"I Learned About the Solar System in School!"
Dear Friends of ATD Fourth World in New Mexico,
We are so happy to know that we will see many of you again in the months ahead! In the meantime, we’ve continued adjusting and re-imagining our programs, looking to the future while learning from past experiences. Today, we’re eager to share news with you about our “Learning with Dakota” kit series, and our socially-distanced Story Garden. Enjoy!
Back in late August, just as the new school year had begun, our team set up in one of our usual locations for a socially-distanced Story Garden. It was raining, but that did not deter the children. Six-year-old Alana arrived first. She told us proudly that she is enrolled in school now and had just started remote Kindergarten. She already had advice for the other children: “You know you have to listen to your teacher, right?” Alana likes structure, we’ve come to realize, and for as long as we’ve known her, she has taken her learning into her own hands. That day’s Story Garden activity was no different.
We were trying out a new tool, the first learning kit in a series developed by ATD Fourth World, called Learning with Dakota. The theme was the solar system. Every child received a black and white poster showing the planets and sun, a postcard illustrating the color and texture of each planet, and stickers of each planet to be colored and placed in the right spot on the poster.
Alana was one of a few children who had already done the activity with us two days earlier. She had scrutinized each sticker to be sure she was placing it in the right location. Now, she was determined to do the activity again, and rallied her mother to ask us if she could join the fun! After helping her younger cousin do his solar system, Alana did do a second one of her own. Meanwhile, her cousin in 6th grade joined us after finishing her remote school day. When she saw the activity, she said excitedly, “I learned about the solar system in school!”
One hour into the session, it was drizzling again. Not able to convince the children to stop working before they finished, we sat in the rain as they colored Venus, compared Neptune and Uranus, and added the familiar green and blue detail of our Planet Earth.
As we begin a new year, the Learning with Dakota program has already expanded. Two new learning kits will soon be available, as well as a website with additional information. While the kits are a great addition to Story Garden, our goal has always been to share these resources much more broadly, with teachers and parents throughout the community, free-of-charge. Here at ATD Fourth World, we continue to believe that engaging and fun learning materials are not a privilege; they are the backbone of any child’s learning.
Are you interested in sharing a learning kit with your children or students, or simply want to hear more about Learning with Dakota? Just email us to let us know: newmexico@4thworldmovement.org We’d love to hear from you!
You’re Invited!
ATD Fourth World UN Webinar - ''Behind the Screen: Grassroots Experiences Accessing Social Services and Education in a Digital World''
Hosted during the 59th session of the Commission for Social Development, our side-event brings together activists with a lived experience of poverty—affected by either the digital divide or the digital transformation of public services—academics working on the digital welfare state, and Member State representatives proposing good practices. They will engage in discussion on the intersectional challenges that lie in transforming government services in the digital era while protecting the rights, dignity and wellbeing of all, especially that of individuals and families with lived experience of poverty.
