While most people may think of art at “just” paper and paint, Art comes in many different formats and one of my favorites is books. As a child, my sisters and I loved looking through picture books, making up our own stories, retelling ones we heard over and over, and learning important life lessons from them. Some of my very favorite quotes come from children’s books, and have helped me through some tough times. First I created a collage of the inspiring children’s quotes that have helped build my character and mold me into the teacher I have become today as well as quotes about the importance of books in a person’s life.
In my own journey to become an anti-bias teacher and after our Week 6 discussion/evaluations of classic vs. contemporary children’s books, I started realizing how it has become my passion to share the best diversity books for children with my fellow educators. For children, viewing the illustrations and listening to the words is a poignant as reading them for themselves. Children learn by what they see and hear and it’s important to be making sure the right messages of acceptance of diversity is being seen by them. The books I have selected to share in these collages are not only tools for parents and teachers to use in guiding children to be kind and respectful human beings, but they can also inspire children to be mindful of racisms, tolerance, gender acceptance, differing abilities, special needs, and various cultures. These books prove that you can take hard taboo topics and make them relatable and understandable for children which we have learned throughout this course as so incredibly important.
Brittany's Blog: Teaching with Ms. Pyle 
Hi Brittany,
Art is a reflection of a culture. Art is quite personal and can be expressed and viewed in a number of ways depending on the artist’s background or culture. One thing about art is it is not really defined by setting expectations. To me, art is really just a form of expression through different mediums sometimes set by traditions. Through activities with the arts, children learn to express the “mysterious” their rapidly growing understandings, their thoughts, and their feelings. The process of making art allows the artist to give image, word, sound, or movement to something that is often intangible; that is what young children do every day.
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WOW! Brittany, such a detailed and elaborate post!! I thoroughly enjoyed your creativeness by making a collage of children’s quotes. I also really like how your included books that discuss these very important but challenging topics. to support parents and teachers. These topics are essential to have open conversations with young children and to teach them the importance of being kind, respectful, and accepting to ALL.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!
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Brittany,
This is absolutely beautiful!!!! I love every bit of your collage expressing diversity. As you stated children do learn by what they see and you have included so many books and cooks for them to visually see themselves and others in a positive setting. “When young children enter any early childhood setting, their circle of experience widens beyond the cultural rules and practices of their own families” art is a great way for children to express what they are experiencing (Derman-Sparks, 2010, pg. 60).
Violanda-
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
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