How a Colorado district changed its reading curriculum to better reflect students

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Alongside tall tales about lumberjack Paul Bunyan and cowboy Pecos Bill, new reading lessons for Denver second graders will include the story of Doña Flor, a giant woman living in the American Southwest.

What students won’t get in those literacy lessons are books about Columbus, the first Thanksgiving, or Lewis and Clark.

That’s because Denver district officials have made a series of changes to the new reading curriculum rolling out in kindergarten through second grade at nearly 90 schools this year. In addition to stripping out units they felt perpetuated a whitewashed version of American history, they added several books in each grade intended to add a wider variety of voices.

Read more on Chalkbeat.

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