Embedded Files
Me-Zines
Me-Zines
Me-Zines have been the bulk of our Identity work this fall and it’s exciting to announce that they are all complete! It was a whole Carriage House (Bluebirds and Cardinals) project dreamed up by teachers who were inspired by the very popular and successful Upper Carriage House magazine, The Beak Jr., combined with the ‘zine culture cultivated in the art studio with Nina. We launched this project as a way for children to express important parts of their identities, of course. AND, to allow children to practice creating something using their best craftsmanship skills, to get comfortable with getting feedback on their work, and to feel the peace of getting into a flow state while working on something meaningful to them.
Children were given a rubric outlining the requirements for a finished Me-Zine, which doubled as a checklist to be used to track their progress. Finished Me-Zines all have:
A well-crafted front cover with a title that includes their name and a drawing that represents something important about their identity,
A back cover that is either a continuation of the front cover or a labeled drawing of a collection of things that are interesting or important to them (e.g. favorite foods or leaves they’ve collected, etc.),
A letter from the editor,
A table of contents page, and
Two or more of the following:
A Science and Nature page (e.g. favorite animal facts)
A People and Places page (e.g. a fake interview Q&A with themself)
A Mathematical Thinking page (e.g. “me” themed math challenge)
A My Community page (e.g. a Randolph memory)
A Storytelling page (e.g. a summer story with a beginning, middle, and end)
Creating these Me-Zines was a huge undertaking that required a lot from children! Every single one of them rose to the occasion. It was their first time working with their “clip cases”, a combination clipboard and storage case where they keep their project folder and other supplies organized. They were allowed to work on the required aspects at their own pace and in the order they wanted, so there was a lot of decision making and planning involved to execute their vision. It was a great introduction for the first-year Bluebirds (and refresher for the second-year Bluebirds) on one of the ways we like to tackle project work in the Carriage House. In the end, the children’s Me-Zines are beautiful reflections of their personalities and the hard work they put into them. We can’t wait to show you your child’s Me-Zine at our upcoming conferences!
Bluebird Community Block Building
Bluebird Community Block Building
Block Building is a rich part of many early childhood learning environments and Randolph is no exception. Downstairs and Neighborhood children building with Randolph’s original 62-year-old wooden unit blocks (plus some newer ones added over the years) are not only given the opportunity to grow the obvious engineering and math skills needed for designing, planning, and fabricating sturdy block buildings. They’re presented with a chance to practice moving carefully though a space with creations that could easily be knocked down; use their imaginations to tell stories with their building as a setting and develop characters within their playscape; negotiate how to deal with using shared materials that feels equitable; manage the emotions that arise from the impermanence of buildings that are knocked down or have to be taken down; and so much more. At Randolph, block building doesn't stop with the youngest of our students. Carriage House children are also given opportunities to engage with the wooden unit blocks we cherish so much at Randolph. In fact, they make excellent tools for learning about concepts like fractions, perimeter, area, volume, and graphing; as well as the same opportunities mentioned for our younger students but at a more sophisticated level.
Until recently, the Lower Carriage House wooden unit block collection was…well, pitiful. Just one small crate of a handful of blocks wasn’t cutting it. But, thanks to Neighborhood teacher, Jules, and her Friday afternoon Soji group, our small crate was replaced by a full shelf of a wide variety of Randolph’s unit blocks. They worked hard hauling crates of blocks that live on the Studios porch over to the Bluebirds’ block shelf. Huzzah! The Bluebirds can now build! Thank you, Jules, and your Soji group!
But, what do blocks have to do with the Identity and Community theme our entire school is wrapping up right now? Well, besides the linking of a teacher and children from different groups selflessly working to improve the learning opportunities available to another group (which could have been a rich community connection on its own, full stop!), let us introduce you to the Bluebird Community Block Building!
It started with the Bluebirds making a big circle around an empty space in the center of our indoor classroom. Then one at a time children took turns choosing a block from the shelf and placing it in the center of the circle. The rules were as follows:
When it’s your turn, you can choose any one block you want. Then you can place it anywhere in the center of the circle that you want. There’s no “wrong answer” as long as you are making a wise engineering choice. (E.g. Quad-Unit blocks are usually too tippy to stand on their skinniest, smallest end for a sturdy build.)
When it’s not your turn, you watch and don’t try to influence what block the current builder chooses or where they place it.
It was so interesting to watch children being quick and decisive, thoughtful and methodical, and everything in between when deciding what block to use and where to place it. Who likes symmetry? Who prefers asymmetry? Who likes to complete a pattern? Who feels compelled to disrupt a pattern? Who is willing to take risks and who isn’t? How a person engages with something open-ended like this can reveal a lot about their identity.
Once everyone, including teachers, got a chance to add their block to the community building it was time to talk about what our Bluebird Community Building could be. Again, no wrong answers here! We took a minute to look at it from the perspective of our spot. Then took turns going around the circle to share what we thought it looked like. That was where we paused this project for the day. The remainder of the day every single Bluebird was mindful of how they moved though our indoor space and the building remained standing exactly as originally placed until we flew up to the pick up spot in the afternoon.
There was a plan in place about how we were going to engage with our block building the following day, but gravity had other plans. When we arrived at school the next morning, we found a “block blob”, as one student called it, rather than our building. Opportunity! How do we manage the feelings of disappointment, frustration, annoyance, sadness? How do we move forward? We talked about our feelings and some children related the situation to a similar one from last year involving a messed up puzzle in progress. We decided that rather than trying to rebuild it exactly as we had, we would each find the block we had originally placed and start over.
The second build actually turned out even cooler than the original. We were in a flow! We each took a turn adding one more block. This time we got our journals out and drew what we saw from our spot. After spending a good, long time drawing we transitioned to writing about what this creation could be. Again, personal identities were on full display. Children who have a connection to New York City saw its sky scrapers in our block building. Children who have traveled far and wide saw Dubai or other international cities. Children who love hiking saw rocks and mountains. Children who enjoy indoor trampoline parks saw Bounce or Fun Max. The stories were rich and creative. Some children even used our block building as an opportunity to practice their math skills, writing equations in their journals (16 students X 2 blocks) + (2 teachers X 2 blocks) - (1 student absent during the second build) = 35 carefully and creatively curated blocks in our Bluebird Community Block Building. What a beautiful, meaningful way for the Bluebirds to wrap up Identity and Community season here at Randolph!
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