900 Days of School: The Dollhouse (Composite 30)

“You can’t crawl back in the dollhouse–
You’ve gotten too
big to
get in.
You’ve got to live here
Like the rest of us do.
You’ve got to walk roads
That are winding and new.
But oh, I wish I could
Crawl back with you
Into the dollhouse again.”
― Shel Silverstein

The dollhouse has been in my classroom for years now.  It is a favorite choice for my students when we have indoor recess.  It has seen many hands and has lost a door and pieces of furniture along the way.  The lack of perfection doesn’t deter the students from selecting the dollhouse as a place to spend quality time.

I thought the dollhouse would be an important picture to include in my project 900 Days of School in which I 

take one picture a day each day during the last five years of my teaching career.

Every day I read a chapter from a chapter book to my students.  I read many of these books each year.  Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Flat Stanley are among the titles I read to my students   Several years ago, I added a new book to the rotation.  This book is The Doll People by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin.  In The Doll People, toys inside the dollhouse come to life when they are not being observed by humans.

While reading this book to my students, I had an idea for a composite image we could work together to create.

Earlier in the school year, I worked with several other students in my classroom to create an image of a fairyland using mushrooms they found on the playground.   You can see that composite and read the story here.

In order to create the dollhouse composite, first I took a picture of the empty house.  Next, with my students’ help, I decided what could be going on in each room.

After that, individual photographs were taken of the children to insert into the house.

Working on these composites with my children has been an amazing way to connect with them.  The fairyland composite and the dollhouse composite were created with my students during the 2017-2018 school year.

This year, as a part of my 900 Days of School Project, I am creating one composite for each child which incorporates his/her hopes, dreams, or interests.  I am so enjoying the process and the opportunity to connect even more authentically to the students I teach.