What Do We Value and How Do We Show It?
/Children returned to school in September of 2020 after a summer of unrest in the city. They came to school sharing stories of protests, engaging in a lot of conversation and play about coronavirus, and discussing the upcoming presidential election. These early interests led Kindergarteners on a year-long investigation revolving around community, advocacy, and justice. We read books about environment, racial, and social justice leaders, studied the artists who came from historically excluded populations, and ultimately thought about how we could use our newfound knowledge to provoke positive change in our own neighborhood. The children decided to create a design that would illustrate our classroom values - everyone deserves health, respect, fair treatment, a home, food, water, clothing, and a good life - and screen print this design on posters and t-shirts for sale. They created an order form and sent it out to all of their family and friends, and soon we had over 100 orders! The children became expert screen printers as they filled each order, and raised over 2,000 dollars which they decided to split between three local organizations: Red Hook Mutual Aid, Red Hook Farms, and Community Help in Park Slope.
