The Project Children LEAD website is dedicated to providing multicultural educational resources to teachers, students and trainers. We hope you find the website resources useful in developing lessons for your classroom students.

Dr. Vincenne Revilla Beltran, professor at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established Project Children LEAD in 1999. The project began as part of a university course taught by Dr. Revilla Beltran in the Department of Education and Community Services of Point Park University. As part of the course requirements, pre-service teachers were asked to develop lesson plans based on the Project Children LEAD themes for kindergarten children. The goal was to teach the children early to appreciate diversity. Each lesson plan had to incorporate the Pennsylvania Academic Standards and had to be developmentally appropriate for the young learners. The thematic approach utilized in Project Children LEAD encouraged pre-service teachers to apply the principles of diversity education in an authentic setting with the kindergarten children. Since its inception in 1999, Dr. Revilla Beltran has refined the program and has continued to develop her work with pre-service teachers and kindergarten children. To date, the curriculum has been implemented with K-8 students.

In 2004, Dr. Revilla Beltran collaborated with teachers from the Point Park University Children's School and developed Project Children LEAD lesson plans for the following age groups:

• Early Pre-School (ages 2-3)
• Pre-School (ages 3-4)
• Pre-Kindergarten (ages 4-5)
• Kindergarten (ages 5-6)

A new collaboration with a homeless children's shelter resulted in the delivery of the Project Children LEAD curriculum to elementary and middle school students.

The Curriculum
The Project Children LEAD curriculum lesson themes begin with a micro topic based lesson and build to increasingly macro based lessons, each lesson building on the previously learned knowledge and skills. Project Children LEAD lessons center on the following themes:

• Getting to Know You
• I am Special and You are Special
• Families and Neighborhoods
• Using Words to Work Things Out
• Physical Differences
• Foods and Languages of the World
• International Festival: Passport to the world

The main objective of the Project Children LEAD curriculum is to teach children early to appreciate and value diversity in their classrooms, families, neighborhoods and communities. Dr. Vincenne Revilla Beltran hopes Project Children LEAD will make a positive difference in the lives and futures of young children fortunate enough to experience diversity education at an early age in a positive and supportive setting.
For more information on Project Children LEAD, contact Dr. Vincenne Revilla Beltran at info@childrenlead.org.