About the Project

Fiske Diversity Book Project: The Why and How

Over the course of the past year, our school and district have been working to make sure that our schools understand and respond to diversity, equity and inclusion in ways that help meet the needs of ALL students, staff and families in our community.

Additionally, we also know that many children's books, while well written and engaging, do not always represent people of diverse backgrounds.

As a result, when we were presented with a Community Grant through LEF (Lexington Education Foundation), our local education foundation, we seized the opportunity to celebrate and promote diversity, families, and diversity in literature! This project was also inspired by a similar project that was done at our local high school a little over a year before by Samantha St. Lawrence. We're extremely grateful for the funding for this project AND for the inspiration from Lexington High School!

Here is a short overview of the project below!

• Each grade level has its own unique book highlighting characters that may not otherwise always be highlighted in children's literature.
• The books also highlight some of the cultures from students at Fiske.
• Every student at each grade level is getting their own copy of the book for their grade. They get to keep the book for their own, personal copy.
• Teachers are getting a copy as well and engaging students with an interactive and guided read aloud with questions developed by one of our literacy specialists.
• Books will then be sent home to families and we're encouraging family reading and discussion about the books.
• We'll hold a family-student book club evening for each grade this spring where families can come in and discuss the books with one another.
• Families and students will be provided a link as well to share their connections and thoughts about the books and characters. Their input and feedback will be shared on our Diversity Book Blog.