Love Makes a Family

Product Information

The goal of this unit is to help students understand that families come in all different shapes and sizes, and that no matter what a family looks like, all families love and care for one another. The world we live in is increasingly diverse, especially within family structures. As students are building their own identities, it is important for them to see mirrors of their own lives so that they can develop healthy identities, while also seeing windows into other lives so that they can embrace differences. Over the course of the unit, students will read stories that highlight a wide range of families and experiences, some of which may not be present in your school community. Ensuring that students see a wide range of families and experiences is crucial for helping students make sense of the world around them. This unit builds student understanding of the following Learning forJustice Social Justice Standards:

Book: Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match by Monica Brown (Children's Book Press, Bilingual edition, 2011) Families like to spend time together. Different families have different rituals and traditions that they do together.What We Love: This book beautifully smashes stereotypes around what makes a family “real.” It is also told from the perspective of children and expresses a voice of innocence and love. We also adore the whimsical illustrations that are similar to the style of Ludwig Bemelmans’ Madeline .

Book: The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali (Little Brown Books for Young Readers) Love Makes a Family: Gay Parents in the 90's by Daniel Veltri, Remco Kobus & Marla Leech (1991) at Fanlight Productions

Very sweet little board book about loving families involved in a variety of activities, from waking up in the morning, to visiting the zoo*, celebrating a birthday, playing together etc. all the way to bath time and bedtime. Each spread features a different family unit, including mom and dad, two moms, two dads, single parents, and grandparents. All are shown lovingly engaged with their children.

It is not the job of students to teach other students about a particular type of family. For example, if you have one student in your class with same-gender parents, be mindful of not putting that student on the spot and requiring them to teach others. Y esto es lo que refleja precisamente este cuento, que recoge diversas situaciones de la vida cotidiana protagonizadas por diferentes modelos de familia. El objetivo es que los más pequeños aprendan que lo verdaderamente importante es siempre el amor, más allá de quién o como sea la persona con la que conviven. What We Love: The unnamed niece in the story is living with her aunt and her uncle as she waits for her parents to migrate to the U.S. This provides an opening to discuss family separation with your little feminist(s). Home is what we make of the company that we have with us. Without love in a family, there will not be a home.

What is a family? A family is made up of individuals who love. I liked how this book shows a variety of families from one parent to two-parents. The book expands to include two females, two males, older parents or grandparents, and an interracial couple. These parents along with their children are showing love as they celebrate a birthday, splash in rain puddles, have a tea party in tree house, and read books in a homemade tent on the floor (some examples). They are spending times together and enjoying each other's company. Find me someone successful who does not love his or her own family. The existence of such a person is almost an impossible feat because one simply cannot be successful without the love and support from your family first. Journey with Thuy (Twee) through nature, experience her emotions, and discover mythical creatures we can all relate to. Explore how knowing where we come from can help us uncover our strengths. But love, being an emotion, is not constant or guaranteed - especially if people are encouraged to take their feelings as reliable guides to decision-making. My wife taught in the public schools for 17 years, until 2016. She saw first-hand what living in a household theoretically defined by love meant to her second-graders - uncertainty as to their place in the family, strange men moving in and out of their single mother's home, "siblings" who came and went - or if in a traditional home of married mother and father, uncertainty as to whether or not love would leave and divorce break up the household. It was difficult to teach kids when they were never quite sure of what was going to happen next in their house.