NORTHAMPTON — At Jackson Street Elementary School, fourth grade students huddle in groups as they put together presentations based on various topic words: diversity, intergenerational, loving engagement, to name a few.

Annalia Palladino, 9, works with two of her classmates, Alison Kajka and Ruthie Eppsteiner, on a computer to create an image for their presentation on the topic of diversity. They’ve included images of diverse kids grouped together, as well as images of Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Joe Biden.

“They’re all people of different races and genders, but they all changed the world,” Palladino said of her group’s presentation. “I think diversity means the differences between people and the good things about them.”

The activity was part of the school’s Black Lives Matter Week in Action, an event spanning the second week of February, during Black History Month. The weeklong curriculum traces its origins to a school in Seattle in 2016, and has spread to schools across the nation, including Jackson Street Elementary.

“It’s this incredible collective action to say, we as an educational community stand with the Black Lives Matter movement,” Principal Lauren Brown said. “The ideas behind the Black Lives Matter movement have a place in our school communities.”

Educators work with a specific curriculum of topics throughout the week, using material such as picture books, poetry and class conversations to teach students about some of the key principles behind racial justice. At Jackson Street, which includes students in grades K-5, all take part in learning the curriculum.

The week of action lists 13 guiding principles that are central to the curriculum. Including the three previous topic words mentioned, other principles include Black women, Black families and queer affirming.

Though such curriculum is taught in schools nationwide, recently there has been a pushback regarding the teaching of race-related topics in education. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis last April signed legislation that restricts teaching on the topic of race. Recently, the nonprofit College Board dropped several aspects of its AP African-American studies class, including references to Black Lives Matter.

Brown said that despite the backlash, it is important to teach students to develop a sense of activism and understand both the struggle against racism and the beauty of diversity.

“If they understand racism and other forms of bigotry, then they can work alongside the rest of us to make the world better,” she said. “Our call to action is to help raise children who can make the world a better place.”

Lucy Houle, 9, a fourth grader at Jackson Street, shared her own perspective on opposing racism, while discussing her assigned topic, the principle of “loving engagement.”

“Some people say things that aren’t true, like people of other races can’t love each other,” she said. “You can love each other no matter what.”

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