SDG 1 No Poverty

 

Goal 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

It is not my aim to scare my students or give them reason to be overly anxious. I will not be showing them endless filmclips, quoting large numbers or showing an abundance of graphs. I just want them to be aware that not all children enjoy a life such as theirs and that can be done by reading a picture book with a trusted adult who is there to answer questions and to clarify thinking. In this way they can empathise and consider ramifications. It could be as simple as them realising that there are people in the world who do not have enough money for food, housing or even beds and that this could be closer to where they live than they think.

Obviously, some goals were easier to find picture books for than others, so the list is not always long and of course some books will create more discussion than others, but all of the listed books will do that to some degree. The list of picture books in my school library to choose from is here. The Junior School Library at my school has a larger number of nonfiction titles, but I usually prefer to read stories.

I think Kate Milner's It's a No-Money Day is a book every school library should have and a good place to start because it is not heavy-handed and the child in the story remains positive.

Here's the blurb:

Mum works really hard, but today there is no money left and no food in the cupboards. Forced to visit the local foodbank, Mum feels ashamed that they have to rely on the kindness of others, but her young daughter can still see all the good in her day like reading and drawing, and even the foodbank. Maybe one day things will be different but for now together they brighten up even the darkest of days. A moving insight into the sad rise and necessity of foodbanks from the perspective of society's most vulnerable, and an essential book to help develop empathy in younger readers. 

After reading the book, I do not want the students to feel that they have a chore to do. This should be an enjoyable reading experience first and foremost. In my booklet, there are just three things to do:

* Before reading: Ask what is poverty? What does it look like? Feel like?

* Write the title of the book you read.

* Complete this sentence: This story made me feel ....

The adult or the child can do the recording. If a teacher is reading the picture book to the whole class, they may choose to have a class recording using something like sticky notes or padlet or fill in the booklet for the class.

31st December United nations Sustainable Development Goals

As this year draws to an end and our lives are still dominated by the Covid pandemic, it is easy to think about how restricted our lives have become, but while I have had time at home I have researched the Sustainable Development Goals as a way of putting together a book club/wide reading list for my young students to explore during 2022 and I have realised that my life is just fine. Acting on these goals is even more important than ever if the world is is to recover from the pandemic.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognise that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection. More importantly than ever, the goals provide a critical framework for COVID-19 recovery.

What are the goals?

What do I plan to do?

I plan to do what many other schools and teachers have already done and use picture books and reading as a means to create discussion of the goals. As my students are young, under eight years old, I plan to do this with the aid of adults, either the students' teacher or a parent. The parents can borrow from our school library and many of the teachers already ensure that sustainability is a perspective when planning units of inquiry. I have combed through the catalogue looking for suitable books for each of the goals and I will affix a sticker to the book with the icon of the apt goal. I have put together a booklet that will serve as a reading record and then it is 'Let's read and discuss 17 books'.  It could be a book a week, a book a fortnight or as the UN SDG Book Club suggests one a month.

The SDG Book Club aims to use books as a tool to encourage children ages 6-12 to interact with the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a curated reading list of books from around the world.

I will share my booklists with you over the next 17 days, so that you too can use these books to start something similar with your students.