Promoting Kindness, Empathy, Acceptance and Diversity through Literature Circles

Books have the power to change the way students see the world by opening their eyes to diverse experiences, and when students see the world from a new perspective, it makes them more understanding, aware, and accepting.

The teachers at Indian Springs Elementary have been working to promote these core values through the use of picture books, the students have loved this experience, and the teachers have seen the impact of this work.

The 5th Grade team noticed that their older students were ready to take this experience to the next level with novel studies that continue the mission of promoting kindness, empathy, acceptance, and diversity.

Thanks to an OEF Grant sponsored by Delaware Pediatric Dentistry, they were able to add these materials to their classrooms this year.

The result: “The discussion the books sparked has been amazing. Students are talking about kindness, empathy, and diversity and seeing the importance from new and unique perspectives.”

Confident, Emerging Readers!

At the start of this school year, Carrie Isabelle and Kacey Neville, kindergarten teachers at Glen Oak Elementary, received a large set of books via an OEF Grant. They chose books that kindergartners would be curious about, have repetitive patterns, intriguing pictures and opportunities for them to explore and grow as confident, risk taking readers.

What outcomes have you seen from your grant thus far?

A eager group of confident, emerging readers!

“The kindergarten readers’ confidence has skyrocketed! They are reading and “teaching” with their emergent reader books by videoing themselves reading.”

STEAM, Coding, and Creativity in the Music Classroom

Thanks to a grant from the Olentangy Education Foundation, an elementary music program was able to purchase technology, which is now being used in the classroom for students to create, code, compose, and share their music.

Fifth graders are using the new iPads to code video game scenes with an app called Tynker. This is part of a video game music project, where they are exploring music from video games.

Third graders are using Specdrums to play a song. These are rings that play different notes, depending on which color you are touching.

Lastly, the robot is a Dash robot with a xylophone accessory. The students have absolutely loved working with him! So far, students have worked with the robot (whom they’ve named Dexter) to make decisions about where he goes for each musical phrase, and have looked inside the app to name the notes in a programmed melody. They will also be using him to compose their own melodies and code.

Olentangy Education Foundation is appreciative of the support of our sponsor, Olentangy United FC, who made this grant possible.