New Use for an Old Favorite Story

This week's project, damaged book turned literary art work. 

Last week I mentioned that I have been reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt with my new class of two and three year olds. The kids love this book right now and each time I read it with them I look for new ways to create fun learning experiences for the classroom inspired by the story and its illustrations. I just love how a good story can weave its way throughout your life and so likewise I always try to have one classic story as the backbone of my preschool curriculum, the place from which so many projects, games, conversations and learning opportunities of all kinds emerge. Right now, this is the story on which I am building. This story is so well loved that it's pages were literally starting to fall apart from so much wear. This weekend I retired it and replaced it with the board book version we had in our school's collection. Despite it's sad condition, I couldn't bear to part with our beloved book so I decided, instead, to celebrate it by reconstructing the pages of the story into a piece of art to display in the library corner of our classroom.

found at this lovely blog

I can't take credit for this art project because like many ideas for my classrooms over the years, it was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest. Now that I am just about full time now in my new room at the school in Maine where I have been employed since we arrived in Portland back in September, I have been going back through many of the DIY Pins I have collected this year looking for inspiration. I stumbled upon this neat Cat in the Hat story art piece and immediately thought of the bear hunt book I knew was on its last days in the classroom. I don't have a canvas yet and I am not replicating it exactly, but what you see above is my progress as of last night. Hopefully by the end of the week I can report back with the final product and let you know what my kiddos think of it once I display it above the books in the story corner of our classroom. My hope is that not only will the story board draw attention to this part of the classroom, but it will also serve as a visual reminder of the children's favorite story. They love "reading" the story to me, using the illustrations to trigger their memory of the words which many have memorized almost entirely. This activity not only helps the kiddos to develop some important literary skills, like story telling, sequential ordering of events, vocabulary building, and word recall, it also serves as a way to connect with the story on a deeper level, to see the illustrations as the works of art that they are, and it helps document for the parents what we've been up to and what we are currently interested in as a class. Not to mention, it likely gives the parents a visual for a story they've likely heard all about.

Blocks found in this Etsy shop

In addition to all the literacy benefits of creating story art like this one, I believe that re-purposing something that could have easily ended up in the recycle bin provides the kids with a valuable lesson on DIY and creativity. If you've read any of my previous posts, you've probably gathered that I have quite an interest in creating handmade materials for the children in my lives. I'm hoping I have enough pictures left over from my story board project that I can attempt to put together a story block set like the one pictured on the left I stumbled across while browsing on Etsy one day. I'd love to get as much use out of our bear hunt book as possible and offer the kids as many ways as I can to dig deeper into one of their favorite stories. My interest in DIY is not simply a way to fulfill my need to create, but I love to use it as a way to inspire children and show them what they too can be capable of, which is why whenever possible I like to work on my projects either with the help of the children, or while in the classroom with them so that my projects serve as a provocation for them. In the past this has led to kids in my preschool class back in Seattle making their own books by stapling paper together and filling in the pages and learning to master the art of crown making for their dramatic play, and even creating origami critters that became the key characters in their small world play. When it comes to developing self-sufficiency and DIY skills, there is no better way to teach than by example and so I do my best to fill my classroom spaces with as many handmade items as I can, assuming the quality of my work is up to par with the rest of the materials in the classroom, which isn't always the case. But then again, moving on from failure and trying again is just as valuable a lesson and one which I am happy to pass on. Not all my projects meet the aesthetic qualifications for my classrooms but that will never stop me from continuing to work. 

Cultivating Community...via Craft Night!

K "washes" the tomatoes we harvested in her new play kitchen

With less than one month left in Hawaii, I have the curriculum for the farm preschool cooperative pretty much nailed down. The basic design for the school is drawn up, and the materials needed to fill the school walls are mostly pinned and bookmarked. So what am I doing between now and May 30th, our departure date? Well, that’s a good question. I have been spending so much time working on the curriculum and so thoroughly enjoying myself that it has left me contemplating the possibility of a return to school yet again to further my own education in a doctoral program for curriculum design and instruction. I’ll save that story, however, for another time. Anyway, now that the farm preschool curriculum is in solid working order, I am using my remaining time here in two ways. When I am not hanging with little K, I am kicking my craftiness up a few notches and putting together as many resources for the school as I can. As for my work with K, I am planning on diving right into the curriculum with her so that we can both experience it in action and so all you lovely readers at home can get a better idea of how an emergent curriculum works within our three focus areas (Social & Personal Responsibility, Agriculture & Sustainability, and Creativity & the Arts). I have a feeling this is going to be a busy and exciting month!

Things are really coming together for the farm preschool cooperative project in a way that I could only have hoped for. For a while now, I’ve been wanting to organize a craft day where all the families who are planning to join the preschool cooperative could gather and work on projects ranging from erecting the physical structure of the school to sewing more felt food and painting rock people, among other things. Last Friday night, a mini-version of this idea materialized unexpectedly when Heather, K’s mom, and I decided to spend our evening drinking wine out on the balcony overlooking ocean and sewing felt finger puppets based on a cute project I found on Pinterest. Before we knew it, over half the members of our farm community had gathered with us and we ended up stitching ten adorable little puppets shaped like owls, lions, bears, cats, and one not so cute looking elephant, whose eyes I just couldn’t keep from looking villainous. Craft night was such a success that we’re going to do it again tonight!

our inspiration from this seller on Etsy

Although it would certainly be easier to place an order with amazon along with all the books I’ve bookmarked to fill the library, it is important both in the Reggio Approach and our Reggio-Inspired curriculum that we instead take the time to engage in these group resource development activities. There is a heavy emphasis on cultivating self-sufficiency skills and community connections in the farm preschool cooperative, the later being of particular importance in the Reggio Approach as well. What better way, I thought, to start this preschool than by living and breathing the program’s philosophy into its very creation. When K and her friends walk into the finished school for the very first time, they will be introduced to each material and feel an immediate connection because these toys and this place was built specifically for them by people they know and love deeply. Right from the outset this means a greater respect for their communal belongings, an understanding of what is possible with a little creativity and resourcefulness, and an immediate sense of appreciation, love, and support. In my opinion, there is no better way to start school.

Not only was our craft night important for the kiddos and their future school, but it was important for us too, the adult members of the farm community. While our hands were occupied with felt, needles, and thread, we had the chance to share in one another's company and wind down from the week with the cool evening breeze and the sun setting over the Pacific ocean in the background. We enjoyed our drinks, a mouth-watering snack of cheesy baked artichoke bread that Jodi brought, and chatted about anything and everything. Even the guys on the farm got in on the crafting, impressing the pants off the rest of us who doubted they could even be baited to join. So what does our gathering have to do with the school, other than making resources for it? It sets the norm for the kids. K eagerly joined in, working on her own beginner sewing skills, soaking in the positive and enjoyable community experience until she was too tired to keep her eyes open.

Our DIY version of the puppets I pinned from Etsy

From experiences like these, K will always know what is possible when friends come together to work toward a common goal, but most importantly, she had so much fun crafting and so did we. Activities like this help set the foundation for a lifetime of deep and meaningful community connections, hard but enjoyable work, and a some creative resourcefulness. By joining in on our craft night, K is able to see what she will be capable of when she get’s bigger, that her needs can be met by her own hand, not just by her wallet. It was Friday night and the school hasn’t even opened yet, but already K is beginning to feel the benefits of the curriculum we have designed for it. This is quite possibly one of my favorite aspects of Reggio-Inspired education, it is firmly understood that learning happens all the time, and that potential to build knowledge and skill is present in every single moment of every single day. Learning doesn’t stop when one leaves school walls, and it doesn’t start upon return in the morning. Learning happens all the time across a multitude of settings and the purpose of school is to cross these disciplines, these contexts, and support learning as it unfolds naturally, helping each student to make the most of his and her unique life experience.

click here for more info

The Reggio Approach, I think more than most other educational approaches, understands the importance of cultivating a sense of community belonging for children and their parents. Parent involvement, as Louise Boyd Cadwell points out in the prologue (page 6) of her book Bringing Reggio Emilia Home, “is considered essential,” and that in this approach, “parents play an active part in their children’s learning experience and help ensure the welfare of all children in the school.” I love this idea of involving parents as partners in their children’s education, it just makes sense. Whether schools admit it or not, parents are doing at least as much educating (for better or worse) than teachers are and therefore when the two parties are on the same page, understanding, collaborating and supporting one another, the educational experience can be so much richer and more powerful for the kids. In addition, when parents work together, be it in the classroom like they will in the farm preschool cooperative or joining in on community socials and resource development days, kids internalize these values and they become the norm they reference their later experiences against.

our inspiration for this evening's craft night!

By showing kids how to be part of a community, we are helping them learn to cultivate and appreciate this when they inevitably grow up and develop new communities of their own. It’s easy to do this here on the farm, probably easier than in other places, because there are four families living on this land and the Big Island of Hawaii, particularly the South Kona area where we are, is a very community oriented place. I grew up in a similar community-oriented place in Southern Vermont and after having lived in other places, I am grateful for having the experience to reference because when I lacked that connection I knew exactly what it was that I was missing and how to go about finding and creating it for myself. If you ask me, rebuilding the community connections that somehow got lost and minimized over the past few decades is one of the most important ways we can help prepare this next generation of young people for the future. The barriers that separate us from one another are a major hindrance of progress and it’s high time we begin breaking them down and work together to make our communities, our states, our country, and our world a better place. Our children’s schools present the perfect opportunity to show kids the power of a supportive, inclusive, and caring community. 

A Few Projects

Last week, K spent most of her time with her friends. She is an only child and the farm is in a pretty rural area. There aren't any neighbors nearby that have kids, so it's awesome that she has such a close group of friends to regularly hang out with. Just like I did, K gets to develop a small group of really close friends--perfect kind of social interaction for those of us who are more introverted. These few families with kids so close in age are who will make up the preschool cooperative I am collaborating on. I am so excited to be involved with the design of and preparation for this farm-based school community.

My Inspiration from Pinterest

So while K was out being social, I tried out a few new craft projects. Most of my work on the farm is spent with K, but the rest of it I get to spend working on projects for the upcoming preschool cooperative, hoping to start up this fall. So Monday K and I did our usual adventure to the play-set, tour of the main garden, mini-session of yoga, and drew some mountains and letters on the chalkboard table. We also read a few stories and stewed up a delicious dinner of purple potato and apple soup on K's play-stove. It was a pretty typical Monday, ending a but early so K and her mom, H, could go to the meet-up at the beach they do every week. I made pretty good use of my extra project this time and decided to finally try out some felt food projects I had been storing up on Pinterest for a while now.

There are so many wonderful project ideas and inspiration on Pinterest, perfect for a DIY junkie like me. I am so excited to have project time now to devote to creating resources and researching ideas for the school. Not only did I get to make felt food all week, but I also got to start working on the real nuts and bolts of the co-op curriculum! I might be letting my ultra-nerdy side show here but I love designing curricula. I love it. Writing the Parent Handbook for Bella Mente, and really fleshing out our school's philosophy and approach was one of my favorite experiences there and to be able to take what I learned and apply it to a program at the ground level is the coolest thing I have ever done for "work." All of my research, my Pinteresting, and writing now get to be put to use. This is the highlight of my teaching career right here.

More on the curriculum design project later, right now let me show you some of my craft projects:

This was my first attempt at hand-stitching, not too shabby...

K loves purple sweet potatoes, she requests them almost every day and I can hardly blame her, they are delicious. Seriously, they are like natures candy, sweet and smooth and starchy and wonderful. Anyway, K not only loves to eat these delicious veggies, she also loves to cook them for me and her parents and everyone on the farm on her play stove. So the first piece of felt food I thought to make was a purple potato slice. This was the easiest one so I ended up making a few, plus you never eat only one slice of purple sweet potato. K also loves eggs, we feed the chickens together and collect their eggs often, so this is another food regularly featured in her life. It made sense to me to make K play versions of all her favorites so she could practice "cooking" with them on her own. The other one up there is a tangerine, which I made because I happened to have a few of them in my fruit basket and they caught my eye. I think K thinks this one is a tomato though. Oh well, the more uses the better!

K loved the first batch when I brought them over so feeling a bit more confident in my stitching skills I set out to make a few more. Last week K was introduced to asparagus for the first time and it was a hit. She carried around a spear of it all afternoon after she picked some in the garden with her dad. So I figured a felt asparagus spear with be the perfect addition to her collection. This way, she could start learning to cook as she learns different ways to eat it. I also threw in another egg because, well, in my opinion you can never have too many eggs, especially over easy, the way K and I both prefer to eat it.

The asparagus was a huge hit and K immediately added it to the stir-fry she had going on her play stove. I should take a picture of her working at her stove, mental note for tomorrow. Anyway, I really liked how the asparagus turned out too, and I wanted to do more in a similar style so I decided on a carrot, since we just planted a whole bed of them a few weeks ago and they are growing pretty fast now. I made another asparagus and another purple potato to add to K's collection. The carrot and the asparagus were pretty time consuming, but I made them while watching a few TEDTalks and some episodes of Bones on Netflix, so I hardly noticed the time. The Cauliflower was hard. I tried it a few ways before settling on this look, but I still don't love it. This design is going to need some more work but I think I have an idea, I'll add a picture once I get if figured out, so check back again soon!

K thought the cauliflower was a mushroom :)

The extra embroidery makes such a difference in these, i love it!

Projects, Pigeon Peas, and a Sensory Table

I have acquired an old coffee table and large discarded frying pan, bringing me one step closer to constructing my outdoor play kitchen for K. I am still working on collecting the rest of the parts, I need a bowl for the sink, something to signify burners (perhaps I will just paint them, or use old cds), and shelving to hold the kitchen items that I also need to get my hands on. So although there is progress since my last writing, I’m still working on it and will report back when I have something finished. In the meantime, I have been working on a few other projects.

I'll probably start with a very simple, stove-less design like this one and build it up from there as I find more furniture

My hosts presented me two tables to choose between for K’s play kitchen and the smaller one I decided to turn into an art table, specifically a chalkboard table. Now, I have seen similar projects all overPinterest and have been dying to try one out so you can imagine my excitement when I learned that there was a can of chalkboard paint waiting for me in the garage. It was super easy, required only two coats of paint, and the whole thing was finished in no time at all (5 minutes of sanding, 10 minutes to paint each coat and about 2-3 hours between coats for the paint to dry). Piece of cake. It looks great too, I think, and I cannot wait to get some chalk, fasten a basket to the corner to hold it in along with a towel for wiping the slate clean, so to speak. 

K's new chalkboard table!

In addition to these two table projects, I really want to get a sensory table built for K. When I was at Bella Mente, each of our classrooms came equipped with a sensory table and they were always a huge hit. K, being not-quite-two, is really interested in touching, feeling, ripping, squeezing, grasping, and pinching anything and everything she can get her little hands on, so I figured a sensory table would be just the thing. But then yesterday, after we gathered some greens to feed the chickens, did a little yoga together, and read a few stories, we headed out to the upper terrace garden to harvest some Pigeon Peas from the bush that is scheduled to be taken down in the next week or so.

On Monday, I harvested a big bowl full of fresh green pigeon peas which Dylan and I spent a good hour carefully shelling. It was time consuming and tedious, requiring concentration and a lot of fine motor skills. The peas tasted great cooked in a coconut curry sauce and the bush was overflowing with both fresh green pods and rattling, yellowed dry ones. The dry ones just needed to be shelled and tossed into a Mason jar and could be stored like any other dried bean. Knowing that the plant would be coming down, and never wanting to see anything wasted, I decided that I would harvest them myself and slowly, over the course of the next few weeks, shell and jar them as part of my weekly farm work so that our hosts and future WWOOFers could enjoy them without the work.

Anyway, when K and I were hanging out yesterday, it occurred to me that harvesting the Pigeon Peas would be a perfect task for the two of us to do together. She has been really interested in helping out in the garden lately, particularly when it comes to picking and shelling the tomatillos, though at her age she needs a lot of guidance and gets very frustrated when I won’t let her pick all the “babies,” as she refers to the unripe fruit. The Pigeon Peas offered the perfect opportunity to practice; because there are so many of them and the bush is being torn down anyway it didn’t matter how many or which ones she picked.

This is a pigeon pea bush, they produce so many peas it will take K and I days just to make a dent!

So after stomping around the porch like giants, I asked her if she wanted to help me pick some peas. I told her that I had wanted to pick them later but if she was interested, we could pick them together. She eagerly agreed and off we went in search of buckets to fill. K wanted her own bucket, as mine was too cumbersome, being about half her size, so we found a cup for her to fill. When we got to the pea bush, I demonstrated how to grip and pull the pods off the branches and explained that I was collecting the yellowy dried out ones that sounded like baby rattles. She yanked a few of them and threw them on the ground, a few making it into my bucket, and then started grabbing at the green pods, looking to me to see if I would say anything, the way I had when she grabbed the “baby” tomatillos.

This time, I said “I notice you’re picking the green ones, those are ripe and tasty to eat, I ate them for dinner last night.” She looked up at me, down at the pod, then back up at me, lifting it up and saying, “help please.” I explained as I showed her that I twist the center of the pod until it snapped and then use my fingertips to pry open the shell, grab the little green peas, and pop them into my mouth. K grabbed a few more pods and tried her hand at getting them open. She struggled and pinched and twisted and eventually gave in, asking once again for my help. I could tell she was trying hard and this task would take some practice, so for our first day of harvesting, I started the process for her, pod after pod. I left it closed just enough so that she would still have some work to do on her own, strengthening her fine motor skills and allowing her the sensation and experience of opening the shells and plucking the peas from the pod all on her own.

It occurred to me, as I harvested handful after handful of the dried peas and K struggled with the pods and munched away on the little green rewards that perhaps a designated sensory table was not a high priority after all. Living on a farm presents tons of unique sensory experiences every day for a little one like K. If we wanted some sensory activity, all we had to do was step out of the house and rip up some more “salads” out of leaves like last week, or remove the shells from a bowl full of fresh tomatillos or pigeon peas. We could even grab some garden tools and do some digging in the dirt, feeling it squish between our fingers and plant some seeds, letting the dirt sift through our fingers as we gently covered the future veggies, like K watched us adults do together last Sunday.

Sensory table with empty tub waiting to be filled

Back at Bella Mente, an urban preschool in the city of Seattle, there were far fewer opportunities for organic sensory experiences like there are here on the farm, so we teachers created them in our sensory tables. The kiddos loved this and it really helped them develop those fine motor skills, use multiple senses to take in information about the materials presented each week, and manipulate the various tools with which we provided them. We needed to do this because otherwise those urban kids would have missed out on an important learning experience. Here, K and I have endless opportunities for emergent sensory experiences within the context of her life on the farm.

It’s not that K has it better being out here on the farm, or that the kiddos at Bella Mente are missing out, because that is not at all the case. Yes, K has more organic and directly relevant sensory experiences all the time, but she doesn’t get to ride the bus to the library for story hour, or learn from and collaborate with a classroom of her peers, it’s just her and all the adults here on the farm, and baby A who is only 5 weeks old and still many months away from being able to play with us. Each environment has it’s strengths and its challenges and we, as teachers and parents, work with what we have and find other ways to make up for what we lack. K has weekly beach meet-ups with a handful of other mother’s and their toddlers, and the kiddos at Bella Mente have sensory tables. Different environments present different, yet equally beneficial and enjoyable, organic experiences and I love having the chance to experience both ends of the spectrum.