“Yasmin” Inspires Eastover Students and Staff!

The unified arts team at Eastover Elementary School once again embarked on a special collaborative project, inspired by a visit from author Saadia Faruqi, who writes a book series about an inspirational character named Yasmin.

Media Center Specialist Cindy Livingston hosted this author because her realistic fiction texts promote a positive message, a growth mindset, and problem solving. “Having a connection with a character [like Yasmin] is very powerful. They have a model through a book. Then attaching an author to it makes it that much more accessible to everyday life,” stated Livingston.

The author spoke to second graders about the Yasmin books, which in turn sparked ideas for an interdisciplinary, creative journey across Media, STEAM, and Spanish classes. Eastover Spanish teacher Susan Farah worked with STEAM teacher Pam Walch, who together made connections across the curriculum and cultures after reading the book “Yasmin the Builder” with their students. They decided to expand into a social studies lesson about urban and rural communities, dipping into a topic that the students will learn more in depth later in the year. Next, each class chose one community - urban or rural - to explore in more detail, and then each student designed a certain structure typically found within that community. 

Students then took their design drawings to Spanish class where they labeled the structure parts. Farah commented how so many of these terms come easily to the students because “they already know thousands of Spanish words due to cognates, they just haven’t met them yet.”

Finally, they brought their ideas to life in the STEAM classroom, constructing unique community models using materials of their choice, including legos, magnatiles, dominoes, connecting straws, snap cubes, Lincoln logs, and keva planks. 

This project aligns with Bloomfield Hills Schools’ district goals by promoting collaboration, creativity, cultural understanding, and language development in an engaging, hands-on learning experience. These students showed great imagination and teamwork.