Olden Time Photo Shoot

All throughout our project, the children were fascinated with the old photos we would see. They frequently commented about how serious everyone looked and theorized about why parts of some pictures were blurred out. Was it edited like the children see on TV? We realized that a single photo could communicate so much about the times in which it was taken. So one day, towards the end of our project, the children dressed up at their characters and set out to take "historical photos" that communicated information about the times in which the characters lived. Anna brought her camera and served as our photographer. With Anna's help,the children tried very hard to have their photos be as accurate as possible by making them grainy and black and white. They removed modern objects that would not have been present. They tried to match their clothes to the times and even chose books to read that would have been published in the days of their characters. Classmates stood in as family members or friends as needed. They often had to take pictures several times to get the serious faces they had seen in photos from the past (we're so used to giving a grin when we get our picture snapped). 

Nina Watson reads A Little Princess to her daughter, Moses, at bedtime.
The story was a popular one of the time. 

The Snyder family from Germany.
They look quite serious. No smiling in picture back then!

Joan Adwent hosts a tea party with new friends from America.

Bernard Bunnell poses with his copy of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
The story was a hit in his day and so good that it remains well known today.

Rosa Maria De Rosa sleeping in her tenement building.

Kirsten Johnson sews her mothers ripped bonnet.

A Peek Into Our History Project

Our People: A look into history through the stories of our ancestors from Sabot at Stony Point on Vimeo.
A class of third graders learned about ancestors who immigrated to America. They did historical research to fill in unknown details. The truth about their ancestors, mixed with their research, helped form new characters. While their stories are part fact and part fiction, it may surprise you which parts are true (one child's ancestor did actually get captured by Algerian pirates and another's ancestor was split up from his brother when their ship sank and they were rescued by different boats passing by). There are other pieces that are completely fictional, like the characters' stories intersecting, because obviously our ancestors didn't know each other ... or did they? While individual stories may be hard to follow, I hope this video can be a glimpse into the knowledge and understanding the children gained and the power of taking on a character for the purpose of learning



A few teacher reflections on the project this year

• Taking on a character: There is something magical about becoming someone else for a moment. It is the natural way that children make sense of things and try the world out. We think about this a lot in very young children, but it is still very alive as the children grow older. Making room for that way of learning to be part of the official classroom work and not just saved for the playground has been important. We harnessed the power of their natural way of thinking to help accomplish the goal of learning how to do historical research. I heard one student, new to Sabot, stop to think about how much the playfulness of our project helped her to learn. While all previous years lead to strong investigations about immigration, the years in which the children created characters have been more compelling. The children are just that much more invested in their work when the development of their character depends on it.
• What they know vs. what they show: I've noticed over the years that there is often a large gap between the level of conversation and discourse during class and what ends up on the pages of something like the scrapbooks we made this year. When looking at the books alone it can be underwhelming. I know how much the children have learned. I see how far they have come in both their understanding of periods in history and in research skills. One of our ongoing goals is to help the children communicate what they know more effectively. That is a major part of an education. I also continue to ponder how to help reveal all that I've seen and trust about the work for others to marvel and enjoy with me. I suppose that is the Reggio way, to try to unlock the process, the thinking, and share it with the world. I'd been thinking about how to share more about this project when Cat (our math specialist) came for a visit. Listening to the children talk to her about the story of their characters revealed the depth of ownership and understanding. That conversation inspired this video as a supplement to the scrapbooks-- a window into just how well the children have come to know the character and their context.

With a few coins in your pocket... (continued)

Here is the work introduced in my previous post titled "With a few coins in your pocket..."
I included the work of all of the children so look through as you would like. Again, this work was not made to show all of their solidified ideas about how immigration changed America, but rather it was through this process that they did some of their best thinking.

I am a Greek jewelry maker and I came to America because I wasn’t getting enough money in Greece. I made earrings with one of them having a z hanging from it and one with an omega hanging from it. The z is the last letter of the English alphabet and the omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. I did one z and one omega

because the Omega is for living in Greece and the z is for coming to America. In America I am getting more money because the earrings are a new style and people think they are interesting so they buy them and I get more money. Now American jewelry has a Greek influence.

 I am in the shoes of my father who immigrated to America. I want to fly on a concord so I created a model concord. I am going to America to seek education so I drew a computer on the side of the toy concord and wrote “Concord for Learners” on it. I will emigrate from the U.K. so I wrote U.K. Airways on it.

When I get to America, I will be a model maker. Inspired by my dad’s story, I will make model Concords. This is one of my models.

I made this because I emigrated from Greece and I needed to find a job in America. I decided that, as a blacksmith, I would make a lyre from my own home and everybody else would see what music was like back in Greece. I decided to bring the music with me to the new land. I would make these and sell these and everyone else would start liking them so other blacksmiths would start making them.

I needed a job in America. I thought of something an American might be interested in. Then I realized, I just simply had to show my old home. It would be so interesting to them. I mean who had ever seen stinging nettles? They would find it fascinating. And they had never seen the English flag so that would be pretty cool for them. It is going to be hard to find a job. But on the other hand, I will be able to fascinate people with my sewing.

I am from Russia. I made a toy boat to remind me of my trip from Russia to America. Back in Russia I was a sailor and in America I am a sailor too. I am bringing a toy boat to America to show America something new.

I am a German boat maker who makes large boats. I am also an air plane maker. I could help design a boat and then travel over to America on it, just like the designer of the Titanic. Once I get to America I could design more boats and help people get to other places on boats and airplanes. I would teach American about ways that boats work so they might want to use my ideas. This is how I would not be poor but still have a business going on in a new land.

I am a blacksmith from Ireland. I make horseshoes. I made a horse and I would bring that horse on the ship with me so that I can travel to places faster in America. When I got to America, I became a teacher and taught people how to make horse shoes. That is how I made money in America.

I am a chocolate maker from Germany. I came to America because I wanted to escape World War I. I came on a ship and I felt very alone in the world because I was one of the only people from Germany. I felt cold, sad and sort of worried that I wouldn’t make it. I think the chocolate making from Germany will help me get money and get a good job.

I am a Chinese toy maker. I came to America with my family to have a better life. I made a ship and life boats and my family to represent how I came to America. By me coming to America I will change it because there might not be certain types of toys that are like the Chinese versions.

I came to America as a food maker. I decided to make lasagna to show how I immigrated with the cheese shaped like my voyage on top. People probably haven’t had lasagna so I cold make a really good shop after I start out on the streets and such.

I am a living room designer from France. I came to America because I wanted to escape slavery. I needed to get money so I decided that a living room designer would get me money because I did the living room designs back in France and those people liked them. Now in America their living rooms have a part of France. They have French influence.

I am a mirror maker from Germany. I came to America because I wanted to have a better business because people didn’t want mirrors in Germany. I thought that since lots of people came from different places that they might want to see or try out a mirror from Germany to see what it is like. It will give a new variety of mirror to America. My talent might get more used than back in Germany.

Slowing Down

 "If they had never come we wouldn’t be here."



                         "...each one brings one piece of America."

 "If other people come to America then it actually changes America and America changes them."

"... without all of these people coming, America would be tiny and boring. There wouldn’t be certain foods, any cool designs of houses, it just wouldn’t be right without these people coming."

How Has Immigration Changed America?

I asked the children this question several times and we had a few brief conversations about their ideas but mostly I just let the idea sit in their brains. I know that this is a lot of work to share at one time but I couldn't choose  between them. Treat this like a museum of ideas. Read what interests you.

I think an important point to make is that these drawings are not illustrating ideas that were already solidified in the children's minds. It was through drawing and discussing their drawings that the children really worked through most of the idea they communicate here. The drawing was one more way to process. It slowed us down to let us think more deeply.




My mural represents an immigration liner. The immigration liner has flags from all different countries such as Brazil, Argentina, England and Scotland and the American flag. I did the flags because I thought it represented all of the different countries and nationalities coming to form America. I think immigration has changed America because it has made more countries come together.

My mural represents how all of the cultures came together. Like in New York all of the cultures came together in one place. I drew four buildings, each from a different culture. I drew a Chinese temple, a castle for Ireland, a pueblo from Zimbabwe and a sky scraper for modern America. It shows how all the cultures came together to make a city.

Immigration has America in a lot of ways and I tried to represent how we got all of our different ideas for our architecture and buildings.

My mural represents what things people built or brought to America. Some things on this mural are things that we use today. The calendar came from Egypt. The tea cup came from England. The castle came from Ireland. Immigration has changed America by bringing cultures and different things like animals to America.

The picture I made is a bunch of flags of the world, but not all of them because the piece of paper wasn’t big enough. The flags I made represent a bunch of people coming from different place to America. The way immigration has changed America is that without all of these people coming America would be tiny and boring. There wouldn’t be certain foods, any cool designs of houses, it just wouldn’t be right without these people coming.

This is basically showing how immigration has changed American fashion. Each of these pictures represents a different country and their fashion. Each country is equaling our fashion these days. You could take the boots and the shirt from England and mix it with a purse from Russia and a sash from Italy and you will get an American kind of fashion. It is basically kind of saying how immigration has encouraged new fashion in America.

My picture is of a bunch of restaurants from all over the world. At the beginning of the mural, the restaurants are only American. Then as time goes on, the restaurants become a wider variety and there are a lot more than just American restaurants. It shows that if there were no immigrants then there wouldn’t be any dumplings or pizza or burritos or curry.

My mural represents a bunch of people coming from all different places across the world until in the United States they can meet up somewhere and become friends and know each other but they are still from different places. For example, in the post office a person from Belgium and a person from Ireland meet together and become friends. But then the person from Ireland meets another person from Japan and they become friends. But then the person from Japan also meets the person from Belgium and then it is three people from different countries. The main idea of this mural is that there are different people from different places in our country.

I did a picture of the Mayflower to represent the pilgrims and how they changed America. They changed America because they went over there and started the country America. If they had never come we wouldn’t be here. We would be in a different country with different cultures or would we exist at all?

I put the different flags on my mural to represent how many people in the world came to America and how much it has brought us different food, clothing, style, languages and how much it has contributed to the country. The names of the countries on the mural are individual different colors to represent that each one brings one piece of America.

I chose to draw a big ship with people on it that are from different places and have different things and different clothes. It represents all of the different kinds of people in the world and I have a big American flag over top of the ship to represent the United Sates. All of the people came to America for different reasons. That is why everyone has something different, to represent what they do.

My mural is food from different countries, like for instance pizza or tea. If we didn’t have immigration we couldn’t have foods like that. I drew pictures of the foods and then drew the flags representing the country they came from.

If other people come to America, then it actually changes America and America changes them. They can change America by teaching other people how to say words in their language and people in America help them understand the American language. I drew people with their flags on a piece of paper and would come to America. Each one is saying “hello” in their language.