Middle school library

8th Grade Students Create Middle School Library

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th graders

What became the multi-week Middle School Library project was set in motion when a group of 8th grade students got together one afternoon. First, they cleared off dusty shelves and sorted through what they considered to be very interesting items – a large starfish, lots of seashells, and a collection of glass beakers that jingled to the tune of foot traffic. Then, they got to work scanning and cataloging the collection of books, one at a time.

Library Books

A handy app, Libib, provided by 8th grade Humanities Teacher, Jennifer Lettieri, made the process of cataloging books a lot more streamlined, but scanning hundreds of books with a smart phone was no easy task. Some books collected over the years had barcodes so outdated that they had to enter the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) codes manually. 

 

“You realize how hard it is for librarians to organize books in alphabetical order!”
-Sterling

What’s more, the students found that some books fell under multiple genres, making the sorting process more complex than expected. Organizing and cataloging was an area of priority, and at the same time, the students were intentional about designing a library that was both inviting and welcoming. To help readers navigate the different sections of the library with ease, students created hand-drawn cards to break up sections for each genre. The aesthetically pleasing visuals not only serve the purpose of directing the reader to the resources they seek, but also attracts attention with clever, meme-worthy illustrations.

 

Once the books were organized into genres, they were able to identify some of the gaps in the library. The teachers then provided support by helping to compile a list of the books they felt they should have in an inclusive middle school library. A few days before the interview, a fresh batch of books procured from local treasure Marcus Books, the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the U.S., were still being cataloged.

Eigth grade library teamAfter devoting countless hours to giving life to the library, the students have a newfound reverence for spaces where books are loved: “You realize how hard it is for librarians to organize books in alphabetical order,” said Sterling, who has been involved in the library project since its earliest organizational stages. “[I’m] more attentive to how books are treated. I hope people will be conscious about how they treat and take care of books,” added Greta, another invaluable member of the library project team.

“I just wanted people to read. Having a wider selection of books, a nicer area to relax and read- I want those changes to inspire people to read again”
-Fern

After devoting countless hours to giving life to the library, the students have a newfound reverence for spaces where books are loved: “You realize how hard it is for librarians to organize books in alphabetical order,” said Sterling, who has been involved in the library project since its earliest organizational stages. “[I’m] more attentive to how books are treated. I hope people will be conscious about how they treat and take care of books,” added Greta, another invaluable member of the library project team.

Now in their final weeks at TBS, the class of 2022 is hopeful that the library will continue to grow. “The more books, the better!” added team member Embley, who also named comic books as the genre they would like to see expand. The team’s vision for the TBS Middle School library is that fellow Bobcats will care for it and continue to contribute to it in their own unique ways and one day, that we will have a central library for the entire school body.

 

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The TBS Mission

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by Mitch Bostian

At The Berkeley School, our mission – ignite curious minds, awaken generous hearts, engage a changing world – guides and connects everything from the everyday interactions among students, teachers and learning environments to our academic program design and our long-term strategic planning initiatives. These ten words direct us, inspire us, and provide us with the sense of shared purpose that allows us to take on the dynamic and challenging work of teaching and learning with perseverance, resilience, and joy.

How can ten words be this powerful? For us, the answer lies in two values – agency and  interdependence – that are foundational to the way we approach education at TBS. Each of those ten words has agency – what they mean matters – and none of them is as meaningful as all of them, taken together. Their straightforward simplicity belies a complex relationship, and complexity always deserves a closer look.

Our mission begins with ignite curious minds. In schools, teaching and learning activities often focusing on developing minds, and minds develop as the result of interactions among neurological structures and processes that are influenced by the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional stimuli resulting from our experiences of the world around us. We believe that all minds are innately curious about that world – that all minds have the capacity and motivation to notice, to investigate, and to learn. Our purpose, and joy, as educators is to design curricula, environments, and experiences that ignite that innate curiosity – from preschool through middle school. Some moments of ignition are immediate and obvious, as when early childhood students move through the classroom to label items as “living” or “nonliving” and begin to think more deeply about what it means for something to be alive. Some are elongated and more subtle, as when an eighth grader studies the case of Korematsu vs. United States, and develops an interest in civics, law, and activism that unfolds through high school, college, and beyond. 

Curiosity ignited!

While much of our work centers around igniting minds, we believe that such work can’t be done in isolation. Physical, social, and emotional elements are critical ingredients in the holistic teaching and learning that leads to deep understanding, and that all children deserve. Our mission’s next three words, “awaken generous hearts,” speak to this belief, and to the relationship between minds and hearts.

We see that when children’s curious minds are ignited, they come into the present moment of their learning: they are fully aware, attentive, and alive to the sensorial input (and associated reflections) that flow from their curiosity-driven experiences. As educators, we know that if we provide space, time, and language for students to attend to that sensorial input, their hearts will awaken: curiosity will lead them to experience feelings, and those feelings are the language of their awakened hearts. We believe that each of those hearts is generous, because children want to see others experiencing the same kind of safety, happiness, and respect that they themselves want to feel. Consequently, when students whose ignited, curious minds identify problems or challenges that awaken their generous hearts, the solutions they propose will reflect an empathic desire for “fairness of experience” and use impact on others as a core criteria for evaluating success. We believe that these students will grow up to focus on more than simply making change – they will think critically, and compassionately, about the changes they and others want to make.

So while we ignite curious minds and awaken generous hearts to build academic and social-emotional skills, we believe our work has a greater purpose: to prepare our students to engage a changing world. We end with the world because we believe that all education should be done with the world, and the future, in mind. We add the word “changing” because we believe that education for the world of today is never enough. Children change from moment to moment, as does the world, and an education that incorporates both truths of our time and visions for a better future ensures that the skills and values children develop will lead to the adult agency that allows them to engage change. When, in the context of Dia de los Muertos, our K-8 Spanish students learn about the conditions and practices that have led to the deaths of young immigrant children in detention camps in the region bordering Mexico, they develop their understanding of a complex problem while deepening their empathy and compassion for others. In the process, they see their potential as changemakers, and strengthen their belief that what they do, now and the future, will matter.

White cempazuchitl (marigold) made by TBS students, to be woven into the fence of the UAC campus in memory of the young immigrant children who have passed away at the detention camps in the border region.

Engage describes the way we hope our graduates will connect to the world and build a relationship that is not transactional but deepens over time – one characterized by curiosity, mutual respect, and a desire to understand, learn, and grow. Such a relationship will continue to ignite minds and awaken hearts for decades to come.

What happens when children whose curious minds are ignited and whose generous hearts are awakened encounter the world around them? What happens when your child greets you after a full day spent with friends and teachers, working, learning, and having fun? On those days, you can feel your child’s satisfaction, contentment, and openness right away. The conversations on the way home these days surprise you – you hear your child ask a question or make an observation about the world that reminds you how quickly they are learning and growing, and how their lived experience is both similar to, and different from yours. In these moments, you’re witnessing the way that igniting curious minds and awakening generous hearts equips children to engage their changing world. We are grateful for the children reminding us of the school’s mission to connect us as a school community, learning, and living, together.

 

youve got this

Student Wellness During Distance Learning

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By MaryBeth Ventura, Middle School Division Head

We are listening and responding to parent feedback, thank you! and have stepped up our communication around these three important areas of our Distance Learning Program:

  • Research and insight into student learning and wellness during shelter in place.
  • Ideas for enrichment and extension.
  • Glimpses into student learning from a distance.

Student Wellness and Learning

I’ve attended multiple webinars and trainings this week about student mental health and well being during this time. One that was most useful was with Authentic Connections, a research group that aspires to maximize student well-being and resilience through data and insight. In their research related to Covid-19 they have learned that the top drivers associated with students wellness during the pandemic are:

  1. Parent relationship,
  2. Structure (for learning and for fun/leisure time) and
  3. Learning efficacy.
While learning efficacy (learning efficiently and effectively) seems to lie squarely with the school and parent relationship seems to lie squarely with parents, clearly the two are intimately intertwined right now!

While learning efficacy (learning efficiently and effectively) seems to lie squarely with the school and parent relationship seems to lie squarely with parents, clearly the two are intimately intertwined right now! During this time, when you may find yourself driving learning for your child (or trying to), it’s important that you not do that at the expense of your connection with them. If it’s a choice between nagging about an assignment or maintaining connection with them, the data says choose connection!

The idea of structure is super important as well, and we hope we have provided a structure that you can build around and add to in a way that feels right for your family. In another workshop, the idea of empowerment came up as critical for teens right now, as they are so powerless right now. This means providing choices with limits and giving them some power or say in determining the structure of their days. Maybe you have an expectation that they attend two Zoom tutorials a week, and they get to choose which two. If staying up late is something they really want – let them choose one night to do this.

We appreciate the expertise of parenting coach and educator Dana Hirt. Dana Hirt is a parenting educator and coach with over 30 years of educational psychology experience who offers parents, both new and experienced, concrete skills and personalized guidance and support. Dana has taught in the classroom, worked with students in private practice, advocated in schools, and led parent workshops.

We asked her to create these short videos for TBS parenting adults as a community resource to help all of us through current parenting challenges.

We know that some families are looking for less engagement with school-related tasks and some are looking for more.

Enrichment and Extension

We know that some families are looking for less engagement with school-related tasks and some are looking for more. If your family needs less please reach out to your teachers, advisor, or me and we can make a plan that works for your family. For those that need more, each week we will provide our Middle School students with the opportunity to participate in a Distance Learning Discovery Project. The projects require screen time our aim is that it will be productive time with a real-world connections. The projects have learning objectives and steps to follow. The first two projects: Zooniverse and Perspectives, are linked to the right under Distance Learning Discovery Projects. I will add a new project each week. You can incorporate these into your child’s weekly schedule as you see fit. You will be the main support for your child for these projects and so you also have agency to make changes to them. I am available for questions but won’t be able to provide intensive, ongoing feedback or support. I will give credit, via the progress report narrative, if a student completes a project.

In addition, here are some other ideas if you want your child to have more engagement on a daily basis.

  • Require your child to attend a certain number of Zoom tutorials each day or each week. Attendance is growing at these and sometimes students are just quietly doing work alongside the teacher and each other, asking questions as needed.
  • Require your child to participate in one club.  All of the clubs are linked in the schedule and Vanessa has just invited 7th and 8th graders to participate in creating the yearbook.
  • Access some of the curated resources from our Distance Learning Resource Page.

Glimpses Into Distance Learning

And finally, please enjoy this gallery of middle schoolers in action during DL mode. Google docs is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding in writing- and students are using docs plenty- but there are many other ways that students are showing and sharing their thinking from a distance. Here are a few examples:

 

inclusion artwork

Community & Consent

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By Bliss Tobin, K-5 Division Head

BlissWhen interviewing a candidate for our K-2 Information Literacy position this week, we asked, “Why TBS?” She replied that in listening to the promotional statements among several peer schools, our message stands out as authentic and she sees it demonstrated in the warmth of our community. 

The strength of a school community cannot be taken for granted, where the fits and starts of growing up are inherent in the purpose of the institution. What do the well-worn words “respect” and “inclusion” look like in action among 200 children, ages 5 – 13, not to mention the teaching and parenting adults? They look and sound like consent and boundaries.  

Over the past 3 years, we’ve developed a strong relationship with KidPower, a non-profit organization that teaches personal safety skills to all ages. (Some of you attended the KidPower Family Education events offered at both the ECC or UAC campuses in the past week.) KidPower works to prevent abuse and violence in its worst form, and, as they remind us, the basic tenets about consent and boundaries apply to our youngest children on the playground. Games, affection and the way a group sits at a lunch table all contain messages of consent and boundaries. Students require the tools to respect their own and others’ personal boundaries by asking for and giving consent. 

If the kids aren’t clear on expectations for interpersonal behavior, it’s because the adults around them are not clear. KidPower’s approach has inspired coordinated professional development and family education as we clarify our expectations, deliver consistent messages, and ensure that our students have plenty of practice with the social-emotional tools they need. 

We’ve taken several steps to move from learning to action, including:

  • Hiring an educational consultant from Pathways to Learning to assess for areas of strength and growth regarding how we support positive student behavior. 
  • Creating a tiered structure of academic and social-emotional learning supports in order to meet a range of needs
  • Re-aligning roles and responsibilities with the establishment of our K-8 Student Engagement Team (SET), consisting of our Social-Emotional and Academic Learning Specialists and Division Heads in K5 and MS
  • Extending Middle School Second Step health curriculum into 3rd-5th grades
  • Providing workshops for K-8 and ExDay faculty to ensure fidelity in upholding our expectations across all learning spaces
  • Providing regular Family Education events regarding social-emotional wellness at each developmental stage

How can you support this work? 

  • Stay informed! Read your blogs and Newsnotes weekly!
  • Attend Family Education events whenever possible  
  • Learn our School-Wide Agreements, and model them for all of our children.  
    • Be Inclusive
    • Be Respectful of Ourselves, Others and Our Surroundings
    • Be Safe and Responsible
    • Try Our Best

Click here for more information about KidPower and to sign up for their workshops.

Composite Numbers

Introducing Students to the Beauty of Math

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By Sima Misra, Director of Teaching & Learning

As K-8 Director of Teaching & Learning, I am grateful to focus my efforts on ensuring that student learning is always at the center at The Berkeley School, and that teachers and students have the curricula, resources, motivation, and skills to support that learning. My background as a PhD Molecular Biologist explains part of my passion for math and science education, and why Math Night is my favorite evening of the year. I wanted to provide you with some behind the scenes understanding of the math teaching and learning families experienced at Math Night earlier this month.

What is Math?
I love this short video, because it captures the richness and power of mathematics.

Our goal is to open up students to appreciate the beauty of math, while giving them the skills and conceptual understanding to use it in flexible ways.

Early Childhood
Our school’s early childhood and elementary math program evolved from Montessori roots, which you can still see today, particularly at the ECC. The beautiful Montessori materials help make abstract concepts concrete, build a sense of order and attention to detail, and provide geometrical and numerical ways of looking at mathematical concepts. Students continue to learn math using Montessori and other materials, building their understanding of number sense, geometry, and sequence by counting, building, and comparing. As students mature, they use materials to add, subtract, multiply, and divide; learn to recognize and read numbers through 1000; skip count; and even compare odd and even numbers.

Elementary
Last year we switched to the Bridges Mathematics (2nd edition) curriculum, which dovetails nicely with Contexts for Learning Mathematics units we have taught for the past few years, providing rich problems with low entry points for all students and high ceilings for those who need more challenge.

In the Bridges program, mathematical routines are practiced during Bridges Number Corner, an engaging calendar activity, and during explicit instruction, games and activities, including pattern recognition and prediction; number skills, geometric shapes, money, and time; and Problem Strings, a set of problems which are woven together conceptually to help students identify strategies. The students are encouraged to share and internalize strategies, use them flexibly, and choose strategies that will be efficient. Articulating their thinking allows them to solidify their learning, apply their approaches to more complex problems, and make meaning together. Enjoyable games encourage practice and build fluency and skills.

This year all of our 1st-5th grade students have subscriptions to DreamBox, an online personalized learning tool which meshes well with the Bridges curriculum, and which students can use both at school and at home. Teachers can quickly gauge students skills and understanding, assign lessons, and measure growth. We have already noted increased growth in students who use the tool regularly. In addition, our Learning specialists Katherine Campbell in K-3rd offer students support by pushing into math classrooms and providing intervention outside of class where necessary.

Middle School
Last year, Middle School math teacher Kim Huie led a task force to seek out the best research-based math curricula with NCTM standards, engaging floor to ceiling problems, alignment with the elementary math program, and strong preparation for a wide variety of traditional and more progressive high school math programs. After a very successful pilot last spring, the faculty chose Illustrative Mathematics, which we rolled out in the 6th and 7th grades this fall. Kim will pilot this program in the 8th grade this year, in addition to the standard Elementary Algebra textbook we have used for many years.

Supporting Your Math Student
Research shows that one of the most important things you can do as a parenting adult is to develop a growth mindset about your own math abilities and your child’s. Every person can learn math, and there is no such thing as a “math person,” just people who have more experience learning math. There are many helpful resources at Youcubed.org, and support for elementary families at the Bridges 2nd Edition Family Support site. If your teacher suggests that your student needs more practice with math, support your student in using DreamBox; you might also consider purchasing apps from companies like Dragonbox or Brainquake. Students in older grades may be pointed to individualized practice by their teachers at sites like Khan Academy. And if you have concerns or questions, please talk to your child’s teacher, as they are the true experts in your student’s learning.

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Student Pathways for Civic Engagement

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by Kate Klaire, Director of Civic Engagement

Student pathways for civic engagement often start with noticing how environments, beings, and communities are doing – how their situations differ, recognizing whether they are thriving, and wanting to find ways to support them.

At The Berkeley School, we know that civic engagement requires rigorous goal-setting, planning, action, and reflection, and we know that children at all grade levels are capable of all of these. TBS students develop a civic and social awareness about the community around them, appreciate the impact of their choices, and hone their sense of agency in order to engage a changing world that requires their empathy, active participation, and effective leadership.  

Civic Engagement through Student Leadership

With such a strong focus on civic engagement The Berkeley School was invited to become a member of the global Ashoka changemaker network in 2014. As an Ashoka School, TBS is dedicated to cultivating a spirit of activism within our student body. Students in 5th through 8th grade have the opportunity to join the Ashoka Student Leadership Team, a group facilitated by the Director of Civic Engagement that meets regularly to plan and enact changemaking initiatives that impact their local and global community.

Ashoka students lead change by:

  • Identifying problems and opportunities 
  • Imagining a way forward that benefits everyone, not just a few
  • Investigating solutions and modes of support
  • Adapting and making changes
  • Bringing others into the action 

Ashoka student leaders started the 2018-19 school year with the student-driven goal of impacting the issue of homelessness in Berkeley. They met with educators, activists, and government officials to understand the ways Berkeley and Oakland have currently work to address homelessness. Students developed an ongoing partnership with Berkeley City Council member Cheryl Davila and worked over the course of the school year, built a relationship with folks living at the Sea Breeze encampment down the street from our University Avenue Campus. They made meals, held necessity drives, offered trash pickups for the encampment. Their main initiative was to advocate for the encampment to get the same regular trash pick-ups other Berkeley residents get by attending city meetings and promoting education within our school community to influence their advocacy. 

Students from our 2018-19 Ashoka Leadership Team with District 2 City Councilperson Cheryl Davila.

Members of the Ashoka Leadership Team mentor their younger peers in a group we call Ashoka Jr. comprising students in grades K-4 who are also interested in taking the lead as changemakers. After visiting the Berkeley Recycling Center on a field trip, Ashoka Jr. made a plan to raise funds for Peoples Breakfast Oakland by collecting recycled materials on campus and turning them in to the center for money. Over the course of 6 months, the students collected 384 cans and bottles, a haul which amounted to just $50. The exercise taught the Ashoka Jr. students what an incredible effort it took to raise just $50 and considered that, for some unhoused folks, this is their only income. 

At the close of the 2018-19 school year Ashoka students led their classmates in an “End Homelessness Now” walkathon and rally in Downtown Berkeley’s Civic Center Park to help keep the issue of homelessness at the top of mind.

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We opened the 2019-20 school year with a visit from Donald Frasier, Executive Director of Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), who came to speak to our faculty about emergent issues affecting the unhoused and discussed ways to grow our partnership, including support for the Children’s Learning Center. 

In September, we welcomed 2013 TBS grad and current Northwestern journalism student Maggie Galloway back to speak about her experience interning with KQED investigating the complexities of homelessness in the Bay Area.  

Maggie presented at an all-school assembly and then worked with the Ashoka team to build their understanding about common biases associated with our unhoused neighbors. She then led them through an activity in small groups to generate ideas about ways they could support unhoused individuals with pets, as well as how to educate the community. 

Civic Engagement through Service Learning

Transitional Kindergarten students on our Early Childhood Campus were introduced to the complexities of food access through a service learning unit that combined their study of and partnership with the Berkeley Food Pantry with a yearlong focus on showing kindness. Students aged 4 and 5 were led through these five stages of service learning:

Investigation – The Director of the Berkeley Food Pantry came by the Transitional k classroom to talk about who they serve and why. Drawing from this visit, as well as from other discussions, the students presented what they learned to their peers in the other five classrooms on the Early Childhood Campus.

Planning & Preparation – Students thought about a meaningful action that could make a positive impact and meet a real community need.

Action – They spearheaded a food drive that resulted in 194 pounds of goods for local neighbors. They delivered their donations to the pantry and learned how to help stock the shelves.

Ongoing Reflection & Assessment – They reviewed together, noting how much and what types of food were needed (canned items, pasta & rice, no candy) and how food access needs remained, even after their action.

Demonstration & Celebration – By sharing the results of the food drive collection and offering thanks to those who contributed, students honored the fact that they couldn’t have made the impact they made without the help of others.

While students already had an understanding of the fundamental need for food to survive, the food pantry study helped them to realize food dependency impacts the way people live and helped them grasp the concept that some people have access to food while others don’t — and most importantly — we all must act to remedy that.

Civic Engagement through Project-Based Learning

7th graders tackled the same issue of food access through a collaborative interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning unit between their health class and humanities class. Students were invited to answer this guiding question: “How can we make healthy and nutritious foods more accessible in our community?” In order to take action to this end, students researched what makes food healthy and nutritious, what are the modern day barriers to access, what are the historical legacies of these barriers, and for whom these barriers exist. They covered the foundational elements of this project by examining a recent study undertaken by PolicyLink and The Food Trust titled The Grocery Gap: Who Has Access to Healthy Food and Why it Matters and hearing from guest teacher, Asia Hampton from Phat Beets Produce, an Oakland-based grassroots organization that aims to create a healthier, more equitable food system in Oakland and beyond by providing affordable access to fresh produce.

Additionally, students travelled to the Alameda County Community Food Bank to volunteer and to learn about why making healthy food more accessible in our community is so vital to the health and success of Alameda County residents.

To culminate their unit, students designed a digital map of our neighborhood’s food sources to share with the larger community, called FindYourGreens.org. In order to do this, students created an evaluation tool to assess the variety and cost of healthy foods at neighborhood food sources, as well as proximity from public transportation to indicate accessibility.In the art studio, they designed and produced tote bags to promote the FindYourGreens.org site within the community.

As a private school with a strong, outward-facing mission, we have a particular need to walk our talk. We believe that the way we educate our students will have long-term benefits for local and global communities alike. 

Find Your Greens tote bags

Find Your Greens

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During the 3rd Trimester, 7th graders have been engaged in a collaborative interdisciplinary Project Based Learning unit between Health and Humanities. The guiding question for the project is, “How can we make healthy and nutritious foods more accessible in our community?” In order to take action to this end, students researched what makes food healthy and nutritious (in Health with Jared), what the modern day barriers are to access, the historical legacies of these barriers, and for whom these barriers exist. They covered the foundational elements of this project by first examining a recent study undertaken by PolicyLink and The Food Trust titled The Grocery Gap: Who Has Access to Healthy Food and Why it Matters. Students also learned from a guest teacher named Asia Hampton from Phat Beets Produce, an Oakland-based grassroots organization that aims to create a healthier, more equitable food system in Oakland and beyond by providing affordable access to fresh produce.

One thing that students learned through these explorations is that there is a link for some demographic groups between access to healthy foods and centuries of restrictive institutional practices along racial lines. We then explored how communities can respond when social justice is necessary by examining The Black Panther Party’s response to barriers to access, with a keen focus on the Panther’s Free Food Program that later inspired federally funded free and reduced school lunches.

Additionally, students travelled to the Alameda County Community Food Bank to volunteer and to learn about why making healthy food more accessible in our community is so vital to the health and success of Alameda County residents.

As a culmination of this unit, students designed a digital map of our neighborhood’s food sources to share with the larger community, called FindYourGreens.org. In order to do this, students created an evaluation tool to assess the variety and cost of healthy foods at neighborhood food sources, as well as proximity from public transportation to indicate accessibility.In the art studio, they designed and produced tote bags to promote the FindYourGreens.org site within the community.

 

Teacher Strike Eugenia

Understanding the Oakland Teacher Strike – in Preschool

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by Kirstie Mah, Eugenia Classroom Head Teacher

Every child has the right to go to school (the right to an education.) With our return to school after mid-winter break, teachers from the Eugenia classroom on our Early Childhood Campus invited their students to think about about what we do at school. These are some of our thoughts:

“We do our work at school.”
“We play.”
“We learn.”
“We read stories”
“We don’t run inside.”

Together, we thought about whether we’d rather go to school or go to work and everyone agreed we’d rather go to school or to do our work at school. Then we talked about how not all children have the opportunity to go to school or to go to schools where they have enough space, crayons and markers, or have enough adults, like nurses and teachers, to take care of them. We observed that we’ve never heard classmate friends complain that it’s too crowded in our classroom to learn, or too loud to learn, or that there aren’t enough teachers to answer our questions or help us do our work. And we talked about how some children do complain about those things when they go to school.

The Day the Crayons QuitWe read the book, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers. inspired by our observations of the book’s text and illustrations, we discussed what a strike, demands, actions, and chants are, as well as how the crayons felt being on strike: “tired,” “exhausted,” “sad,” “mad,” “really mad,” “angry.” We connected this to the Oakland Unified School District teachers who are on strike for their students and schools. Some children commented, “My mom is on strike,” and “Like on TV!” The signs that the crayons are holding on the cover illustration caught our attention and we decided to brainstorm what the purpose of those signs might be and what the materials we would need to make signs of our own.

The students participated in an exercise that demonstrated how school closures and large class size might feel and Eugenians concluded that it was “squishy” when everyone had to crowd into one “school” and preferred it when there were more “schools” and plenty of space to sit down.

We used our senses of sight and hearing to observe photos and videos of the OUSD teachers’ strike and thought about what we could do to help. We heard: “train sounds,” “whistles,” “trumpets,” “music,” “shouting,” “drums,” and “chanting”: “Hey hey, ho ho, school closures have got to go! “We want books, supplies, and smaller class size,” “1. We are the teachers 2. A little bit louder 3. We want justice for our students.”  We saw: “Red,” “Picket signs,” “Buildings,” “They’re on the street,” “A heart” “All the colors!” “They’re walking on the street with no lights,” “Kids!” “A kid holding a picket paper,” “A picket sign with people on it,” “Red and Black letters,” “They’re holding picket signs,” “They’re chanting,” “They’re shouting,” “They’re walking,” “bullhorns,” “Coats,” “She’s waving,” “She’s has her hand up,” “People are on the balcony, they’re waving to her,” “Signs in the back,” “There’s kids and grown ups,” “They’re walking.”

Eugenians decided they wanted to make their own picket signs and came up with their own messages in words and pictures inspired by the teachers that are on strike and the students and families who support them. They had control over the design of their poster, what, where and how their words were written and where there was space to draw.

This is the beginning of an ongoing conversation about how even if you’re small, you can make big changes in the world.

Intersections Art Show

Intersections Art Show

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Students, ECC-8th, have been working thoughtfully and creatively to put together a show that shares the art-making, process learning, art history study, innovation, inspiration, and civic engagement that happens every day in the art studio. This year’s show, called “Intersections: constellations of young artists seeking change through art,” features artwork inspired by civic action, science, local history and culture, and much more. The show documents how artistic themes and techniques overlap with academic content and across grade levels.

Middle schoolers curated their own artwork throughout the campus. Through the curation process, middle school students were able to collaborate with each other, and students from the elementary grades, to envision an engaging art show for the entire school community. They  started by discussing what elements of museums have sparked their interest or engaged them in a new way. They did this through thinking about past museum visits they have experienced and exploring virtual reality exhibits at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, The Louvre and the Museum of Computing. Through these discussions, students were able to speak about curation, both as an intention and as a career.

To get diversity in the voices designing the show, middle school classes surveyed lower school classes about the art show and what they would want to see at the opening. Using a mind-mapping activity, middle school students facilitated brainstorming around the question “what would make the art show fun for the school community?”. This prompt elicited responses ranging from different food choices to hands-on activities that could accompany the art pieces. This project-based learning process contributed to the integrated activities that the middle school students chose for the art show opening night.

For Freedoms

For Freedoms

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Inspired by the “For Freedoms” nationwide public art project, 4th & 5th graders designed lawn signs to post along the road adjacent to our school to communicate the issues that matter to us and inspire others to think about issues that matter to them.

Founded in 2016 by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, For Freedoms is a platform for creative civic engagement. Inspired by Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (1941)—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—these public exhibitions and installations spark discussions on civic issues and core values, and advocate for dialogue and civic participation.

In the TBS art studio students contemplated the questions: “How does where we live influence HOW we live?” “How can looking from another perspective help us understand ourselves and others?” and “How does art invite us to engage with our community?” See the lawn signs at 1310 University Ave. More actions to come.