Brain Ninjas

Let us help you teach like a ninja!

Canada

Black History Books You Should Use All Year

by

While Black History Month happens each February there should be books about Black characters, Black history and by Black authors in your classroom all year round. Come check out our list of books that are in our classroom library and would be the perfect addition your school, too.

Black history is Canadian history. This history of all people that have made up this country should be included-both the heroic tales and the ones that are not told as often. We have always tried to include many stories of the different First Nations, Metis and Inuit People, but we discovered that our school and classroom library didn’t have enough books written by Black authors, featuring Black protagonists and telling the history from the perspective of Black Canadians.

The books we curated and collected shouldn’t be saved for one month of the year. These stories should be available to students all year round. They should be included in your language arts examples and in your history lessons. Come check out our list and see which books you might want to add to your collection.

[Read more…] about Black History Books You Should Use All Year

How to Connect Social Studies and Art

by

One of the ways to teach social studies is to look at the artwork created by different cultures. Geography also lends itself well to art lessons. Come learn about some of the ways we connect social studies and art in our upper elementary classroom.

In Canada, elementary teachers teach all the subject areas in most schools-except specialties like French or music. This means generalist teachers like us are expected to teach art, even when we aren’t trained artists. Our students have been known to question some of our drawings over the years, so we’ve had to be creative in finding projects we can teach our students that help them learn, but don’t stress us out. We want to share ways to connect social studies and art with all of you.

[Read more…] about How to Connect Social Studies and Art