Maine Educators Embark on North Star Journey With FableVision Learning

Maine's Department of Education’s State Agency Program Team set sail on a creativity journey to transform teaching practice and classroom outcomes through a unique partnership with Boston-based educational company FableVision Learning, founded by Peter H. Reynolds.

“We were eager to provide equitable access to quality instruction to Maine’s vulnerable youth in therapeutic education settings to enhance special education programming after the difficult times caused by the pandemic, when emotional and social issues have been heightened,” explained Dr. Mary Adley, Coordinator of State Agency Programs. “We wanted to provide staff and students a sense of excitement and creativity to view their world with optimism and we knew FableVision Learning would help us achieve that.”

Adley and her team provide oversight to educational programming for state wards and state agency clients. This includes the General Supervision System of Monitoring for Maine’s approved Special Purpose Private Schools. Her team also offers special education technical assistance, professional development, and support to Maine educators, students, and families for Maine children in the care or custody of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Corrections, educated in all settings, both in public and private settings and within Maine and placed in out of state settings.

“Our team is delighted that FableVision is embedding the Department’s Maine MOOSE (Maine Online Opportunities for Sustained Education) modules as curricular/content to guide educators in developing creative and specially designed instruction needed to meet each student’s Individual Education Program,” shared Dr. Tracy Whitlock, Coordinator for Special Projects.

This multi-level program of support integrates evidence-based instructional strategies, such as elements of Dr. John Medina’s “Brain Rules,” with intentional focus on social-emotional welfare for both staff and students. Every month, educators from 9 agencies representing 25 schools meet virtually for the Creative Maine workshop and the FableVision Learning team guides discussions and activities around creative instructional design and inspiration to enhance teaching practice. A community of practice is provided on FableVision’s collaborative learning platform The Creativity Circle.

“We are exploring with teachers ways to expand the pathways for students to demonstrate their knowledge and to engage in deep and creative thinking,” explained Sara Smith, FableVision Learning’s creative curriculum developer. “Creativity in the classroom empowers both teachers and students to maximize their talents and make meaning.”

In addition to student projects highlighted in the Creative Maine course, educators are utilizing the FableVision Learning’s The North Star Classroom program to further develop student voice and creativity.

“The essential outcome of education is for students to know who they are and what they can give to the world,” Jane Reynolds, president of FableVision Learning said. “The classroom is where they should be able to explore their strengths, learn resilience, and discover their power to create in a safe and supportive environment.”

Based on the themes in the book “The North Star,” by FableVision founder and New York Times bestselling-author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, The North Star Program is a guide to creating a classroom where students uncover their true potential.

“I have found The North Star Program to be very adaptable. I can integrate it with the existing social skills curriculum as well as adjust lessons to fit the variety of learning levels in my classroom,” explained Teresa Dickson, participating educator from NFI Sidney River Bend.

The program includes best practices for setting up the classroom and establishing a positive, creative climate as well as 18+ weeks of activities and projects that help students develop their strengths, values, and goals that will start laying the path to the future selves they want to be. Activities include teamwork challenges, problem solving projects, social-emotional games and experiences, literature exploration and discussions, and personal reflection writing pieces.

“Since I have begun using The North Star Program, I have watched my students become more confident in their learning and more accepting of themselves and others,” Dickson said. “The lessons can be taught in sequence or be pulled out to target a specific concept or skill. I was able to easily integrate The North Star Program with the Common Core Standards. The North Star Program hits many content areas such as music, art, writing, reading, and poetry.”

In 2022, Maine Department of Education’s State Agency Programs and FableVision Learning will continue the Creative Maine journey as educators continue to explore creative problem solving and creative classroom management.

FabMaker Spotlight: Boston Students Use FabMaker Studio to Create Their Own Food Truck Festival!

The following blog post is by Tyler Stott.

With a dash of creativity and splash of engineering, Mika Solo, a K1–3 Computer Science Specialist at The Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts in Boston, encouraged her students to design their own food trucks using FabMaker Studio. 

Each team of fourth-graders had the opportunity to design a food truck using the web-based design and fabrication software and watch it cut through the Silhouette Portrait. 

Check out their projects!

The class also crafted city buildings that were illuminated with a few simple circuits!

When asked about how The Eliot School has incorporated the use of the FabMaker Studio, Solo responded, “We work in the Studio for a month-long session of 30-minute classes. The cycle goes by quick! We explore paper engineering with a bunch of activities and mini projects including: emojis, characters, 3D shapes, food trucks, and city buildings”

For Solo, one of the best parts about using FabMaker Studio has been seeing her students make their own creative designs. One example she mentioned was her students enjoyed using the weld tool to be able to make their own custom characters.

This program was part of a grant through the Dassault Systèmes US Foundation and The Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning & Creativity that provided three elementary schools with curriculum, software and training.

As for what is next, Solo hopes to continue to teach the next generation of younger students more about FabMaker Studio and STEM.

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

For more information, contact us at info@fablevisionlearning.com. We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook the FabMaker Teacher Group.

FabMaker Project: Our Table Challenge

The following blog post is by Peggy Healy Stearns, Lead Software Designer, FabMaker Studio.

Peter H. Reynolds’ new picture book for all ages, Our Table, tells the story of a young girl named Violet who notices  that, as her dad, mom and brother spend more and more time on their devices,  their once lively dining table is shrinking! Violet longs to bring her family back together and dreams up a project on which they can all collaborate –- designing and building a new table! 

This timely story provides an opportunity for children to consider the importance of gathering with family and friends – and to engage in a meaningful engineering design process. 

To get ready and set context for the challenge, after reading Our Table, discuss students’ memories dining with family and friends. What made those times special? Where did they eat? Was there anything special about their table?

Peter’s Creative Challenge!

Peter loves using his imagination to design and make things - drawings, paintings, sculptures, and paper mache animals! And so, Peter is excited to present a special maker challenge to your students: “Using FabMaker Studio, imagine, design and fabricate your own table and/or chairs to send to me!” Peter will select some finished projects to feature on the FableVision Learning websites and social media. 

So, let’s get started! Have students work collaboratively to Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test and Improve a paper or cardstock prototype.

Ask: What kind of table would you like? How big should it be? What shape? Does it matter how it looks? Use questions like these to define the criteria. Students may want to research images of tables and interview family members. Then outline constraints – e.g., the final prototype must be designed with FabMaker Studio and constructed with paper or cardstock.

Now it’s time to Imagine. Have students brainstorm and sketch different designs and consider each option based on the criteria they set earlier. A single design may not meet all the criteria. Which criteria are most important? Once students choose a favorite design, they’re ready for the next step.

Tell students to use a ruler to draw a Plan for their table and label dimensions. 

Then have them use FabMaker Studio to Create their prototype. They can use the Chair design found in the FabMaker Ready-Made 3D projects. This starter project shows how Shapes can be combined to create a flat pattern that folds into a 3-dimensional object. Their tables might be constructed of a single flat net like the chair or made of multiple elements folded and constructed individually and then combined. 

Encourage students to be inspired by Peter’s creativity. Suggest they use FabMaker’s color and texture tool -- or use plain white cardstock and color by hand. 

If there’s time, ask students to consider how they would Test their prototype? Tell them to refer back to the criteria they set at the start. If their table’s not quite right, ask them how they would Improve their design.

You can adapt this activity to different grade levels by challenging students to use FabMaker Studio to design other 2D and 3D objects from the book. Younger students can weld shapes to create fruits and vegetables. More experienced makers may want to design bowls or glasses or even the vegetable cart.

Need more tips and tricks on how to use FabMaker Studio? Check out the Tutorials page. 

Send your students’ designs to info@fablevisionlearning.com or use the #FabMakerChair in your social posts . We’ll feature the best designs on the FableVision Learning Spotlight Blog!

The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy: Inspiring Young Authors to Create Bravely

From teaching first grade to college, Marni Kay, Associate Instructor of Reading Education at the University of Central Florida’s School of Teacher Education, has been working in education for 23 years. 

“I am fortunate to have the opportunity to inspire the next generation of educators,” she explains. “Each one of the Reading and Language Arts courses I teach has a ‘little kid factor,’ meaning I partner my UCF students with K-6 students in the community during our class time in a variety of ways. 

Marni and her team incorporated FableVision Learning’s The Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy into their instruction. We recently chatted with Marni about her experiences using the online writing program. Read on to learn more!

Q: What were your goals in using Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy?

Marni: I teach an Elementary Language Arts methods course and as part of the course, the standards focus on teaching future teachers how to teach the writing process to K-6 students. [The Peter H. Reynolds] Storybook Academy’s focus aligns perfectly with these goals. 

The modules take students from brainstorming all the way to publishing with Peter guiding writers each step of the way. One part of teaching writing well is for teachers to also see themselves as writers, so I wanted my students to experience the writing process not only as future educators, but as writers themselves.  

I knew I also wanted to partner with one of the K-6 teachers, I work with in order to provide an opportunity to not only see how the modules would work with college students, but also in a K-6 classroom! I teamed up with one of my recent graduates, third grade teacher, Vicky Livorisi to try it out.

My UCF students and I started the program with Vicky Livorsi and her third graders at the end of the school year. Vicky and I met several times on Zoom to go over the modules, plan, and brainstorm what a virtual partnership might look like. Over the course of 5 weeks, Vicky led her students through the Storybook Academy modules and we came up with a few times that my students and I could support her writers throughout the process. 

During these virtual visits, my students and I were able to engage in writing conferences with Vicky’s third grade writers via Zoom. We were so excited to hear her amazing students share their ideas, drafts, and published stories with their “UCF Writing Buddies.” 

As I reflect on the experience, I appreciate that my UCF students were not only able to engage as writers (writing their own stories), but were also able to experience the writing process through the lens of a third grader. 

Vicki shared: “My kiddos have loved the program and they think it’s so wonderful to hear from Peter in his videos as well! They have become so motivated to brainstorm ideas for potential titles and write!”

And her classroom was abuzz with excitement. Her students shared": 

“It gives me an excuse to draw during class time. I also liked making up my own characters and using my imagination.”

“I enjoy Storybook Academy because it helps me learn how to become an author.”

“If you have a lot of imagination like I do, you can express it in a book and read it over and over again!”

Q: What was your favorite part? 

Marni: What I love most was that students (at all levels) were able to learn from Peter H. Reynolds and his two decades worth of knowledge and support. I appreciated the connections between his published books (which kids and teachers LOVE), the way he encourages students to write what they know, and the practical strategies that he includes to help along the way, like the one-minute story. 

Students from third grade to college were all able to write and publish their own book! The published books included stories about pets, friendship, a cookbook, a how-to origami book, and a few students even chose to collaborate on their creative stories, as well!!!!

Marni’s students at the University of Central Florida also  had high praise for the program. 

“Storybook Academy, I think is genius because I’ve always wanted to write a story, but never gathered the motivation to go through with it. To have a class and little buddies to do it with you, makes it inspiring and a great learning/motivational tool.” 

“Storybook Academy is a fun way to create books/stories. I appreciate the small goals throughout to make it feel attainable. The videos throughout about the writing process are an awesome tool! I can’t wait to try this out in my future classroom!” 

Q: What does Create Bravely mean to you?

Marni: Create Bravely means dreaming big, thinking outside of the box, and trying new things. For me, this looks like connecting the dots by designing cross-curricular content units tied to children’s literature, creating authentic learning experiences for my students and K-6 kids in the community, and providing real world learning opportunities that encourage my students to dream big, too. 

Q: What’s next?

Marni: We are looking forward to participating in Dot Day 2021!!! For the past two years we have participated BIG both in person and last year with a virtual event that included a special Dot Day themed Bitmoji Classroom. This year, I am also planning to take some inspiration from Storybook Academy and ask my students to write a one-minute story highlighting how they will make their mark in education! I can’t wait to see what we come up with next!

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Curious about how to use the Peter H. Reynolds Storybook Academy in your classroom? Click here to learn more or email us at info@fablevisionlearning.com.

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.

Paul & Peter H. Reynolds' 17 Tips for Recharging Your Creativity

Here are 17 tried-and-true tips for recharging your creativity. We hope you'll enjoy trying some of these today!

Tip #1. Relax. Make some tea.

Tip #2. Articulate your mission. Write it down. Share it. Review it.

Tip #3. Take time to ponder.Where are you going? Or, a better question: Where do you WANT to be going?

Tip #4. Be playful!

Tip #5. Remember to take care of the spirit. (Both student & teacher!) "Find your soul, and make it whole." No "crushed spirits" - no "lost souls"!

More tips after the jump!

Tip #6. Imagine your classroom as a studio, as a research center, as a publishing house.

Tip #7. Step off the path in your teaching. Allow the same for your students in their learning.

Tip #8. Celebrate the blank page! Use programs that allow the user to supply the content or buy a blank journal! Whichever it is... dive in! Doodle. Jot. Ramble. Let it out! (Link to wonderful blank page)

Tip #9. Listen, talk, connect. Believe in the power of the 6-minute conversation.

Tip #10. Find your twin! Share yourself and your dreams with a very close friend. Someone who shares and supports your vision.

Tip #11. Try left field. When looking for solutions, reduce the pressure of coming up with the best idea by allowing yourself to come up with the "worst" idea. Build from there! The "bad" ideas can turn out to be the best because they're the ones everyone else has overlooked.

Tip #12. Share the drive. Like any long road trip, share the wheel. You don't always have to know where an activity is going. Just enjoy the ride. Allow yourself to be surprised. Students are especially engaged when they see you are too!

Tip #13. Novelty. Shake things up. Make it new. It can be as simple as turning off the lights or playing a modern piece of music to introduce Shakespeare. Research supports the idea that novelty is a long-term memory booster.

Tip #14. Search for personal meaning. Provide context and essence before you launch into the details. Connect with a learner's interests, dreams, and unique skills.

Tip #15. Encourage strategies for personal achievement. Allow for multiple approaches to a project. Provide time for students to vision their own futures and explore what they'll need to make it real.

Tip #16. Prove your groove! "Eat your own cookin'!" Model it. Show your students your own work, your examples, your enthusiasm!

Tip #17. Love what you do. Do what you love. Love, love, love, love your kids. It's a gift they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. Fuel for the journey.