Rolling on the River

Last summer I led a themed, 2-week long "session" of my school's summer program that was loosely centered around the Hudson River and the New York Harbor. Pete Seeger's Sloop Clearwater was sailing down river to dock in Brooklyn for a couple of days in the summer, so I took advantage of the opportunity and put together a session entitled "Rolling on the River". My school is in a neighborhood that is directly on the Brooklyn waterfront, so we had easy access to waterfront piers and parks.

To pull the unit together I decided to turn our classroom into the New York Harbor, by creating a large harbor mural that would cover an entire wall of the classroom. During the first week of the session, we visited the nearby parks and piers, and talked about what we could see in the harbor. We read stories about rivers and animals that live in rivers and, as a group, we wrote our own story about a whale that gets lost in the New York Harbor (based on true events!) During the second week, we went for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry and visited the Sloop Clearwater.

The kids did a fantastic job painting our mural, deciding what needed to go in our harbor, crafting the parts, and writing the labels (with the teachers help for spelling). We had cranes:


boats:

the Verrazano Bridge:

the Brooklyn Bridge:

and, of course, the Statue of Liberty:

We also used streamers, thick ribbons, and fabric to create the East River and the Hudson River, which extended from the harbor wall to other walls in the classroom. The children posted these handy labels as a guide, which delighted the mapper in me:



In addition to getting to do all of this artwork, the session ended up being a great way to get outside during the summer, to explore our school's neighborhood, and go on some fun field trips!

vacation...

as much as i love my work, i also love my vacation. thus far as a teacher, i've worked for six school years and three summers. i spent last summer finishing up graduate school which, though enjoyable, was not a vacation. this will be my second summer almost completely off (i'm working a mere two weeks) and it's been wonderful.

i'm three weeks into my time off, which has been enough time to adjust to a day-to-day life in which i have 0-3 things on my mind as opposed to 25 - infinity. i have time to take leisurely bike rides and trips to the beach:


time to climb on the rocks, and scamper over kelp and wet sand when the tide is out:


and time to run my toes through the warm sand when the sun is out:


ahhh..... vacation!

change is good: new play spaces

in between rediscovering the charms and wonders of our school's neighborhood and rearranging our classroom, we found an exciting alternative to our local playground.

(our local playground):


within easy walking distance of our school we discovered structures and sites in which the children could climb, run, hide, and engage in dramatic play as far as their imaginations could stretch.

behold, the log ramps at the IKEA river walk:

the children love to run, climb, and jump across these log covered ramps. it's great exercise, but even greater fodder for the imagination.

adjacent to the ramps is this highly intriguing structure:

a ship's engine? a cannon? a battleship? though this particular structure isn't for climbing it serves as excellent inspiration for dramatic play.

this old pier, while also not suitable for climbing, running or even walking on, is nonetheless an intriguing backdrop to any game, as is the surrounding harbor:


adding to the charm of this play space are these abandoned warehouses, water taxis, and the not-too-distant statue of liberty:


finally, just across the river walk path we have an expansive field of grass upon which the children can run, hide, tumble, wrestle, roll, jump and, well.... play!

change is good: first steps

with the arrival of spring, i felt it was time to make some big changes to our classroom. after a long winter i found that the children, as well as myself, had become a bit stuck in our routines. i had a lot of changes in mind but was somewhat daunted by my growing list of ideas. what would be the first step?

it turns out the answer was simple, and presented itself organically. on a gray, rainy-ish, april morning we decided to take the kids out for a walk around the neighborhood. our first stop was our community farm, where we may soon be able to plant some seedlings in a shared "ed bed" for schools in the neighborhood:

it was locked! but we still got to take a peek inside. we also noticed the plants and flowers that were growing just outside of the farm's gates...

next stop, the IKEA park:
we passed by this crane, which provided excellent fodder for the imaginative minds of my three, four, and five year olds. what could it be? if only they could climb it...

the tracks were particularly intriguing...

on our way back to school we took some time to admire the spring colors in the neighborhood:

this tree is a block from our school. we admired it's white blossoms and bright green leaves.

we were also enchanted by the way the bus stop sign was shrouded by the branches, blossoms, and leaves of the tree:

and we loved the way the green and white blossoms mixed with the purple and pink blossoms on these trees. just a few blocks down from this corner is the waterfront. i can't imagine a more well-situated school, to be located within close walking distance of a community farm, a waterfront, and urban green spaces:


our walk gave me the burst of energy and inspiration i needed to embark on my series of spring changes. it was wonderful to take a fresh look at the neighborhood i've come to know so well, and be reminded of all it has to offer.

classroom design: secrets, small spaces, and special places

this post over at Global Mama got me thinking about how little nooks and crannies are often what make the biggest impression on those who inhabit a space. i've always loved small spaces - i feel cozy in them, i feel safe in them, and i feel like i know every inch of the space. there's something about a small space to me and, i've observed, to children, that feels extra special and almost wondrous. i know a child who has spent many hours creating beautiful drawings and mixed-media collages, only to then fold them into one tiny piece, shroud them in layers of paper and tape, and give them away as presents. she calls these presents "a secret." and that's just how a small space feels to me. like a secret. something that i can call my own, and only i know all the ins and outs of it, the special nooks and crannies, the beauty that lies in the corners and the shadows.

for children, i think part of the magic of a nook, a cranny, a small, enclosed space is that it provides a stage for their dramatic play, a place where their imagination can unfold, and their ideas can develop. in thinking about designing a new classroom, i find myself wanting to create these little spaces for children - spaces that will fit the children's desire to act our their fantasies and will also inspire them and arouse their senses.

whenever i visit new places, i find myself taking photographs of windows, doors, gates, and paths. these are the things that pop out to me in a new place: the special spaces, the nooks and crannies. they inspire me, they activate my imagination, and they provide a backdrop for my fantasies. i love a good window, both how it looks and what it looks upon:

windows in homes:



old church windows:



and nature's windows:



i also love doors, gates, fences, and archways. they can be inviting, welcoming, charming, partly hidden, and well-situated:





they can stand alone:


they can tell a story:


and they can lead you down a path: