Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Not-So-Secret Secret Gardens

After reading about Mary's discovery of the Secret Garden in the book of the very same name, the students in Room 503 spent the first part of their morning beginning to sow some seeds to create secret gardens of their own.

First, we all ventured outside and spent a few quiet moments in the courtyard, simply listening, feeling, smelling, being...Allowing our senses to just open up to what was available. Then, each of us set out, silently, around the school to collect all (small) things natural: twigs, leaves, flowers, stones, pine cones, etc. and bring them back to our classroom.

Given two pieces of construction paper (one of green hue, one of brown), three pieces of different sized white paper (haphazardly hole-punched), and some pieces of blue and green ribbon, the students began their foray into creating their own Secret Garden books.

The "gardens" can be anything each student wants to create...within the structure of the physical book itself. Inspired by their outdoor finds and fueled by their imaginations, it is my hope that the students will create magical places, just like Dickon, Mary's Yorkshire friend, says in the original Secret Garden: "It's like as if a body was in a dream."

Wishing you all wonderful ones -

Cheers,
Ms. Pitman