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| Creating a Limited Palette Collage in Mrs. Foley's Class photo by Sarah Palmer |
Put simply, since mid-October each kindergarten class has been at work forming its own independent publishing company. The students are trying on the roles of editor, illustrator, writer, publisher, and bookseller. They are working with stories submitted by writers from the local area as well as with content that they will create themselves. At the end of the school year we will celebrate with a publishing party and book-signing at the Meekins Library for parents and friends.
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| Drawing a name from the The Magic Book Ball photo by Sarah Palmer |
Sarah and I are in the kindergarten classrooms on Friday mornings.We alternate visits so that Mrs. Foley has us one week and Mrs. Luce has us the next. At each session I talk about a particular aspect of the book publishing process and then we do a related activity like an illustration project or an editorial brainstorming session. After that, we gather for story time and a homemade snack. Each week I bring a picture book to share that I particularly love. Many are newly published by Random House, but not all. The books I choose introduce our young readers and writers to important ideas in storytelling and/or illustration. But most of all they are FUN to listen to and look at. After the story is read, I get out The Magic Book Ball. Everyone's name is in the ball, either on a ribbon-tied scroll or a beautiful piece of folded origami paper. I draw one name per week and the child chosen gets to take home a new gift-wrapped copy of the book that we read and discussed that day.
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| Reading Cake Girl by David Lucas to Mrs. Luce's Class photo by Sarah Palmer |
If I may say so, it's a wonderful morning for us all. Sarah and I leave the classroom each week impressed and inspired anew by Williamsburg's fantastic kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Luce and Mrs. Foley. And the kids are all just too cute. Each class is its own delightful, adorable mix of creativity, imagination, determination, and open-hearted enthusiasm. With a slice of silly pie on the side of course!
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| Reading Sneaky Weasel by Hannah Shaw in Mrs. Foley's Class photo by Sarah Palmer |
You might be wondering why we called this blog "Forgetti Heads and Boxer Shorts." Well, you probably aren't surprised to learn that at home I talk to my kids a lot about writing and illustrating stories. Originality is a concept that I discuss frequently with John, Reid, and Lucy. The characters and stories that they invent should be their own as much as possible. It's fine to be inspired by someone else's idea, but not OK to outright copy it. It's why we try to limit TV--there needs to be some room left over in kids' heads for images and characters that are wholly their own. In that spirit one afternoon I challenged the kids to come up with a totally new character for a story. Reid immediately said "A Forgetti Head!" "What's that?" I asked. "It's a mommy who forgets things and wears a bowl of spaghetti on her head!" Reid replied excitedly.
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| Different styles of illustration: from black & white to full color photo by Sarah Palmer |
Yikes, I thought to myself, it's clearly time for me to get more sleep, keep lists, and do my hair on occasion.... "Um, what does this Forgetti Head person wear?" I asked. "Boxer shorts!" John replied gleefully. He was in a phase where 'boxer shorts' was the ultimate all-purpose answer for absolutely any question right on down to 'what do you want for a snack today?' And so we were off on a detailed, hilarious literary and art adventure with Forgetti Head in her ridiculous boxer shorts. It was really fun. And it's also one example of the sort of imaginative literary projects that Sarah and I hope to encourage in both kindergarten classes this school year. Our over-all goal is to imagine, create, and, most of all, have fun with stories and illustrations.
In a few days I'll write about some of the books and authors we have been talking about.
