Read-Alouds with Heart: Grades 3-5 Literacy Lessons That Build Community, Comprehension, and Cultural Competency

"Thoughtfully chosen multicultural mentor texts serve as a jumping-off point to important conversations that build classroom community and emphasize the humanity of each class member. More than just 'mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.' The picture books and lessons featured in this resource help students explore identities; identify problems, resolutions, and themes; understand characters' and others' perspectives; and more. This resource: invites teachers to reflect on their own identities and how they connect with others' shares teaching strategies that support community and literacy learning; features multicultural picture books and standards-based lessons that provide reading strategies and discussion prompts that build students' cultural competence, social-emotional skills, and comprehension skills; guides teachers to transfer the strategies and lessons to other mentor texts." --