Monday, March 24, 2014

3/24/2014 Happy Birthday Dorothy Height!

Today’s google doodle honors the great activist, social worker, and educator Dorothy Irene Height.  Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia on March 24th, 1912.  She joined the National Council of Negro Women at age 25, and later served as the organization’s president for forty years.  Among her many other achievements, Height helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, marched for Civil Rights alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., oversaw the national desegregation of the YWCA, and advised American presidents on Civil Rights issues.

Dorothy Irene Height's 102nd Birthday





“If Ms. Height was less well known than her contemporaries in either the civil rights or women’s movement, it was perhaps because she was doubly marginalized, pushed offstage by women’s groups because of her race and by black groups because of her sex. Throughout her career, she responded quietly but firmly, working with a characteristic mix of limitless energy and steely gentility to ally the two movements in the fight for social justice.  As a result, Ms. Height is widely credited as the first person in the modern civil rights era to treat the problems of equality for women and equality for African-Americans as a seamless whole, merging concerns that had been largely historically separate.”

Dorothy Height is a great example of an inspirational woman to study this last week of Women’s History Month.  You can find more remarkable women to study with your class in my leveled book set Famous Women in History: Leveled Books for Grades 2 - 4. This collection of leveled readers for second through fourth grade features stories about eight women and their contributions to history.  Each book highlights specific grade-level concepts and vocabulary. An accompanying set of worksheets reviews the targeted literary skills.



3 comments:

  1. I am thrilled beyond belief that I found your blog and TpT store! I needed leveled readers SO BADLY! I teach fifth grade but I have a newcomer (brand new from Mexico) so I have to give him work at level B-E while the rest of the class works at level R-V. CRAZY! Thank you for making all of your leveled readers. I'm anxious to see a set of fifth grade level U readers! Thank you! cheryllhoff@yahoo.com

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  2. p.s. I'm thrilled that you posted this information on Dorothy Height. I had never heard of her. I'm so glad that Google created a doodle in her honor and that you posted this information on her. I look forward to reading about her with my class when we return from Spring break.

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  3. p.p.s. I don't know where to write this, but I wanted to alert you to a tiny tiny error in your First Grade Level F Set 1 readers. I think it is on the very first writing page. You have the word w-i-n-d-o-w, and the student needs to fill in two blanks for o-w, but there is also a w at the very end. My newcomer was confused and didn't know what to put in two blanks when there was already a w. I told him it was most likely a tiny mistake but that I would let you know. He is working so hard on this. I'm so proud of him! To come in halfway through the year, not knowing a word of English, and now reading at Level F. I'm so very proud!!! And I am so thankful that I found your TpT store. You will provide him and me with leveled readers for the rest of the year! I can't wait to see what level he ends on in July! Thank you again, and thank you for allowing me to alert you to this little mistake. cheryllhoff@yahoo.com

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