I love my hair! / ¡Amo mi cabello! 

Señora Roth (@senorarothspanish) and I teamed up last week for a special bilingual story time with Sandra Cisneros’ book, Hairs / Pelitos. We were inspired by second grade students sharing stories about their identity with kindergarten readers – books like I am Enough and I Love My Hair have our youngest students so excited about all of the beautiful things that make them unique. We decided to keep the conversation going with Hairs / Pelitos, and students were ready and raring to keep talking and questioning! The book started some great conversations with our curious and enthusiastic readers and listeners.

Here are some of the things that we talked about:

• Why is everyone’s hair so different?

• What’s the difference between curly, wavy, kinky, and straight hair?

• What words can I use to describe my hair? What words can I use to describe my friends’ hair?

• Is some hair better than other hair? Is long better than short? Straight better than curly? Rough better than smooth?

• Why does our hair feel so important to us? Is your hair a special part of who you are?

• Can I touch someone’s hair without asking? How does it feel when someone touches my hair or body without asking first?

• If I would like to touch someone else’s hair, how do I know if it’s a good time or place? What should I do?

• Is it okay to say no if I don’t want someone to touch my hair? How can I do that?

Students were so excited about their newfound knowledge that they couldn’t wait to try out some of their new skills, describing all of the different kinds of hair in the room and asking their friends if they could touch, braid, and brush each other’s hair. What a perfect way to talk about the power of identity, diversity, and consent all in one fun and positive day! A special thank you to Ms. Smith for leading our ‘I love my hair’ huddle at the end of class. In the video above, you can get a feel for just how excited we were about our hair!

Check out some photos below to see the list of descriptive hair words we created together, and to see some details from this beautiful book.

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