African American Awareness for Young Children: A Curriculum »

Dr. Evia L. Davis coordinates preschool programs for the St. Louis Public School System. She has been with the district for over 15 years and has taught kindergarten, fourth, and fifth grades. Additionally, she teaches as an adjunct professor at Harris-Stowe State College. She received her doctorate in Early Childhood Education from St. Louis University, and specializes in early childhood and special education. Evia and her husband Dr. Mark Hosea Davis founded Akwaaba, Incorporated, a non-profit organization that provides charitable support for the village of Gomoa Obuasi, Ghana (West Africa), as well as other worthy causes

Here are four, exciting teaching units you can incorporate easily into your existing early childhood curriculum as either supplemental or core material. These special units expose children to literature that helps develop an appreciation of the African American culture and provides role models with whom they can identify. By recognizing the importance of cultural awareness in the development of a child's self-concept, these cultural experiences benefit all the children in the class! Includes complete lesson plans with poems, songs, and book suggestions, hands-on activities, pages to color and take home, and a classroom reproducible excerpt from the "I Have a Dream" speech.