Our first big task was to come up with a class name. It’s become tradition in the Lower Carriage House to be named after a native bird. So we started by brainstorming a huge list of possibilities that included birds or any other creature we’ve seen around Randolph that is meaningful to us.  No idea was left off the list and it was LARGE! We narrowed it down by crossing off names we’ve either already been, wasn’t a native creature, or teachers knew other groups were considering. Still left with many options, we held two blind votes: four votes for the first round and one vote for the final round. In the end, it was nearly a unanimous pick with thirteen out of eighteen kids and teachers choosing The Bluebirds.

Once we landed on our name we did some research about the beautiful Eastern Blues that live in our area. We learned that their call can be translated into English as “tu-a-wee chit-chit-chit” and, unique to many songbirds, female birds sing as much as male birds. The females are greyish in color and males are the bright blue they get their name from. They like to eat bugs and we can attract them to our area by leaving out dried mealworms. Good thing we already have plenty that we feed to the chickens! Eastern Bluebirds live in woodlands, meadows with scattered trees, and orchards, often building their cavity nests in the hollows of dead trees. We wondered if we might see some when we visit Meadowbrook Farm next week for apple picking!

Inspired by this information and captivating images of Eastern Bluebirds we got to work brainstorming what our indoor space mural could look like. Everyone sketched their individual visions. Then we shared our ideas, finding that collectively we thought our mural should include male and female bluebirds, trees, nests with eggs and baby birds, and our class’s two Golden Rules: 1. Treat others how they want to be treated. 2. Leave spaces better than you found them. Children were then grouped by interest into teams to create collaborative versions of the five categories (male bird; female bird; eggs, nest, and babies; Golden Rule #1; and Golden Rule #2). The small groups had to work together to create their contribution to the mural. Before getting started we talked about what it means to collaborate and how to do it in a way that feels good for all involved. We emphasized the importance of listening to all ideas, being brave enough to share our own ideas,  compromising, and being willing to take on both leadership or helper roles with joy and a shared commitment to creating something beautiful for our community. It was a pleasure for teachers to witness every child working to the best of their abilities to collaborate successfully. The (almost) finished mural is charming, colorful, and shows the care, thought, and quality craftsmanship the children put into every step of the process.