Black and Brown Are Beautiful: Day 1

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In conjunction with Black History month, we kicked off our annual Black and Brown are Beautiful project today! This is a project my former co-teachers and I adapted from our colleague, Kara Hinderlie. Kara teaches young elementary children at Irvington Elementary in NE Portland. A number of years ago, inspired by the book Black is Beautiful, by Ann McGovern, Kara created in multi-leveled inquiry project into noticing and developing the vocabulary around the beauty of black and brown, then folding those observations into focusing on the beauty of black and brown people. She uses the poem and photo book My People, by Langston Hughes (photos by Charles R. Smith, Jr.) to get her students thinking. From there she speaks to melanin, ancestry, human geography etc. 

So with Kara’s blessing we created a preschool level multi-leveled project. Today we began by inviting friends to observe, paint, create, and touch beautiful black and brown objects and photos. At circle we listened to children reading Ann McGovern’s book (I’ll share the link), while looking at the pages. 

In addition, we invited friends to read and observe books speaking to all of the beautiful black and brown skin tones we see. Throughout the day we read, The Colors of Us, by Karen Katz, The Skin You Live In, by Michael Tyler and David Lee Csicsko and also observed stunning artwork by Amy Sherald, Bisa Butler, and Kehinde Wiley. This week we will also read My People, by Langston Hughes.

We’ll continue as today this week and gradually come to learn more about the science and ancestry of skin color. Katie Kissinger’s book, All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color will play a part in these discoveries. 

As we progress with the project we will work on mixing the color of our skin tones and creating much art. 

It's not raining today!

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We spent as much time as possible out in the dry weather today. It was delightful to watch friends navigate day three of the making of “chocolate milk with worms” for the birds. This came out of a circle time earlier in the week when we were thinking about the robins that might visit our outdoor space. We sang Robin in the Rain a few times and considered what robins might eat. Today we called to all the birds to come have a sip of our wormy milk chocolate. They didn’t visit today, but we are confident they will someday soon.

Seeds, fruit, and vegetable science with Teacher Amy!

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Amy began an investigative project into the life cycle of fruit and vegetable seeds today. She began with an invitation to take a closeup look at cross sections of various fruits and vegetables on the light table. She also invited friends to “plant” flowers and leaves into play dough. Later friends helped her place seeds on paper towels, give the seeds water, then place them in a ziplock bag that she hung on the window for light. We are excited to watch the seeds sprout and eventually plan to plant them in our garden beds. Amy also invited friends to pretend to be sprouting seeds with their bodies during circle time and also read a related Planting a Rainbow, by Lois Ehlert. 

Gender identity and expression exploration

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At the snack table today, friends asked to read books from our morning table selection. We read Neither, by Airlie Anderson and They She He Me: Free to Be! by Maya and Matthew Gonzalez. Both books speak to and celebrate non-binary gender identity and expression. We talked about who gets to decide how you feel inside and who gets to decide how you express yourself? Finley aptly explained exclaiming, “Be who you are!” Finley also decided she prefers she and her pronouns. We’ll continue to explore gender identity and expression over the next few weeks. 

A beautiful Yalda with Teacher Mary

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It was such a special day at school today. Teacher Mary shared with us an Iranian winter solstice holiday called Yalda. Mary dressed up as Naneh Sarma, “the grandma of winter” and told us the story of Yalda and read us the book, Grace Learns About Yalda, by Ellie Fard. She then offered up traditional snacks of pomegranate seeds, apples, and sweets. Mary will be celebrating (and dancing) tomorrow with her family and friends to celebrate the official Yalda. We are so grateful to Mary for sharing such a special tradition. Happy holidays all!

Our Community Values

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Over the last few months, Amy, Mary, and I have been considering our values and what our classroom agreements should include. We have had ongoing conversations with all friends in our community about these ideas. Our first agreement made months ago was to have kind and gentle bodies at school.

Our second agreement we decided should have to do with caring for each other and our spaces. As we continued these discussions, Amy suggested we make a collaborative poster of our values and agreements with all at school. Today Amy presented the poster. She asked friends about the word “community” which we often use in the classroom. Friends had many ideas: Rosie offered that Vero is in our community. Hunter said, “Parker,” Milo suggested, “Ruthie,’ Ryder said, “Me!” Elliot also said, “Me!” Next Hunter said, “The birds…and the slide!” Mary suggested the trees in our space help to make up our community, while Rosie thought of ants and Vero thought of “the spider.”

Next Amy posed the question: What does it mean to be in a community and how do we express ourselves in our community. Ruthie said, “I love you.” Amy clarified asking if Ruthie was saying that in our community we express ourselves by saying, “I love you.” Ruthie agreed.

Amy then read aloud our classroom values and asked if all would like to sign the poster. Soon it will be hanging on the wall for all to see and refer to.

Our Values:

We agree to...

*Express ourselves.

*Be gentle and kind with our bodies and voices.

*Listen to the words of our friends.

*Take care of each other and our spaces.

*Include all friends in our play.

Winter solstice and celebrations around the longest night

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This morning friends were greeted with votive candles and fir branches and were invited to read and listen to Susan Cooper’s poem The Shortest Day (in book form with gorgeous illustrations by Carson Ellis). We began conversations around the winter solstice and what it means. We talked of the longest night occurring on December 21st (in the norther hemisphere of course) and that many cultures around the globe celebrate this time of year in various ways. 

One of our students shared their family tradition of making orange and clove pomanders. 

In the Celtic pagan tradition, we celebrate Meán Geimhridh (myawn GEV-ree)), or Yule, Winter Solstice. Something my oldest son has always enjoyed as part of these festivities is studding oranges and apples with cloves, which represent the warmth of the sun and the source of all life. We lay them on beds of evergreens and holly, inviting nature spirits in from the cold and dark.

So today we made pomanders! At circle we passed around the pomanders for all to see. And talked about their meaning. We’ll continue to make them this week as well as explore other cultural celebrations around the winter solstice.

Tuesday thoughts and explorations...

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Today Vivian chose a book to read at circle time called Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs and Shane E. Evans. The book focuses on a boy who journeys from being unsure of his beautiful brown skin to becoming proud of his chocolate brown skin. 

This lead to a discussion about that fact that we are all various shades of brown. And as people we get to celebrate all of our differing shades. 

I then brought our one of my favorite books: All The Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color written by my acquaintance and anti-bias leader extraordinaire Katie Kissinger. There is a page in the book where kids may lay their hand and look find where their special shade of brown lies in a continuum of brown. We decided to take a look at our own hands on the page. We noticed the differences in our personal shades. 

We also talked about melanin and the fact that how active our melanin is helps determine our unique shade. After the new year, we’ll delve deeper into the science of skin color and take a look and melanin, ancestry and sunlight as part of a project I adapted with my former co-teachers from our friend Kara Hinderlie. She’s been doing an annual project with her kindergartners at Irvington Elementary for years which she calls: Black is Beautiful. A few years ago my co-teachers and I asked her if we might adapt her project for younger kiddos and she readily agreed. For a look at her project and thoughts see: https://www.rethinkingschools.org/articles/black-is-beautiful-54e73a9a-5c1d-464f-ad30-13fe6b8cde24 

Our new book listening station and Arctic and Antarctic exploration

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We invited friends to listen and read along to books at our new book listening station today! 

Friends learned how to put on headphones and synch up audio and picture books. Some friends listened to Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse, Jon J. Muth and What I Be, by Michael Franti and Ben Hodson with music by my very favorite (kora-playing) musician, Youssoupha Sidibe along with Ade Franti-Rye and Michael Fronti. We also listened to and read Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist by Susan Wood and Duncan Tonatiuh. 

We also invited friends to play and explore our new polar light table. We are reading books and thinking about the habitat and animals that populate both the Arctic and Antarctic and also considering the indigenous people to the arctic regions.

We read a poem (in book form) called Sweetest Kulu by Inuit throat singer Celiona Kalluk and illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis. It’s a gorgeous book, with lyrics and illustrations depicting a new born Inuit baby named Kulu who is visited and delivered wisdom and love by many arctic animals and family members.

We also read a book about the enduring friendship between a penguin and a pinecone aptly titled, Penguin and Pinecone: A Friendship Story by Salina Yoon. We had a good time collecting penguins, pinecones, and pine trees in the classroom to play with and display with the book. 

Halloween Week: Day 2!

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Happy Halloween week!

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We are in full Halloween mode here at school! We have new tangerine-smelling, pumpkin-colored play dough for making google-eyed creatures (among other things). We’re painting and creating masks. We’re asking what kind of emotions a Jack-o-lantern might have (with loose parts). And we’re scooping, designing and carving (with help) Jack-o-lanterns out of the pumpkins we gathered at our pumpkin patch outing.

A friend draws self-portrait and writes his name!

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We talked about emotions all morning long. Friends had a fun time thinking about how they were feeling. It got pretty silly!

G sat down with me to draw himself feeling “good and happy.” He considered many features of his face while looking in the mirror. He even chose to add two legs saying, “I have legs!” 

When his drawing was finished, He held the drawing up to his face and looked at himself with the drawing in the mirror and gave a huge smile. 

I asked him if he wanted to write his name. He agreed enthusiastically and proceeded to write his name beautifully. He was SO proud. 





Feelings and Emotions: Week Two

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As friends arrived at school today, they discovered our new “calming tent,” where they found blankets, pillows, calming jars, sensory balls, and quiet books. Friends enjoyed being (or pretending to be) calm in the quiet space. 

All morning we considered our emotions. We asked the question: How are you feeling this morning? Friends said, “happy,” “silly,” “tired,” and various other emotions. We talked about the fact that all emotions are okay to feel and thought about how each emotion is expressed.

At circle we looked at a series of children’s photos and considered which emotions they were feeling and practice making similar expressions with our faces and bodies.

Afterwards we read a book called, “Calm-Down Time” by Elizabeth Verdick. The book helps us to understand how to help calm our bodies and minds if we are feeling angry or frustrated. The book suggested communicating with words, asking for help and hugs, giving ourselves hugs, and taking long, deep, calming breaths. We practiced all of these things at circle. 

We then took a look at the basket of items that now live in the calming tent. Friends took turns exploring the calming jars and learned how to be gentle with them as they are fragile. Friends were delighted with the swirling, metallic, and glittery colors. 

We then continued our day with a look at our own faces in the mirror at the drawing table. At the table friends were invited to consider the photos of children’s faces presenting various emotions and also invited to considering their own emotions while looking in the small mirrors. Amy and I asked friends if they wanted to try drawing their own faces and what emotion they were feeling in the drawing. Many friends accepted the challenge. Take a look! We’ll be revisiting drawing our emotions and will taking a deeper look into self portraits over the next few weeks.

Kindness and considering myriad emotions

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Today we introduced emotions cards and a few new books about emotions into the classroom. Friends at the snack table enjoyed chatting and considering the various emotions featured on our emotions cards. We had thoughts on sad, happy, proud, cranky, nervous, scared, energetic, calm, brave, and many others. We considered how we might help each other if we see a friend feeling sad or lonely or scared. We thought about what helps us feel calm and comfortable and what makes us happy and excited.

At circle time, Vivian read to us our new book, The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions, by Anna Llenas. 

We also had a great time working through shapes, numbers, and letter puzzles as well as creating our own shapes and patterns with the geo boards. 

And we got really wet in the puddles and rain outside! 



Kind and Gentle Bodies

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As we move into our school year we are beginning to consider what kinds of agreements we’d like to make as a community and as a class to help all feel safe, loved, and happy. Today we read the book, We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, by Ryan T. Higgins. It’s the story about Penelope (a dinosaur) who finds herself in a classroom full of (tasty) children on her first day of school. While she wants to play and make friends, she has trouble remembering not to eat her classmates (she always spits them out when reminded by her teacher and peers). Penelope realizes she is lonely when her classmates become wary of her. With the help of a hungry fish, named Walter (dinosaurs are delicious), Penelope begins to understand that kindness and gentleness are great ways to make friends.

As a class today, we decided remembering to have gentle and kind bodies is really important for everyone to feel safe, loved, and happy. We will be focusing on our first class agreement for another week or so. We will then move onto our next collective agreement. We’ll keep you posted

Scenes from Tuesday...

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We did so much exploring outside today! Hunter found a little snail under a log and called his friends over to take a look, we balanced and built structures, we created an ice cream shop in the playhouse and we had a visit from the neighbor cat!



Band practice, cats, maps, and outdoor exploration

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We had a small crew today and decided to switch up the day a bit. We began in the courtyard with drawing and clay because friends wanted to stay near Clinton cat. 

We then headed inside for a dance party and band practice to The Beatles (per request). We caught a “movie” about The Beatles (also per request). We traveled from Portland to Bamenda, Cameroon on our map (among other places). Later we played in the side yard with dress up, creature exploration, and hide and seek. 

Outdoor fun on a gorgeous fall day

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Today we did much exploring outside. We brought out our magnifying glasses to take a closer look at myriad creatures and plant life. We found spiders, webs, slugs, worms, centipedes. We also dressed up in strips of cloth and played hide and go seek. 



Welcome, Teacher Mary! Happy autumn!

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Mary has officially joined our community! She will be training with Amy and me today and tomorrow and will be here full time beginning October 1st. She’ll be in the classroom 10am - 5pm. We are so happy she is here!

Today we celebrated the autumnal equinox.  We considered the seasons and what it means to change from summer to fall. We took a look at  leaves in various stages of greens, browns, yellows, reds, and oranges. We painted pictures with autumn leaf colors and even painted the leaves themselves. We were trees blowing in the breeze during circle reaching our toes/roots into the soil and our branches and leaves up high and all around. We even taught Mary the Pumpkin Rhyme.

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one says, “Oh no! It’s getting late!”
The second one says, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one says, “Well I’m not scared.”
The fourth one says, “Come on let’s have some fun!”
The fifth one says, “Let’s run and run and run.”
Shhhhh, goes the wind
Then out went the light (with a clap)
And five little pumpkins rolled out of site

Also, we have a new mirrored cozy cube in the classroom. Friends had much fun exploring the new addition today. 

Climate Justice Preschool Style

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In solidarity with the marching big kids we read earth related books, made forest art, stacked rocks in our frog pond, played with ocean-hued watercolors and pipettes, pretended to be honey bees at circle, and splashed in puddles. 🌍 💚🌲