We Are Together: Not to Make it Perfect, But Better—Ms. Blandino’s Class | Volume 2

Ms. Blandino’s Class | Volume 2

Not to Make it Perfect, But Better Community Stories by the Fourth-grade Students at Carpenter Elementary | Spring 2022

We Are Together Ms. Blandino’s Class | Volume 2

Not to Make it Perfect, But Better

Community Stories by the Fourth-grade Students at Carpenter Elementary | Spring 2022

826 National’s Commitment to Inclusion As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps of learning occur, we commit to inclusion: We will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, immigration status, military service, or disability.

826michigan Staff Judy Tipton, Development Director Catherine Calabro Cavin, Education Director Frances Martin, Operations Director Megan Gilson, Program Manager Michael Spaeth, Development & Communications Coordinator Caitlin Koska, Volunteer Coordinator Maya Jain, After-school Program Coordinator Kinyel Friday, Field Trip Program Coordinator

Copyright © 2022 by 826michigan and Blotch Books.

All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Drs. T & G Blotch, the illustrators, and the authors.

The views expressed in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826michigan. We believe in the power of youth voice and are thrilled that you picked up this book. No part of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher, except for small excerpts for the purposes of review or scholarly study.

Illustrations by Kim Ly, design and layout by Robyn Charles.

By purchasing this book, you are helping 826michigan continue to offer free student programs. For more information, please visit: 826michigan.org

Also published by 826michigan Young Authors Book Project The Book of Many Wisdoms Because No One Else Could Do It In Our Defense In the Clouds Over Ypsilanti A Moment to Remember Rare Air / Aire raro A Lantern of Fireflies Tell Me How It Was Where Is It Coming From?

Enjoy! Recipes for Building Community All I Could Do Was Look Up: Anatomy of a Middle School What to Call the Place I Call Home: Voices of 26 Ypsilanti Middle School Students The Moons Were Jealous 2020: Visions of the [Near] Future Don’t Stay Up So Late How to Rise Or, I Put My Heart into the Close Tall Tales & True Stories Suddenly My Heart Stopped for Just a Small Portion of Time: Defining Moments

OMNIBUS 826michigan OMNIBUS I 826michigan OMNIBUS II 826michigan OMNIBUS III 826michigan OMNIBUS IV 826michigan OMNIBUS V 826michigan OMNIBUS VI 826michigan OMNIBUS VII

826michigan OMNIBUS VIII 826michigan OMNIBUS IX 826michigan OMNIBUS X 826michigan OMNIBUS 11 826michigan OMNIBUS 12 826michigan OMNIBUS 13

An Incomplete List of Chapbooks 140-Character Fairy Tale Characters And I Did My Best The Big Mess-Up and Other Stories Bon Temps Roulez!

Cats Came to the Dog Party Carrying Ourselves Across: The Art of Self-Translation The Clouds Spell Detroit Colors Came Out Crazy Soup Cuando los robots atacan

An Incomplete List of Chapbooks (cont'd) The Distance Between Two Sides of a Color Don't Get Freaked Out, But I am a Fifteen-Year-Old Vampire Deluxe: Tales from Two Tutoring Labs Even the Stars are Robotic Everything You Fight For And Gain The Fog Was Geemy He Gets in a Pickle Almost Every Hour Hello Sandwich I Am Thankful for the Moon So I Can See in the Dark I Hope You Consider What I’ve Said: Kids’ Letters to President Trump I Rode My Yak to School Hello Sandwich I Use This Pencil To Write I Suddenly Became Noodles It Tasted Like the Sun Joy Got Up and Laughed Let’s Make a Bridge Maybe I Was Born to be One of the Big Creatures My Fish is a Good Fish My Heart Felt Sad for the Bird Playing Chess with Owls in the Dark Really, Really Melted Up The Sandwich Never Wanted to be Eaten Spinach Doughnut Talking Back, Giving Thanks, and Why You Should Never Drink the Haterade That Moment Broke My Heart But Also Made Me Strong They Have Pet Stars Thunder-, Lightning-, and Waterproof !

Training a Shark The Ultimate Tacocat We Went up with the Pearls and Were All Millionaires When the Whales Celebrate Where Everything is Written The Wind Shushes and Hushes Zomb, the Formalist

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Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... vi Dania Ahmed.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... 1 Salahudeen Ali. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... 2 Damian Armstrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 2 Alexa Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 3 Jayla Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... 4 Samira Clark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... 5 Simona Dobreva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... 5 Aicha Guellah .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 6 Zoe Johnson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................... 6 Madden Morning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 7 Aarionah Oliver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 7 Sarah Philip.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 8 Brandon Preslar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 9 Nolan Raehtz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... 9 Kaleb Rampersad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... 10 Kenzie Watson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 10 Jace Shah.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... 11 J’Lah Smith.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... 11 Amir Sowe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 12 Riley Winters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 12 Group Sketches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... 13 Acknowledgments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 14 Curriculum Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... 16 About 826michigan.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 28 Writing Core Values.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 29 The 826 Stand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 30

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Introduction In 826michigan & Carpenter Elementary’s “Write Your Way” program, we wanted to create an opportunity to reflect on the many communities that surround us, whether we know we are a part of these communities or not. We also wanted to use writing to express the things we see in those communities—the things we do, that we appreciate, and the many “ways” one can be in a community. And, it turns out, writing is one way to be in a community, and to create connections with new people. Thus, just by writing our community stories, just by noticing and documenting, we are also reflecting, connecting, creating, and making a difference all at once. The writers at Carpenter Elementary have worked hard, mostly over Zoom where connection is often even harder, to do writing which required them to use their imagination, make connections with and for their readers, and to use the power of writing to transform their own and others’ ways of seeing and thinking, which all makes a huge difference.

We called these community stories “manifestos” because of all the things this kind of writing has the power of making visible to others, of making manifest (when writers record what they notice in their connections to others). Manifestos do not just, however, make communities visible; they also make visible their writers’ desires and beliefs and feelings about the things they see. And it is ultimately desires, beliefs, and feelings, put in writing, that actively create a community of understanding between writer and reader. So thank you, dear reader, for being a part of this community. We hope that when you connect with this writing, you are inspired to notice, with intention, the many paths you share with others, and all the communities sustained, created, and changed when you commit to caring for those paths, and maybe even to making new ones.

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Dania Ahmed

Age 9

My School Hello, I’m Dania. I go to Carpenter. So I want to tell you what we do every day in my school. So in the morning we put our

backpacks in our locker. Then you eat your breakfast. You don’t bring it from home—they give you the breakfast at school. But sadly we do math every day at school so if you are a math

person then you would be happy, but me NONONO I’m not. After that we go to specials. I have art, music, P.E., Spanish, library.

So then after that we finish our math, or we just go over it after we finish. We go to lunch, recess, and play for one and a half

hours, I think. The games we play are gaga ball (you might know the game) and chip, a made up game by my classmate, and

some other made up games. People play, I don’t know why, but

people do gymnastics, and then after we go inside and we do

silent time for five or ten minutes. We get to draw pictures, and

you can play games with friends. What you can’t do is go on the

computer and you can’t talk. Well, we do Lexla, Dreambox, and

word work, and the story I am making right now. So after we do

all of them we go to second recess for like an hour (we have two

recesses) then we go inside and we finish what we were doing.

And we pack up, then my teacher reads us a story. Then we go home.

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Salahudeen Ali

Age 10

My Friend Community Hi I’m Salahudeen and I’m part of my friend community. Some things I like about our community is we all like making fun

games, anime, and jokes. Some other things we like are drawing

and playing tag. But Jace likes playing football. We have four

members in our community: Jace, Brandon, Antoine, and me.

Some things we don’t like are uncooked broccoli, peas, raisins, or fights. I hope that my friends and I can make a new game. I

do not want my friends to get kicked out of school. I want my

friends to get a good education. I hope my friends and people with the same likes and dislikes read this.

Damian Armstrong

Age 10

Amazing Programmer Community Hi, my name is Damian. I like the programmer community. I like

to draw and even sometimes make a book! Sometimes I pick up

trash on the ground, I don’t know why? But OK. In my spare time

I play games! And I also hate sleep.

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Alexa Brown Age 9

Me And Games My name is Alexa. I’m nine years old, and I chose the gaming

community because games are calling me. Not the bad ones

though. I like to game because: I can play/talk to others, make

new friends, invite others to join me, and make others laugh.

When I’m playing games I feel happy. Sometimes, I might die,

disconnect, or lag, and get mad. But I can’t let my anger control

me. I want gamers to be kind to each other. I want gamers to be

happy. I don’t want gamers to cyberbully each other. I don’t want

gamers to be rude to each other because of the way people look,

how they act, or what their age is.

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Jayla Canada Age 10

My Family & Who I Am!!

My Family My family is my community.

I help my community.

I care for my community.

I am brave in my community.

I am my community.

My mom is my community. She helps me.

My dad is my community. He is caring.

My sister is my community. She’s kind.

I’m in my community. I am thankful.

We do singing together.

We eat together.

We get along together.

We are together.

I am Jayla and I am in my family community. I love my

community. It’s pretty small, there are only four members: me,

sister, mom, dad. I live with my community. And my community

love me very much and I love them. They are nice, caring, kind. I

am my and my family community.

My family bring joy in my heart. My community calms me down.

My community are my loved ones. I am proud of my community.

And I hope my community reads my story. My want for my

community is to love each other. I don’t want for my community to argue.

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Who I Am!!

Who I am is a dancer, singer, artist, and a fashion designer, nail tech. I am a ten year old girly girl. I LOVE MAKING SINGING like this song: J.A.Y.L.A. that’s me. I don’t know if that is a song.

Samira Clark

Age 10

Black Community I’m Samira. I feel I can have some freedom in my community

because I can have the ability to do anything in my community. I feel the most free in Black communities. I want people to think

that they can be in my community and I also want people to feel some joyness in them when they join the community. What I

want to do in my community is talk to people about how it feels

to be in the Black community. What I don’t want is them to not

disagree with each other, or stop giving up the community.

Simona Dobreva

Age 9

What I Like What I like about 826 is I love going on Zoom and sharing what I

wrote. I also like to listen to other kids share their work because

it inspires me to write more. The communities I’m a part of are

the police department, Girl Scout group, and the sporting teams.

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Aicha Guellah Age 9

What We Do In Art Art Community: The people want to look pretty and I want to show them that

being pretty is not everything. I want to show them that you can be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, English, Polish, and all those other things. I want to show them grace and I also want to show them that beauty can be on the inside not the outside. So love who you are: you’ll have a life once so make the best of it!

Zoe Johnson Age 9

Family I am Zoe Johnson. Nine years old and I love to bake and cook and color. The sport I play is mostly gaga ball. I really like

basketball, but I don’t play it that much. There are a lot of things

I want to be when I grow up. I may do cheerleading.

Baking makes me feel good and nice that I want to be a baker

when I grow up. When I am a baker I can make cool cookies and

cupcakes and bread. Baking will make me feel good. When I see

my aunt bake she looks tired because she has to make many orders. It makes me sad.

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Madden Morning

Age 9

Michigan Hi, I am Madden and my community is Michigan. My community is big, I mean big. I want you to be happy in my community.

Something I like doing in my community is, it has a lot of

sports. How I feel about this community is so, so happy. I enjoy watching football. I hope you like football like I do. I want you

to love Michigan like I do. I don’t want people to hate Michigan.

Do you know Michigan has a lot of cool things like football,

basketball, and field hockey games? Michigan is so, so pretty.

Aarionah Oliver Age 10

All Communities About My Classmates Class community are when I be happy, and sometimes I be

myself. Some community people do work and do some writing too. We do something in our country, that’s fun we do too.

I like communities because it makes me be grateful when I do

things, too, and when I like to read to my family sometimes. And

I go to my family’s house, too. My family and all communities, too.

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Sarah Philip

Age 10

What We Do In My School Hi, I’m Sarah and I’m ten years old and I go to school. I am going to tell you what we do in my school. School is a place you learn

and do things. But what I hate most is tests because it’s hard

and boring. Anyways, like, talking about math and reading and

science. So, for math we learn many things like times tables and

fractions and way more. Anyways, let’s talk about reading, it’s

really easy.

You just read some books. But if you don’t know a word, sound it out, and if you still don’t know the word, keep trying. NOW, like,

talk about science. Science is a thing that we learn new science things, like rocks and mountains. I like science, but I just don’t

get it well sometimes.

NOW my favorite—lunch! Lunch is a place that you eat food.

Sometimes we eat food from school, or we eat food from home.

After lunch we go outside. We call it recess—it’s so much fun. But sometimes you can get hurt, and you need to go to the nurse’s

office, and you will rest. Next, it’s quiet time, that means you

calm your body. You can rest, draw, read. It’s nice. OK, I know I

said lunch is my favorite, but going home is my favorite. We pack

our backpacks and other things. Then we wait to go home. Some

people go to a bus, or we go to our cars. And that’s what we do in my school. See ya’.

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Brandon Preslar

Age 10

My Amazing Friends My community is my friends, Jace and Antoine and Sala, but it is

mostly about me. We like to play video games such as Fortnite,

Call of Duty, and Spider Man PS4. We also like to play basketball and football. Now, on Monday, we will go to the Jujustu Kaisen 0

movie. But . . . only me and Jace.

I want my friends to have a good day. I don’t want my friends to be annoying and call me in the middle of the night, or to jump me!

Nolan Raehtz

Age 9

My Neighborhood Friend Group I live in the same neighborhood and we play almost every

weekend. We always play games together, and my name is Nolan.

Sometimes we play video games. And we have lots of fun. We also have snacks when we play games.

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Kaleb Rampersad

Age 10

Crush Soccer Hi, my name is Kaleb. My community that I am a part of is Crush

Soccer. The community of Crush Soccer is a big community. What I like to do in Crush Soccer is soccer games. How I feel in the

Crush Soccer community is good. I also have friends that go

there. I think others would like soccer. We can’t control others’

feelings. I don’t want people to get hurt by a soccer ball like I did.

Kenzie Watson

Age 9

My School Community My school community is nice because we learn, but we have to wake up early and it makes us sleep during learning. We wake

up at 7:00, but I think we should wake up at 11:00 so we can skip

everything and eat!! On Fridays we do Fun Friday, so at the end of the day we play games or draw. School also helps me learn

math. We also do music, gym, art, and Spanish! We do fun games in Spanish too, and in gym we play basketball, freeze tag, and

other games. In art we draw, or paint, but it depends on what

we are doing. In music we do recorder, sometimes games, too.

Sometimes we have pizza for lunch and it tastes so yummy!

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Jace Shah Age 10

The Amazing Football Community Hi, I’m Jace, I am ten years old. I was born on November 23, 2011.

I’m a part of the football community. I’ve played football since I

was seven. I feel good about my community. You can make good

friends, but you can get hurt too. It’s a huge community: it goes from elementary to NFL. I enjoy running and defending. I think

others could enjoy catching and throwing. I want to get better. I

don’t want to lose.

J’Lah Smith Age 10

Community Hi, my name is J’Lah Smith. I like to play dominoes and push them down with my finger. I like gymnastics. I used to be a

gymnast. But besides that, let’s talk about communities, people who like the same thing. I like communities. I like communities,

they are fun and you can do so many things. Some are big, some

are small.

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Amir Sowe Age 10

Basketball Community Hi, my name is Amir. My community is basketball, and in

basketball you have a team. In basketball you have to steal the

ball from the other team, and you have a number on your shirt.

Riley Winters

Age 9

Floren Community I’m Riley Winters. I’m nine years old and I enjoy the floren*

community because I love plants and I want to be a florist, cook,

and a house decorator when I’m older. I like this community

because when I’m sad or mad, plants calm me down. *Floren: It is a gardener or someone who likes to be floral.

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Group Sketches

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Acknowledgments A community of extraordinary people came together to create this publication. As Kaden reminds us, it’s so important to “have someone motivate you so you push forward.” Our families, our teachers, our volunteers, our designers, illustrators, copyeditors, and community partners—everyone plays a role in helping us stay motivated and inspired to write. Aarionah writes, “Some community people do work and some do writing too . . . I like communities because it makes me be grateful when I do things, too.” We are endlessly grateful to the special communities at Ann Arbor Public Schools that welcomed us and the writerly communities that were formed in the process of building these collections!

Students and teachers at Carpenter Elementary Volunteers Kim Ly, Illustrator Robyn Charles, Designer

Program Volunteers Kaitlyn Stymiest Bill Walker Charlotte Moore Sridevi Srikanth Claudia Mancy Sarah Allen Danielle Cubitt Katherine See Muhammad Chaudhry

Ben Lee Rebekah Kindy Jenna Kobeissi Pat Gold Grant Molloy Blake Williams Danny Creech Tyler Pemberton

Copyeditors Lauren Rudewicz

MaKenzee Van Buren

Typists Susan Morrel-Samuels Noelle Sciarini

Danielle Colburn Rachel Bullen

Program Lead & Teaching Artist Lauren Rudewicz

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Our partners at Ann Arbor District Library Elizabeth Pearce Walline & Amanda Schott Our friends at 826 Digital for inspiring our Write Your Way lesson and theme

Teachers Christine Blandino Pete Larson Stephanie Steiner & Ms. Maren

AAPS & Carpenter Leadership Team Michael Johnson, Principal LaShawna Brandon, School Secretary Nancy Shore, Ann Arbor Public Schools Strategic Partnership and Volunteer Coordinator Robin Birdsong, Title 1 Teacher Veronica Shah, Reading tutor

Community Supporters Ann Arbor Area Community Fund Rotary Club of Ann Arbor Leinweber Foundation The Hawkins Project Domino’s Pizza EOTech Warby Parker Altarum Institute Galens Medical Society Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor PTP Management

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Curriculum Guide I love to write. But I think that I will learn more. I think the way I want to become a better writer is if I focus. On how to edit writings. Not to make it perfect but better. I want to spell correct words, so maybe that can help me, and I want to be an editor. If I would make a book, if I started my own business, I would have a lot of paperwork to do, so that is why it is so important to learn how to write. —Jayla Canada, Age 10 This book project began with three fourth-grade teachers at Carpenter Elementary in Ann Arbor, who believed in their students’ ideas, and wanted to support and encourage their students to develop their ideas in writing. Writing, like all art, often brings us joy as much as it challenges us—and especially so when we are still learning to write and to catch our thoughts in mid-air as they whiz by. With this in mind, we at 826michigan collaborated with these teachers to adapt a pre-existing program available on 826 Digital called “Write Your Way.” The original “Write Your Way” program curriculum was compiled by 826 National to “engage students in the joy and power of writing” when they write with authentic purpose.

Our version adapted the principles of 826 Digital’s twenty-session “Write Your Way” curriculum, with its focus on reflection, connection, creation, and making a difference. Over the course of four sessions per class, we leaned into another meaning of “Write Your Way”: using writing to create a path, and find your way, through all the things happening around you, in your head, and in the world you are a part of. You can try out some of our adapted writing activities here, or visit 826digital.com to download the original materials!

Write Your Way . . . On Earth & Beyond Write your own community story for a real or imagined community. As you saw in the student writing in this book, community stories can come in all shapes and sizes, and can be about many different kinds of communities— in the present, past, and future, real and imaginary, nearby and far away, big and small.

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But . . . community can be hard to explain! Everyone thinks about and experiences community in a different way, even if being part of a community does mean you share something in common.

In these exercises, we will try to explain what a community is by writing about the experiences, stories, feelings, and desires that have connected us to other people. We will have to be really detailed, because we’ll be trying to explain to readers who might have totally different experiences than we do. So, are you up for the challenge? All you need is a pen or pencil to write with, and an extra sheet of paper if you want to write on more pages than the ones we give you here! We'll take you through the steps we used to write community manifestos about the communities that mattered to us.

Manifestos Part 1: Brainstorming As writers, we need to take time to understand our own ideas before we share them with other readers! Brainstorming is a warm-up for us: we can write our observations, feelings, and thoughts about a community . . . and we can write it messy! We can use bullet points, short phrases, stories, examples, feelings, and/or even drawings. This will help us map our ideas before trying to organize our ideas into sentences and paragraphs and stories. You can use a chart below to get going, or a blank piece of paper.

Think of this part of the writing like a journal or diary entry: it helps us know what’s on our minds!

First, make a list of any community you feel you know well, or that you would like to know well. Look back at the writing in this book for examples of some communities.

Next, pick one community from your list that you’d like to spend more time thinking about. Use the brainstorming prompts to list out, draw, remember, or jot with that community in mind. You can use the blank pages in the back of this book or your own paper. Once you have your ideas down on the page, you can use those ideas to inspire your community story!

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A Community You Are Part Of: ___________________________________ Example: The fourth grade at Carpenter Elementary Read the prompts below Jot, draw, or write a list in response to any of the bullet points that interest you!

What is your experience like in your community? » » » »

Things you do as a member of this community, by yourself or with others Roles or jobs you have Interests you share with others How you feel when you spend time with others in this community Example: helping collect homework = I feel important and helpful, playing at recess = feel fun and creative

What do you know about the experiences of others in your community? » People you know in this community » Things these people do in your community (with you, by themselves, or with others) » Any roles they have (you might have to guess or be creative!)

Example: My teacher answers my questions, our principal makes jokes when he visits our class What experiences do you share with others in your community? » » » »

What you share in common with your community Things you wish you could share in common with your community Activities that really make you feel like you’re a part of your community Activities you wish you could do more often or start doing with your community Example: We’re all students, I wish I knew more artists and that we went to more museums

Part 2: Writing with a Community Audience in Mind If there’s anything that you want for yourself, it’s very likely that there is someone else who wants that, too. It’s even more likely that that person already shares a community with you! You can share appreciation for your

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community, and give and receive support for creating a world that you all would want to live in. We wrote manifestos with Carpenter Elementary: a manifesto is a way of writing about the things you value most. Manifesto is related to the word “manifest,” which can have two meanings. “A manifest” is kind of like a list, and “to manifest” something means to make it appear (often in a magical way—like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat).

When we look at a “manifesto” we can think of both of these meanings: You list your values and beliefs in a manifesto in order to make your dreams about the kind of world you want to live in appear in reality.

Here’s our recipe for manifesto must-haves: ; Who am I? Tell the reader about yourself ! ; How do I feel about my community? Share your emotions to help readers understand why you care! ; I want . . . What do you want to see happen in your community? Include specific details, examples, or feelings ; I do not want . . . What is not desirable for your community? Include specific details, examples, or feelings ; Who is my audience? Who do you want to read your manifesto?

A Manifesto Map Write down your answers to these questions one by one, in full sentences.

Before you know it, a paragraph will manifest on the page before you!

First, tell your reader about yourself. Who are you?

Then, describe one community you are a part of. ✏ How big is it? ✏ What are some things you like about being in this community? ✏ How do you feel when you think about your community?

You can use I Do/They Do/We Do as a format for this if you would like!

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Then, list what you want in detail. ✏ What things do you enjoy? ✏ What things do you think others in your community would enjoy? ✏ How do you want others in your community to feel?

Then, list what you do not want in detail.

Lastly, answer: Who do you hope reads your manifesto?

Sentence Starters We’ve included some sentence starters for exactly that: they can help you get started writing sentences! But, this is not the only way a community story can look. As the writer, you might decide you want to start your sentences differently . . . or that you don’t want to use full sentences at all and write a poem or make a collage instead. Think about your audience and decide what makes the most sense!

I am ________________________________________________________.

I care about_________________________________________ community.

In my community, I like _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________.

I want_______________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________.

I do not want _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________.

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We Are Together

Use the following pages to brainstorm, write out your manifesto, or even draw yourself in your community!

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We Are Together

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We Are Together

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Draw your community here!

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We Are Together

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inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.

Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing.

Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members.

ONLINE LEARNING LAB For the 2021–22 school year, our programs remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to offer virtual program opportunities as well!

SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18.

WORKSHOPS We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementary-aged writers.

IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS Our trained volunteers go into local public schools every day to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry.

FIELD TRIPS Students come as a class to our writing lab to join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff in order to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is our editor Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home.

OUR STORES Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. Visit the Ann Arbor Robot Supply Co. at 115 East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor for in-store shopping. For store hours and online shopping, visit us online at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!

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WRITING IS

A way to figure things out by ourselves

We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking)

A way to help us connect to our world

We study the writing we want to do so we can try it We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose

A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become

We work with a group of writers who help and support each other

A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world

www.826michigan.org

826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities.

We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards.

Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization.

We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands.

As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.

The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start.

And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion.

by Gerald Richards, CEO