Be You After-School Program at Jaffrey-Rindge School District Explores Creativity and Making

The team at FableVision Learning just wrapped up a fantastic year working with the with Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District after-school program.

We worked with the New Hampshire school district to implement an exciting after-school program for K - 8/9 students that supported personal and academic success through the use FableVision’s creative tools and engaging projects.

Using custom curriculum focused on social-emotional learning (SEL) along with tools like Animation-ish, FabMaker Studio and resources from the The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy the students explored their creativity while sharing their voice. To wrap up the program, FableVision hosted a virtual. end-of-year celebration of student work with special guests Paul and Peter H. Reynolds.

Here are some highlights:

Engineering and Design with FabMaker Studio

From intricate pop-ups to 3D robot Batman, students explored design engineering and paper fabrication.

Animation-ish

Students learned the basics of animation and explored different levels of Animation-ish to create their final projects (seen above in gif form).

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Are you looking to bring custom programs and curriculum to your school, after-school or camp classes? contact us at info@fablevisionlearning.com to find out more!

Michelle & Barack Obama Read The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds

New York Times Best-Selling Author/Illustrator Peter H. Reynolds was beyond surprised to learn that former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama teamed up to do a live reading of his storybook The Word Collector, about a boy named Jerome who collects his favorite words.

Only days before the reading, Peter received a request from the Obamas - through his publisher Scholastic - to read the book live on social media. 

“Of course, I didn’t hesitate for an instant to agree, but I had no idea that the reading event would happen so quickly,” he shared.

In their home, on Thursday, May 14, the Obamas hosted an installment of the Chicago Public Library's online series "Live From the Library," a daily story time for children.  The reading was recorded and is still accessible on the Chicago Public Library’s Facebook page, and the Obama Foundation’s YouTube Channel.  

Adding to the honors, both Michelle and Barack tweeted out about the reading to their 132 million followers on Twitter.  Their video reading has now been viewed over 10 million times on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and reported on by major media outlets around the globe.

 Published by Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic,  The Word Collector, is a story about a little boy named Jerome, who loves to collect words just as other children collect stamps, shells or rocks.  The book celebrates the transformational power of words for all ages. 

Reynolds was glowing over the reading, “This book is incredibly important to me as part of my mission to get young people to understand the transformative power of words, so to have this unbelievable spotlight on this story is truly a gift.”  

Peter H. Reynolds is a best-selling author & illustrator Published in over 25 languages, Peter's books The Dot, Ish, The North Star, Going Places and Say Something, among many others, inspire children and “grown up children” with his messages about authentic learning, creativity, bravery, empathy, and courageous self-expression. For more information on Peter’s books, visit The Dot Central.

FABClassroom: Fabricating the City of Ember

For this week's FabClassroom we head over to Boyden Elementary School in Walpole, MA.

Cheryl Ivatts is a fourth grade teacher and her students recently embarked on a Fab@School Maker Studio journey mapping out the City of Ember.  

“We are an active, curious fourth grade classroom in Walpole, MA. Letting students create and explore on their own is a driving force in our daily routine. I read the book “City of Ember,” written by Jeanne Duprau as a read-aloud to the class a few months ago. The kids loved the book and were hanging on every word.

With none of the kids having read the book yet they were experiencing it together and trying to unlock the mystery in it. Realizing how much could be done with this story and wanting  to let them show their vision I gave them free reign to design a bulletin board to match that vision.

They knew they needed buildings, roads and pipes. Having seen Fabmaker used in the school previously and with the help of Nancy Carroll, our Digital Learning Coach, the kids each designed a building to go on the board. Next they knew they needed lanterns so those were made using the Fabmaker also. The next thing was the pipeworks this was made using the cylinders and then the kids even were able to have blue colored water put in ziploc bags and placed in the pipes!

As I finished reading the book they begged for me to read the next in the series – “The People Of Sparks,” and when I said I would be reading a different book many went out and found the book on their own and read it. I do believe that the excitement around the bulletin board pushed many to read it because they were able to connect to the book on the next level.

One of the aha moments was when they were all working on parts of the board in groups chosen by them and working on building parts of the board thought out by them. Giving up control while showing them the resources available was the best way to unleash their creativity!”

Is your classroom a FabClassroom? We would love to feature your school! To be featured in an upcoming post, send an email to info@fablevisionlearning.com You can also tweet your photos with the hashtag #FabMakerStudio! For more posts featuring Fab@School Maker Studio, click here.

Classroom Spotlight: Dreaming with Peter H. Reynolds

Fourth Graders from the Rectory School in Pomfret, CT, recently spent a day with Peter H. Reynolds in his bookstore, The Blue Bunny. The following post was written by Maria Carpenter

Connecting our students with experts that extend their learning, and broaden their experience is a goal that we strive for, each day at Rectory School. On Friday, April 6th, Melissa Zahansky and I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying our grade four students to visit the children's book author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds in his bookstore, The Blue Bunny in Dedham, MA. The K-4 community used Peter's books to create art experiences for the children to explore for our school's first ever MELP, Jr. ES Artists in Residence. We knew that we were in for a treat, but as we left the bookstore that morning, we all felt that we had just participated in a once in a lifetime kind of experience! Peter H. (for Hamilton) Reynolds is an extraordinarily kind, creative and generous human being!

Peter grew up in Dedham, MA and told the children stories of how he always loved to collect words and draw, ever since he was a child. He has a twin brother, Paul, who is his friend and creative partner at FableVision Learning, a company located above the Children's Museum in Boston, MA. FableVision Learning provides support for educators around the world to nurture the 4 C's (plus 1): creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking - and compassion both in and out of the classroom. We heard detailed stories about Peter's own creative process, and he encouraged our children to collect words that are interesting to them, as well as their dreams and ideas in a journal.

We heard about the real girl who entered the book store one day selling carnations for her school, named Vashti, who quietly watched Peter sketch over his shoulder. She became the lead character in his award winning book, The Dot, which has received many honors, is translated into several languages, and has even traveled to the space station! The Dot reminds us all to "Make your mark, and see where it takes you."

Giving our students the opportunity to dream about the journeys that they may strive for in their lives is of great importance to all of us at Rectory School. Our morning with Peter, will linger in our minds for a long time. He taught us about goodness, reaching out to those around us who need a helping hand, and being our best selves. Thanks Peter, for being such a light for our students... and creating such magical picture books that make the world a more compassionate place!

These are the memories that our Grade 4 students would like to share about their visit:

• "I have never had an author read a book to me! I loved when he read The Word Collector!"  ~ Ashley

• "I loved when Peter Reynolds was talking about my future... maybe he will be right, and I will work in the White House!"  ~ Alexandra

• "I liked it when Peter Reynolds found out I was a good speller and loved words. He offered me a job when I get out of college... the funny thing is, he was serious!"  ~ Lilah

• "I loved that he listened to our ideas when he was drawing a picture of Vashti."  ~ Isabel

• "I liked it when he asked us to think about what the world needs more of or less of, so he could get ideas for his next book."  ~ Sean

• "I loved hearing him talk about himself. You don't get to hear an author do that everyday!"  ~ Anson

• "I love seeing The Dot book that actually went into space, and hearing the story about how the commander called him from the space station!"  ~ Peter

• "I like that he always has a twist that gets fixed in his books."  ~ William

Avon Public School Brings Home Award for Their Choral Reading of The Word Collector

Jennifer Yantzi teaches at Avon Public School in Ontario, Canada. Sixth graders at the school recently took home first place in the Kiwanis Festival of the Performing Arts - Stratford for their choral reading of "The Word Collector" by Peter H. Reynolds.

Jennifer shares: “We had the opportunity to go to the Kiwanis Festival of the Performing Arts - Stratford. Our part of the Kiwanis Festival was choral speaking Grade 6. We could pick a poem, song or book to present and compete against other classes and schools. We chose “The Word Collector,” because of the impact of the story combined with a musical quality. It took us about four weeks to figure out how we were going to say certain words, assign parts, memorize the book and then practice presenting the poem.  Like Jerome, we collected many words and would enjoy sharing them with the world.”

I Am Peace: Ideas to Share and Spread Positivity With the World

FableVision founder and New York Times picture book author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds has teamed up once again with author Susan Verde who shares our mission to share "stories that matter, stories that move."

Their new book I AM PEACE: A BOOK OF MINDFULNESS (Abrams Books for Young Readers) is a sequel to the book "I AM YOGA." It celebrates the power of connecting to our inner peace and sharing that positive energy with others to inspire world peace. 

Share Your Peace!

We are providing free downloadables for you to print and share with your young readers, just click on the images below to download. Students can hold the sign and take a selfie or make a video declaring "I AM PEACE!" to share with the world. We have also included "WE ARE PEACE" if you would like to do a group shot to share on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #IAMPEACE and #WEAREPEACE

Put your peace in action! With Animation-ish it’s never been easier to bring your ideas to life. We would love to see an I AM PEACE video created with Animation-ish!

Design your peace! Fab@School Maker Studio is a perfect tool for cultivating your inventive spirit! With this paper prototyping and fabrication software, flex your design muscles to create your own I AM PEACE pop-up card. Maybe your students can use the card to write to local, state, national, and international leaders to share their concern that peace should be a priority.  

For more about I AM PEACE, head over to Peter's blog, The Stellar Cafe. 

13 Days and 13 Ways to Celebrate Dot Day

Join million students, teachers, and librarians this International Dot Day, celebrating creativity and courage in 186 countries on or around September 15th-ish! To support your International Dot Day festivities, we assembled this handy list of 15 ways in 15 days to celebrate Dot Day.

1) Discover The Dot

Read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds to see where all of this started - you can grab a copy over at The Dot Central.

2) Register Your Class

Join the growing community celebrating International Dot Day by registering over at The Dot Club! You can also download our FREE Educator’s Handbook for Dot Day, which features student handouts by Peter H. Reynolds and Dot Day activities by creative educators.

3) Get Inspired by the First Dot Day Class

Learn what Dot Day means to the students of the first class to ever participate in Dot Day, straight from the students themselves. In this video, seniors from Traer, Iowa, who first celebrated Dot Day as fourth graders in 2009, reflect on the history and growth of this creativity movement.

4) Check Out Celebri-dots

Head over to the Celebri-dots website to check out dots created by a variety of individuals, from authors and illustrators to actors and astronauts! Packed with dots from all walks of life - paint dots, pie dots, and even Earth dots - you’ll be sure to find inspiration there.

5) Dot Day Song

Listen, sing, and move to "The Dot Song" with kidlit singer/songwriter Emily Arrow!

6) Gear Up

Stock up on official International Dot Day gear by visiting The Dot Central for materials such as an autographed copy of The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, sticker packs, t-shirts, and posters! If you want even more Dot Day gear, you can also download free multi-language Dot Day posters.

7) Poke Around Pinterest

Still don’t have enough dots in your day for Dot Day? Visit our International Dot Day Pinterest board to see how others celebrate Dot Day with activities, resources, and more!

8) Download Quiver

Quiver brings your 2D art to life through 3D augmented reality so you can interact with your Dot Day artwork in exciting new ways! Download the free Quiver - 3D Coloring App and print out this template to get started.

9) Connect the Dots with Other Teachers  

Looking to "connect the dots" with other classrooms nationally and internationally on Dot Day? Whether it's through email or web-based video connection, use the Dot Day Google Doc to make connections. Thanks to creative librarian/educators Shannon McClintock Miller @shannonmmiller, Andy Plemmons @plemmonsa, and Matthew Winner @matthewwinner for overseeing this effort!

10) Fabricate Your Dot

Fab@School Maker Studio is a perfect tool for cultivating your inventive spirit! With this paper prototyping and fabrication software, flex your design muscles and create 2D, Pop-up, and 3D paper models inspired by The Dot. It’s easy to get your design mind rolling when you start small - you can always try again and again! Try fabricating dots that fold, roll, spin, or transform!

11) Make Your Mark Move

With Animation-ish it’s never been easier to bring your drawings to life. Three distinct levels let you practice and animation motion techniques by making your dots roll, bounce, squish, grow, morph, and much more. What can your dots do? Just make your mark and see where it take you!

12) Find Your Ramon

Just like Vashti’s teacher encouraged her to “make her mark,” Vashti later used what she learned to encourage Ramon to make his own mark. Now’s your chance - go out and find your Ramon and encourage them to make their mark too!

13) Share Your Mark

Share your mark and connect with the International Dot Day community through social media! There are over 8 million individuals from 168 countries participating in International Dot Day, so make sure to share your mark with all of them across social media with #MakeYourMark and with the official Dot Club Twitter feed @DotClubConnect!

Resources & Reviews: "Happy Dreamer" At Your Local Bookstore Today!

FableVision founder and New York Times best-selling author/illustrator, Peter H. Reynolds, believes in self-expression and staying true to oneself. In his newly released book, Happy Dreamer, - out today - Peter celebrates what it means to be a dreamer.

“I wrote Happy Dreamer for kids (and grown up kids) like me,” he said in a recent blog post. “This really is my story. A peek inside my mind to share how my brain works in its own wild and wonderful way… I wanted to send out a hopeful message that kids who are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD that they have a gift, not a label. That their minds are very special. That they are "delightful dreamers." Their brains are capable of being flexible, generous, nimble, and inventive. Their kind of thinking is to be understood, nurtured, accommodated and CELEBRATED!

As the book hits the shelves of your independent bookstore, we’ve collected a few resources and reviews for you to check out:

- Matthew Winner’s “All The Wonders” Podcast -

- Scholastic Reads: Amazing, Delightful, Happy Dreamer -

- Nerdy Book Club: You Have A Gift, Not A Label by Peter H. Reynolds - 

- Publishers Weekly: Happy Dreamer -

- FableVision Learning Blog Post: Peek Inside the Mind of Peter H. Reynolds with his Latest Book Happy Dreamer! - 

- KidLitTV YouTube Video: StoryMakers | Peter H. Reynolds -

- Book Trailer from Scholastic: Happy Dreamer by Peter H. Reynolds - 

**Are you interested in becoming a Happy Dreamer? Hop on over to The Blue Bunny Toys & Books in Dedham Square or check out your local bookstores. HAPPY DREAMING!

Peek Inside the Mind of Peter H. Reynolds with his Latest Book Happy Dreamer!

The following post was written by New York Times bestselling author/illustrator and FableVision founder, Peter H. Reynolds. His new book Happy Dreamer will be released on March 28, 2017. You can pre-order the book through the Blue Bunny bookstore, here. 

My book, Happy Dreamer was originally called Amazing, Delightful, Happy Dreamer. And yes, the initials do spell: ADHD.
The first spark of the book ideas were inspired while attending a learning difference conference at Harvard University where successful CEOs shared their challenging learning journeys in school, making it clear that their achievements were made because of their brains, not in spite of them. It was pointed out by the panel host that this group had all described attributes of ADHD as children. Those attributes sounded very familiar to me.
I thought for a moment, "I wish ADHD sounded like something you'd WANT to have!"

I took a pencil and wrote...
Amazing...
Delightful...
Happy...
Dreamer.

I went home and wrote a poem by the same name and that poem ultimately became this book.

HAPPY DREAMER

I wrote Happy Dreamer for kids (and grown up kids) like me. This really is my story. A peek inside my mind to share how my brain works in its own wild and wonderful way.
It wasn't always easy having a brain like mine though. While I was never officially diagnosed with ADHD (it was a term that would not be used widely until a decade after I was in elementary school) I do believe that as a child I had experienced many of its symptoms.
I wanted to send out a hopeful message that kids who are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD that they have a gift, not a label. That their minds are very special. That they are "delightful dreamers." Their brains are capable of being flexible, generous, nimble, and inventive. Their kind of thinking is to be understood, nurtured, accommodated and CELEBRATED!
Growing up, I was dreamer. A day dreamer. Night dreamer. I had a super-charged imagination which kept my brain very, very busy. SO many ideas which was probably the impetus for me grabbing a pencil and starting to capture these thoughts and images on paper with words and art. Outside of school, it really wasn't a problem. I grew up in a big family. Seven people roaming the house doing chores, hobbies, but at night we would gather together at the dinner table to share stories. It was a busy, noisy house and I loved it that way. All the energy and buzz. In school, however, it was a different story. I found it a bit of a shock to stay put in one chair for most of the day. Learning to focus on the lessons were sometimes a big challenge for me. I was not encouraged to capture any of my racing thoughts on paper. I was in fact, discouraged from doing it.
"All eyes up front."
"Mr. Reynolds, do not draw in my class. You can do that after school."
"This is math class. Not art class. Put that away."
I was an agreeable, friendly kid eager to please, so I did my best to comply and control my buzzy-brain. It was not always easy. Every so often, I found a teacher or an activity that tapped into that special brain of mine and WHOAH! Like my 7th grade math teacher who asked me if I could teach math by using art, story and animation. It was magic. I was in my element. It was an AMAZING feeling. Happy. Delighted. My Dreamer brain was engaged—and I was ME.
I hope this book speaks to you, your family and friends. May it reassure you that good things are ahead for all us dreamers.
And in fact, I do believe that if we are to solve some of the planet's biggest problems—we can't keep trying the same solutions. We must invite inventive, flexible minds to the table. World problem solving aside—if this book encourages my readers to simply be happy with themselves, then I'll sleep—and dream— better at night.

PHR

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In the Boston area? Join us for Happy Dreamer book release party at the Blue Bunny Books & Toys, on Saturday, April 1, 11-1 p.m, located at 577 High St, Dedham, MA 02026. For more information, click here.

For inspiration on how to bring Happy Dreamer into your classroom, check out the Happy Dreamer Classroom Kit.