Inclusive Books Available for Elementary Classrooms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but this is really poor journalism. Let’s be clear— the books were met with overwhelming support….from the LGBTQ+ community. Not the entire MCPS community despite the “robust” evaluation. This is a very sensitive topic for many. The article states those who disagree with this decision are living in fear, which just smacks of bias and ostracism (and yes, irony). People have a lot of different feelings about how this should be presented to children and that should have been respected if we are really going to be inclusive.

Completely agree.

+1. No, sorry. We aren’t going to be “include” of your bigotry.

*inclusive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support it as a 2 mom family. Be nice for my kid and my kids friends to see our type of family on a book in the classroom. It’s a shame it’s only one book per grade and the teachers aren’t “ required” to read it though. Originally it was supposed to be 2 books per grade and the teachers weee getting training on incorporating them into classroom learning. So while it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a very small step.

Now admin can blame teachers if kids aren't introduced to LGBTQ issues in ES.

Keep that crap at home. Hetro, Homo, Bi whatever a second grader does not to read a book Suzie has two moms and her two moms have vibrators

No. Homeschool if you don’t like it, or send your kid to a Right Wing “Christian” school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but this is really poor journalism. Let’s be clear— the books were met with overwhelming support….from the LGBTQ+ community. Not the entire MCPS community despite the “robust” evaluation. This is a very sensitive topic for many. The article states those who disagree with this decision are living in fear, which just smacks of bias and ostracism (and yes, irony). People have a lot of different feelings about how this should be presented to children and that should have been respected if we are really going to be inclusive.

+1

-1,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support it as a 2 mom family. Be nice for my kid and my kids friends to see our type of family on a book in the classroom. It’s a shame it’s only one book per grade and the teachers aren’t “ required” to read it though. Originally it was supposed to be 2 books per grade and the teachers weee getting training on incorporating them into classroom learning. So while it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a very small step.

Now admin can blame teachers if kids aren't introduced to LGBTQ issues in ES.

Keep that crap at home. Hetro, Homo, Bi whatever a second grader does not to read a book Suzie has two moms and her two moms have vibrators

there is a book called Heather has 2 Dads. It’s about Heather going to school and other kids talking about their families and her feeling comfortable about hers. It’s about a school day. No discussion about sex whatsoever. It’s a cute book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

So, as a US-born, non-Christian, Gen X child of immigrants, I read A Little Princess, Heidi (abridged), Little House on the Prairie, and anything in the "etc." category you can name. I even read Little Lord Fauntleroy. I think there's space on the library bookshelves for books that were published within the last 80 years and have main characters who aren't white and Christian. I even think this would be good for children who are white and Christian.

Yes, you are Get X and haven't seen the shelves of an elementary school in a long time. The books cited above - not wanted now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

First of all, I think the relevant statistic isn't number of same sex couples full stop, it should be number of same sex couples of childbearing age. But the comparison was between kids growing up in households with same sex parents, and kids growing up on the side of a mountain in Switzerland. In the United States, the former is definitely going to be bigger than the latter both both can be represented in children's literature.

The statistics is the number of same sex couples raising children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

the percentages aren’t actually relevant. What’s relevant is that kids can see families like theirs in their school. Doesn’t matter if it’s only one kid in the entire grade. It matters to that one kid.

You do understand this as a percentage, right? Equals 0.00351851851

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

So, as a US-born, non-Christian, Gen X child of immigrants, I read A Little Princess, Heidi (abridged), Little House on the Prairie, and anything in the "etc." category you can name. I even read Little Lord Fauntleroy. I think there's space on the library bookshelves for books that were published within the last 80 years and have main characters who aren't white and Christian. I even think this would be good for children who are white and Christian.

Yes, you are Get X and haven't seen the shelves of an elementary school in a long time. The books cited above - not wanted now.

That's ok. The public library has them, and they are also available to be bought by parents who wish to do so. Also I think that schools should be required to inform parents and let parents opt their children out of books with such questionable and inappropriate content (racism, imperialism, colonialism, religious bigotry, and political propaganda).

(I don't sincerely think that)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

the percentages aren’t actually relevant. What’s relevant is that kids can see families like theirs in their school. Doesn’t matter if it’s only one kid in the entire grade. It matters to that one kid.

You do understand this as a percentage, right? Equals 0.00351851851

What percentage of children in the US are orphans (both parents dead)? The percentage in "classic" children's literature is probably like 90%. Children with 2 living parents are vastly underrepresented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support it as a 2 mom family. Be nice for my kid and my kids friends to see our type of family on a book in the classroom. It’s a shame it’s only one book per grade and the teachers aren’t “ required” to read it though. Originally it was supposed to be 2 books per grade and the teachers weee getting training on incorporating them into classroom learning. So while it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a very small step.

Now admin can blame teachers if kids aren't introduced to LGBTQ issues in ES.

Good! Kids need to realize the world is not so black and white but much more nuanced and develop tolerance and understanding that this fosters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support it as a 2 mom family. Be nice for my kid and my kids friends to see our type of family on a book in the classroom. It’s a shame it’s only one book per grade and the teachers aren’t “ required” to read it though. Originally it was supposed to be 2 books per grade and the teachers weee getting training on incorporating them into classroom learning. So while it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a very small step.

Now admin can blame teachers if kids aren't introduced to LGBTQ issues in ES.

Good! Kids need to realize the world is not so black and white but much more nuanced and develop tolerance and understanding that this fosters.

You’re wrong if you think this ‘fosters tolerance’. You can already see the backlash. This is a diverse county, which changing demographics. Newly arrived Muslim immigrants are not happy about these books. Newly arrived Latino devout Christians are not supportive of these books.

Forcing them onto kids in ES will not make some people ‘more tolerant’. I promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support it as a 2 mom family. Be nice for my kid and my kids friends to see our type of family on a book in the classroom. It’s a shame it’s only one book per grade and the teachers aren’t “ required” to read it though. Originally it was supposed to be 2 books per grade and the teachers weee getting training on incorporating them into classroom learning. So while it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a very small step.

Now admin can blame teachers if kids aren't introduced to LGBTQ issues in ES.

Good! Kids need to realize the world is not so black and white but much more nuanced and develop tolerance and understanding that this fosters.

You’re wrong if you think this ‘fosters tolerance’. You can already see the backlash. This is a diverse county, which changing demographics. Newly arrived Muslim immigrants are not happy about these books. Newly arrived Latino devout Christians are not supportive of these books.

Forcing them onto kids in ES will not make some people ‘more tolerant’. I promise.

I sure did, in the November 2018, November 2020, and November 2022 elections. The majority of voters don't want your culture war.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support it as a 2 mom family. Be nice for my kid and my kids friends to see our type of family on a book in the classroom. It’s a shame it’s only one book per grade and the teachers aren’t “ required” to read it though. Originally it was supposed to be 2 books per grade and the teachers weee getting training on incorporating them into classroom learning. So while it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a very small step.

Now admin can blame teachers if kids aren't introduced to LGBTQ issues in ES.

Good! Kids need to realize the world is not so black and white but much more nuanced and develop tolerance and understanding that this fosters.

You’re wrong if you think this ‘fosters tolerance’. You can already see the backlash. This is a diverse county, which changing demographics. Newly arrived Muslim immigrants are not happy about these books. Newly arrived Latino devout Christians are not supportive of these books.

Forcing them onto kids in ES will not make some people ‘more tolerant’. I promise.

The kids are fine. It only freaks out their intolerant parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

the percentages aren’t actually relevant. What’s relevant is that kids can see families like theirs in their school. Doesn’t matter if it’s only one kid in the entire grade. It matters to that one kid.

Kids benefit books both that give a mirror into their own lives and books that give them a window into lives of people living a different life than them. Reading a book a child has two mom's or dad's helps them build empathy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone here want to read "the classics" when they were in school? Curriculum and media center development has moved light years beyond when we were in school. Were the classics even ever relevant???

What does this mean? Captain Underpants?

Yes, I wanted to read A Little Princess, Heidi, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

Tell us what you mean about curriculum moving light years beyond...

Those books are still available! It's not like "the classics" have been purged from MCPS media centers. More books have been added. That's good! I want kids with two dads to feel just as represented in literature as kids who live on the side of a mountain in Switzerland with their grumpy grandfather.

You aren't responding to the same thing that I was responding to. But, so we can discuss... there were 114,000 same sex couples raising kids in the U.S. in 2016 (latest I saw in my quick look-up) out of 34.2 million families with children in that year. So, "just as represented" should be... not much. Equals 0.00351851851

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/employment-in-families-with-children-in-2016.htm
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

(And, I really doubt that very many MCPS classrooms have the books cited above.)

So, as a US-born, non-Christian, Gen X child of immigrants, I read A Little Princess, Heidi (abridged), Little House on the Prairie, and anything in the "etc." category you can name. I even read Little Lord Fauntleroy. I think there's space on the library bookshelves for books that were published within the last 80 years and have main characters who aren't white and Christian. I even think this would be good for children who are white and Christian.

Yes, you are Get X and haven't seen the shelves of an elementary school in a long time. The books cited above - not wanted now.

Librarian here. We keep books based on demand and interest. I definitely have some classic titles like Harold and the purple crayon or The Snowy Day or the Giving Tree because kids or teachers are still reading those books. I work at a primary school so I can't really spewK to the popularity of classic chapter books