My artwork, writing, research, presentation records,  stories and environmental science teaching guides have been copyrighted as I have developed them as a preschool teacher since 2004. 

 My website will be up soon and I am interested in feedback and collaboration. (Write me and stay tuned!)

                     Laura Abbady

                     June 28, 2006

    I have been working on the idea using educational board games,  particularly for science  in an early elementary classroom since 2004.

    My games came about because of my work with young children. Most of the children  I taught were from 4 to six years old. Some were waiting for foster care - or transitioning through different placements. Some of the them were slightly older than the average age in  their class for that reason. (Now and then I  had five year olds in the four year old pre K  group who were cogitively  ahead of younger preschoolers - but troubled and difficult to bring into a group that otherwise could  work together.)

      In the eighties, while in art school in NYC, I had heard of Tim Rollins, an art teacher in the Bronx who worked with highschool students. He led  a group of young people in group projects after his regular school day.They read together and discussed literature that was deemed too advanced for the group's scholastic ability .  They collaborated on imagery for paintings and drew on insights and compassion  more standard lessons seemed to have overlooked. 

    I remembered Rollins when I worked with some of the more difficult children - thinking how can I convince them that I see their energy and intelligence , and know they are valuable people. How can they could  start to believe in themselves at these young ages?

    I found that most kids were interested - or at least could be distracted by what they had seen happening out doors especially as the weather changed - and plants and animals transformed with the seasons.  

    "Everyone has seen a squirrel."

    The squirrel seen by a happy, loved  child is very much like the squirrel seen by a lonely  child,  on a rundown fence in a weed filled  yard.

     In someone else's words,  that  concept "levels the playing field".    

     From the beginning, I had watched children investigating, and exploring, trying to understand everything that puzzled them.  Their ability - or need -  to observe and question, was not limited by a ceiling of achievement preconceived by adults. Or it doesn't have to be.

     What all children can do is be curious, communicate and create based on  true observations,  questions and ideas.

     They could value themselves as scientists; we could share and learn from all that we saw happening in the real world.

     That was the original concept behind my games. Both games  are about science and the environment -  but they are also about listening, spending time and conversing  as a small group in a larger classroom.

                     Laura Abbady,  November 8, 2007

 Tim Rollins murals and paintings were done by the group under the name "Kids of Survival". (K.O.S.)

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