On the first day of class at SummerPrep, our students created All About Me Flowers. The flowers accompanied a Guided Discovery of our classroom crayons, so students were eager to work with the materials we had just discovered. The All About Me Flowers concept was loosely based on an Art Methods assignment called About Me Trees, where we drew pictures of things that were important to us. The flower petals offered the same opportunity to our rising first graders, but the petals provided them with a bit more space for larger drawings. I chose this assignment to be our first SummerPrep activity because I wanted to begin the summer with a clear expectation: students are valued members of our class community It was my hope that students would use this project as an invitation to bring their whole selves into the classroom. Much of the language in Standard Two asks teachers to seek information about their students beyond their traits as a learner. The goal of this assignment was to do just that and learn about who our students were outside of the classroom. One of my main goals for the entirety of SummerPrep was for students to feel comfortable sharing themselves with one another and with their teachers throughout our time together. By creating and explaining their flowers, students had a very early opportunity to share who they are with the rest of the class and we began the year on a community-focused note.

Before giving the students independent work time, we modeled some suggestions for decorating the flower including family members, favorite items or foods, and special places. We also told students they could draw or write their responses. This project ended up being a perfect first task for our class because it provided our students with a natural opportunity to share some things about themselves with their teachers and classmates in a way that felt comfortable to them. I learned a lot about my students as people, and as learners just from asking questions about their work and looking at if they drew pictures or wrote words in the petals. In future classes, I will likely utilize a similar activity at the beginning of the school year.