What is this book about?

Teach young children about the Pride parade with this lively, colorful counting board book. Featuring a diverse cast of characters and families, Pride 123 celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community and love, as well as standing up for who you are while counting to 10.

1 parade in the month of June,
2 DJs spin fabulous tunes,
3 families of all different types,
4 activists fight the good fight.

Perfect for all families, this counting board book should be shared and read with Pride!

Who is depicted in this book?

• LGBTQ+ led families and others celebrating Pride
• Children and adults who are/may be LGBTQ+ 
• Children or adults who transcend gender stereotypes 

What early childhood themes and concepts does this book explore?

• Counting from pictures up to 10 (Note that the depicted people and items are not always visually distinct. Some may be familiar, while others may not.)
• Shared happiness and celebrations that include everyone
• Actions such as spinning, revving, carrying, standing side by side, and striking a pose
• Symbols and events associated with Pride, such as flags, signs, gatherings, and parades

How does this book support anti-bias education?

The underlying message of inclusion and the diverse, non-stereotypical images of people provide an opportunity to introduce and celebrate diversity through relatable concepts and colorful illustrations. The images and text may be used to support the following core goal from Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves:

Diversity—Teachers will promote each child’s comfortable, empathetic interactions with people from diverse backgrounds so that children will express comfort and joy with human diversity, use accurate language for human differences, and form deep, caring connections across all dimensions of human diversity.

How can this book be used to meet early childhood learning standards?

For all ages

Use Pride 123 to meet early childhood literacy standards

For children from birth to age three

Teaching suggestion: Point out the people, actions and settings in the book and respond to the children as they react to, point at, or name them.

What Illinois Early Learning Guideline does this meet for children from birth to age three?

Developmental DomainLanguage Development, Communication and Literacy

Standard: Early LiteracyChildren demonstrate interest in and comprehension of printed materials.

Indicators for children:

• Shows awareness of printed materials, such as staring at a picture in a book (Birth–9 months)
• Points to pictures in a book and reacts, such as smiling when viewing a picture of a dog (7–18 months)
• Points to familiar pictures and actions in books (16 –24 months)

Teaching suggestion: Model counting as you explore the pages together.

What Illinois Early Learning Guideline does this meet for children from birth to age three?

Developmental DomainCognitive Development

Standard: Quantity and NumbersChildren demonstrate awareness of quantity, counting and numeric competencies.

Indicators for children:

• Imitates counting, e.g., climbs stairs and mimics “one, two” (7–18 months)
• Uses nonverbal gestures to demonstrate an understanding of quantities, such as holding up two fingers to express two of something (16–24 months)
• Begins to use “one,” “two,” and “three” to identify very small quantities without counting them (16–24 months)
• Begins to count objects; may count objects twice and/or skip numbers (21–36 months)
• Communicates amount of familiar objects, such as seeing two apples and saying “two” (21–36 months)
• Understands progressive number order, such as reciting the number series to 10 (21–36 months)

For preschoolers (ages three to five)

Teaching suggestion: Acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of people, dress and gender in the Pride 123 illustrations. Discuss how people can show respect and support for one another.

What Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards does this meet for preschoolers?

Social/Emotional Development Standard31ADevelop positive relationships with peers and adults.

• Benchmark 31.A.ECb:

  Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others.

• Benchmark 31.A.ECe:

  Develop positive relationships with peers.

Teaching suggestion: Introduce vocabulary and concepts such as "activist" and the messages on the Pride event signs in the book. Ask: "What are the people asking for on their signs? How can we show fairness to others?"

What Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards does this meet for preschoolers?

Language Arts Standard1EUse increasingly complex phrases, sentences and vocabulary.

• Benchmark 1.E.ECb:

  Exhibit curiosity and interest in learning new words heard in conversations and books.

• Benchmark 1.E.ECe:

  With teacher assistance, use adjectives to describe people, places, and things.

What Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards does this meet for preschoolers?

Social Studies Standard14AUnderstand what it means to be a member of a group and community.

• Benchmark 14.A.ECa:

  Recognize the reasons for rules in the home and early childhood environment and for laws in the community.

See inside this book.

What other resources are available?

Learn more about Pride flags and how to use them as teaching tools here.