Adventures After School

Entrepreneurship in schools

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Waking up with some Saturday morning reading, we came across this great article on www.good.is, asking if schools can teach entrepreneurship.

Read the article here.

At Living Histories, we of course believe that you can, and it's a big reason we are focusing much of our 12/13 programming on helping students develop the skills that can turn them into the thinkers, planners and doers of tomorrow...young entrepreneurs need to be nurtured and supported!

Journals

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:34:00 +0000

Some journal work and a few projects from our K and 1st graders at Hamilton Elementary!

Journal Time

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Journaling is a big part of the Living History curriculum for all of our student groups, regardless of age. We like to use it as a time to promote creativity, meditation, a quiet space for our students to inspire themselves, work on ideas and have a few minutes of totally unstructured, do as you will time.

Below are some photos from recent journal time. Our high school students have been playing with new image making techniques, learning about creating ‘artists books’. On occasion, we’ll bring something in to inspire our elementary students as well - in this case, some fall leaves were all they needed to run wild!

Día de los Muertos

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:31:00 +0000

Our students have been working on some really cool Day of the Dead projects this past week. This is one of our favorite themes - a great springboard to teach students about cultures, symbolism, cycles in nature, Mexican and Aztec history, etc.

Students are cutting their own papel picado, and learned about graphic designer Jose Posada and his drawings in Mexico 100 years back that influenced much of the Día de los Muertos imagery we see today.

They are creating their own calveras, putting their own personal cultural spins on them. So far, we’ve seen a few with ipods, one with a helmet to represent skateboarding, a student who is into drawing who gave his pencils for teeth, another student of Japanese heritage gave his the rice hat that is grandfather wears.

Watch for more photos as the students begin to complete their projects!

Lots of exciting work!

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Living Histories is back in action and back to school!

We are working with several Green Dot charter high schools in a partnership with Champions; we are currently at Animo South LA, Animo Pat Brown, and Animo Bunche, where teachers Jennifer and Steve are working with some amazing students doing photography.

The students this session are focused on learning core ideas in composition, looking at the work of other photographers, developing their own portfolios, and doing conceptual projects around their own identity and role in their community. They also keep journals and practice various printmaking and painting techniques to give them creative ideas; a bit focus on the class is the creative process itself.

We are so excited to see the work they are producing!

student project at animo bunche

A show is in the works for December - more info soon - but in the meantime, check out what they are doing on their blogs:

http://www.animophotography.blogspot.com/
http://patbrownphoto.blogspot.com/

We also just started up at New LA Charter, a middle school. Steve is teaching a "DIY Graphic Design" class to students there. Right now, they are making some very cool Día de los Muertos posters, having learned about Mexican graphic designer Jose Posada. They'll soon be embarking on some cool projects, including creating logos, a website, a magazine, designing their own business, and picking a community project to apply their new design skills too. They are a great group of students, and we are excited to be working with them!

Miss Tiffany is back at Hamilton Elementary in Pasadena, as part of our on going partnership with the Pasadena LEARNs program. She is teaching classes to some K-2nd graders; right now, the students are focused on learning about concepts connected to community, culture and identity (and they too are doing some Día de los Muertos projects as part of their culture explorations) and will soon be engaged in learning about water issues around the globe, engaging in art and writing projects connected to such, and then taking part in a group service project to bring a needing community clean water. We are very excited to get them started on this!

We also promise to have more regular updates - needless to say, it's been a busy 6 or 7 weeks starting this school year up, but we can't want to share more of what our students create!

-Brande

Living Histories Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:50:00 +0000

As Living Histories prepares to embark into our 12th school year, we wanted to fill you in on some of the highlights from 09/10, and let you know what we’ll be presenting for 10/11!

ELEMENTARY SITES

We were excited to return to Longfellow Elementary again last year, a school that is close to our hearts and one we have been serving students at for nearly ten years now. We also presenting programming at Hamilton Elementary, a new school site for us but one that welcomed us with open arms!

At both sites, our young students embarked in a curriculum that taught them about the connection between community and ecology, developed their creativity and critical thinking skills, exposed them to art and art techniques from around the world, incorporating journaling, and got them writing creatively nearly every class session!

Below are just a few of the highlights of our work from last year:

‘Ecosystem Mobiles’ introduced students to the work of Alexander Calder, and was a hands on project to teach them about the interconnectedness of life in both nature and a community.

Building on what they learned about Calder, students then created some beautiful abstract paintings that were inspired by ‘nature shapes’ they found around their own campus.

Students took part in a public art project where participants were asked to answer the question ‘what is in your heart’ with writing or drawing - it was also a great lesson on the differences between ‘literal’ and ‘figurative’! Their work was featured in a gallery in Santa Monica with all of the other participants.

Self portraits made by manipulating copies of photographs

Growing seeds and doing projects connected to our ‘window’ gardens was another popular project!

You might have seen some of their work at the Starbucks on Washington and Lake, which generously allowed us to showcase some of our student work there this past spring. We hope to have more work up once the fall semester begins!

HIGH SCHOOL

On the high school front, we joined up with Marshall Fundamental for their last quarter, working with students in a digital arts class.

Students used Living Histories cameras to create photographs and video, and learned to use programs like Photoshop and iMovie to create finished products that showcased their school, their personal lives, their friends, etc.

You can check out some of their work here: http://eagleediting.blogspot.com/

A video they created with Living Histories teacher and filmmaker Lori Hope can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nlLQZPemPU

We also formed a new partnership with CHAMPIONS: Adventure, After School and Sports Program and Green Dot charter schools, working at Amino Justice and Amino Bunche with high school students. Though we were only with the students for a short few weeks, the class was incredible; taught as a college art course would be, students examined the work of professional and amateur photographers from the standpoint of self expression, and then set out to create their own work. Like all of our courses, students also kept a journal and incorporated writing, drawing and collage into their work.

Their efforts cumulated into a art exhibit held at a local Starbucks that donated wall space; students helped to display the work, getting hands on experiences as curators, and hosted visitors at the grand opening on a Saturday evening. It was an amazing experience - we are so proud of our students!

Check out the Amino blog, including detailed info on the art exhibit, here:
http://animophotography.blogspot.com/

More student photography can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/living-histories/

10/11 PROGRAMMING

To view and download our elementary, high school, and middle school programming for the 10/11 school year, visit our website:

http://adventuresafterschool.blogspot.com/2010/08/living-histories-1011-programing.html

We are still accepting new sites for the 10/11 school year and would love to discuss new partnerships! Email us for more information!

Want to see more? Visit the rest of our blog for more updates from last year:
www.adventuresafterschool.blogspot.com

A big thanks to PUSD LEARNs, Champions, Green Dot and our site coordinators: Marie, Mary, Jack, and Leon for all of their support and help in 09/10!

Living Histories 10/11 Programing

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:39:00 +0000

Below is an overview of what we have planned for the 10/11 school year; this is in many ways just a template, as we customize our programs based on the needs of a specific school site.
If you are interested in having Living Histories at your school or community site,
please email us for more information!

Elementary Sites

Elementary (and middle school) sites this school year will be engaged in two semester long thematic topics:

‘Clean Water’ will be the topic for the first semester; students will be examining the issue of clean water as it pertains to communities around the world. They’ll be engaged in art projects connected to those communities and their traditions, while also using ‘water’ as an inspiration in their work. Tapestries, bark painting, photography, and self portraiture are just some of the many projects they’ll engage in as part of this project. The semester will cumulate with a student initiated and led service project designed to help a community of youth elsewhere get access to clean drinking water, done via a partnership with a global
non-profit organization. Older elementary students will also be documenting and reporting on this process.

For the second semester, students will be looking at sustainable living practices around the world, as well as social entrepreneur models. A big focus will be on creating community gardens and using them as a model to teach ecology, business skills, nutrition, and community building, as well as using them as the inspiration for accompanying art projects. The focus on this semester is to get students to think about using their creativity for the larger social good, and helping them find means by which to do so, while still developing specific artistic and writing skills along the way.

When access to computers are available, students of all ages will engage in video and photo editing, animation, graphic design and blogging in conjunction with these projects.

Middle School Sites

Our middle school sites will be following the same thematic concept as our elementary sites, but will offer students a chance to take a much more hands on approach to the service learning projects and a more technical approach to their art and writing projects. Our middle school sites blend the conceptual ideas of our elementary sites with the technology used at our high schools; a middle school site, for example, might engage in a photojournalism project connected to a community need and create a service project around that idea. For our middle school sites, we strike a balance between providing the structure and consistency that middle schoolers need with the sense of autonomy and social component they want, which in turns keep enrollment levels high.

We plan on hosting a community wide exhibit of student work at the end of each semester.

High Schools

Our high school classes will include:

Photography

A class that looks at photography as a means of documentation and self expression. The class is taught in a ‘collegiate style’, with students studying the work of other photographers and exploring concepts relating to identity and community, while also growing and learning as photographers; learning photo techniques and theories and building their own personal portfolio, which could later be used for college admission purposes. Students will shoot and critique their work weekly, and also keep a journal as part of the class. As a final project at the end of each semester, students will have a show of their work and will create a blog. Students will use Living Histories’ digital cameras, and if possible, school provided computers for editing.

School requirements: any ‘style’ of classroom
Useful school options: use of computers with Photoshop or other photography editing software and internet connection

Digital storytelling

This class incorporates photography with journalism and creative writing; students tell stories of their lives and of their community through photography and writing that they feature on a website (as a group or personal) that they create. Emphasis is placed on using photography as a means to tell a story, and to think about both photography and writing as a means of recording the individual stories that encompass our larger community. Students will use LIving Histories’ digital cameras and school provided computers, and in addition to creating a website, will also have a ‘group show’ and create a ‘literary magazine’ as final projects.

School requirements: any ‘style’ of classroom; use of a computer lab or several laptop computers with photo editing software and internet access

Creative Journaling

This is an art class designed to inspire creativity and creative thinking, and to help students work through creative ‘blocks’ so that they can lead fuller lives. This is a very hands on, studio focused art class that allows students to gain access to a wide variety of new techniques and mediums while also refining their fine art skills, and working to help them conceptually develop creative and critical thinking skills. Students will create actual ‘artist books’ of their work, incorporating collage, image transfers, drawing, painting, photography, and creative writing all together for the purpose of personal expression. Students interested in pursuing an art focused college program would also be able to use their books as part of a portfolio.

School requirements: ideally, use of an art classroom that will allow students to paint and use other art techniques that might be too messy for a regular classroom

Graphic Design

Students will learn the basics of design theory and fundamental graphic design, learning Photoshop and InDesign, creating logos for companies they will create (both theoretical and real community initiatives), posters, business cards, brochures, etc. Emphasis will be on design skills, and then on identifying places in the community that could benefit from such design skills/putting skills to ‘real world’ use.

School Requirements: access to computers with adequate design software

Community Leadership

A class designed to help students identify community issues they want to address and the skills and techniques needed to do so. Students will collectively decide on issues within their community that they want to address and will then learn skills need to do so: communication, organizing, recruiting volunteers, addressing local political leaders, marketing, fundraising and financial management and advocacy. The class is designed to allow students to learn fundamental business and marketing skills in the context of leading an initiative for their local community (or, optionally, by working on a larger ‘global’ issue if they so choose) to create positive change.

School Requirements: a ‘regular’ classroom and access to several computers with internet access.

Documentary Video

In this class, students will learn the fundamentals of documentary video: technical skills around shooting and editing, and larger ‘conceptual’ skills around storytelling and the nature of documentaries. Students will create several pieces using Living Histories’ provided digital video cameras: video blogs for the website they will create, short pieces about people and institutions in their community, and a ‘Public Service Announcement’ meant to address a community issue they determine to be of importance to them as a group.

School Requirements: a ‘regular’ classroom and ideally access to computers with video editing software such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro.

Amino Justice art exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:33:00 +0000

Living Histories has been working with Green Dot charter school's Animo Justice and Bunch the past several weeks, presenting a photography class. Our students recently held an exhibit of their work at a local Starbuck's, check out teacher Jennifer Moon's write up below:

The opening reception for the Transference group exhibition, featuring artists from Animo Justice and Animo Bunche high schools, was an absolute success! It was a lovely evening of artists, family, friends and colleagues supporting the arts. Thank you Stephanie Torres and Starbucks for hosting this beautiful exhibition of photographic work! Below are highlights of the evening.

Nico in front of her beautiful abstractions

David next to his stylistic compositions

Christopher and his conceptual photographs

Leon, Champions Program Director at Animo Justice, studying Christopher's work

Angelo, Champions Vice President, and his wife looking at Christopher's photographs

Antonio from Champions with his wife admiring Cristian's and Nico's work

David's mom surveying Esmeralda's photographs

Kelly reading about Christopher's work

Noelle reading about Esmeralda's work

David and Nico contemplating David's photographs

Christopher enjoying a Starbucks Frappuccino in front of David's work

Two Living Histories teachers, Steven (left) and Janet (right) talking with the students

The crowd at the opening reception: Janet from Living Histories and Angelo from Champions in the foreground

A lovely gathering of friends supporting emerging artists

A wonderful turnout and an incredible evening!

Living Histories at Animo Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:43:00 +0000

Living Histories is excited to now be partnering with Animo Justice High School in South LA!

We'll be bringing a photography class to students during after school hours.

Here is some examples of what the students have done during their first week:

The first week of classes, we gave students cameras to take pictures throughout their school and in the neighborhood around their school. Their first assignment was to take photos that expressed the emotions of love, anger, loneliness, hope and depression. We then asked them to think about how they perceive their community and how to express that in a photographic image. Below are some highlights of their photographic work.

photo by Blanca

photo by Jasmine

photo by Christian V.

photo by Griselda

photo by Elva

photo by Aurroa

photo by Cristian

photo by Christian V.

photo by David

photo by Diana

photo by Jasmine

photo by Sandra

photo by Andrea

Living Histories now at Marshall Fundamental in Pasadena

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:19:00 +0000

Been crazy busy around here - lots of new teachers (formal introductions soon!) and new programs!

We launched our Digital Arts class at Marshall Fundamental this week. Students will be creating a documentary video and photo series about their school and community, along with learning graphic design and creating a blog - we are pretty excited to be getting it going!

Ashley taking photos on campus

Robert documenting his school

What is In Your Heart?

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +0000

What Is In Your Heart?

This was such a fun project, especially coming right off of Valentines Day! An artist friend of ours, Petra Eiko, was involved in creating a wonderful art exhibit called “What is In Your Heart” that is currently on exhibit in Santa Monica. Visitors to the shop/gallery were asked to answer this question via drawing and writing, and to ‘post’ their answers in the gallery space.

I helped filmed the opening reception of this project for Petra, and was so inspired by what I saw that I decided to have our Living Histories students participate as well. Without much prompting beyond a basic explanation, they were asked to answer the question of ‘what is in your heart?’; their answers, as you can see below, are quite insightful, touching, and funny.

The project, as a side note, was also a great teaching tool for the difference between ‘literal’ and ‘figurative’ and we’ll be using it as an introduction to our poetry writing this week.

Check them out:

*Note, this particular artist is currently in love with a very handsome 1st grader named Kai.

*Note, this particular artist is currently a little bit obsessed with dolphins.

Abstract designs

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:22:00 +0000

We've been working on abstract designs inspired by Alexander Calder. We looked at Calder's work while making our ecosystem mobiles last month, and now we are looking at his paintings. This is a great introduction for drawing and color theory; students are creating abstract designs inspired by shapes found in nature (building on what we've been doing with our gardens and ecosystem lessons), then painting them in primary colors. They loooove the project!

Gardens are still growing!

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:37:00 +0000

Transplanting, watering and lots of looking...our seeds are still growing, and everyone is anxious for spring and to start planting outside!

I love how excited the students are about our plants - looking for signs of growth is one of the first things they do now when they come to class!

Ecosystems

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:26:00 +0000

We've been at working making 'ecosystem mobiles' the last few weeks. We'd been talking a lot about ecosystems in recent weeks, looking at what ecosystems having common with 'community', a key concept in our program, and also how the gardens we are growing are part of larger ecosystems.

Students then created their own mini ecosystem mobiles. After looking at the work of Alexander Calder, and thinking about how like an ecosystem, a mobile is a type of art where the pieces interact with each other, students got to work, creating a version of an ecosystem of their choosing: lots of oceans, but also some forests, rainforests, swamps, deserts, jungles, farms, gardens and even a pond!

Happy MLK Day

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:42:00 +0000

"You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love..."
-MLK

Drawing of Martin Luther King Jr. done by one of our Kinder students in his journal last week!

Seeds are growing!

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:37:00 +0000

We were really excited to get back to school after winter break; new projects await, and a chance to check our seeds we planted before we went on vacation.

As we expected, they sprouted over the break - students were very impressed with the results! Spinach and corn seemed to grow the most in the 'mini greenhouses' we made out of plastic bags in the windows, but nearly all of the seeds showed signs of growth. Next step is to move the seedlings into small cups to live in the windowsills for the next month or so before we plant them outside in the ground.

I also had students fill out an 'evaluation', basically a series of simple questions about our classes to give us feedback: what they like, don't like, do they look forward to the class, what other kinds of things do they want to learn, so on and so on. I was pleased to see how many of them wrote about the seed project and gardens, they really seem pumped on doing the gardens this spring.

3rd graders Marco and Kristina check out how much their seeds grew over winter break!

We also started our 'ecosystems' project. Students are learning about ecosystems - what they are, different types of ecosystems, etc. They will then connect this knowledge to their own gardens they will created this spring - investigating their ecosystem, trouble shooting problems, learning about how interrelated things in nature are - as well as what they have already learned about 'communities', and the similarities between ecosystems and communities, a connection they have already picked up on.

For our first 'ecosystem art project' they are making mobiles of an ecosystem they will choose and research - we are also learning about the work of Alexander Calder and other mobile artists. They seem pretty excited about it - more updates on it as we progress!

Journals

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:36:00 +0000

Students are back from break and back to work in their Living Histories class. A few examples of our Hamilton elementary kinder's journals today:

Sowing Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:04:00 +0000

Christmas break is fast approaching, and the students are showing it! This week was a tough one to harness their focus, but we were able to get them excited with our final project for 2009. Armed with packs and packs of seeds, plastic bags, and coffee filters, Living Histories’ students started their first seeds of the 09/10 school year!

I like starting seeds this time of year; mild Southern California winters mean we can start planting the in the ground even before spring becomes official. Literally ‘planting the seed’ in their heads before break is a great way to get students thinking about all of our spring garden projects to come when they return to school.

The project itself is fairly simple; we use wet coffee filters to host the seeds and then place them in plastic sandwich bags that go in windows. Students get to pick several types of seed they want to start, writing the name of each plant on that bag so we know what is what when planting time comes.

I always love watching their reaction to this project - for many, its one of the first time they have ever seen a seed, and it’s crazy to watch their expression as their mind races to figure out how such a small thing can grow into a plant! They love comparing seeds with their classmates, noticing the different sizes and textures. When we get back, they will also be charting which seeds have started and which haven’t, how big some art - creating a graph to compare and figure out if there are varying conditions (water, sun exposure, etc.) contributing to the differences; it’s a great segway to introduce concepts of the scientific process and it’s connection to art and creativity.

We have also been using the idea of ‘recipes’ a lot thematically lately (see earlier posts on them creating ‘recipes for a good community’), so in addition to the planting, students wrote or drew out ‘recipes’ for growing plants.

 They are VERY excited about this project - already checking the seeds daily and asking if they can take the vegetables and fruit home to eat them! I am hoping we have some impressive results when we return to class in two weeks. We’ll have to contain ourselves to growing indoors for about two months, but I am already in talks with school principals on locations for our gardens this year, with high hopes that they can be big enough to yield enough food for students to use in cooking and nutrition lessons, and perhaps even to sell in an entrepreneurial/business project as well. Much more to come on all of this - keep checking back for updates!

Happy holidays!

More Picasso portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Students have been completing their Picasso portraits this week - loving how these are turning out! I’m always fascinated by how they go about creating an image of themselves.

For this project, students are building on what they have learned about how symbols, shape and colors can be used to express feelings or ideas. They then connect that to abstract art,looking at examples of Picasso’s work. They are then given a few copies of a printed image of their face, and asked to ‘reconstruct it’ to express some sort of feeling. Our older students have been doing writing to accompany their pieces; too small to photograph well, but they are really interesting and a great exercise in helping them to conceptualize what it is they are creating.

Here are some examples from 4th, 5th and 6th graders at Longfellow:

Picasso portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:04:00 +0000

Last week students were hard at work on their self portrait projects. This is one of my very favorite activities - students love getting to work with their own image, and it’s a great lesson to emphasize the ongoing theme of identity and self that we have been working with the last few weeks. We lead into the lesson by discussing notions of abstract art, how colors and shapes can convey a feeling, and how we can use those tools to express how we feel about ourselves. We then look at some of Picasso’s abstract work, thinking about how he stylistic choices conveyed feelings and ideas. From there, students dive in on their own images, creating a version of themselves as they see fit.

Below are some examples from 1st graders a Hamilton:

An afternoon in the park...

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:59:00 +0000

This week was a bit of a catch up one for us; students had a chance to finish up projects from their first three weeks of school (portfolios, identity collages and animal symbol masks), and we threw in a fun fall and Native American inspired activity for some diversity as well.

Today was Back to School Night at many of PUSD’s campuses, which means the after school program has to relocate for the afternoon so teachers and custodians can get the rooms looking nice and neat and clean. At Longfellow, we ended up at a local park, and decided to hold “Living Histories classes’ there. Bringing paints to the park on a day I had Kindergartners is either evidence of my ‘hardcore art teacherness’ or a lack of sanity. Maybe a bit of both.

But the project was wonderful. We had the students first do leaf rubbings, then paint the leaves, which they loved. I got the idea from Geninne’s Art Blog - I thought leaves she painted and such a great idea, and figured it was a project our students would enjoy. So far they are loving it - can’t wait to get these hung up in our room and let the older students have a shot at it.

Photos from our day in the park below:

Great article on youth gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:48:00 +0000

As I was working on the initial planning stages of our own garden program for Living Histories, I came across this great article on school gardening in England - very inspirational stuff.

"Experts say introducing children to gardening at an early age helps to contribute to their mental and physical health. Teachers at Kingsway have already noticed an improvement in behaviour and concentration among their pupils.

Liam Jackson, head teacher at the school, says: "We've not quite done a full cycle yet but the children have seen the whole concept of watching, watering and nurturing vegetables – and now they've harvested them. This is so much more important than bringing in tins of food, which is what would have happened normally.

"The next stage is to get more families involved by getting them into the school. The children are very knowledgeable about vegetables – they know what they're doing now."

Living Histories garden project with the Madison community at the Armory temporary site in 2004, Pasadena CA

Living Histories excited to be launching our own community gardening program this school year as part of our 09/10 'campaigns'. Community gardening is an issue we are passionate about. As the article in the Telegraph points out, the lessons for youth are numerous: science, ecology, health, cooking. Living Histories programs tie in themes of art, writing, & indigenous cultures and traditions as well, and most importantly, give students a hands on lesson in service learning and community improvement. Getting a garden going can always be a bit of a struggle - location, maintenance and start up materials are always an issue - but once they are established, can be a resource for youth community wide.

As one of our two 'campaigns' for the 09/10 school year, Living Histories will be launching a community garden program later on this fall, where we will teach students about gardening, sustainability, ecology, art and writing through our project based model, but will also be leading students through an entrepreneurial experience as well - showing them how to set up and run their gardens as small 'social entrepreneur' enterprises that will benefit their local communities.

We are very excited to get this up and launched in the upcoming months - check back here for more updates, and join our after school action list for the latest news!

Some student work from this week...

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Below are some photos of student work from this week. These were made by 4th graders in Tiffany and Krisztina's class at Hamilton. Students are making portfolios to help organize their work they will produce this year. We discussed the concept of 'creativity' and how that helps one come up with solutions, ideas and what not, and how it's important to value what we create, hence the portfolios.

We then asked students to design their portfolios around the idea of 'discovery' and 'exploring', since that is what the creative process is about. We had them pick one image from a stack of magazine pages we had that to them represented one of these ideas. Narrowing down the process to picking an image and then designing the rest of the portfolio around that image helps on lots of levels: it teaches students about symbolism and representation, our topic next week, it helps them learn collage techniques (young students tend to want to just cut out a bunch of random photos, paste them and be done with it, this helps them learn more about the design process and the thought process behind it), and it helps them conceptually grasp the idea of a 'theme'. We asked them to try to draw the rest of their photo; if they cut out a picture of a forest, for example, we ask them to try to show what else was in that forest, to show how it was about discovery.

A few examples are below - I really love how some of these turned out!

Week one of a new year...

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:14:00 +0000

It’s always kinda amazing how fast summer seems to fly by, but I was excited and ready to be getting back to school this year.

Our first week back is usually about introductions and group projects; really focusing on orienting students around the idea of our class being a community and going about work collaboratively.

We have two sites this first quarter: Longfellow, and Hamilton. Both schools are going to be following the same curriculum, as we are hoping to find means for the students - most likely online - to exchange ideas and compare their approaches to the projects.

The first project we jumped into this week were group murals. We do this by having students work collaboratively, in big groups, on large sheets of paper - rolling paper that is used for packaging is typically what we will use. Thematically, we asked students to first think about all the types of things they knew how to do, asking them to make a list even, for fun. Then, collaboratively, we asked them to depict those things on their mural, ideally showing how they could put their talents together. Overall, it went over pretty well - especially for their first activity since coming back!

Next up was the flower pot project - symbolically us ‘growing things together’ - it’s always popular. The kids like drawing on the pots, it’s a fun collaborative effort. We asked them to depict images of ecosystems, one of two words we learned, or ways that they could help their community. Younger students focused on doing a drawing of any type together.

Overall, a great start to the year - we are very excited about jumping into the projects we have planned for the weeks ahead!

Back to school!

noreply@blogger.com (Brande) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:36:00 +0000

We are back in action!

Our students at Longfellow and Hamilton got back to work this week, and we couldn't be more excited! they are starting off their year with Living Histories by learning about our journaling practice, doing group murals, and decorating flower pots for their 'grow together' project. More details coming soon!