The Three Lives of a Cardboard Box

Few things are more intriguing to a preschooler than an empty box—so many possibilities! This box began as a shipping container from Amazon. At teacher Megan Dixon’s suggestion, these Room 5 children decided to decorate it. First it was going to be a unicorn. Then a lion. Then an elephant.

“After a moment of disagreement, the children appeared to forget about the end product and simply became enchanted with the process of decorating it,” Megan says. They painted it, stuck colored tape and stickers on it, and glued jewels, feathers, foam bits, and string to it. Several children were absorbed in the project for about 25 minutes, and others stopped by to add their contributions.

Megan continues, “After we put the box out of sight in another room to let the glue dry, the children never asked about it again. They were totally in the present moment during the process, and once it was done, that was that.” But the story doesn’t end there.

Several days later, the teachers retrieved the box from its hiding place. A group of children took it into the play yard and proceeded to peel off all the things the first group had stuck on to it. “This kept them focused for 10 or 15 minutes,” Megan says. “Once they were satisfied, they put all the decorations into the box and took turns hiding the box of ‘treasures’ in the yard so the rest of the children could go on a treasure hunt.”

“How Was School Today?”

As a child, the question “How was school today?” irritated me. How could I describe a medley of experiences–a great game on the playground, the disappointment at having to go inside, jostling to find a place in line, losing myself in a story, eating snack with a friend? At the end of the day, all I wanted was down time, a chance to step out of the world of schedules and expectations and relax all parts of my being. Research shows that children’s brains need to pause, and having to try to answer questions keeps them in a state of alert.

Remembering how you felt as a child can provide a pathway to attune to the needs of a child at the end of a busy day. Sometimes children decompress by having a little tantrum at pick-up or by venting about something that didn’t go their way. Maybe they didn’t want to leave what they are doing or don’t want the snack you brought. They may recall a mishap with a friend. It’s wise to see upsets, complaints, and demands as indications that they are feeling safe to let down.

Pick-up can be a good time to make statements rather than immediately asking questions. “You look like you were having fun.” “I saw you were with your friend outside.” “I really missed you today.” “I was thinking we could get a snack on the way home.”

As we talk about our observations, feelings, and hopes for the next hours together, we create connection, and when children feel relaxed, they may want to talk.

In addition to questions about school, it can be tempting to ask children about issues that concern us: “Did you make up with your friend?” “Was anyone mean to you?” “Did you listen to the teacher?” “How did you do on your spelling test?”

The problem with these well-intended questions is they lead the child back into assessing the day in a particular way based on a past mood or event that caused us anxiety. We want to know the child’s spin on the current day and support their sense that regardless of the ups and downs, they were up to handling them.

If you have concerns, talking to your child’s teacher can offer a fuller perspective and help you to partner on supporting your child’s feelings of happiness and well-being.

Enrichment Classes: LIBRARY

In addition to their academic classes, our elementary students attend “enrichment” classes that support and broaden the classroom curriculum—art, library, P.E., garden, and theater arts. This week’s focus is our library program.

Mari reads to second graders

All our kindergarten through fifth grade classes attend library class once a week, half a class at a time. Mari Pongkhamsing is our librarian and library teacher. She uses a curriculum called the Digital Citizenship Curriculum, which defines digital citizenship as “the responsible use of technology to learn, create, and participate.”

Mari begins library class for second through fifth graders by reading them a story, then teaches a lesson and gives them an assignment related to information literacy, digital citizenship, or literature. The students then have free time to browse for books to check out, do art work, play a weekly guessing game, or choose a workshop activity—building toys, like Legos and Magna-Tiles, or coding toys.

Class for first grade follows the same format but usually doesn’t include an assignment. She reads to kindergarteners and helps them select books to check out.

Building skills. “I want to help foster a love of books and reading by creating a positive experience for students in the library,” Mari says. “I try to find new books to read aloud that I think students will enjoy, and I try to plan assignments that will be fun for them while also helping to build skills like information literacy, digital citizenship, and critical thinking about literature.”

Skills students learn in library class generalize to other subjects and other areas of life, she notes—how to find and evaluate information, reading and reflecting on literature, and developing digital citizenship skills.

Graphic novels. The biggest change in our library since Mari became our librarian last year is an expansion of the graphic novel section for second through fifth graders. “Graphic novels are very popular among elementary-school aged readers,” she says. “Most libraries have graphic novel sections now.”

Graphic novels, she says, “help students develop a range of skills—literacy and visual literacy, understanding a sequence of events, a stronger vocabulary, and independent reading. The visual content helps to improve readers' comprehension and increases empathy for the characters in the book.” Graphic novels are especially helpful with struggling and reluctant readers, visual learners, English language learners, and advanced learners, she adds.

Well qualified. Mari has been a student and a parent and a teacher at The Meher Schools and has worked here on and off since high school. She has a master’s degree in library and information science and a special education credential. She also has an MA in folklore and interned for a summer at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Mari’s son, Ollie, graduated from our fifth grade two years ago. Her daughter, Anjali, is in our third grade.