Tag: girls

The Letter Project: Spreading good to girls through handwritten letters

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The Letter Project: Spreading good to girls through handwritten letters

The last week has been heartbreaking to watch unfold. My heart aches over the fear, the divisiveness, the “us” vs. “them” mentality. The stripping away of humanity. As an educator I know that when we take away all of the labels that we use to categorize each other, when we look each other in the eye and listen to each other’s stories, we find out that we are all human after all. When I feel despair over the state of how we treat others, I look for ways to combat that. I look for those doing the hard work of caring for others. The Letter Project is one such organization spreading good.

 

What it is: The Letter Project has one primary objective: to teach women and girls that they are enough. They are driven by the belief that we flourish by supporting each other, and seeing the good in each other first. How do they do this? by writing letters to girls and women around the world who need a little bit of extra encouragement.

How to encourage girls/women with The Letter Project: If you know a girl or young woman who is going through a tough time or needs some extra encouragement/confidence, you can request letters through the Letter Project. She’ll receive a bundle of letters from women around the US who want to build her up and support with words of encouragement.

Wondering what is considered a “tough time”? It could be girls having trouble finding friends at school, feeling lonely or sad, experiencing family turmoil, having trouble with how they look, feeling anxious/nervous. Really, the topics can be limitless. The letters are meant to encourage and show these girls (ages 6 to 20) that they are not alone. To request letters, just fill out a short survey about the girl you are requesting for. In about 4 weeks, the girl will receive 10 to 15 handwritten letters from women across the US.

We all know those girls who could use extra TLC. Maybe they are dealing with body-image issues, maybe a divorce in the family, perhaps they are nervous about moving on to [middle school/high school/college]. Maybe they are overwhelmed with school, or believing lies about themselves. The Letter Project is for these girls, all of them!

I love the heart behind this organization, empowering women and girls to believe in themselves. To remind them that they aren’t alone, we are all in this together!

Tips: The Letter Project is a Christian organization, although they will write to any girl (Christian or not). If you are requesting letters for one of your students, you might specify that the letters be faith-background neutral. If you are requesting letters for a student, please get permission from a parent/guardian first.

You can help: You can support the good work of The Letter Project by partnering with them to write letters, or through monetary donations that go toward stamps, envelopes, and stationary.

Bedazzled-Interactive Museum and Art Gallery Magazine

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What it is: Bedazzled is another site from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.  In this interactive magazine, students can discover more about style, fashion, and accessories from the past to the present.  Students will learn what clothes say about them (and what they say about people in the past), look at accessories throughout history, read an interview from a jewelry designer and learn how to make their own jewelry, learn about what fashion tells us about different cultures, view actual pieces of fashion and accessories from the museum, and learn about what jewelry was used for and represented in the past.

How to integrate Bedazzled into your curriculum: Do you have students (read: fashonistas) who are absolutely positive that they don’t like history?  Introduce them to a love of history with the Bedazzled interactive magazine.  Your students will be drawn in by the fun fashion magazine and will be intrigued by the way that fashion can be used to learn about history.  Allow your students to explore the pages at their own pace as a center activity on the classroom computer or in a lab setting where each student has a computer.  The magazine is an entertaining read but also packed full of history.  After your students read through the magazine, challenge them to choose an accessory, fashion item, or jewelry to learn more about.  Ask them to find out what was happening in the time period that the piece is worn and how the item can help them better understand the people of the time period.  Take it a step further by asking students to write a fictional short story about the person who wore the item using historical facts that they learned in their exploration.

This interactive magazine is a great way to show your students that history is more than a collection of dates and facts.  History is about stories, it is about people just like them.  Give your students that connection and the love for history will begin to blossom.  This site would have hooked me as a child!

Tips: Bedazzled was created for the Birmingham Museum and Art Collection.  They have several excellent websites that I will be reviewing.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bedazzled in your classroom!

Math Doesn’t Suck

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What it is: Danica McKellar (also known as Winnie Cooper of The Wonder Years) has written a book called Math Doesn’t Suck.  Danica makes her love for math contagious and helps middle school girls to realize that Math Doesn’t Suck.  On the Math Doesn’t Suck website, students can take a fun quiz called “Do You Hide Your Smarts (especially around guys)”, access a full solution guide to accompany the Math Doesn’t Suck book, learn more about the book, and get news and book signings.  

How to integrate Math Doesn’t Suck into the classroom: There is a large population of girls (particularly in middle school) who believe that they are no good at math, they have already convinced themselves that girls are not as good at math as boys.  They may believe that it isn’t cool or fashionable to be good at math.  Danica aims to change these perceptions with her fun book Math Doesn’t Suck. If you teach girls in middle school math, start the year off with the “Do You Hide Your Smarts” quiz.  It could give you great insight to what your girls believe about themselves in relation to math.  Start a book club or assign Math Doesn’t Suck as reading to start your year.  The book is a fun read that girls will connect with.   Help transform your students perceptions of math and begin the year with girls who believe that they can be successful and good at math.  The book includes

  • A unique Troubleshooting Guide to help students get “unstuck” and overcome their biggest challenges
  • True stories from Danica’s own life as a terrified math student, confident actress, and everything in between
  • A math horoscope, math personality quizzes, real-life testimonials, and more!

Tips: In the trouble shooting section, students will find solutions to these common math problems:

  • “Math bores me to death.”
  • “When it’s time to do Math, I get scared and try to avoid it.”
  • “I get confused and lost during class.”
  • “I think I understand something, but then I get the wrong answer in my homework.”
  • “At test time, I freeze up and can’t remember anything.”

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Math Doesn’t Suck in your classroom.

I Was Wondering

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What it is: I Was Wondering is a site geared toward getting girls interested in science and technology. Although this site is geared toward girls, the site has some fun games and activities that boys will enjoy too. I Was Wondering features 10 women scientists, a time travel time line, and science games. Games include astroscope where students can explore the universe in a scavenger hunt (this is really neat!), gorilla quest where students can “track” and learn about gorillas, and make a robot where students can create their own robot and then learn about robots that real scientists have created.

How to integrate I Was Wondering into the classroom: I Was Wondering would be an excellent site to use during a solar system unit. The scavenger hunt gives students a sense of what the universe looks like while making them familiar with vocabulary. Set the site up as a center during science class or bring your students on a space “field trip” to the computer lab. Students could explore the gorilla quest to learn about gorillas. This would be a fun way for students to learn research skills. Students could use the 10 women scientists or time travel time line to learn more about famous scientists and their contributions. All are very student friendly.

Tips: Visit the teacher section and click on “Using the Science Labs”. Science labs are activities based on one of the ten scientists. These are really great extension activities for your science classroom. Again, this site is geared toward girls but is a great addition to any science class…boys included!