Kindergarten Wedding

My kindergarten daughter attends the school at which I teach. Some days, like yesterday, that is the greatest thing in the world. In the morning her class performed a song for the volunteer breakfast and I was able to go and see them (my class has art on Friday mornings). That afternoon her class had a wedding I was able to attend (my class has music on Friday afternoons). This wedding was the idea of the students and their fabulous teacher just let them run with it. I think it started as a fun discussion and then became something they truly wanted to do and she let them.

She has a bear named Nicey that goes home with a student each evening. They journal, writing or drawing, about what they did with the bear. Throughout the year the various extras that go with the bear have grown as children have added little blankets and toys for her. After reading Lily's Big Day the class decided that Nicey should get married. So one little boy offered his Mr. Bear as the groom, another little girl took both bears home on different evenings and her mother made their wedding clothes.

My daughter volunteered her bear to be the ring bearer. They used little plastic toy rings (which went over the bears' entire paw). Several students were ushers who gave each guest (students, teachers, and parents) a corsage (a paper flower taped to the guests' shirt) and seated them, girls on one side and boys on the other. Two little girls served as flower girls dropping more paper flowers as they headed up the aisle. A couple of students were in charge of the music as the bride walked down the aisle.
The teacher officiated the wedding in a simple, but formal manner. It ended with the bears hugging and the kids getting ready for the reception. There was a wedding cake with teddy graham crackers as the ornamental bride and groom on top. The whole wedding and reception probably lasted 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon. These students will be writing about the experience until the end of the year!

More Fun Than Should Be Allowed

I took a step back today and let my kids explore with the thinkblocks. I've demonstrated with them a couple of times but I hadn't put them in their hands yet. So, today we just spent about 15 minutes playing around with them. Responsive Classroom describes this as 'guided discovery' (pdf). The students couldn't wait to get their hands on the blocks. They manipulated them in as many ways as they could imagine, attaching them to one another, putting them inside one another, lining them up, etc.

When we put them away I asked the students what they noticed about the blocks. They had so many thoughts it took a bit to get things under control enough to make our list of ideas. I expected some of the things on this list but I was surprised by others they mentioned.

I have to note that one of our free choice options is a basket of magnets and various small metal items and things. This has been a favorite station all year and they have noticed a lot of things about magnets. Then, earlier this week we read a big book, How Magnets Work, because we are studying explanation texts. The kids are now utterly fascinated by magnets. So they noticed that some sides of the thinkblocks push other thinkblocks away and other sides attract them. They realized and were able to explain that it was because the two poles are the same.

In second grade we have a state science standard about magnets:

The student will investigate and understand that natural and artificial magnets have certain characteristics and attract specific types of metals. Key concepts include
a) magnetism, iron, magnetic/nonmagnetic, poles, attract/repel; and
b) important applications of magnetism including the magnetic compass.

I think my kids are in good shape!

We've Come A Long Way, Baby

It is hard for me to believe that these kids are the same ones that were in my class way back in August. They have come so far.

This week I watched one little girl playing with some magnetic letters during free choice time. She wasn't just messing around with them, she was creating a long list of words. She created my full name first. Then she continued with words like frame, outside, and myself. She just made any and all words that she could and all were spelled correctly. I loved that she spent her free choice time making words.

Later the same day another girl pulled out her library book, Egg to Chick. She has been reading it obsessively for days now. I have to note that it does not look like an exceptionally engaging book; the illustrations are quite basic, the layout is dull. That does not stop her however, from grabbing me frequently to share something new she has learned. "Ms. Orr, did you know that people come from eggs, too? Look!"

It IS About Me

Wednesday morning my students were especially squirrely. (As it turns out the problem was school-wide come Thursday.) By the time we were half an hour in the day I had sent three students back to their seats because they couldn't appropriately participate in our lessons.

At one point, as they were all sitting at their tables, I realized that those three were three of the brightest students in my classroom. At that moment it hit me that it is much more likely that the problem was me, not the kids.

I have a lot of thinking to do about my classroom management, structure of our daily schedule, and engaging my students in the lessons.

Groundbreaking Progress Report

I spent last Saturday with the 5th and 2nd grade teams from my school and one other in our district learning about a new progress report they will be beta testing. (I was there because my former principal is heading up this project and she knows my very strong feelings about grades. She invited me to join them and give my feedback.)

This progress report is being created by our district and the folks at Thinkworks. They created the thinkblocks that many of us have blogged about recently. I've got a couple of pages of notes and thoughts from the day and other random ideas swirling around in my head. It may take a while for it all to settle and truly make sense to me, much less anyone else!

However, the gist of the new progress report is that it will include traditional content areas (math, reading, art, etc), social/citizenship skills (uses time wisely, works well with others, etc) and the patterns of thinking from the Thinkworks folks. This much I understood before Saturday.

The progress report will not have any letter grades. That's worth repeating in case it didn't really sink in, there will be no letter grades. Everything will be scored on a scale of 1 to 3. 1 means 'needs more time to approach standard.' 2 means 'approaches standard.' 3 means 'meets standard.' There is also what is being called a 3E, 'extends standard.'

Those scores will be used for the patterns of thinking in the same way as the traditional content areas. This will be the progress report for grades 1-6 in our district in a few years (if all goes well). I can't begin to describe how exciting I think this is.

I'm impressed with the elimination of letter grades. For years now I've felt that letter grades do little or nothing to communicate with parents about their children's learning. If that's the goal of a progress report I think it comes up short. I'm also very, very impressed with the idea of communicating progress on the patterns of thinking.

We talked a little on Saturday about students who would be successful in the patterns of thinking but not in the traditional content areas. I immediately thought of a student of mine from 5 years ago. He had a learning disability and was almost completely unable to decode text. As a result, he was convinced he was stupid. However, when I read a book aloud his comments and questions were the most insightful in our class. I'm not sure if it was his learning disability or his lack of confidence that made school so difficult for him, but I am sure that he deserved better. I think if he had been able to see his strengths on a progress report like this one it would have made a world of difference for him.

(I don't think this post makes nearly as much sense as I would like it to. For that, I apologize. I'll try to be more coherent in the future.)

A Crystal Ball

Having taught fifth and fourth grades for years and now teaching first grade, I look at these kids and wonder what they will be when they reach the end of their elementary years. I have many predictions and some concerns.

One little girl in particular concerns and fascinates me. Even in kindergarten she was 'too cool for school.' She has problems with friendships because she can be bossy and mean. At other times she can be kind and helpful. She is bright, excited about learning, and, in many ways, a joy to have in class.

I have to wonder, though, if she will be a 'mean girl' when she is a bit older. She seems to show the signs for it. And, if so, what could I be doing now to keep that from happening?

Is it possible for us to control that in a child? Is that outcome set already? I don't like the idea that I can't 'fix' this and make sure that my students grow up to be kind, generous people. At the same time, I find it overwhelming to think I might have control over such things.

We Need to Look Closely

I know I'm lucky to teach at a fabulous school with a dedicated staff and darling children. I also know (although I do tend to forget sometimes) that my school is not the norm. I've worked for two amazing principals who have helped form an outstanding school.

That said, I still struggle with the idea that our educational system is as bad as it is rumored to be. I'm aware that there are many awful schools, especially those serving our most disadvantaged students. I do believe that there are many things we can and should do better in our schools. I'm just not fully convinced that it means our schools are failing our students, at least not across the board.

I was struck by Mark Pullen's recent post after Secretary Duncan called for longer school days, weeks, and years.

Is it really more accurate to say that some of our schools are failing some of our students? Or is it really a societal failure? Or a parental failure? Or even a prenatal failure, in some cases?

In addition to carefully pondering each policy idea coming from Mr. Duncan, I urge teachers everywhere to reconsider their tacit acceptance of the notion that our schools are a complete failure.

I think we need to be willing to carefully analyze everything about our educational system, but as we separate the wheat from the chaff, let's not throw them both out.

Earworm

I had never heard this song before (I only listen to NPR on the radio) but my special little friend sings it all the time. So as you listen, you have to picture a six year old boy who is socially awkward singing "I want to move it move it. I want to move it move it." again and again and again, at appropriate and inappropriate times.

Work Hard Be Nice (Final Thoughts, Hopefully)

I've finished Jay Mathews's Work Hard Be Nice. (previous posts) I'm really glad I read the book, something that will please Mathews, I'm sure. I genuinely enjoyed the book. I'm exceptionally impressed with Levin and Feinberg and all they have done. They are two of the hardest working individuals of whom I'm aware. They deserve a lot of credit.

That said, I still have some issues with KIPP and the view of KIPP.

1. It's all about the test scores. I had this same issue with Geoffrey Canada's work in Harlem when I read Whatever It Takes. In some ways I don't blame Levin, Feinberg, or Canada. They are playing the game as it stands in our country today. I do hold the media somewhat responsible, however. In the chapter near the end of Work Hard Be Nice in which Mathews address the critiques of KIPP he focuses almost exclusively on test scores. There is a bit about drop-out rates and demographics, but not much. If what we present to the public is all about test scores, that is all that will matter. There are so many other important things to consider.

2. When KIPP is discussed in the media (main stream, blogs, everywhere) the focus is on the wrong things, in my opinion. The focus is always on the longer day, week, and year and on the skill and drill part of the instruction. If Mathews has made an accurate presentation of KIPP, beyond the schools Levin and Feinberg started originally, then there is much more that is critical here. The cultural events to which they took students as well as the huge trips each year are rarely discussed. I would consider those aspects a huge part of what made KIPP work for students.

3. The skill and drill part of the instruction. I don't believe that all the instruction is this way, but it is a part. It seems to me that KIPP teachers are working so hard to bring their students up to grade level and able to pass the tests that they sacrifice deeper understanding for broader skills. It is unfortunate that students reach middle school and that choice has to be made because they are behind, but I still don't believe in memorization without understanding (such as rolling their numbers for multiplication).

4. I don't believe that KIPP is the savior for our inner cities. KIPP administrators get rid of teachers quickly if they don't cut it. That's not a bad thing. However, if enough good teachers were out there already we wouldn't be in this position. Not every inner city child will be able to have a teacher of the caliber of KIPP teachers, there just aren't enough fabulous teachers out there. That's an issue that needs to be addressed in some way and it is a critically important one.

5. I don't believe most middle class parents would want their kids to attend KIPP. I don't believe they would want the discipline level that KIPP employs, at least in the beginning. I don't believe they would want the skill and drill part of the instruction. That makes me wonder why we believe that disadvantaged kids should have things that we wouldn't want for our own children.

I have two close friends who taught at a KIPP school in Houston. In addition, I chatted with a bunch of teachers and students on the metro many years ago from a Houston KIPP school. They were here on their annual trip to DC and we just happened to be on the same train. I noticed the shirts and heard the chants and took the opportunity to talk with them.

I don't want to get rid of KIPP. I just want to know that we are looking at it closely, considering the positives and negatives, and moving forward from there. I'm bothered by the presentation of KIPP as THE answer. That's how Mathews presents it here. The book is worth reading, but not unless one is willing to go beyond it to learn about KIPP.

Work Hard Be Nice (Continued)

I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book now and I have a huge amount of respect for Levin and Feinberg (the founders of KIPP). I still disagree with many of the ways they chose to run KIPP (more in a post soon) but I am amazed by them. They worked (probably work still) harder than just about anyone I've ever known and they truly want what is best for kids.

However, an anonymous commenter on my previous post said

Do you have kids, Jenny? If so, or if you did, would you send them to a KIPP school?

I think it's a great question. Honestly, it's one I've been wondering about Jay Mathews. His son is grown now, but I wonder if he would have wanted him to go to a KIPP school.

Jay Mathew's Work Hard Be Nice

I've finally started reading it. I'm about a third of the way through and so far, I'm feeling more positively towards the founders of the KIPP program and even less positively towards the Teach for America program.

I'm sure I'll post more thoughts as I move on in the book, but I didn't want to forget these early impressions. Teach for America comes across as a rich kid toy, almost. Acceptance into it seems to be seen as an honor, but attending the summer institute seems less important to the pre-service teachers than partying in the evening does. Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg got out of TFA about what they put into it. However, they already felt strongly and passionately about educating disadvantaged students. All TFA did for them was give them an easy place to start.

Levin and Feinberg are smart, dedicated young men. They believe in what they are doing and are trying their best for their students. I'm still not completely sold on KIPP in general, but I am impressed with them. There's still a lot of reading for me to do, so we'll see how that goes.

One of my biggest issues at the moment is with Jay Mathews writing a book that is so pro-KIPP. He has every right to write anything he wishes, but it makes it harder for me to take him seriously as an education reporter. Maybe as I progress more it will seem like less of a cheerleading for KIPP and more balanced. That doesn't mean that I think it has to be equally positive and negative, but so far everything has been overwhelmingly positive. Even when Levin or Feinberg have made mistakes Mathews has immediately shown how it turned out well in the end or what they learned from it. That's great, but it's hard for me to believe that everything was so close to perfect. I'm skeptical that Mathews is writing this through a reporter's eye rather than a supporter's eye.

Again, I'm only a third of the way through the book so my attitudes may change drastically or not at all. It remains to be seen.

The Case of the Feisty First Grader Continued

Yesterday I posted about the beginning of my intersession class.

Once we started getting the hang of what makes a mystery, we got to move on to some really fun stuff. We spent one day looking at secret codes. We read The Mystery of King Karfu which includes a secret code. I stopped at the first spot with code and had them decode it (I had made copies for them). Then we continued reading. At the end there's another section with code that I had them solve. It was great because it's a recipe (it says to mash the grapes and spread on bread, mash the peanuts and spread on bread, fold and eat) and the kids had to figure out what it would make. We did a couple of other activities with secret codes, one requiring addition and subtraction and one I created with wingdings. The kids could then write their own secret messages to one another. I would like to have done something with disappearing ink, just using lemon juice and such, but I'm afraid to get involved in using an iron to make it show up. If anyone has a safe, easy way to make it show up, I'd love to know.

The next day we studied fingerprinting. We read The Great Paper Caper, in which the bear's paw print identifies him as the culprit. Then we took our own fingerprints, using ink pads. The best part of the day was dusting for fingerprints. I had tried it before class and not been able to make it work. The kids (and eventually me) were able to make it happen!

The last activity we did was to create paintings with our fingerprints, Ed Emberly style.

On another day we looked at wanted posters. We read and The Secret of the Circle-K Cave and Chicken Little by Steven Kellogg. I know it's not a mystery, but it has a great wanted poster in it. We looked at a bunch of historic wanted posters so that we could brainstorm a list of the sorts of things one finds on a wanted poster (picture, reward, crime, name, etc.). Then we brainstormed a list of possible first grade 'crimes'. I didn't want any killing on these posters! I took a picture of each child and they created their own wanted poster. It might have been their favorite activity all week.

If I get to teach this class again I'd like to spend one day looking at handwriting, but I couldn't find a good mystery for it yet. I also want to do something with puzzles of various sorts. As usual my ideas all come together in the midst of things rather than ahead of time!

The Case of the Feisty First Grader

That's the name of my intersession class for this two weeks. (See bottom of post for explanation of intersession if you are unfamiliar with it.)

We're reading lots of mysteries and doing some really fun activities with them. We started the two weeks just looking at the different components of a mystery; detective, setting, clues, crime, victim, suspects, solution, etc. We read several different mysteries and the kids painted these different parts.

We spent a few days just reading lots of mysteries and identifying the different parts. We read Ducks Disappearing which was great because it's not a typical mystery story. It's about a little boy who notices some ducklings disappearing at a hotel and he solves the mystery. We also read Helpful Betty Solves a Mystery and had some great discussions about whether or not Betty was a detective, whether or not she was helpful, and whether or not she actually solved a mystery. We also read a High-Rise Private Eyes mystery, because those are my personal favorites.

After that we started working on observing. During our morning meeting time we played the game in which one student leaves the room, another student leads some movements (clapping, snapping, tapping legs, etc.) and the first student has to figure out who the leader is. Another game we played was to have one student leave the room and change one thing (untie a shoe, turn a shirt around). Upon return the kids had to figure out what had changed. We also had a guest come in for a couple of minutes just to say hello. After he left the kids drew him (I took a picture so we could compare). We read Cam Jansen mysteries while we talked about observing.

The other observing activities we did included having students build something with pattern blocks, show a partner, cover it up, and have their partner try to recreate it. I also put out a tray of small items (paper clip, pencil, block, etc.) then took one thing away and they had to identify what was missing.

During this time of observing we kept talking about the parts of a mystery in the stories we were reading.

I'll share more about the rest of the class soon. It's been a blast.


My school is on a 'modified calendar' year. We start in late July, rather than in early September. We take breaks after each quarter, in October, January, and March. During those times we offer an optional intersession. Students can come and take two classes (one morning and one afternoon) that are a lot of fun. We have cooking, tennis, scrapbooking, art, author studies, music, etc. sorts of classes. We can teach for extra money or we hire 'outsiders' - retired teachers, interested community members, and such.

The Joy of Children

We have some folks in our building today doing Junior Achievement activities with our first and second graders. They are very brave.

In the morning they asked my students, "What makes a family?" The first child to respond said, "When our mothers don't have babies, they ask strangers to be in their families." He continued on about how that changes after the mothers have babies, but I missed some of it due to attempts to control my laughter and write down what I had heard.

This afternoon the volunteers were having the students look at map symbols and identify them as wants or needs. As one prepared to show an ice cream cone he said, "I'm sure this is something you will all want." My little prince, before seeing the picture, yelled, "Attention!"

I was impressed with his knowledge of self there.

Encouraging the Next Ada Lovelace

Today is Ada Lovelace Day. In her honor bloggers all over the world are writing about women in technology. You can see a long list of posts written for this special occasion.

As I thought about all the women for whom I have immense respect in the edublogosphere, I kept returning to Maria Knee. She is far from alone in what she does, but she deserves recognition because she is introducing a whole new world to her kindergartners. Through technology her kindergarten students in New Hampshire have access to so many people, places, and ideas that they could easily be unaware of. She is opening doors for students.

In addition, she is a mentor to teachers around the world. We learn from her about ways to use technology with our students (especially our young, primary grade ones), teaching in general, and ourselves as learners.

She's supporting us all, teachers and students alike, as we grow as learners, especially through the use of technology.

(If you are intrigued by the idea of posts for this purpose, check out my personal favorite for the day, celebrating Ms. PacMan. The video there is completely worth watching.)

Schools to Learn From

A colleague of mine recently mentioned that she really learned to teach when she arrived at our school. She spent the first few years of her career at another school, just down the road from ours. It has a very different population. It's in a middle class neighborhood and hosts one of our district's gifted and talented centers (meaning that children from a number of schools are bused there to be in special, accelerated classes).

When she came to our school she realized that she had to raise the bar for her teaching. I'm not saying that her teaching was bad before, it wasn't. I am saying that I believe the majority of students in schools like her previous one will learn, and learn fairly well, even with mediocre teachers. That's not to say that they don't deserve fabulous teachers, they do. All kids do. Simply that they don't rely on them the way our students do.

The students in our Title I school are missing many of the advantages those other students have. Many of our kids are hungry. About 2/3 of our students receive free or reduced price breakfasts and lunches. Many of our kids don't have books at home. They may have parents who struggle with reading, especially with reading in English. Many of our kids have led exceptionally mobile lives. They have not had the opportunity to remain in one place for multiple school years. That lack of stability has hurt their learning.

There are many other issues facing our children. As a result of all of this, how we teach matters immensely. We can't assign a project asking students to build a model of the Susan Constant (one of the boats that brought settlers to Jamestown) and expect that they have learned all they need to know about Jamestown. We can't just hand them a book about insects and assume that they know how to make sense of a nonfiction book. We can't just give them a worksheet of multiplication problems and send them off to work. We can't make assumptions and expect that they will learn regardless.

We do lots of fun learning, but it is all carefully planned. We are focused on the skills our children need, what they already are able to do, and how we can move them forward. We are constantly taking anecdotal notes to help us plan the next lesson or next unit. We are constantly talking to one another about individual children and how we can meet their needs. We are constantly learning ourselves; reading professionally, taking classes, reading blogs, and listening to podcasts. The level of instruction at our school is higher than at many middle class schools. Because it has to be.

If you want to see powerful, meaningful instruction taking place, look for schools teaching struggling learners. The students may not be scoring on standardized tests as well as their middle class peers, but I'd bet they're making more progress on a daily basis thanks to their hard work and their teachers' dedication.

Seeing Inside

We went on a field trip last week (more on that later, I hope) to see a puppet show of Peter and the Wolf. In preparation for the trip we listened to the music and narration. Then we read a picture book of the story. The students clearly understood more from the book.

As I read it to them I noticed one little girl sitting with rapt attention. She has many pets and her mom works with animals. When the wolf ate the duck she looked horrified. She spent the rest of the book with a very concerned look on her face. I've never seen such an expression from her.

At the end of the book it is revealed that the duck is still quacking, inside the wolf's stomach, because the wolf swallowed the duck whole. I've always thought that was awful. How does that help the duck? It's not as though the duck is going to get back out. The look on this girl's face suggested that she felt the same way.

Just about fifteen minutes later this same child was sitting across a table from my little prince. He was conferencing about his writing with our fabulous literacy coach. I'm not sure about the topic of his piece, but he was trying to come up with a word and he said, "You know, it was the glue on the tree."

This little girl looked at him and said, "Tree sap?" He was shocked that she knew what he meant and she went back to work on her writing with such a proud, happy look on her face.

Just watching her face made for such an interesting afternoon.

St. Patrick's Day First Grade Style

When my students arrived this morning they discovered that our classroom had been visited by a leprechaun. There were a few little messes and a new message scrawled across our morning message. I couldn't believe how quickly they cleaned things up or how excited they were. After some discussion of the excitement in our room (and a lot of indignation on my part that anyone could do such a thing to our room) we headed up to the computer lab for the first time in a long time.

The kids created patterns with shamrocks and leprechauns. They were quite concerned about what might happen to our room while we were in the computer lab. Fortunately no one managed to get in during that time.

However, while we were at lunch our visitor came back. He left a message on our smartboard about his gold. There were footprints on our classroom door, the window, the wall near the smartboard, and each table leading up to a green carnation.

As soon as we walked in and discovered all of this, one little friend grabbed some green construction paper and scissors and quickly cut out some shamrocks. During writing time the students worked in small groups to write instructions on how to catch a leprechaun. They had some fabulous ideas.

I have to admit that days like this are a ton more fun in a primary grade than they are in the upper grades!

Multiple Paths

One of the free choice activities my students have the opportunity to do several days a week is creating a marble run.

This tends to be one of the favorites and is always full (meaning four children). On a recent day one of the girls called me over to show me what they had built. I headed over and quickly noticed that if they started the marble at the beginning of the path there were plenty of side paths it would never hit. I immediately thought that they had not put a lot of thought into their plan. I almost said something to them about this, but managed to keep my mouth shut while they showed me.

The girl put the marble at the beginning and I watched it head down the main path through the tower to the ground. At the end she said to me, "Now look where else it can go." Another student dropped the marble at another starting point and ran it through that path. Then yet another student started it in yet another place.

They were so proud of how they had created multiple paths for the marble. I was grateful for the reminder that we all take different paths and I need to honor them.

Who's the Boss?

We went on a field trip yesterday (my first one with first grade) and it was wonderful. I have more to share but at the moment I just need to tell about one small incident.

We went to see a puppet show. As it began I was chatting quietly with another teacher. My little prince looked at me and shushed me. The shushing was absurd coming from him, since he can never keep his mouth closed. But it was cute.

Then he looked at me, took two fingers to point at his eyes and then pointed at me. HE'S going to keep an eye on ME? I love it!

Our Primary Purpose

We have a very local election today (a district seat on our county board of supervisors) so folks have been in and out of the building all day voting. I've actually been really impressed with the number of people.

I was less impressed, however, with what I just overheard. After dropping off my students in music I saw a man and woman, probably in their thirties, walking towards our parent center to vote. He said to her, "Other than November, obviously, this is used primarily for school rather than for elections."

Long Overdue

I recently read Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough about Geoffrey Canada's work in Harlem. I wrote about it at In Practice, my first post there in a very long time.

Some Random Thoughts

I spend today participating in the process of interviewing applicants for the education program at a local university. We are a PDS (professional development school) working with them. A couple of things struck me.

The professor I was partnered with taught in second and third grades for three years before joining the academic world. She mentioned today that she is thinking about taking a year sabbatical in order to go back to the classroom and do some action research. One thing holding her back so far (other than her own children) is her fear. I was so impressed to hear her say that she was terrified of going back into the classroom. However, I also had to wonder how she prepares new teachers for something that is so scary to her. I think she is wise to be scared and I think she is a wonderful professor. I guess it seems strange to me that professors preparing new teachers have no classroom experience or very little that may have been years ago.

The other thing that struck me may show my own bias. As I introduced my self to each new potential student, I explained that I am a first grade teacher and the site facilitator for my school. After saying it a few times I was struck by the fact that I almost feel ashamed saying I teach first grade. Somehow it seems less respectable than when I taught fourth and fifth grade. Do we, as a society, have less respect for primary teachers? And possibly even less for preschool teachers? Or am I misreading my response and I have an issue?

Happy Birthday - First Grade Style

This card was created by one of my darlings for her mother's birthday. I'm sure her mother loved it!

Awesome Librarian

We have a new librarian, Tree. She has only been in the position since the beginning of January but you would think she's been at it for years. On a recent Monday morning my class headed to the library just as it was beginning to snow. The first thing she did was teach the kids a song about snow and send them to the windows to watch the snow and sing to it. Only after singing a few times did she gather them for the planned lesson.

Serious Reading

I took in a copy of the Educational Leadership issue which listed the article I co-authored. It was sitting on my guided reading table when a little friend found it. He immediately picked it up and began 'reading'. My fabulous co-teacher noticed this and attempted to show him my name in the magazine. He had no interest in that. In his eyes she was trying to make him skip over important pages to get to that information and he was reading!

Thinking about Thinking

I spent my day yesterday out of the classroom. I've tried, in my first year in first grade, to minimize those days because it's harder for me to make meaningful sub plans and I worry about my kids (I do have some high needs kiddos that need as much stability as possible). However, my old principal, now the head of elementary instruction for our district and someone for whom I have immense respect, strongly suggest that I attend this workshop and a team of teachers was already going from my school. So, I jumped on board.

I looked at the website for ThinkBlocks, that product being basically all I knew about the day. Looking at the website I was highly skeptical. It looked to me, at a brief glance, to be a fairly commercial, packaged product. That doesn't appeal to me.

It only took a few minutes of listening to Derek Cabrera to change my mind. He is engaging, funny, and highly intelligent. By the time we stopped for lunch, three hours later, I was exhausted and my brain was still spinning trying to make sense of all he had said and overflowing with ideas for my classroom. I'll be posting more of my thoughts as I try these ideas with my students. For now, it's enough to say that his focus on our thinking processes about the content rather than solely on the content was refreshing, validating, and energizing.

By the way, he also gained great respect from the teachers at my school because he continually said that you don't need the ThinkBlocks to achieve the goals he was discussing. They are one possible tool, but you can do it with just about anything.

Publication Excitement

I've been officially published! A good friend and assistant principal for whom I have great respect and I co-authored an article which is online in ASCD's Educational Leadership. Writing the article was a great experience for me. Seeing it online at ASCD's website is wonderful.

We were both really excited that the article was accepted, but also slightly disappointed that it is only online. Then ASCD sent us both six copies of this issue. The title of the article and our names are in the print issue in two different places, but I don't think I needed six copies for that.

Searching for Shapes

Last week we started studying geometry. We looked at a couple of books with great pictures and found shapes in them. I asked my students if they could find those shapes (circle, rectangle, square, and triangle) in our classroom. I was so impressed with what they found that I wanted to allow them to capture it in some way.

To start we looked at some pictures I had taken on a couple of recent trips. I wasn't looking for shapes when I took the pictures, but the students found a lot. I put them up on the smartboard and the kids outlined a few of the shapes they found. Here are the Brooklyn Bridge and Union Station.


After looking at seven of my pictures and finding shapes in them, I gave the kids digital cameras to go and take pictures themselves. (One of our fabulous art teachers wrote a grant a few years ago and got eight digital cameras.) They worked in groups of two or three sharing the camera and we walked all around the school. They took pictures in the cafeteria, front office, gym, library, and hallways. I've only glanced at their pictures but I'm really impressed. Later this week I'll put their pictures up on the smartboard for them to identify shapes. I'll share some of their pictures in a future post (when I've had a chance to download them). We had such a great time doing this!

Feeling Lost

I have a student who is going through a traumatic experience right now. I probably have multiple students for whom this is true and there are, of course, many, many more students everywhere facing a variety of awful things. However, this child's issue was just shared with me and it is tearing me up inside.

(For simplicity's sake I'm going to use the feminine pronoun here because I have more girls in my class than boys.)

I know about what is going on in her life, I've been in touch with the family, the administration is involved, various outside agencies are helping out, our counselor is getting in the mix. We're on top of this.

However, I'm left wondering how best to help her. Does she need me to continue on as though things are fine and keep teaching her first grade stuff? Would it be better if I backed off of academics and spent more time just caring about her? Is it possible to do both? How do I know what to do? My fabulous co-teacher told me that we have to follow the girl's lead to know. Too true. I just hope I'm able to recognize where she wants us to go.

Retention - Keeping Children Safe or Holding Them Back?

I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of Chip Wood's Yardsticks. Kirsten blogged about it back in November and Organized Chaos loves the book. I've been meaning to read it for quite some time now and just kept forgetting.

I gave a quick glance to the sections about five year olds (my daughter) and six year olds (my students), but I decided I needed to just start reading it. I headed back to the table of contents to acquaint myself with the book. Wood has broken the book into two sections: Developmental Issues Affecting All Children in the beginning and Major Developmental Considerations Yardsticks in the second half.

One of the issues affecting all children is retention. I've been thinking a lot about retention now that I'm teaching in the primary grades. So, instead of managing to start reading the book straight through I jumped immediately to the pages on retention. The final paragraph in this section says:

The verb "retain" can mean to hold back or to hold safe. Educators and parents should carefully examine the difference when contemplating extra time in school for the individual child.

I've been chewing on that quote for a full day now. I am now continuing in the book and enjoying it greatly. It is giving me a lot to think about.

Leveling the Playing Field

Doyle, at Science teacher, has a fabulous post up today.

Some of these children will never pass the test.
All of these children can learn.

Those are not incompatible statements.

He draws on his years of experience as a doctor to discuss the various factors that impact student performance in schools and on tests. His basic message (as I see it) is that there are meaningful things every student can learn in school but we are only testing a small percentage of those things.

His post really got me thinking about the students I teach. Many of them have a whole host of factors betting against them. That doesn't mean they can't be successful, it just means they need a lot more from me than my daughter needs from her teacher (or most other middle class children need).

I'm lucky to teach in a very wealthy school district. It allows me to teach these students with a wealth of resources backing me up. That's not true in the great majority of schools teaching students living in poverty. Why is that? Why do we believe that all schools (at least within a district) should all have exactly the same resources? Why should all class sizes be the same? Why should funding for field trips be the same?

We know, very clearly, that our students' lives outside of school are not so fairly distributed. Why must their schooling be?

Focus of Attention

As half my class was clamoring for my attention today, I realized why I'm so exhausted at the end of a day teaching first grade. All of them frequently want my attention at the same time. This was rarely, if ever, true of fourth and fifth graders. The only time they all wanted my attention at the same time was if I had some sugary sweetness to give them.

First graders want to tell you everything at all times. They don't even notice that anyone else is in the room, much less talking to you at that moment. Yesterday, Tree mentioned that she had a kindergarten class at the end of the day. She said twenty kindergartners were surrounding her. In fact, the phrase she used was that it was like a hoop skirt of kindergartners. Today I truly understood what she meant.

Wiggling It Out

At the beginning of the year I tried having a 'get the wiggles out' time. I turned on some music and offered them the chance to move, wiggle, and dance. Nothing happened. I tried it a few times before giving up.

Recently we've had day after day of indoor recess. Indoor recess does not cut it with first graders. So, in desperation, I pulled out the music and tried again to get them wiggling. For some reason, it took. They go nuts. It's fabulous.

Today I was trying to have a serious chat with my co-teachers between our reading and writing workshops while they wiggled. All of a sudden I was completely unable to hear a word they were saying. I had noticed my little prince dancing. He was wearing a zip-up sweatshirt open over a t-shirt. He was grasping the open edges of the sweatshirt at chest level. His thumbs were pointing out in front of him. He was moving his hands in a circular motion, boogieing down, and making very macho faces. I could not look away.

(I'm sure this is hard to picture, so please, just take my word for it, it was hilarious.)

Leave No Child Behind?

I'm not going to rant and rave about NCLB. It's been done and everything I might want to say has been said, probably much more eloquently than I could do. The idea of leaving no child behind came to mind tonight as I drove home from a class and listened to NPR. I didn't catch the whole story, but heard President Obama speaking about health care for all children. All I could think was, how is health care not as crucial or even more crucial for children than their schooling? I don't want to suggest that the quality of schools is unimportant, it clearly is. I just don't understand how we accept that so many children are without health care.


If you're looking for something more amusing than this, check out organized chaos's quick note about the reason one of my students was absent yesterday.

My Own Personal Issues

I have one coat closet in my classroom. For the first part of the year that was sufficient. Anytime my students needed to get into their backpacks it became a bit of a nightmare, but worked fairly well. Once winter hit and everyone was wearing heavy coats, it all fell apart. Students tossed backpacks and coats into our one coat closet and they spilled out everywhere. The coat closet is just inside our door so they were always in the way. It drove me insane. I had to do something about it before I starting throwing coats and backpacks into the hallway, immediately followed by their owners.

I got two big tubs and put them on the sides of the classroom for backpack storage. Two tables put their backpacks into one tub and the other two tables put their backpacks into the other. Sometimes these tubs are neater than this, but they at least contain the backpacks.

That left us plenty of room for coats. I'm slowly training the kids to hang their coats up on the back row of hooks if they are the first ones in. So far we've only had a few coats land on the floor throughout the day. There's also a basket hidden in their to hold hats, scarves, mittens, and other random cold weather necessities.

I'm not sure what it says about me that this was so critical to my sanity. Regardless, it has greatly improved my attitude throughout the school day. That's worth a lot.

More on Educon 2.1

Educon is fabulous and I'm sure I will have many more posts about it in the next few days. However, for those who aren't lucky enough to be here, there are ways to feel a part of the fun.

There are a bunch of pictures on flickr and will be more, I'm sure.

You can follow the twitter stream of all tweets involving Educon.

If you feel really into all the excitement, you can go to the wiki to watch the streams of the sessions. (Click on sessions by title and facilitator and you will see the links to the channels.)

Initial Thoughts on EduCon 2.1

I'm lucky enough to be in Philadelphia this weekend for EduCon 2.1 at the Science Leadership Academy. I spent yesterday afternoon wandering around the school, talking to students and teachers, and enjoying myself.

I have no knowledge of high schools, having taught elementary all my career. My last experience with high school was when I was a student. As a result, I'm sure I didn't get as much out of my time yesterday as many high school teachers would have.

That said, I was beyond impressed with SLA and the students here. Two freshmen girls gave me a tour of the school and their excitement and enthusiasm were contagious. They talked about their teachers and classes the way elementary school students do. They clearly adore their teachers, principal, and school. Students in classes stopped to explain to us the work they were doing. They were completely comfortable talking with us as equals. It was highly impressive.

Chris Lehmann has created (I'm sure he would say, with lots of help) an atmosphere of learning that is unparalleled. Students have been as involved in EduCon as many of the teachers. They are clearly very invested in their own education in a way that, I think, most high students are not. It has given me a lot to think about.

Center of a School

I've recently come to the conclusion that the librarian is a significant hub at any school. In our school of about 750 students, the librarian is the only person who sees every single student every week. That alone is daunting, but when one considers all the other responsibilities inherent in running a school library the job seems exceptionally difficult.

My second year at our school we got a new librarian. She had been at other elementary schools and at least one high school. She was fabulous. Her lessons tied into our content and engaged our students. She invited teachers into the library as equals in terms of looking for new books to order or organization or any host of other issues. When I attended meetings around our district and spoke with other librarians they always mentioned her name with respect and awe. We were blessed!

She retired in December. She was planning to retire last June, but remained for an extra six months so that her replacement could be ready. That would be Tree. She needed one more semester to have enough credits to be our librarian. So our previous librarian stayed. Our amazing principal made it possible for them both to be in the library for that period. Talk about blessed.

I think our new librarian will continue to raise the bar. She's already met with my team to talk about her plans for our students. She's not constrained by the need to do things the way they've always been done. Most importantly, her first thought is always, "How will this help our students?" I am amazed at how much I think a school gains from having a strong, brilliant librarian as a leader.

Repeaters

Two of my wonderful students are a year behind their peers. One precious boy repeated kindergarten last year and one darling girl is repeating first grade. The boy has been struggling all year. He started the year below grade level in just about every area and continues to fall farther behind. We have just recently started the (very long) process of assessing for learning disabilities.

It's the girl that I find especially fascinating this year. I observed in her classroom some last year as I was attempting to gain some clue about life in first grade. She stood out in that room in part because she was a loner. She seemed completely isolated and uncomfortable. (It should be noted that she had absolutely fabulous teachers.)

At the start of this year she was a completely different child. She was confident, outgoing, engaged, everything we could have hoped. At the end of the first quarter I met with her father and he was visibly relieved to hear how well she was doing. He felt the right decision had been made in retaining her. We all did.

Now, halfway through the school year, I have my doubts. She seems to be pulling into herself more and more. She is disengaged during lessons, seeming to space out. She still achieves academically at a higher level than the great majority of her classmates, but it doesn't seem to matter to her. She's starting to resemble the student I observed last year.

I don't know what would have happened had she gone on to second grade. Maybe she would have struggled in the same way as last year from day one. Maybe at some point things would have clicked for her however and she would have soared. There's no way for us to know.

In the upper grades I didn't face the issue of retention in the same way as I will in first grade. It was unheard of for us to retain students at that level and I completely agreed. I was shocked last year to learn how many students we were retaining in kindergarten and first grade. However, I assumed I simply didn't have the knowledge to know what we should do.

Watching these two students has me wondering anew. Is anything gained when we retain students? How do we know when/if it will benefit a child and when it will hurt them?

Generosity

Over the years my school has worked with a variety of business partners. They've supported us financially, they've mentored students, and they've volunteered their time to help on special occasions. This year, however, we had the most visible gift from any business partner yet. Capital One put together gift bags for every child at our school, about 750. The bags differed by grade level, but every single one had gloves and a book. The little guys (kindergarten and first) got coloring books, crayons, bouncy balls, candy, and more. I'm not sure what all was in the bags for the upper grades. It was exceptionally generous.

I was looking through our school newsletter the other day and noticed a brief note about these bags. It said that the employees at Capital One had decided to use the money for their holiday party in this way. Exceptionally generous.

Huh?

As I dropped my class of in the gym today I was told that one of my students (Rubber Band) was leaving early. As she and I walked back to the classroom to get her backpack she asked, "Why am I going home?" I said I didn't know why. She said, "Am I sick?"

I said, "I don't know. Are you sick?"
"I guess so."
"Really? And your dad figured it out before you or I did?"
"Yeah."

Amazing talent he has.

First Grade Private Eyes (with the emphasis on eyes)

I taught a week-long, intersession course on Cynthia Rylant's books. Somewhere in my planning I decided to call it The Case of the Intersession Excitement. As a result, we focused a bit on her High-Rise Private Eyes series. I decided I wanted the students to be detectives some during the week. Of course, I decided this at the last minute and had no time to plan really complex, age-appropriate mysteries for them to solve. So, I headed to Amazon. I found You're the Detective. According to Amazon the reading level is for ages 4-8. I think that's fairly absurd, but I did manage to pick out four different mysteries I thought they could solve. (The book seems perfect for the upper grades.)

Each of the mysteries has a black and white drawing of the 'crime scene' on one page and a short story with prodding questions on another page. Each day I would read them the story, then give them each a copy of the picture and read the story again. I used some of the questions and added questions with hints of my own to get them rolling. Then I would walk away and have them talk in small groups to try and solve the mystery.

First of all, they were really into it. I truly enjoyed eavesdropping on the conversations. However, the thing that struck me the most was their impressive observation skills. As they looked at those pictures they saw things I had completely missed. I think part of this is due to their inability or only fledgling ability to read. They aren't as focused on text when they are looking at a book and they really take in the illustrations. As a result, their skills are much better for noticing details in pictures than mine. They may not have the background knowledge to make meaning of everything they notice, but they don't miss anything.

I've noticed this in my own two girls (a kindergartner and a two-year old). It strikes me when they notice certain balloons (Pooh or Dora) in a crowded grocery store or when they see a family member in the background of a photograph. Their eyes are sharper than mine in this way.

My oldest is just beginning to read. I am watching closely to see if her observation skills begin to decline as her reading skills increase.

Who's Being Bugged?

I'm currently teaching first and second graders during our week long intersession (due to our modified calendar we have these short, optional periods three times each year). Not surprisingly it's the first time I've taught this age during intersession and it's eye opening. I give them more slack during this time because it's not as academic. We're studying Cynthia Rylant's books and having a blast.

One little guy in my afternoon class has been driving me a bit crazy. He's unable to sit still or to focus on anything, including the fabulous books I'm reading to them! He's done a pretty good job of not disturbing others so I've let it go so far.

A few minutes ago he came over and told me about all the bugs in their apartment. He said they keep biting them and they have blood all over, "from us," he said. He said that he has trouble sleeping because they bother him and he's itching so much.

No wonder Cynthia Rylant isn't as engaging as I had hoped.

Halfway to What?

I'm halfway through my first year in first grade. I've said before that it was surprisingly challenging to adjust to the move from fifth grade to first. A lot of it is getting better. The credit for that goes, in great part, to the literacy coach and the special education teacher that I work with. They have been willing to problem solve with me and have been great models for me to watch.

There are so many things that are beginning to feel comfortable. I'm getting the hang of making the content accessible for first graders. I'm beginning to understand how they are learning and how I can help that process. The biggest problem I'm still facing in classroom management. It's painful. For the five or six years prior to this one, classroom management required little thought or effort. It felt natural and I had a huge bag of tricks ready for when things got a little more challenging.

Now, I feel like my responses are all wrong. I'm unable to anticipate quickly enough and head off problems. I haven't figured out how to redirect students in order to help them refocus. And, worst of all, I spend way too much time yelling - not helpful. This is my big goal for 2009. I expected classroom management to be a challenge, but I underestimated how big a challenge.

I'm open to any suggestions of good books, websites, and other resources to help me mull this over.

We're Low on His Agenda

Obama has chosen his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. In my mind this is a really disappointing choice. He's not Michelle Rhee or Joel Klein, but he isn't that far off either. He's the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. Schools that, as it has been pointed out, the Obamas did not choose for their children.

This is a choice that means things will not change in education during an Obama administration. I think it shows that education is low on Obama's agenda (something I don't find too surprising given the state of our economy and Iraq and Afghanistan). I don't have to like it however.

I had my reservations about Linda Darling-Hammond because I don't think she would have been revolutionary enough. I would have like to see Deborah Meier in the job, but she's probably smart enough to turn it down if it were offered. At least Darling-Hammond would be walking into the job with some experience in the classroom and in school buildings. As Alfie Kohn said

Imagine--an educator running the Education Department.

That is what I had been hoping to see. Instead, we'll spend the next few years fighting for funding in an economic recession while we spend more and more on tests, test preparation, and 'research-based' remediation methods. How sad for our students.

Cursing

I don't mean me cursing, although that does go through my head sometimes.

We've implemented a reward program due to some classroom chaos (due, I'm certain, to my less than impressive classroom management in first grade). Students have been able to earn stickers when they are doing a fabulous job. They've earned a variety of different things (lunch with us, small toys, extra recess). It's worked pretty well. Last week I noticed that one of the stickers we used was probably less than appropriate for first grade.

Very Special Student

I've written before about a student who fascinates me. On a recent morning I needed to complete a county-wide math assessment on a few students, this one included. I went over to his special spot in the classroom to get him and he was working on this:

I tried to get him to stop, telling him he could return to it later. He got quite agitated and, after pushing it a bit longer, I stopped to really look at what he was doing. Once I did so I noticed the creativity he was using to make the title of one of his favorite books. I backed off (after taking this picture) and began the math assessment with another student. A few minutes later this little one must have managed to complete this because he joined us to work on math.

Reality Check

I'm not completely naive. I've looked at my students for ten years now and wondered which ones would end up in gangs, pregnant, in jail, etc. I have some clue about the realities of their lives. My first group of fourth graders are 19 now. I think of them as sophomores in college, although that's probably true for only a small percentage of them.

In the past month or so I have learned of the pregnancies of two of my former students. One is a sophomore in high school, the other is a senior. Neither is a shock, but it is still painful. The senior was the one I learned about today. When she was in third grade her mother was pregnant and diagnosed with cancer. Due to the pregnancy there was little they could do. After the baby was born the cancer was so far along there was little hope. She died that year. The father was accused of sexual abuse and the kids were placed in foster care (actually with a staff member at our school who is phenomenal). Near the end of fourth grade, I think, they were placed on a permanent basis with an aunt one county south of us. I was deeply sad to see her leave our school, but thrilled she had found a more stable home.

When my colleague came in today and shared the news I asked her if there was any way to get a letter to this girl. She said that if I could get it to her by 1 today she could pass it on to the girl's aunt. While my first graders did their math centers I sat down to write.

Dear S.,
D. just stopped by my room with a beautiful picture of you in fourth grade. I have, sadly, forgotten the names of many students from the past ten years of teaching but your name has not been lost to me. Your beautiful smile in that picture brought back so many wonderful memories.
She says you are 17 now. I'm sure D. would never lie to me, but it is really hard for me to believe. She also told me about the baby. I have two daughters now; they are 5 and almost 2. I love them more than I can believe possible. I wish you and your little one the very best of luck. You both deserve the most wonderful things this world has to offer.
If there is ever anything I can do to help you, please let me know.

I included my phone numbers and email address. I don't expect to hear from her, but at least it felt like some sort of action on my part.

I'm left wondering what I could and should have done differently for this child. I don't hold myself responsible by any means. I think I am simply looking for some way to control the situation, some way to keep it from happening again. There is little in life that is as depressing as looking at first graders and wondering which ones will become parents long before they are ready.

I Have a Granny and a Grandmother

I've been working hard to improve my guided reading lessons with first graders. I still feel like they are sub-par, but they are getting better.

Recently one of the books we were reading had a girl and her grandmother in it. The girl called her grandmother Gran. I wanted to be sure the students were able to read that word because I figured it was not one they would immediately recognize. So I asked the kids what they call their grandmothers. I expected to hear things like 'grandmother', 'grandma', 'gram', 'nana' and such.

The first child says, "Eyfly". I said, "No, not how you go to visit her. What do you call her?" He repeated his answer. I tried again to clarify and finally realized that he calls her that.

The next child says, "Flower" or sometimes we call her "Mentenuga".

At that point I realized that I teach in a very diverse school. (I did already know it, just not as clearly as I did at that moment.) These students do not lead lives similar to mine at that age. I love that about my students. I just need to remember it so that I can build their background knowledge appropriately.

Sorrow

This is apropos of nothing on this blog but I just discovered that a former teacher of mine died in July at age 100. Now that I've written the word teacher this line of thinking seems more appropriate here but my interactions with her were far removed from a traditional classroom.

She was Alice Chalifoux. I spent two summers studying with her at the Salzedo Harp Colony in Camden, Maine. By the time I was lucky enough to learn from her she was in her late eighties. The mystique around the harp colony was so great for me before my first trip there that a friend suggested I would be studying with the Yoda of harpists. It was a surprisingly accurate description. She was a tiny woman with an impressive force of personality. I was constantly intimidated by her. In spite of that she pushed me to greater heights as a harpist (which probably helped me reach mediocrity).

This weekend I will play for a Christmas party for the seventh (or so) year. As a result, I've actually been doing some real practicing recently. I think this must be what got me thinking about Alice Chalifoux. The amazing power of the web quickly led me to this video of her on Johnny Carson in 1988.

I can't begin to do her justice in this brief post. She was the principal harpist in Cleveland long before women played in orchestras. She taught at three different schools in Cleveland and ran the harp colony each summer up into her late eighties. She was the grand dame of the harp world, something she probably found amusing. The harp is known as a sedate, elegant, classy instrument. Alice could be all of those things, but none would be her natural state. She was strong, outspoken, witty, and often off-color. The harp world will shine less brightly without her.

Reason 835 Why I Love My School

These signs hang outside our bathrooms. Our fantastic math specialists put these up for teachers to use as their students take bathroom breaks. I've played various games with my students during bathroom breaks for years, but this is much better! They've changed the signs over time so that new ideas and activities are available. To me, this just illustrates the attitude at our school that the students belong to ALL of us. We are all working to provide them every opportunity to succeed.

My Special Friend

One of my most fascinating students this year created this.

He has a special spot in the classroom. It's a secluded area between my teacher cabinet and the back of a bookshelf. I had not intended for it to be used for anything - I was just trying to minimize the space around the teacher cabinet. However, it has been perfect for him. When things begin to overwhelm him he can head to that area. We have left a variety of math manipulatives there for him; pattern blocks, unifix cubes, pentominoes, etc. He has created some astounding patterns and designs with these manipulatives. This flag was one of my favorite of his creations.

Results of Art Class