On Monday we read the narrative Martin's Big Words. The children were captivated by the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In this narrative we learn how Martin Luther King used powerful words to advocate and create change. I invited the children to think of their own big words. Many of the Kindergarteners shared words we have explored throughout the year. Other children said new words.
Throughout the week we pulled from their big and powerful words. During morning meeting I reread their words and one child chose the word we would work with. I introduced the word cultivate and the children responded to the question, How can we cultivate _________ ?
Our ideas continued to connect back to Martin's Big Words. We can cultivate love by listening to one another, helping when someone needs a hand, welcoming everyone in, using kind words, and sharing feelings of love. The children used pictures, labels, speech bubbles, and symbols to show ways we can cultivate our big word. On Tuesday, we noticed moments when we cultivated love in our classroom. We celebrated the little and powerful choices we made.
How can you cultivate love?
What will happen if we all try to cultivate love?
How does this connect to Martin Luther King's story?
On Wednesday one community member chose the word sharing. This was a little more challenging to represent, because for some children the word went beyond sharing materials.
On Thursday our chosen word was really a short sentence a child had written on Monday. Their sticky note had three words; You and Me.
How can we cultivate feelings of you and me?
What does that look like in our classroom? In our school?
These words connect back to our exploration of togetherness, community, and inclusion.
All are welcome here, you and me.
We can cultivate these big words and feelings everyday. Here is a small collection of photographs showing how we cultivated you and me this week.
We can cultivate you and me by reading together and listening when it is our partner's turn to read. We cultivate you and me by sharing our work and being open to feedback from peers.
We cultivate you and me by building together.
We cultivate you and me by welcoming Megan into our classroom and being ready for her to teach, learn, and work with us.
We cultivate you and me by recognizing all of the hard work we do as a community and celebrating our social and emotional accomplishments in many different ways.
This week we celebrated making kind choices over an afternoon snack of pancakes and syrup. It was a joyful and delicious end to a week full of powerful reflection. May we all learn from the children and cultivate big feelings and words everyday in simple and beautiful ways; saying good morning, welcoming someone to work with you, or sharing a smile and a meal with friends.
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