This fall, we launched a community-based curricular project to both broaden our understanding of who is in our school-community and develop relationships founded in trust and safety. This included spending quality time in our special Yellow Room and orchestrating moments to meet and engage with members of our Barrow community.
This StoryPark post reflects our documentation boards in the hallway outside The Yellow Room. Please check them out!
For very young children, school is often the first setting beyond the home and family environment wherein children form varying relationships with a range of people. From forming close relationships with their peers and teachers to becoming aquatinted to specialists and support staff, we spent our first four months of school making our classroom and community feel safe, familiar, and fun.
Developmentally, this curriculum acknowledges:
- We are always learning what it means to be an individual with a community.
- We are always learning what it means to be an individual outside of the community we have at home in our family.
- Lastly, we are learning that there are many children and adults at Barrow that love us, care for us, and have fun with us.
With a strong foundation of relationships, this curriculum embraces that the The Yellow Room children will continue to foster and grow their sense of community and feelings of belonging throughout their time at Barrow.
As we moved beyond separation, we invited educational and administrative staff into The Yellow Room. These “Yellow Room Hangouts” (as we called them) became opportunities for our class to expand their sense of community beyond our yellow door.
Through reading books, sharing snacks, playing with materials, and excited waves in the hallway, The Yellow Room engaged with our school-based community and laid a foundation of relationships for their time at Barrow. Now when we cross paths with community members, it’s a joyful surprise!
Offering greetings such as “Hey, it’s you!” “Boo!” and large grins, The Yellow Room is leaving their mark. Fortunately, most people hear us coming as we “fly like a butterfly” down the hallways.
