OUR RICHMOND is the Umbrella project this year at Sabot school. Children, Teachers and Families from each classroom will explore their relationship with the city of Richmond. From the start of this school year teachers have been offering provocations and children have been talking about their places and drawing maps.
Are you familiar with the term provocation, which comes from the schools of Reggio Emilia? Provocations are experiences designed to inspire children’s thinking. They can be questions, encounters with materials, people or places. Provocations are thoughtfully and carefully arranged by teachers who then observe the children as they encounter the idea, object, place, or event.
Yesterday was the biggest provocation so far, as all of the Kindergarten through 8th grade children, Teachers and lots of Parents took trips to various cites in the city. You can see many pictures here facebook.com/SabotatStonyPoint
I went with the second grade to walk the Pipeline Trail atlasobscura.com/james-river-park-pipeline-walkway It was fun to walk along the pipe to the little beach, and then down the trail to Brown's Island and Belle Isle. Along the way we met a stand-up paddle boarder going down the rapids, met a friendly woman who was camped beside the river with her friends, talked to a fisherman and saw the third grade across the river at the floodwall. From Belle Isle we could see the Sabot middle schoolers on their bikes up at hollywood-cemetery. The children found charcoal and drew on rocks and themselves, saw cairns made of bricks and rocks and made their own, and sketched and sketched.
I went with the second grade to walk the Pipeline Trail atlasobscura.com/james-river-park-pipeline-walkway It was fun to walk along the pipe to the little beach, and then down the trail to Brown's Island and Belle Isle. Along the way we met a stand-up paddle boarder going down the rapids, met a friendly woman who was camped beside the river with her friends, talked to a fisherman and saw the third grade across the river at the floodwall. From Belle Isle we could see the Sabot middle schoolers on their bikes up at hollywood-cemetery. The children found charcoal and drew on rocks and themselves, saw cairns made of bricks and rocks and made their own, and sketched and sketched.
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| the fisherman |
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| photo by Jesse |
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| Nora found a toad |
This year's project is supported by a grant from Partners in the Arts. The grant will provide funding to bring in visiting artists, who will support the staff in developing skills in photography, graphic design and digital stories.
How do children come to understand citizenship and community? How does the City perceive its youngest citizens? Children are often taken into account in conversations about planning community spaces and services, but are rarely are their voices a part of the dialog. Our Richmond is a long-term documentary research and design project in which children use photography, writing and graphic design to learn about and become advocates for their community. Children will document experiences and observations in the city and then represent their impressions through creative writing, photography and graphic design. We believe that, in collaboration with working artists, children can re-envision Richmond and inspire dialogue and social change.
What does the city know about the way children want to live in it?
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