10/28 Fourth Saturday Studio-
I brought in one of my favorite kid’s books for a story time to begin our studio this Saturday. I figured this would allow the kids who came in a bit late to find a spot to sit without feeling like they missed out on some of the instructions. The story is a retelling of a story from Henry Thoreau’s Walden and tells the story of Henry’s choice to hike and his friend’s decision to spend his day working for train fare to get to Fitchburg. I figured that the length (about 5 ft) of the accordion book we would make first, would have the content possibilities opened up by the story of a long adventure trip.
http://www.henryhikes.com/books/

My plan was to keep the construction of the books pretty simple for the 1st and 2nd graders because of their grade level and also there was the possibility that we would joined by the kindergarteners as well. Given this, I know most of the time was going to be spent on filling the books with words and drawings- so I figured start with reading a story out loud.

I had all the paper cut to length and width as needed ahead of time, so for the lengthy book I asked the kids of fold the cover and the page sheets in half. I then had them tape the ends of all the page sheets together for the 5ft length and paste the back of page one to the inside of the front cover. I didn’t present this entirely clearly for everyone as one was pasted to the inside of the back cover. It was at this point that we moved to the other book construction to allow the pasted page to dry. Out of about 9 kids, about 2/3 moved to the next book. Several others at a single table were focused on creating content for the accordion book and wanted to continue with this. Susan helped these kids with drawing lessons on equestrian depiction.
The other book also began with folding the cover and all the pages in half. One of the folded page papers was then pasted to the inside of the cover. After this it was hole punch time- a sizable bottleneck considering tool shortage. I knew the on-hand punch wouldn’t make it through the thick paper and layers of thinner paper, so I brought mine. But that did mean we only had one. Fortunately, kids did not get to this point in the project all at the exact same moment. After holes, they could pick green or orange thick thread to weave through the binding holes. Susan helped out one student whose holes were so close to the binding edge that it could not be sewn together. She real quick remade the book up to that point. The next step became optional. They could cut small strips to form little books on the even pages- or just keep the book in the form it was in. Molly helped out with the pasting process that attached the cut strip page folded to the solid page behind it. One boy kept his pages whole, to make into a “Kids’ Science Experiments” book. A few kids did the tiny book page on only one or two of the papers.
A little after 11, the kids were welcomed to decorate the interior slips to go into the plastic mugs. Everyone enjoyed this, several asked to do multiple cups.
During the studio time, there was one boy who was not interested in creating the interior of the first book and was not at all interested in constructing the second book. He gathered all the push pins and made a pattern on the bulletin board down which he could slide pencils. The boy next to him asked him, pretty assertively, to stop bugging him. I repeatedly asked him how his book was coming along- in hopes of switching his focus. But he was really just not interested. With the mug he did a quick scribble drawing then experimented to see if the cup could be put together in a way that would allow him to take it back apart. Eventually he challenged me to put it together because he thought it would make no difference.
Between individuals who do not participate in the structured activity and those who focus deeply on one of the structured activities- it becomes clear that goals are personally determined and are not deemed flexible by the individual under such short term circumstances. It is possible to implement various techniques in the role of full time teacher in long term arrangements established for and understood by all, to utilize those goals instead of change them.