being a fabulous read, Thelma the Unicorn is perfect to use in the classroom - filled with themes to explore and potential activities to share. Here’s four learning activities for Thelma the Unicorn which you can use in your classroom today.

 
4 Learning Activities for Thelma the Unicorn. A blog post exploring 4 ways to use the Aaron Blabey book in the classroom
 

1. Explore Disguises

Thelma uses a disguise to become a unicorn - tying a carrot to her nose before having a run in with some glitter and paint. This disguise is enough to convince everyone that she is an actual unicorn. When it gets too hard to be a unicorn and she needs to return to her old life, she washes away her disguise and no one recognises her at all.

Disguises are a great topic to explore in the classroom. Students can examine why you might need a disguise as part of a job or why people might like to get dressed up in a disguise. They can research different ways of disguising people - and some of the technology behind that. They can also engage in an activity to design - or create - their own disguise. 

Students can also connect disguises with the secret identities of superheroes and look at how they disguise themselves. Students might like to engage in an activity to create their own superhero - and their everyday secret identity. 

2. Investigate Unicorn Books

Thelma the Unicorn is a brilliant unicorn themed book, but it’s not the only one out there! There’s some great unicorn books available, from the wonderful Grumpycorn to the lovely Pearl the Unicorn series with many more in between.

Looking for unicorn books is a great library activity. Students can look at different methods of finding books on different themes - from just wandering around, to asking a librarian, to using a search if it’s available. 

When students have a collection of unicorn books, they can share and explore them. Students can look for similarities and differences with Thelma the Unicorn, nominate their favourite unicorn books and explain their choices, or you can set up an activity for students to create a poster or leaflet to tell other students in the school about great unicorn books.

Looking for something a little different? Don’t miss Sarah McIntyre’s tutorial on drawing Grumpycorn!

 
 

3. Examine Kindness and Bullying

Being kind is a key theme in Thelma the Unicorn - being kind to yourself, being kind to your friends - and the impact when people aren’t kind to each other. Taking a closer look at kindness - and bullying - is a great Thelma the Unicorn activity.

Students can discuss the bullying in Thelma the Unicorn and why they think Thelma experienced this bullying. This might lead to discussions about whether you can bully someone who is famous and what it means to be famous. Students can take this further by exploring what bullying looks like and what they can do if they or someone they know is bullied.

Students may also like to look at what Otis does and why he is a good friend to Thelma. They might like to list his qualities as a friend (and where you see them in the text) and think about how they can demonstrate these good qualities at school.

Want to explore the topic of kindness and bullying further with your Prep or Year 1 students? One of the activities in the Prep/Kindergarten and Year 1 book companion dives deeper into this.

 
 

4. Write a Fan Letter to Thelma

When Thelma is famous, she receives attention from all around the world. One way famous people get attention is through fan mail. This is a wonderful writing activity for students, even young students who are learning to read (they can combine writing and drawing in their letter).

Through writing a fan letter to Thelma, students can explore the techniques of letter writing as well as thinking about what they might say if they were a fan of Thelma. This might be something they do individually or you can work as a class to brainstorm ideas or even craft the letter together.

Would you like to write fan letters with your class? You can get free printable letter writing templates to support this activity in your classroom by signing up for the free resource library.


Have you taught Thelma the Unicorn in your classroom? Share your favourite activities or experience in the comments!