Exploring Safety, Community and Learning: Piloting a K-5 Educator Resource
By Hania Mariën and Anna Kirby
17 April 2023
It was 3pm on a brisk November day in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of those days where even after going indoors, you want something warm to drink and hold onto. Specifically, I wanted hot chocolate, but (1) I hadn't thought to bring any with me (2) there wasn't anywhere close enough to get some, and (3) there would have been no way for us to carry hot chocolate along with our multiple bags and wagon, squeaking under the weight of more supplies than we could possibly use in two hours. So no hot chocolate. We would survive.
Anna and I were running two one-hour book clubs to pilot the curriculum that Sharmeen and I had created for The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi and The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Supriya Kelkar. We were running these book clubs for families from the Graduate Commons Program (GCP) at Harvard, a program that serves families living in Harvard University Housing. We had both worked with this program in some capacity. Anna works as a Family Program Manager with GCP full time, and knew some, but not all, of the families who attended the book clubs. I had worked with Anna on GCP programming in the past and didn't know any of the families who attended the book clubs.
When we run programming, Anna and I map out a facilitation plan in a google doc. We don't anticipate everything going according to plan, but the process allows us to identify our biggest goals and the things we definitely want to make space for. Per usual, during both book club sessions, some of our goals shifted as families arrived and during the sessions. I will explain more about how and why those shifts happened later.
The book clubs took place in the common room of a Harvard University Housing apartment building, which resembles a large, combined living room/kitchen with extra furniture that can be moved around. To prep the space for both book clubs, we set up:
the registration area (i.e., a table with a sign in sheet so we could know the names and emails of caregivers who came and a pile of books so each family could grab one when they came in)
the general art and welcome table (as families came in, this table was set up with art supplies or activities connected to the book in some way, for example: coloring pages, a prompt to draw something. There were also general supplies like playdoh that kids could use at any point during the session. Once the session started, this table was a place families could go at any point to work on something unrelated if what we were doing wasn't working for them in the moment. Supplies for the book club activities were set aside so we could make sure we would have enough.)
the craft tables (tables we used for art or craft activities during the book clubs)
the snack table (which could be accessed at any time)
the read-aloud area (i.e., armchairs and a couch set up in a circle big enough to spread a 12-foot rainbow parachute on the ground)
music playing from a phone (to play while people came in, quietly during activity time, and in case a spontaneous wiggle break was needed)
small signs on regular paper outlining activities families could do while they wanted for the read-aloud to start
Session 1: The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh
Three grown ups and three children joined us for our first session, during which we read The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh. As families came in, we gave them a quick tour of the space and told them they could get snacks and eventually head over to the read-aloud area.
We started with a warm up activity to move our bodies and introduce ourselves: we pretended our belly buttons were markers and used those markers to write our names or draw a shape, like a heart or star. After this, we went around in a circle and shared our names (in some cases, grown ups shared children's names) and one thing that we would each do on a perfect day.
Next I read the book aloud, using the questions in the curriculum. We pulled out some of the information in the author's note to help us learn about what a Patka is. These were the notes we provided for ourselves, which draw directly from the author's discussion guide:
Has anyone heard of a Patka before? (rhymes with “shut-ka”)
A patka is a type of turban that is generally worn by younger children until they transition to a full-size turban. The word ‘patka’ is pronounced ‘pat-ka’ (‘pat’ is said like the word ‘shut’).
Harpreet is Sikh, someone who follows a religion called Sikhism which is the FIFTH largest religion in the world. A lot of people share this faith!
A lot of Sikhs wear a turban, it’s kind of like a uniform that is worn every day as a reminder of some of the core values that Sikh’s believe in. Like love, equality, service to others and social justice.
A turban is an article of faith which can’t be taken off. We always need to treat an article of faith like this with respect and not touch it unless we ask and someone says it’s okay. And we can’t just ask someone to take it off, like a hat. It has a really important meaning to the people who wear it.
Some of the children were moving around a bit, so I didn't feel like sharing all of this information would be helpful in the moment. Instead, I shared only the information in the first and last bullets, because what felt most important as an initial takeaway was an understanding of what a Patka is and of the fact that it should be respected. Since everyone would take a copy of the book home with them, we mentioned that families could read and learn more in the author's note in the back of the book.
We adapted the "after you read" question from the curriculum, so that it would better fit our context. The "after you read'' question in the curriculum is focused on safety, which we felt would be helpful for classroom educators interested in supporting their students and fostering a sense of safety over time. Given the time constraints of a one session book club and the younger age group we were working with (early childhood to kindergarten), our purposes were slightly different: we primarily wanted to create space for artistic exploration and connections between caregivers and children. We decided to focus on two feelings Harpreet experiences in the book: feeling shy and feeling brave. Our adapted "after you read '' question was: How does Harpreet decide what color Patka to wear? How does he change how he makes decisions about what color to wear by the end of the book?
We talked about how in the book, Harpreet likes to choose Patkas based on how he is feeling that day. During a lot of the story, Harpreet feels shy and wants to wear a Patka that will make him invisible. But at the end of the story, he makes a friend and starts to feel more brave! And he connects that good, brave feeling with the Patka he was wearing that day.
Before transitioning into our art activity, Anna prompted families to talk about a time when they felt shy and a time when they felt brave. How did their bodies feel in each case? How were they different? Our original plan had been to write our questions on large paper on the wall (Can you think of a time when you felt shy? How did your body feel? Can you think of a time when you felt brave? How did your body feel?), but we decided not to because our group was so small.
At about 30 minutes into the session, we were ready to transition to our art activity to continue exploring these feelings of shyness and bravery.
We adapted the feelings wheel activity to explore only two feelings. We thought this would be easier within an one-hour session, and suspected younger children (and potentially older ones too) might get more out of exploring fewer feelings in more depth. Our adapted template looked like the wheel at the top of this blog (all of our templates and questions are available in the curriculum linked at the bottom of the page).
Anna explained that the kind of art we would be making is called collage, and that it is art you make from cutting out and gluing paper and other materials together. In this case, we would be making our collages on paper print-outs of the template above. Anna explained that the top part of the circle is for the shy feeling, and the bottom part is for the brave feeling. In each part of the circle, she said, we would create a collage showing the things we feel and think when we’re feeling shy or brave.
As an example, at the beginning of the book, Harpreet might have put a picture of his white Patka in the “shy” part of the circle. He might have put other things that reminded him of wanting to be invisible, like the things he was scared of in his new house. But by the end of the book, he could put his white Patka in the “brave” part of the circle, along with pictures of his new friends and all the things that make him feel brave in his new house.
Anna went on to explain how families might think about this more concretely for themselves: What do you think of or imagine when you think about feeling shy? What do you think of when you think about feeling brave? Those are the things you can put in your circles! If you can’t find pictures to cut out that you like, you can always draw them too.We spent the remainder of the hour creating and sharing our art pieces.
Overall, the hour went well. Adapting the art activity to focus on two feelings seemed less overwhelming to us and more appropriate for a 30 minute activity. The hour didn't feel rushed, and we had time to play with the parachute and playdoh as well as reading the book and doing the art activity.
We don't know how well this activity would work in a higher-energy group or with more families. We could imagine allowing children to choose their own feelings to put into the circle, rather than focusing specifically on shyness and bravery. We could also imagine a modified version of the activity using bodies to act out feeling shy and brave, which might work well with a group with more energy.
Session 2: The Magical Yet
Six grown ups and seven children joined us for our second session. When families signed up, we had provided options for two sessions with two different books. The second book club session was advertised as featuring The Magical Yet. However, after the first session, Anna and I were tired, and we thought that re-doing the The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh session might make more sense. It would allow us to learn about what worked and what didn't with a bigger group of children, and to use the remaining art supplies from the first session.
As in the first session, families showed up over a period of 15 or 20 minutes. We welcomed them to our art table and then to the read-aloud area when they were ready. As one of the families came in, a parent mentioned how excited they were about the book we were going to read (The Magical Yet) because their child had been getting frustrated trying new things lately. We quickly debated sticking with our plan of repeating what we had done with The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh or reverting back to the original The Magical Yet plan. As more families joined, energy was high. Many of the children knew each other and were giving back the same wild energy they were receiving. As children ran around the room and tumbled onto the floor with the parachute, we decided that the 2D collaging activity from The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh might not work as well for the high energy group. We opted to revert back to the The Magical Yet curriculum, which had a 3D art activity and felt like it might better meet our group where they were at this evening. This ended up feeling like the right decision.
We opened with the same warm up activity, this time with a longer period of parachute time at the end. While Anna swapped out the art supplies to accommodate our change in plans, I read The Magical Yet aloud. Pointing out small details and asking questions, as suggested by the "as you read" questions, worked reasonably well to keep this group of high energy children engaged. I ended up adding some questions about movement as I read the book. For example, if the character in the book was biking, I would say: can you bike slooooow with your legs? Can you bike fast with your legs? We skipped the back inside cover questions and transitioned into a brief discussion to connect the book to our own lives. We did a turn 'n talk and asked children to talk to their grown ups about 1) something they want to be able to do but can't do yet, and 2) a person in their life who could help them with that goal. We then asked if anyone wanted to share.
Before we shared, we reminded everyone that some things that are easy for you may be hard for other people, so if we say "that's easy!" we could hurt someone's feelings if that thing is hard for them. Instead, we could say "I can do that right now!" Or we can say "I can't do that yet!" or "You can't do that yet!."
After sharing, Anna explained the art activity. In the book, the Magical Yet was a little creature that represented the possibility of doing something that you really want to be able to do. She explained that we were all going to make our own 3D Magical Yet to remind us that we can do hard things, even if we can’t do them yet. She also showed us two examples she had made, and shared how those Magical Yets could help her keep practicing the things she wants to be able to do.
Magical Yets could look like whatever the creators wanted, but we did ask everyone to include two things:
Think about something encouraging you would want to tell someone who can’t do something yet. Add a speech bubble so your Magical Yet is saying that thing. (We provided print-outs of speech bubbles that they could cut out).
Think of a person who helps you with things, or who could help you if you can’t do them yet. Draw them (or something to represent them) and put them by your Magical Yet.
There were a lot of jumping and flying Magical Yets. For several children, we think the activity ended up being more about exploring and creating the materials than about the concept of a Magical Yet. Not everyone added speech bubbles or helpful people to their Yets, so when they shared out with the group, we tried to ask at least one of those questions. Since the purpose of these book clubs was mostly to have fun, we weren't too concerned about content takeaways like this, but with more time (and potentially doing the activity earlier in the day) we may have had better luck encouraging children to reflect on how their Magical Yet could help them try something new. Overall, they still had fun creating and spending time with one another.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this publication belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily represent those of REACH or the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
About the Educators
Hania Mariën and Anna Kirby are PhD candidates, friends, and co-educators at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Together, they founded a project called Imagining More Just Futures, and run intergenerational identity-based book clubs, children's workshops and Critical Participatory Action Research camps. In their spare time, and as procrastination tactics, they enjoy exploring the wilderness, climbing up walls, reading children's books and graphic novels, and doing art projects. This blog post was authored by Hania and co-edited with Anna.