Quilting Art With Children: The Story of Milly

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Jennie

I love museums.  They always inspire me, personally and professionally.  I also firmly believe in emergent curriculum in my teaching of young children.  It works!  The two together often ignite learning that transcends over months, and in some cases years.  That is exactly what happened when I visited the Bennington Museum in Vermont some years ago.  I wanted to see the Grandma Moses collection, as her art had been introduced to me by my grandmother, Nan, and was part of fond memories in my childhood.  The featured exhibit at the museum was a collection of Haitian quilts.  I was thunderstruck.  Never had I seen quilts that were such works of art.  These were magnificent murals with beautiful colors and intricate, unusual designs.  I simply stood and stared, unable to absorb all that was in front of me.

My husband said, “Jennie, I know that look”.  Yes, it was the look of ‘this is it’, and ‘I can do this with the children’.  We breezed through the Grandma Moses collection, as I was consumed with a hundred ideas about the quilts, particularly an idea about peace.  My classroom had created a Peace Portal the year before, just like the one that greets visitors in the foyer of the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.  Now, that was an exciting project.  Even though we had written poetry and made our own book about peace, I never felt as though the children had fully realized everything, as if I had left things undone.  Creating a Peace Quilt would be a grand way to learn more and do more.  I just knew.

On the way home my husband said, “Jennie, do you really think the children can create a quilt?  If you’re right, then it should hang in a museum”.  Well, that was a lofty thought.  Back at school I dove right into the project.  We read our Peace Poetry Book, drew pictures, painted peaceful art while listening to music, and finally talked about what peace looks like.  That is a difficult concept for young children to visualize, and it would have been much easier to prompt or suggest things, but I was determined to make this experience a true one for the children.  I took the hard route, and it worked.  Their ideas were lump-in-the-throat thoughts, straight from the heart; leaves falling from a tree, a tractor, the cow jumping over the moon, baby chicks, triangles.

Next, I needed a quilter.  Enter Milly, an eighty-something year old master quilter.  Our first meeting did not go so well.  I bounded into her quilting group, full of energy and ideas, and pictures of the Haitian quilts.  She listened to the whole story, barely saying a word, as her fellow quilters kept their heads bowed as if they knew I was trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.  At last Milly said, “I’m a traditional quilter and I’ve never quilted like that before.  This will be something new.  I’d like to do it.”  Whew!

At school we had to put our ideas onto paper.  That was fun!  We rolled out the butcher paper onto the floor and the teacher sketched out all the elements, making plenty of changes that children wanted.  Not only did the children make sure that everything was there, they designed the entire placement.  This took all morning.  Over the next few days children colored the big drawing, which reinforced their ideas of peace and how they should be represented on a quilt.

The next week Milly came into the classroom to meet the children and meet ‘Gloria’ (who had to show Milly her very own quilt).  Milly began to work with the children on fabrics from her massive collection, letting them select each different piece.  As the days and weeks went by, she sewed in front of the children.  It was wonderful to watch children come and go with Milly, developing a strong relationship.  Sometimes a child would just go over to give her a big hug.  Sometimes a child would watch her fingers as she sewed the quilt and ask her questions.  Either way, it felt good!

Months later the quilt was finished.  This was art!  It was beautiful.  It embodied the ideas of the children, stitch by stitch, with the loving hands of Milly.  Emergent curriculum allowed the process of seeing the Haitian quilts at the museum evolve into a masterpiece.  And, the lofty thought of the quilt hanging in a museum?  It does.

More next time, as this was just the beginning of quilting art, and a wonderful relationship with Milly that continues to this day.

Jennie

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The New Year’s Gift

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Jennie

Today I received a gift for the New Year, and it was not at all what I expected.  I thought I knew pretty much everything about giving, yet I never expected to have the tables turned, where I would be the recipient.  “It Happened Like This…”

Today I visited a family whose children I taught a few years ago.  I love those children!  I have to say that because it is true.  Writing those words makes my heart pound.  Teachers love their children.  Over the past year the father has become very ill (yes, cancer), so keeping in touch with the family has been important.  And, my school has done a remarkable job at this.  I have visited twice before today, and those visits were so much fun, playing with the children.  Today was different, and not what I expected.

I played a Romanian version of ‘Sorry’ with the children.  It was intense; rolling the dice became a ritual.  Jennie: “Six, six, six” and the children chanting “No six, no six”.  It was loud with lots of belly laughing.  At one point, one of the children chanted the number she wanted me to roll, and it worked three times!  That brought the house down.

We talked about what they remembered in my class (reading and music) and making a quilt with Milly (which hangs at the Fisher House in Boston).  Then, the children talked about what they wanted on my next visit: the autoharp, reading Pinkalicious, and pictures of quilting with Milly.  I’m on it!

The oldest child made a bracelet for me, with jewels and tape.  It is a treasure, and I told her, “I will wear this on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday”.  She beamed.  What she doesn’t know is that I will, indeed, do this.  The gift isn’t about my visit today.  It’s about ‘The Hundred Little Things’.  The littlest moments, those that make you feel good inside but otherwise may seem unimportant, are really big; they’re building blocks for life.  It takes a hundred little things to manifest itself as a big thing, or I should say an important thing. The bracelet is a ‘big thing’ because it was a labor of love, which could only have happened after a hundred little things.

When I left, the children were so full, and so were the adults.  The children just couldn’t get enough of playing with Jennie.  The grandmothers just couldn’t let go.  It didn’t matter that they couldn’t speak English; we communicated.  Smiles, nods, and hugs are universal.  I understood all of this when they didn’t let go.  Lucky me.

I came away from a day of giving to a day of ‘getting’.  I got so much from the children, and the grandparents.  Today was my New Year’s gift.

Jennie

IMG_0160.JPG Romana

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The Power of Books; You Have to Read It to ‘Get It’

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Jennie

The best part of my day as a teacher, and the most important part, is reading aloud to children.  I read picture books at least twice a day and a chapter book every day.  I always become moved and emotionally charged when I read aloud.

Let me tell you, I teach the core of all that’s really important through reading aloud.  Remember Robert Fulghum’s book,  All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?  My classroom reading reflects those same principals, and more.  All that my students need to know they learn through my read-aloud.  The things that matter the most are often the little things, and those little things are the building blocks for big things.  They are also the foundation of really good books.  The thread of what is important is woven into the best fiction.  And, a good book = pleasure + learning.   In the words of Eric Hoffer, “The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people.  The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together”.

The pleasure of reading never gets old.  Every time I read aloud I have a captive audience.  We often stop, because ‘something’ has happened and we need to talk about that.  “Jennie, are Indians bad?” (from Little House on the Prairie), or “What is a freezing plant?” (from Mr. Popper’s Penguins) are typical questions.  These moments are just as exciting as the book, and an opportunity to teach math, art, or science, as well as goodness!  Together we are shaping the value system and discovering something new.  A good book = pleasure + learning, every time.

I love discovering a new book, and I just found A House in the Woods, by Inga Moore.  It is the perfect picture book, with illustrations that bring the story to life.  I have read this book at least a dozen times, and lovingly admired the illustrations (the moose has stolen my heart).  Here is what Jim Trelease says about this book in The Read-Aloud Handbook, a million copy best seller that includes all the best books:  “If there were a single book that could embody pure happiness, it would this volume.  There is no great plot here – just a group of woodland animals sharing the work of building a warm house in the woods.  No calamities to overcome, no bickering, no tears; just working, sharing, creating, and peanut butter sandwiches as reward.  And how does this add up to to one of the most comforting and beautifully illustrated bedtime stories ever written?  Read it and see.”

Used by permission of the author, Jim Trelease, 2013, The Read-Aloud Handbook (Penguin).

I think he is spot on.  His best selling book is a Pandora’s Box for teachers, parents, and grandparents.  Really.

I will always champion for reading aloud, because it works as the core of learning.

Jennie

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“Starry Night”

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Jennie

Major pieces of art?  Masterpieces?  Introducing this to preschoolers?  It is not easy to explain to people how and why art can make a difference with young children.  A picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture was just sent to me.

IMG_1024.JPG Juliet and 'Starry Night'

Juliet the fourth grader is beaming at seeing Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  I have a story to tell.  It’s about teaching art in many ways, and about Juliet’s pathway to art.  As I say in my classroom, “It Happened Like This”…

When Juliet was a three-year-old in my class, she was thoughtful.  She played, loved stories and books, developed friendships, and drew pictures.  The next year things changed, or perhaps she just grew in her interests.  She drew pictures all the time, perfecting people figures and experimenting with color.  Children’s art adorns the classroom walls with the exception of a Starry Night poster, yet Juliet did not seem to focus on that piece of art.  Well, that’s what I thought.

And then Juliet met Milly, the master quilter.  Milly joined our class to quilt a magnificent Peace Quilt (which is now a permanent display at the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia).  In the process of designing and creating the quilt, Juliet was a captive audience.  Making this quilt was a big deal, from sketching all the parts to selecting fabrics for each element.  She drew an exact replica of the quilt, which is my blog photo, down to every triangle in precise direction and color.

In the spring we studied France and the old masters, in preparation for our annual Art Show displayed for the entire community.  Juliet was in her element.  She was struck by Starry Night and using real paints from tubes on pallets.  She practiced brush strokes and mixing colors.  She loved simply looking at art, especially Usborne’s Children’s Book of Art.  As we worked on perfecting our pieces of art, we often played classical music.  Vivaldi’s Four Seasons became a favorite, and children would often ask for a specific piece.  “What would you like to hear today?  Winter, Spring , Summer or Fall?”, I’d ask.  Music and art go hand-in-hand.  Together, the results are impressive.  For our Art Show, Juliet drew the Mona Lisa.  It was the central piece in our exhibit.

When Juliet moved on to kindergarten her art continued to flourish.  She visited my class periodically, once to show me a winning polar bear she had drawn.  When her little sister joined my class Juliet visited more often, frequently admiring our Starry Night poster.  Now as a fourth grader, her trip to New York to see the beloved painting seems to be the pinnacle of the journey she started as a preschooler.  Perhaps, though, it is only the beginning for her.

Art makes a difference.

Jennie

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Reading Aloud Makes a Big Difference. Here’s Proof.

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Jennie

I love a good story, especially one that involves reading aloud and the stunning difference it makes with children.  Here is a favorite story of mine, from the million-copy best selling book, The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease:

“During his ten years as principal of Boston’s Solomon Lewenberg Middle School, Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. and his faculty proved it.  The pride of Boston’s junior high schools during the 1950s and early 1960s, Lewenberg subsequently suffered the ravages of urban decay, and by 1984, with the lowest academic record and Boston teachers calling it the “looney bin” instead of Lewenberg, the school was earmarked for closing.  But first, Boston officials would give it one last chance.

The reins were handed over to O’Neill, an upbeat, first-year principal and former high school English teacher whose experience there had taught him to “sell” the pleasures and importance of reading.

The first thing he did was abolish the school’s intercom system.  (“As a teacher I’d always sworn someday I’d rip the thing off the wall.  Now I could do it legally.”)  He then set about establishing structure, routine, and discipline.  “That’s the easy part.  What happens after is the important part–reading.  It’s the key element in the curriculum.  IBM can teach our graduates to work the machine, but we have to teach them how to read the manual.”  In O’Neill’s first year, sustained silent reading (see chapter 5) was instituted for nearly four hundred pupils and faculty for the last ten minutes of the day, during which everyone in the school read for pleasure.  Each teacher (and administrator) was assigned a room–much to the consternation of some who felt those last ten minutes could be better used to clean up the shop or gym.  “Prove to me on paper,” O’Neill challenged them, “that you are busier than I am, and I’ll give you back the ten minutes to clean.”  He had no takers.

Within a year, critics became supporters and the school was relishing the quiet time that ended the day.  The books that had been started during SSR were often still being read by students filing out to buses–in stark contrast to former dismissal scenes that bordered on chaos.

The next challenge was to ensure that each sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade student not only saw an adult reading each day but also heard one.  Faculty members were assigned a classroom and the school day began with ten minutes of reading aloud, to complement the silent ending at the end of the day.  Soon reading aloud began to inspire awareness, and new titles sprouted during SSR.  In effect, the faculty was doing what the great art schools have always done: providing life models from which to draw.

In the first year, Lewenberg’s scores were up; in the second year, not only did the scores climb but so, too, did student enrollment in response to the school’s new reputation.

Three years later, in 1988, Lewenberg’s 570 students had the highest reading scores in the city of Boston, there was a fifteen page waiting list of children who wanted to attend, and O’Neill was portrayed in Time as a viable alternative to physical force in its cover story on Joe Clark, the bullhorn- and bat-toting principal from Paterson, New Jersey.

Today, Tom O’Neill is retired, but the ripple effect of his work has reached shores that not even his great optimism would have anticipated.  In the early 1990s, a junior high school civics teacher in Japan, Hiroshi Hayashi, read the Japanese edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook.  Intrigued by the concept of SSR and Tom O’Neill’s example, he immediately decided to apply it to his own school.  (Contrary to what most Americans believe, not all Japanese public school students are single-minded overachievers, and many are rebellious or reluctant readers–if they are readers at all.)  Although SSR was a foreign concept to Japanese secondary education, Hayashi saw quick results in his junior high school with just ten minutes at the start of the morning.  Unwilling to keep his enthusiasm to himself, he spent the next two years sending forty thousand handwritten postcards to administrators in Japanese public schools, urging them to visit his school and adopt the concept.  His personal crusade has won accolades from even faculty skeptics:  By 2006, more than 3,500 Japanese schools were using SSR to begin their day.”

Used by permission of the author, Jim Trelease, 2013, The Read-Aloud Handbook (Penguin)

These are the stories that make me continue to read aloud to children.  It is THE single most important thing I do in my classroom.  Children love it, read on their own throughout the day, and excel in school.  Not only am I growing readers, I’m opening the door to the world for them.  And, they jump in with both feet.

Jennie

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Cooperative Play

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Jennie

Human beings have persevered on this planet by figuring out how to work together.  We gather information, work hard, learn by trial and error, and enlist the help of others.  That’s how it works.  And, that’s just what is happening in my classroom.  I’m watching the same evolution through the children as they play together.  For children, play is their work, and it is hard work.

Play begins independently, then includes others.  For quite a while play is simple, but it becomes complicated when children are in school and surrounded by so many different children, and (gulp!) have to work together.  Bottom line; this is the heart and soul of developing life skills.

Here is what I said today to the families in my class:

Over the past month teachers have been watching your children play together. The operative word is ‘together’, because we are witnessing a huge shift from playing with classmates to working with classmates. This can only happen when children feel connected, like a family. Recently we have stepped back and watched our family in action.

On the playground, children figured out how to use sandbox shovels, one in each hand, as big leaf scoopers. Some children wanted to scoop the leaves into the windows of the play houses on the playground, while other children wanted to collect the scooped leaves inside the house. Other children wanted to use the pretend lawnmower to disperse of the leaves in the house, therefore starting the leaf cycle over again. This was hard work. This was cooperative work.

We watched children riding in the big wagon. Two children were inside and two were outside. Not only did they figure out how to take turns, they had to problem-solve what to do if the wagon went off the path and into the bark mulch. It took more children to move that wagon, and we watched as children enlisted the help of their classmates, negotiated, and brainstormed. Together, they figured this out.

Your children are pushing their friends on the swings. A month ago, children wanted teachers to do this.

In the classroom children created a doctor’s office for ‘Gloria’ on the housekeeping table. They used the grocery store items to nurture her, and they made sure she had her blankie.

Our grocery store has opened more complex opportunities for cooperative play. We have three carts, two cash registers with money, four clipboards and pencils, and plenty of real grocery boxes and containers. Can half the class play grocery store together? You bet!

Your children love games, particularly ‘Cariboo’, and our handmade version of Memory. They ask to play every day, and this involves taking turns, following the rules of the game, and cooperative play.

We are a family, indeed!

Jennie

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Gloria Has the Final Word Today, Indeed

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Jennie

Today at school, Gloria’s journal was returned after her weekend with Claire.  Yes, she went Trick-or-Treating in a full pink bunny costume.  She also helped the family make soup, and went to church with them.  The photo and journal entry were heartfelt and very genuine.  Actually, all of Gloria’s journal entries are just like that.

As I read the journal entry to the class, it struck me that I have spent so much time telling the world the whole evolution of Gloria and all she has done;  I have not told the children.  The children and Gloria are all that matters.  That’s what it’s all about.  Thank goodness her journal came back to school today.

Families and teachers need to know about how Gloria became all that she is.  The children simply need to know Gloria.  Reading her journal is how we did that today.

After we read about Trick-or-Treating with Claire, we went back to the beginning of her journal.  Every page was a story and a photo, and each one was heart-stopping or funny.  We read the whole thing!  From years of Halloween costumes, to playing in the snow, to snuggling in bed, to climbing a tree… these are the children’s weekend memories.

Do you know what it’s like to have fifteen children crowding around you, pushing to get a view, interrupting to say something, and desperately wanting more?  I do.  So does Gloria.  She joined us when we read her entire journal, and she was smiling.

Jennie

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The Evolution of ‘Gloria’, part two.

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Jennie

This is a continuation of my previous post.

‘Gloria’, the classroom puppet evolved over two decades into a ‘person’ that continues to give children reasons to think about others. One early conversation (of which there are many) the children had with Gloria seems to confirm this development from pretend to real. This one was around Halloween:

A child: “Gloria, I like your blankie. Do you have a toy?”

Gloria shakes her head “no”.

A child: “Oh.” (A long pause) “Do you have a Halloween costume?”

Teacher: “I don’t think Gloria has one yet. What should she be?”

A child: “A Powder Puff Girl!”

Another child: “A Princess!”

Another child: “Thomas the Train!”

Another child: “A pumpkin!”

Teacher: “Let’s ask Gloria after rest time.”

A child: “Gloria, would you like a nap mat? You can rest with your blankie.”  The children became excited, and their questions were rapid.

Many children: “Can you have snack with us?” “Can you play outside?”  This conversation continued, with the children clearly interested and making sure Gloria had what she needed. They were really saying, “Are you ok? I care. I want to be your friend.”

Gloria Quilt To understand Gloria’s blankie we need to back a few years. The concept of a grandparent together with young children has always been part of my classroom. One example is GaGa and the role she played with Gloria. After the children were worried that Gloria did not have her own blankie, GaGa brought her sewing machine into the classroom and made a blankie for Gloria out of scraps of fabric. All of this involved the help of the children – this activity was remarkable!

The evolution from a blankie to a quilt is an explosion of the role of Gloria. Here is how it all began:

My husband and I were in Philadelphia and wanted to see Carpenter’s Hall. Across the street was the National Liberty Museum where we went next. In the main lobby was a beautiful structure, a Peace Portal. It had four legs and a striking glass canopy.

I immediately knew that this Peace Portal was something I could do in my classroom. We recreated the structure on top of our loft, and the children spent time there under the canopy of Peace, like the one at the museum.

This was a year-long project, but Gloria would have the last word.

The next fall my husband and I visited the Bennington Museum where there was a collection of Haitian peace quilts. These quilts were murals. I immediately knew that we could make one in the classroom. After all, we had just made a Peace Portal, and yet it felt as if the children needed more.

When Gloria introduced the concept, she told the class that her blankie is not a blankie; it’s a quilt. Actually, it’s her peace quilt because it makes her feel peaceful. We looked at her quilt, and she told the class all about it, and why it makes her feel peaceful. Then, with Gloria’s help, we decide to make our own Peace Quilt. If we can build a Peace Portal, we can make a Peace Quilt.

Gloria asked all the children what they felt peace was to them. Then we made a Peace Poetry Book about our ideas, and then we sketched them out onto big paper. Our artist parent was incredibly patient as the children made many changes as to how the quilt should look, all with their ideas. Gloria was looking on at every step.

Gloria NecklaceOur current class grandparent, Milly, a master quilter, joined our class with warm, welcoming arms to make the quilt. She spent months with children, letting each child select just the right fabric for the quilt. In the process, she became Gloria’s best friend. Really! The necklace that Gloria wears is a gift from Milly.

Today the magnificent quilt hangs as a permanent display at the National Liberty Museum in historic Philadelphia. They got wind of the project, knew we had recreated their Peace Portal, and asked if they could have the quilt. Gloria was the invited guest to unveil the quilt. After all, it was her idea and her support all the way along. Yes, Gloria was there!

My blog picture is the Peace Quilt, inspired by Gloria.

Jennie

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The Evolution of ‘Gloria’, part one.

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Jennie

As I started to write this post, my husband (the observant one) told me that the single most important thing I have done for children is Gloria.  I didn’t quite know what to say, as he has never said something quite so profound about my teaching.  I said, “Steve, there is Milly and the quilts.  And, what about the Fisher House?  And Jim Trelease and The Read-Aloud Handbook“.  He gave me that all-knowing smile, and said, “Gloria has affected every child.  Every one.  She has done more for children than you have”.  Wow!

So, how did Gloria the puppet become Gloria the person?

I know puppets help teach preschoolers.  Any good teacher knows that.  When I first realized that a puppet in the classroom would be a great teaching tool, I had no idea that it could be, or would be, so powerful in teaching both the children and me.  That was twenty years ago.

When I discovered Gloria among a collection of Folkmanias puppets, I knew she would ‘work’.  I had watched other teachers use multicultural puppets, but we’re not a very diverse community.  A three-year-old back then was not likely to meet children or people from other countries or races.  BUT, they would meet old people, or people who were not beautiful, or shy people.  If my puppet represented the differences that preschoolers encountered, she would be far more effective than a multicultural puppet.  Learning is all about building blocks, and I had to start with something that was ‘different’.

For a number of years Gloria (named by the children, of course) lived in a picnic basket on top of my cabinets in the classroom.  She came out as part of our curriculum every month or so.  She was always a big hit, and very successful introducing everything from emotions, to how to count, or sing the ABC’s.  Once a month, everyone loved Gloria.

One day I forgot to put her back into the picnic basket.  She was on the little couch in the classroom.  Children walked over to talk with her.  They brought her toys and held her.  This was a big wake-up call for me.  Why had I kept her in the picnic basket, when every ‘visit’ in the classroom was so successful and important?  I was not seeing Gloria as a person, and the children were.  Gloria continued to ‘live’ on the couch.

One day I took Collin to the bathroom at rest time, and he looked very pensive.  He said, “Jennie, can Gloria come to my house for a sleepover?”  I wasn’t sure what to say, as this was a first.  “Collin, Gloria has never been on a sleepover.  I don’t know.”  He said, “I have a night light.  She won’t be scared.”  I said, “Collin, I don’t know.”  He said, “Don’t worry.  I’ll have a talk with her.”  He did!  And Gloria was fine.

I started a Gloria journal.  Now, she was living on the couch, and was spending some weekends with children.  The journal was instrumental in recording Gloria’s adventures and making a bigger connection with both children and families.  If there was a fire in the school and I could only grab one artifact, it would be Gloria and her journal.  That year Erin took Gloria Trick-or-Treating.  Really.  Gloria was Minnie Mouse.  The parents were a little annoyed that other neighborhood families Trick-or-Treating did not ‘get it’.  “Why is the witch dressed as Minnie Mouse?”, people asked them.  The family told me (with much frustration), “I kept telling them that she’s not a witch.  She’s dressed up for Trick-or-Treat as Minnie Mouse.  Why didn’t they understand?”

Ahh… Gloria is very real, indeed.  What she does next is remarkable.  Part two, next week.

Jennie

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Diversity, Acceptance, and ‘Gloria’

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Jennie

Diversity, understanding, and acceptance are an important part of our curriculum. These are not always easy concepts to teach. We weave them into our daily routine through ‘Gloria’, our classroom puppet. Gloria is just like your child; sometimes shy or silly, sometimes worried or confident, but always a kind and good friend. On the other hand, Gloria looks different. She is old, has wrinkled skin and gray hair, and likes to wear black. She is especially fond of her pointy hat and shoes. At first glance she might look like a witch, but she is not. Quite the contrary!

When we introduced Gloria this week, many of the children simply… stared at her, just as they might have done had they met a person who was very different. It did not take long for Gloria to become an accepted and welcomed member of the Aqua Room. In just a few days, here are some of the things that have transpired:

  • Children asked or volunteered to take care of Gloria, making sure she could see the book that the teacher was reading, or was comfortable on the couch
  • The children wanted Gloria to be part of our “Jack and the Beanstalk” play. She played the part of the giant’s wife. Gloria was a little nervous at first, but she did a great job.
  • Gloria fell off the couch, and a child came to a teacher, insisting that she needs an ice pack. Yes, we got Gloria an ice pack, and she was carefully monitored by three other children.
  • A child who was an Aqua Roomer last year was rather quiet when we introduced Gloria. Yet, when the children dispersed to participate in classroom activities, this child walked over to Gloria, carefully picked her up, and nuzzled her. He then found a blanket to cover her. Actions speak louder than words.

Your children are not only welcoming Gloria, they are reaching out to her. Isn’t that what kindness and acceptance is all about? This is fundamental. Learning to be kind and understanding is the first step toward giving, and that is the foundation for becoming a good friend, and ultimately a good citizen. Your children are already a step ahead, thanks to Gloria.

Gloria will always be an important part of our curriculum. When a child feels afraid, shy or upset, it is comforting for him/her to know that they are not alone. Gloria represents all of those ‘worries’ in a loving way that helps children understand and accept their own feelings. The process is twofold. First comes the wave of “I’m glad I’m not the only one”. Next comes genuine empathy for Gloria, which helps a child leave his/her own anxieties and help a friend in need.

I have documented many conversations with the children and Gloria. They have frequently been the catalyst to redirect our curriculum into a much richer, deeper learning experience. I will share those with you over the next few posts.

Jennie

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