Collaborating With Victor

Throughout our Brown Room year, the children became very familiar with Victor. Victor is a member of the staff at St. John's who helps care for our school, works on repairs, helps design new architectural projects, etc. Even though the children have never had the chance to meet Victor (because he arrives at school after children have left for the day), that has not stopped them from forming a relationship with him. When we were in Brown Room, the children discovered how to communicate with Victor by leaving him messages and he would often respond with messages of his own for us to read the following day. 

Our relationship with our friend Victor has continued into our Rainey Room year. One of the first things we noticed about our new classroom this year was that our Brown Room dragon was now suspended from the ceiling! How did the dragon get into Rainey Room and who was able to hang it for us? Victor!
What about our new photo booth? Who helped construct it's final design? Victor!  

During our second week of school, we encountered a problem that needed to be communicated to Victor. 

I think a rainstorm came or people played on it too hard. - Jade 
(Jade provides a hypothesis about how the tunnel broke)

After discovering that a piece of equipment in the outdoor classroom (the tunnel) was broken and needed repair, a small group of children decided to notify Victor in hopes that he would be able to fix the tunnel for the school.   

First, Molly was notified of the plan to involve Victor in the repair process.

Next, children began creating messages to share with Victor.
​Sketches of the tunnel (in it's current broken state) were included in the messages. 

Click on the images to enlarge

A Provocation

Victor responded to the children's messages with a note of his own ... 

"Dear Rainey Room, 
The tunnel broke because it is old and the wood was damaged by the rain that fell on it causing the wood to be weak and easy to break."  - Victor 

It (weak) means it gets little cracks so it can break. - Daniel 
It means..... ughhhhhhhhhhh. - Finlay  *slumping in his chair to demonstrate a weak feeling* 

He also provided some materials for the children to use with the following intention ... 

"Give me an idea of how I could fix the tunnel. After I see them, I will know how to fix it for you." - Victor 
​

He can use the designs to like take it (the tunnel) apart and rebuild it a big one! - Finlay 

Cardboard tubes and foam pieces provided by Victor for tunnel repair inspiration.

What do you think these materials can be used for?

These can be the sides! It can be the wood (tunnel base) - Wilder
(holding large pieces of black foam)

And the tunnel! - Lily
​(pointing to the tubes)

To connect. - Wilder
To screw the real tunnel? - Lily
(referring to the jar of nails & screws)
​
You can make a mini version and then build it up big!
- Finlay
(suggesting to build a model)

Building Tunnel Models

​The children have always expressed a sense of respect for all of the hard work that Victor does for us as a school community. It was evident throughout the process of model building that the work he does is both challenging and time consuming! 

How does Victor do this? It takes so long! How does Victor keep this up?! - Finlay 

​A note of encouragement ... 

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A Gift of Thanks 

The Rainey Room is not the only class to ask for Victor's help when needed. Recently, the entire school has been having conversations about how we can best express our appreciation for Victor. Maybe we, as a school, could make him a gift to say thank you for all of the work he does for everyone?

​Led by Jen, a thank you project for Victor began last week. First, Jen took small groups of children to visit Victor's closet where he stores many of his supplies that help him with his work. 

It's not very exciting. - Remy 

The idea to create something beautiful to display in Victor's closet as a surprise for him was introduced. 

Children are aware that one of Victor's main contributions to our school is constructing things for us to use (outdoor equipment, shelving, storage). Using this knowledge, Jen offered colored cardboard materials that she associated with "construction" color for the children to manipulate when creating their thank you pieces. Cardboard is an interesting material to work with because its stiffness allows it to be manipulated while also being able to hold a shape. 

I'm making him a watch so he knows what time to go home. - Saul

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I'm making glasses. - Remy 

This gave me an idea to make a construction sign. - Hugh

I wanna make a book. - Finlay

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By Cape

Airplane by Daniel 

These pieces (in combination with those from children in other classrooms at school) will be added to a mobile sculpture and placed in Victor's closet as a surprise. We hope he understands how much he is appreciated here at St. John's!