Building dream houses and animal instincts

Students fill pages of their handmade books with entries about what their favorite animals are. On another day, they make their dream houses by folding sheets of paper special ways and decorating them with images from magazines.

Creating a scene: Monique has her students act out various situations

Dreams and Fresh Fruit Rules the Day

Today Jamie and I went in to try to have the students create a "dream room, or house" utilizing a "Suprise booklet" design. We brought in several magazines to cut and collage from. Several students used both collage and drawing techniques. Many will finish their projects next week. We played music by Dr. John to continue to educate the students on the history of New Orleans beats and lyrics. At the end of class we pulled out some trays of fresh fruit- pineapple, grapes, and melon. The grapes and pineapple went first. The students at first didn't move. We set out the plates, forks, and fruits, and waited- when someone asked Jamie if we wanted them to serve themselves- his response was yes, at which time almost everyone in the room converged on the fruit. It was all very orderly and respectful, but it again reiterated how hungry our students are at the end of the day. It made us really want to figure out how to get more fruit in the the school as well as some sort of garden program.

The books are going to be great for the students to have and to be able to hold on to their dreams.

Muffin and Jamie's Peace Club centers around storytelling

“One of the first things we did was move the desks into a circle,” says Muffin Sills of the Peace Club she co-teaches with her husband Jamie Berstein at Carver." After the class we went to move them back but the homeroom teacher told us to leave them.”

Besides rearranging the seating, the team keeps students motivated through their own energetic involvement and arts & crafts approach to storytelling, a main theme of their club.

Between glue sticks and pads of colorful paper the studetns have their hands full. They are also encouraged to work on their projects outside the classroom.

TEACHING BY EXAMPLE:

In one of the very first sessions the students created books to write in. Having made one herself, Muffin decided to fill in all the pages in between meetings to show the class just how it doable it was.