Unique & United: Students Rebuild 2026

Our school participated in the Students Rebuild initiative two years ago for the first time and I found it to be a wonderful opportunity to integrate picture books and artivism into our thinking. This year's theme "Unique & United" spoke to my heart. This would be a wonderful way to explore identity and community while creating and communicating with each other to raise funds for non-profits. (Through this organization, with every piece of student work that is created, $5 is donated to a non-profit). 

While the culminating project (shoe creation) came from the Students Rebuild resources, the opening activities and read alouds were designed by myself and my colleagues.

We began with a read aloud. These books celebrate our unique selves.

Cover of the book What I Am by Divya Srinivasan

The cover of the book Elmer by David McKee


Students were then tasked with creating a self portrait. They could draw themselves as a Lego mini-fig or build a self-portrait with Legos. I was surprised that so many chose the drawing option - I thought for SURE Legos would be an overwhelming favorite!

A collage of six lego self portraits

A collage of 4 lego mini-figurines, colored and decorated to represent the illustrating student

Next, we watched a video about how Adidas is adapting their footwear to fit the feet of folks with Down Syndrome, for whom a traditional sneaker does not work.

Students discussed how wearing something that doesn't feel quite right is irritating, uncomfortable and distracting. Adidas created special shoes for folks, so why couldn't we? This launched our interviews. Students interviewed each other about their likes and interests with the goal of learning more about each other. These interviews would serve as the anchor for their shoe design in our next class.

Two students are working together. One has a pencil and is writing with the other child has to say

Design time! Next class, students chose a shoe for their partner and got to work with provided supplies. I quickly realized that one class period would not suffice. I had no idea how truly invested they would be in getting this "just right" for their partner.

A table with work in progress on it - shoe pages in varying stages of completion and bins of markers, colored pencils and stickers


This turned into a two class operation which was fine because it gave them the opportunity to enjoy some extra "choice time" on day two.

Examples of two student pieces of art - a high top in vibrant purple and pinks with the word meow on it and a lowtop sneaker with green accents including a tree and green stars.

Examples of two student pieces of art - a red croc including the word anime and a high top in red and green with the word "Ronaldo" on it.

To wrap up this unit we read I Am We: A Book of Community by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. 

Cover of the book I am We: A Book of Community by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds


These pages in particular spoke to the theme of our work

Page from the book I Am We by Susan Verde reading "But then I realize that the better I feel inside, the more I can be there for others. My friends, my family. My community. Because I do not exist alone; I am part of something bigger than myself."

Page from Susan Verde's book I am We reading "Connection is how I grow. Connection is how we grow. Connected is what we are: part of a worldwide community, diverse and magnificent, kind and accepting, supportive and present. All of us important, none of us alone."

Next, students were given sentence frames to take with them on their gallery walk of our space which had been transformed into an art gallery by our amazing volunteers. Students viewed the work and talked to their friends about it.

Collage of three pictures showing students looking at their artwork on the walls of the library

We returned to the rug to debrief. Student comments included:
  • I noticed that people took a lot of care and thought to make the shoes for each other.
  • I noticed that shoes were thoughtfully designed for each other.
  • I like how people used stickers to express what they like.


Resources

Takeaways

I was blown away by the care they took to create something for someone else. I mistakenly thought they would take more time and care with designing a shoe for themselves. I observed students going back to their partner, asking them clarifying questions like "Which shade of blue do you like better?" They really wanted to get this right. 

I was pleasantly surprised by our gallery walk as well. I often finish a project and move on. With this much time invested in this special project, I KNEW we needed to take a closer look and appreciate the care and energy invested. Sentence frames made the discussion easier and more fruitful:

 

Sentence frames including 1. I noticed 2. I like how
Location: Massachusetts, USA

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