Category: News

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Nature-Wise: Environmental Programs for School, After-School, and Home

Nature-Wise: Explore the environment, our place in it,
and our power to protect all living things
Youth Engagement Programs for School, After-School, and Home
with Children’s Book Author, Literacy and the Environment Consultant Caroline Brewer
www.carolinebrewerbooks.com * caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com

Nature-Wise helps children and teens understand and practice, on creative levels, that human beings are included in the definition of the environment. Protecting it is protecting us. We can’t protect what we don’t know or understand. The good news is that from our earliest days, we practice literacy and that opens a world of wondrous possibilities and opportunities to explore all the literacies — reading, writing, speaking, seeing, hearing, visual arts, music, dance, games, and so many more – as we dig deeper into the natural world, our place in it, and our power to be climate activists and better protect all living things.

With the Nature-wise Student Engagement Program, students will be treated to at least one of the following opportunities  based on a series of presentations:

  • Explore human and wildlife literacies, the environment as a love story and a reason to say their names
  • Engage with books that share paths for how to tap into our gifts, super-powers, and “somebodiness” as Dr. King explained, to explore our place in the natural world
  • Engage with books that help students get hooked on reading and writing and the exploration of a variety of literacies
  • Introduction to children’s literature on the environment and artistic responses to stories
  • Explore and respond to stories of “belonging” in nature
  • Explore the power of poetry to articulate feelings and observations about the environment
  • Meet local, national, and global environmental champions through books and online resources
  • Explore and evaluate wildlife (colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and behaviors of plants, animals, waterways, and humans) in our school and home neighborhoods; Create a neighborhood nature encyclopedia
  • Address fears about being outside and about various forms of wildlife
  • Create and play vocabulary games based on books and other literature
  • Write class and individual letters to authors and environmental champions
  • Create interview questions for environmental champions and authors
  • Create artwork inspired by stories and the work of environmental champions

*Professional Development Trainings for educators are also available. Email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com or Click here: https://carolinebrewerbooks.com/carolines-blog/nature-wise-reading-writing-probing-and-playing-in-the-outdoor-classroom/

NOTE: All photos in the graphic, except the Ghanaian child pointing to the garden egg in the garden, are images from the FREE e-book, Belonging: African Americans in Nature Photography Project, created by Nature Forward in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program.

 

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Taking Nature Black Came Back Strong, as We Said Their Names!

It’s been three years since we were able to gather in person for a Nature Forward Taking Nature Black Conference, so this year was bound to be special, extra-special! And it was. With two virtual days, and two in person days, I gathered with hundreds of environmentalists from around the region to share in uplifting our stories of Belonging – the conference’s theme.

I was grateful to provide a welcome on Friday and moderate the panel, Belonging: What Healing and Wholeness Might Look Like. I also was honored to give a keynote Thursday evening titled: The Environment: A Love Story and a Reason to Say Their Names. My speech was peppered with spoken word, traditional poems, and snippets of songs. An opening excerpt laid the foundation for the connection between what’s traditionally thought of as the environment and what scientists, Indigenous people and healers have come to understand is the real environment — all of us, humans, plants, animals, insects, waterways, air, and land. We’re all elements of nature and the environment, and, as such, and how we treat each other morally manifests materially, so we’d be wise to treat nature, which includes us, imperially, serially.

And this is where Say Their Names comes in. Say Their Names, on its face, is about 7-year-old Aliya’s quest to create a love-inspired movement in response to the George Floyd murder and protests. And with that, we’re surely blessed, the child met the test. Yet with a closer look, I must confess. Aliya reveals the 5 things we need to change the game not only to save lives from police and racial violence. She gives us the blueprint to save lives in the so-called natural world and helps us understand, like the scientists, how they/we are inextricably tied.

Aliya’s Blueprint includes these 5 Elements:

  1. Recognize that we’re in a love story – Give Mother Nature the glory.
  2. Gather our gifts – such as courage, hope, truth, and let it be swift. Gather our gifts of friends, family, community. Peace, grace, and unity.
  3. Tap into the one super-power that can change the game at any hour – LOVE.
  4. Become peerless when it comes to being fearless.
  5. Fight – All day, all night, harder and smarter until we get it right

I’ve created an entire professional development training and strategic campaigns training that delve deeply into how we can use the blueprint in Say Their Names to accelerate victories in campaigns for social, environmental, and climate justice. Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for details. 

Photo: That’s me at the Conference with U.S. Forest Service Sponsor Beattra Wilson, in the middle, and Singer, Storyteller, and Cultural Historian Karen Wilson Ama-‘Echefu, who spoke (and sang a bit) on the Belonging panel and provided outstanding support during my book signing.

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Nature-wise – Reading, Writing, Probing And Playing In The Outdoor Classroom

INTRODUCING Nature-Wise! Well, sort of.

Nature-Wise kicked off virtually during the spring of 2022 with my friends at the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education. We held our first in-person training in early February in Ocean City. I’m now expanding the training nationally with Conservation Nation on March 29 virtually. This first session with CN is for DC Public Schools teachers only and all are FREE to teachers. Click here to register.

But wait! I’m inviting schools and youth organizations across the country to book trainings for the spring, summer and fall 2023 – right now.  Simply Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information.

What is Nature-wise? Nature-wise is a professional development training for educators and youth leaders designed to help children and teens understand and practice, on creative levels, that human beings are included in the definition of the environment. We, too, are nature and from our earliest days, we practice literacy. And that opens a world of wondrous possibilities and opportunities to explore all the literacies — reading, writing, speaking, seeing, hearing, visual arts, music, dance, games, and so many more – as we explore the natural world, our place in it, and our power to be climate activists and better protect all living things.

Teachers will enjoy opportunities to introduce students to children’s literature on the environment; Help students tap into the power of poetry to articulate feelings and observations about the environment; Bring local, national, and global environmental champions into students’ lives through picture books and online resources; Lead students on fascinating nature exploration journeys outdoors; Help students evaluate wildlife (colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and behaviors) in their school and home neighborhoods and create a neighborhood nature encyclopedia — and have fun!

Teachers will have opportunities to address fears about being outside and about various forms of wildlife; Create and play vocabulary games based on books and other literature; Help students write class and individual letters to authors and environmental champions; Help students create interview questions for environmental champions and authors; Help students create artwork inspired by stories and the work of environmental champions.

Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information about how to bring Nature-Wise to your school or organization.

WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NATURE-WISE!
Dear Caroline
Just a note to thank you for your workshop last week. I had the most wonderful time and got so many great ideas. I’m a new-ish teacher (switched from journalism mid-career) and am always looking for ways to better my craft. Thanks to your ideas, I’m now using rhythmic poems every day and putting lyrics up on the board for my learners to read. They love it! I’m also halfway through your HTHS manual and am putting more of those ideas into practice. Thank you so much for doing what you do and for inspiring so many of us. It is helping countless numbers of children! All the best.

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Celebrating MLK Day with Rarely Seen Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech to Philly Students

On the 40th Anniversary of the MLK Jr. Holiday, I am delighted to share RARELY seen footage of Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967. There, he delivered his powerful, thoughtful, heartfelt speech, “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” I strongly urge you to view in its entirety. Below are a few excerpts.

“Number 1 in your life’s blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth. And always feel that your life has ultimate significance.”  — Martin Luther King, Jr.

CLICK HERE to watch the entire video. Thanks to Beacon Press and the Philadelphia School District for making this video available. Photo credit to Stephen F. Somerstein—Getty Images.

 

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Children are Embracing Priceless Gifts in SAY THEIR NAMES

 Media Opportunities December 6 & 7

Immediate Release – December 5, 2022

Contact Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information

Washington, D.C. – When Children’s Book Author Caroline Brewer speaks to children about her new picture book, Say Their Names, she brings priceless gifts. Some are on the backs of a bookmark, or a special card, inside a gift bag printed on paper, or made of sparkly icing emblazoned on a sugar cookie. The gifts are words, such as hope, courage, peace, love, and light – representing some of the 30+ “gifts” readers can find inside the story of Say Their Names. The new picture book by Reycraft Books features the fictional 7-year-old Aliya on her quest to lead a love-inspired Black lives movement. Aliya’s gifts, Brewer says, are the elements of a positive identity, which researchers say can lead to smoother transition to adulthood. “A positive identity is what Say Their Names is all about, and it’s a gift that couldn’t be more appropriate given the challenges our children face today,” she added.

Children, parents, and educators agree.

“And what I really like about it is how you put a little kid on there and you made (Aliya) strong and brave and independent to do what she got to do and she’s wonderful,” Andreya, a 5th grader at Simon Elementary in D.C., wrote after Brewer’s author visit in November.

” Teaching the value and dignity of all is at the heart of our school’s mission and this book says to our scholars that their lives matter and that  they, even in their youth, are powerful and can transform the world,” said Nicole Peltier Lewis M.Ed, Principal of Annunciation.

Brewer, a DC resident and literacy consultant, will visit two schools this week to offer gifts that children can make their own:

9:30 – 10:30 a.m. – Tuesday, December 6, 2022 – Annunciation Catholic School, 3810 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington D.C. 20016

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. – Wednesday, December 7, 2022 – Truesdell Elementary, 800 Ingraham St. NW Washington, D.C. 20011 (Pen-Faulkner Author Visit)

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Teaching a tough subject with poetry and love

Amari Russell reads a copy of Say Their Names by Caroline Brewer. Photo by Cortland Milloy
Children’s book by Caroline Brewer spotlights a fictional girl protesting violence by police and others.

Perspective by Cortland Milloy for The Washington Post

(PHOTO: Amari Russell, 6, examines a copy of Caroline Brewer’s “Say Their Names” at a signing in Washington. Photo by Courtland Milloy/TWP)

At the Potter’s House community center in Adams Morgan, an audience gathered recently to hear children’s book author Caroline Brewer read from her latest work, “Say Their Names.” The book is a poem about a fictional 7-year-old girl named Aliya who leads a demonstration against violence, including police shootings, in her neighborhood.

Brewer asked the audience to repeat after her as she read from the book. The children responded enthusiastically.

Read more from The Washington Post

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SAY THEIR NAMES – FREE Guide for Parents, Teachers, Youth Leaders

AUTHOR CREATES SAY THEIR NAMES
IMAGINATION GUIDE

 

NEW picture book offers many gifts,
including a Positive Identity

Author Caroline Brewer is leading highly inter-active and musical conversations with students, educators, parents and community groups about her new book  Say Their Names, with Reycraft Books.  In Say Their Names, a fictional 7-year-old Aliya responds to the aftermath of George Floyd’s death with poetry, history, and an invitation to a love-inspired future. Brewer says the book comes with more than 30 “gifts” for children, such as hope, courage, and empowerment, which all work together to form a positive identity. (See page 5 for the list and student-youth engagement opportunities).

“As we have seen, especially since September 11, 2001, traumatic incidents, such as school shootings, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, racist and religious attacks, wars, pandemics, and the like, keep happening, seemingly with greater frequency, here and all over the world,” said Brewer, “In the face of the world’s ugliness, we’ll be counting on today’s youth to one day stand tall and lead our families, communities, and countries. So it’s critical that we – and they -- are equipped with the confidence, language, empathy, mental and emotional stamina to handle the hard stuff. If I could give a child any gift, it would be the gift of a positive identity, and that’s what Say Their Names is all about,” says Brewer.

**
Goals of the picture book, Say Their Names: To be a channel for children’s agency, positive identity, strength, intellectual stimulation, healthy, self-actualized communication, to expand supportive communities, to be a source of hope, and a tool for imagining ways forward.

Click here to get your FREE Imagination Guide!

 

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Midwest Stop – Say Their Names – Four Events in Three Days!

WE’RE CELEBRATING THE LAUNCH OF SAY THEIR NAMES
and DARIUS DANIELS: GAME ON!
IN THE MIDWEST
At three Fort Wayne, Indiana locations, November 25, 26, and 27 — Join Us!
FRIDAY, NOV. 25 – 4-6 pm – Family Event- Invitation-Only Event – Contact Joanne or Liz for details.
SATURDAY, NOV. 26 – 11 am – 12 noon —Brief talk and autograph session for Say Their Names and Darius Daniels: Game On!

BIPOC Business Weekend, sponsored by Clydia Early.
3402 Fairfield Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46807-1823

SATURDAY, NOV. 26 – 2 pm – 5 pm —Bring the children for an inter-active musical presentation of
Say Their Names and Darius Daniels: Game On!, plus powerful writing activity, Q & A, and autographing session. Refreshments will be available for purchase during our break.

BIPOC Business Weekend
3402 Fairfield Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46807-1823

PLEASE ORDER YOUR BOOKS IN ADVANCE TODAYfrom websites or stores below or Amazon.

EMAIL poadec.comm@gmail.com for more details on Saturday’s events – Sponsored by the People of African Descent Elders Council

SUNDAY, NOV. 27 – 10:30 am – UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, 5310 Old Mill Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46807 – Delivering the morning’s sermon: Why We Say Their Names, followed by Q and A, and book-signing.

READ The Washington Post’s feature story here!

Watch television news coverage of

Say Their Names here!

Photo courtesy of MF Photography

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SAY THEIR NAMES DMV LAUNCH EVENTS NOV. 5, 2022

WE’RE CELEBRATING THE LAUNCH OF SAY THEIR NAMES IN THE DMV
At two locations, November 5 — Join US!
1 pm – 2 pm — Say Their Names * Potter’s House Cafe/Bookstore — I’ll do an inter-active, musical reading
of Say Their Names, Q & A, and autograph books. 
Potter’s House, www.pottershousedc.org, 1658 Columbia Road NW WASHINGTON, DC, 20009
5 pm – 6 pm – Say Their Names * Mahogany Books
I’ll do an inter-active, musical reading of Say Their Names, Q & A, and autograph books.
1231 Good Hope Rd., S.E. Washington, DC 20020 * Phone: 1 (844) 279-6239
PLEASE RSVP TO caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com
Watch new coverage of Say Their Names here!
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A Whole Other Twist on “Let Them Eat Cake!”

A Whole Other Twist on “Let Them Eat Cake!”
DC Elementary Librarian, Local Author, and National Education Lawyer
Team Up to Feed “Hungry Readers Chocolate Cake” Over the Summer!

Donation of Books to Truesdale Elementary Library, Students and School’s Little Free Library
Kicks Off Summer Reading Program and Extends Hungry Readers Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 21, 2021

Contact: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com

Washington, D.C. – In a whole other twist on “Let them eat cake!”, Truesdale Elementary Librarian Eboni Henry, National Education Lawyer Gary M. Ratner, and Caroline Brewer, Author of the Forthcoming Say Their Names picture book and Darius Daniels: Game On! have teamed up to feed “hungry readers chocolate cake” over the summer.

The donation of more than 30 Books to Truesdale Elementary’s School Library, its students and the school’s Little Free Library takes place today at the school, 12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., 800 Ingraham St NW, Washington, DC 20011.

The donation continues Brewer’s “Hungry Readers” campaign, where she has enlisted friends and family to help her donate books to schools, libraries, and youth programs in the DC Metro area and around the country. This iteration of the campaign has seen the donation of more than 250 copies of books, including more than 100 of Darius Daniels: Game On!, a book filled with rap, rhyme, and riddles, designed to get kids hooked on books. The donation includes picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels, books with Black and Latino characters to feed the needs of the majority Latino and Black student population, books on the environment, and some Newberry Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winners. In years past, Brewer has donated thousands of books, mostly her own.

Truesdale Librarian Henry said she’s noticed that children aren’t visiting public libraries as often so she created a “Little Free Library” outside Truesdale where students and any member of the community can take books home and keep them for their own. She and a colleague usually supply the “library” throughout the summer. New donations from Brewer, Ratner, and other friends will help edify the collection.

“I’m a strong believer in the importance of reading to satisfaction and success in life.  Knowing that Caroline Brewer’s books for children help some of our neediest children to attain this goal, I was pleased to make a donation to expand the availability of the extraordinary middle grade novel: Darius Daniels,” said Ratner, Founder and Executive Director of Citizens for Effective Schools. Ratner has been a nationally recognized authority on school reform law and policy for more than 30 years and is a principal drafter of the Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the policy statement for overhauling NCLB endorsed by more than 150 national organizations and replacing it with the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). “Rich in cultural allusions and broadening vocabulary, Darius Daniels is an excellent way to engage, entertain and intellectually stimulate students this summer, while simultaneously combatting the traditional summer loss in reading skills.”

Brewer says she’s never met a child who wasn’t hungry to learn to read, write, and learn and that’s why she calls her campaign “Hungry Readers.” The authors of a new book,  How to Raise a Reader, Pamela Paul and Maria Russo, the editor and the children’s-books editor, respectively, of The New York Times Book Review, have said that those who want to inspire reading love in children should present reading not as “spinach,” but as “chocolate cake.” Making books and reading fun has been Brewer’s calling card for the past 20 years as an author, literacy activist, and consultant. “I call rap, rhyme, and riddles ‘literacy accelerants,’ ” says Brewer. “When children get their hands on books that have meaning and are fun, many become brand-new and fall in love with themselves as human beings, whereas before they had lots of doubts. Good books feed children’s imaginations and inspire success and that’s all we’re here for.”

Connect with Caroline Brewer on the following sites:

www.carolinebrewerbooks.com * facebook.com/brewercaroline *twitter.com/brewercaroline

instagram.com/carolinebrewerbooks