New Monuments by 826michigan

NEW

MONUMENTS

PROPOSALS FROM

Ms. Schulte’s Fourth Grade Class

at University Prep Elementary School - Mark Murray

NEW MONUMENTS

Memorials That Matter

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, socioeconomic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, immigration status, military service, or disability.

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

About the Program

This book contains writing from 826michigan’s New Monuments field trip program. During this program, students explore what a monument is and can be, dreaming up new possibilities for local ways to honor heroes and specialties, from the playful (coney dogs and magical creatures) to the serious (activists and abolitionists). In collaboration with 826michigan volunteers, students envision and draw these new possibilities, and then write about why they think their new monuments should be built. This project is based on the work by student writers at our sister chapter 826 New Orleans and their publication Courageous, Eccentric, Diverse: New Monuments for New Orleans.

A Monument to Mac & Cheese!

by Brooklyn

I’m going to tell you about the best food ever! Macn-cheese has the most cheese ever! I love it! It’s soooooooooooooooooooooooooo Goood!My monument to MacN-Cheese will be located in Detroit, Mi and it will be a painting. It’s the best food ever.

A Monument to My Mom’s Cooking

By Samiaya

My monument is to my mom’s cooking (as my dad’s cooking is not the best ) and my granma. My mom makes good chicken alfredo and this is the best food ever. She helps me with homework. She cleans up after me sometimes. My granma gives me money sometimes and I also like Snickers. I love my family and my mom’s cooking and I’m talking about this because I want chicken alfredo. My monument is going to be a sculpture of my mom holding chicken alfredo!

A Monument to My mom and my Auntie

By Kennedi

I’m going to tell you about my mom and my auntie! My mom is my soldier and my auntie is still there for me and I feel happy because I still have them. My mom is 36 and my auntie is a nurse and my mom is kind, nice, and sweet. My auntie gives me everything that I want. I feel happy and sad because I love them and I’m sad because I never want to lose them. My monument will be located in the front of my house. It will have a vase and the other one will have a vase and it will be made of clay! I love them. They mean so much to me!

A Monument to my mom and my family

By Haiven

I care about my family! My mom and my dad are my family. They are important to me because I love them and they are supportive. My monument to them would be a painting. The painting would be on a wall down the street from my house.

A Monument to my grandmother

By Kennedy

Did your grandmother help you out when you needed it? My grandmother was a great grandma at all times! My grandma was there for me and I spent a lot of time with her before she passed. My monument would be downtown right next to my aunt’s house where my grandma would go to see the fireworks! That’s all I wanted to share about her.

A Monument to Iron Man

By Jordan

Iron Man was a great guy! We need a monument for him because he saved the world. A fact about Iron Man is that he will get back up! Iron Man is important because he is the best! My monument to Iron Man will be a painting! That’s all for now.

A Monument to Jesus Christ

By Kendal

Who is the creator of the world today? Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe! He died on the cross for us, people. When he was on earth he was helping us with our needs when he made water into wine and multiplied fish and bread. This is an important monument because without him we wouldn’t be in this universe. My monument would be in Chicago and it would be Jesus on the cross and it would be half as big as the bean and it is going to be made out of paint. My proposal shows that Jesus is important and that he died on the cross for us!

A Monument to my family

By Dave

We need this monument because my dad is funny and my mom is kind and my two Nano is kind too and my Tete is kind and nice. I feel like it would be so important for people to see this monument and see how nice my family is. This monument would be at my home and my mom would have long hair and she would be nice and funny.

A Monument to my mom and grandma and kitten

By Alicia

We need this monument because I love them all at the same time and they can make me happy when I am sad or when I feel lonely. My mom will always help me with my homework when I need it and my grandma will always take me to see my uncle on warm days. They make me happy because they tell me to have a great day at school. I would say the monument should be at the park and it will look blue, red, and green with swings and it is made of metal. Sometimes when I feel down I can cheer up by playing with my kitten or doing things I like to do at home.

A Monument to my friends

By Chanel

My friends are kind and they are always there for me when I’m sad. They help me to never give up! My friends are so important to me.

A Monument to my mom, my grandma, and fried chicken

By Marcus

My mom’s kitchen is perfect and she is special. My grandma is the one that tells me stuff that I never knew before! That fried chicken is good and that it hits different with Mac-N-Cheese. Some facts that support my proposal is that when my mom cooks I become super happy because when she makes MacN-Cheese and chicken tenders and green beans, and when my granny cooks on Thanksgiving she makes me turkey and other Thanksgiving food. My monument is important because without family, you won’t be able to learn all of these great things.

A Monument to my dog

By Aiden

My dog was the cutest dog I ever had and my dog was a pitbull. I’ll love my dog forever no matter what anyone says. It’s important for there to be a monument to my dog that looks just like my dog. People need to get to know about what I love!

A Monument to my aunt

By Lilia

I want to memorialize my aunt who went to heaven last year. Her name is Brianna and she was 32 when she passed away. She is important to me because she was always there when I was sad. This monument is important because she was a part of my family and when family passes away the whole is sad and comes together. She loved to online shop, because she didn’t love leaving her house! She also loved to cook and clean. All of this info shows that she was a special person in my life.

A Monument to Tito, Stella, and Gouda

By Mireya

I’m going to make a monument of Tito, Stella, and Gouda because they are the funniest cats. Tito is funny, Stella thinks she’s the Queen of the Universe, and Gouda is cute, but evil. I feel happy and want to have fun with this. I want people to feel happy about it. The monument will be at Ms. Schulte’s house or at her sister’s house. The cats are black and fluffy and cute. This is why I pick Tito, Stella, and Gouda, because they are so fun and funny.

A Monument to my mom’s cooking

By Allyson

My mom makes the best food and here’s why! Not everybody’s cooking is great, so I am thankful for my mom’s. My mom makes the best chicken, green beans, and rice and shrimp tacos. When I eat my mom’s food I have no words and I run around the house. My monument would be a big shrimp taco in my front yard so everyone could see it. Do you want to eat my momma’s food? Then let’s make this monument!

A Monument to my dog Dexture

By Lyla

My dog Dexture died this year. And I was very, very, very sad so I wanna make a monument about him. He was really nice when I was 2-years old. He always played with me, and when it was my bath time he would lick me and I would laugh. Dexture is important to me because he was the family dog, and always comforted everyone, and when he got sick he still comforted me. I think it should be located in my grandma’s backyard, this should look like my dog, and I think it should be made out of stone/rocks. My dog is an important part of me, and I feel he should be a monument.

A Monument to my uncle

By Carmello

I would like to make a monument to memorialize my uncle who passed. My uncle could do any job and he loved to work. I wish I got more time to know him. The monument would be made at my grandma’s house because that was her brother. It would be made out of metal. It would look like a box. That’s my proposal.

A Monument to barbecue chicken

By Shasmeen

My monument would be to barbeque chicken. Hey! My dad makes the best barbeque chicken at my home. Try some! My dad makes barbeque chicken with a lot of barbeque sauce. This monument is important because it tastes good! This monument would be located at my home and it would look juicy! It also goes good with macaroni and broccoli.

Design Your Own Monument

WHO or WHAT would you like to memorialize?

Opening sentence to hook the reader’s attention:

What are some facts to support your proposal?

Share your feelings about why the proposed monument is important.

Describe your vision of the monument. Where would it be located? What does it look like? What is it made of?

Conclusion to support your proposal:

Draw or insert a picture of your group- or self-designed monument.

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.

SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT

We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Homework support is available for all subjects, for students ages 7–18.

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 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 STORE

Our Robot Supply Co. store is your one-stop shop for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. It’s designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. In addition, our online store is always open; visit the Robot Supply Co. at onwardrobots. com. All proceeds from our store directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!

We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things

We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking)

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

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

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

826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.

Find out more at 826michigan.org