2013-2014
Theme: Play

Harry Lee Cole Elementary School (grades PK-2) was getting a whole new playground this year, so the year’s theme was “play.” Music teacher Toby Turner wrote original songs about play, spirit, friendship, and kindness for all the students to sing.

For this yearbook’s cover and theme, we wanted to include authentic original art made by students, and for every single student to be part of it. So we used several “morning meeting” times where we distributed large outlines of letters to groups of kids, and they would “playfully” decorate their letters together. Then I scanned in all the letters and other doodles, and formed the words for the front and back cover, as well as playful key words (imagination, discover, smile, play, fun) used in thematic quotes throughout the yearbook, such as “The possible’s slow fuse is lit by the IMAGINATION” and “A SMILE is happiness you’ll find right under your nose” and “PLAY is our brain’s favorite way of learning.”

On the cover, the title and other words and drawings are arranged to look like they are playfully bursting out of the box that holds the Cole logo’s eagle mascot.  

This book’s theme is a reminder to make time to play, for no other reason than for the magic that play makes possible. 

2014-2015
Theme: Working Together

Both Harry Lee Cole School (PK-2) and Spofford Pond School (3-6) began a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) specialist this year, where students worked in groups to create various projects. So the year’s theme was “working together” with a focus on the many parts of a team or project that work together. Music teacher Toby Turner wrote original songs about the various different staff members that make up a school’s whole team.

The yearbooks used authentic original sketches that the students created in planning their STEM projects. Each school’s cover uses original drawings from students at that school. The wheel cogs represent the pieces working together, the grid background represents design/drafting, and the student drawings are arranged with a visual reference to Leonardo Da Vinci’s brainstorming sketches and designs. Words used on the back cover and throughout the book are the steps in the circular design process: ask>imagine>plan>create>improve. Cogs on the back cover are also labeled with the parts of our whole school that work together: parents, students, teachers, staff, curriculum.

This book’s theme is a reminder that we each play an important part in any project, team, school, organization, or community. Working together with appreciation for each part is what allows good, creative ideas to develop.

2015-2016
Theme: Wellness

This year both Harry Lee Cole School (PK-2) and Spofford Pond School (3-6) celebrated “wellness,” with assemblies, presentations, and Toby Turner’s original songs about various aspects of health, wellness and safety.

The yearbooks captured this theme with a playful reference to commercial packaging, featuring a bowl of student-made “wellness” on the cover and nutritional label on the back (reminiscent of a cereal box aesthetic). Several aspects of these books incorporated original student work: we distributed worksheets asking for drawings, hand-written words, and statements about what they think “wellness” is. The drawings and words were scanned and arranged in the covers’ bowls (a photo of my own bowl) bursting with wellness, and throughout the back covers and pages of the book. Original student quotations about wellness were also arranged throughout the Spofford Pond yearbook, such as: “wellness means you feel good and are happy with your life,” “wellness means helping people when they are hurt,” “eating healthy, having energy and having fun, too,” and “wellness means protecting yourself.” And they hand-wrote words such as “clean air,” “good choices,” “personal best,” “friendship,” and “love.”  

Also throughout are parodic “promotional” claims and statements with double meaning, such as: “rich in nutrients for excellent vision” and “first ingredient is fun.” The cover is like the front of a package outlining the values within a person or school such as “naturally sweet, no artificial ingredients, rich in youthful fiber, excellent source of energy.” The nutrition label on the back cover ties this in with nutrients such as “kindness” and “courage” and ingredients such as “organic memories” and “creative juice concentrate.” The mascot on the front cover says “rise and shine” with the double meaning of the overall cereal-box “morning” theme, plus the idea that a school and wellness help students to rise up and to shine. This yearbook was the most labor-intensive of the seven, with hundreds of student art images unique to each school’s book.

This book’s theme is a reminder to live with a conscious awareness of wellness, and what we need to be well in all the various aspects of our lives.

2016-2017
Theme: Superpowers of Optimism

This year both elementary schools joined a “community read” of Life Is Good, in which brothers Bert and John Jacobs outline ten “superpowers of optimism.” Music teacher Toby Turner brilliantly captured each superpower in an original or classic song. The superpowers are Openness, Creativity, Gratitude, Compassion, Authenticity, Love, Fun, Humor, Simplicity, and Courage. To capture this theme with original student artwork, we had students do “spin art” to create colorful paint bursts that artistically represented the “POW!” of superpowers. I scanned these and we used them throughout the book with a superpower word on each one.

The cover design shows a superpower bursting from under a button shirt (my son posed for the image, haha). The back cover represents the back of the under-shirt with each superpower represented in a simplified figure I created, each with its own original spin-art burst. The shirt tag / fabric care label has a small message with a double meaning: 100% Fade-Resistant Memories; CARE Always; Warm Smile; Hang Out. And if one looks very closely, the fabric-care symbols at the bottom spell “BE GOOD” – Which ties back to the Life is Good theme.

This book’s theme is a reminder that we all have super-powers within us that help make life good for ourselves and others.

2017-2018
Theme: Life is a Journey + Kindness

This year our elementary schools were introduced to the idea of the “lifepack” from our Tri-Town Council. The lifepack is the invisible, weightless resource we all wear to carry the assets we have for navigating the unknown terrain and situations that lie ahead in our journey of life. We may pack our own individual skills such as resilience, or assets such as supportive friends and family.

This theme was captured in songs about the lifepack by Toby Turner, and for the yearbooks we used a few sources of original student artwork: kids painted playful map-inspired textures and images during a Global School Play Day session I hosted, and I also scanned student-drawn illustrations about geographical terms from their social studies class. I combined these various paintings, drawings and illustrations to create the background and cover art for the yearbooks.

In bursts throughout the book, we combined key words from the lifepack with student paint splatters to represent their energy. For the student quotes throughout the book, our older elementary students used the map/journey metaphor to write about the tools they carried in their lifepacks. They came up with statements such as: “I carry humor in my lifepack for when I get overwhelmed in the rushing waters of responsibility” or “I carry an elevation gauge in my lifepack to help me find the high road.”

On the front and back covers, there are two key images in the foreground over the map imagery. On the back is the lifepack which I created by combining a photo of my daughter’s backpack with glowing typographic assets and painted energy bursting out of it (and a little “Lifepack: for good” label).

On the front cover, there is one important visual item from the lifepack: a compass that guides one toward “kind” choices in life. This ties in another important theme this year: “kindness,” especially driven and promoted by the Student Council. It was also the first year of us holding the “Sticks and Stones: Words DO Matter” artist residency on the Power of Kindness. I created this image by scanning an actual compass and digitally adding the word “kind.” The map’s Distance Key also ties in a double-meaning by connecting “kindometers” with “smiles” (get it, like kilometers/miles?), and the mascot also says “pack light” to represent the double meaning that essential life skills are more important than physical objects, that we should carry that which helps us travel instead of weighing us down—and also that we carry within us the light that shines for others and ourselves.

This book’s theme is a reminder that we carry our own skills, and the supportive gifts of those who care about us, to help us handle whatever we encounter on life’s journey.

2018-2019
Theme: Happiness

This year the elementary schools explored the theme of “happiness” in their assemblies, presentations and discussions. This simple, classic theme was expressed through a “retro” sound as Toby Turner had the students sing old tv classics such as “thank you for being a friend” from the Golden Girls and “Come on, get happy” from The Partridge Family.

For the yearbooks, we expressed the light, uplifting simplicity of happiness in original student artwork by having the kids do “bubble painting.” We set up a table at recess and they blew bubbles mixed with watercolor paint onto paper. Then I scanned them in and arranged the painted bubbles for the cover art and throughout the book. We also asked students to complete the sentence “happiness is …” and used those quotes throughout the book, such as: “Happiness is whatever makes you feel like you,” “Happiness is remembering all you have, instead of what you’ve lost,” “Happiness is like rain in the desert,” and “Happiness is when you make someone laugh.” There are many brilliant statements from their young hearts!

On the back cover, some of the bubbles also float up with happy words from the students, such as: family, nature, traveling, giving, holidays, good food, music, team spirit, pets, stories, art, dancing, moonlight, sunshine, snowflakes, love, a good night’s sleep, learning something new, etc. The cover font and color bars have a 70s retro aesthetic to go with the theme title: “Come on get happy!”

This book’s theme is a reminder about the light, colorful nature of happiness: the small joys, and the bigger, bubbly currents in our lives that lift up our individual and collective spirits.

2019-2020
Theme: Grow the Good + Inspiration

This year our Tri-Town Council began a “Grow the Good” campaign to celebrate the actions that nurture positive growth for ourselves and the world. This could mean simply cultivating kindness and compassion, or inspiring and developing creative ideas that improve quality of life.

For the yearbooks, we used planting seeds to represent the “inspiration” that begins the process of growing good ideas. With the wonderful support of our art teacher, we asked students to draw or paint their own unique seeds or seedlings. They were imaginative and beautiful. We also asked students to write about inspiration—what inspires them to “grow the good” in their lives. They had much to say, including: “I am inspired when I see others working hard,” “When I am inspired, I try new things,” “I am inspired by fresh air,” “My coach inspires me,” “I hope I inspire others when I am kind,” and “My friends inspire me to be the best version of myself.”

I scanned the original artwork and we used the seeds, seedlings and quotes throughout the yearbook, over a background collage of leaves also drawn by students. For the front cover, I combined the seeds and seedling sprouts to show them forming the word “GOOD” in a garden of good ideas, complete with a rainbow representing sun and rain.

On the back cover there is an envelope of seeds with instructions and illustrations for how to plant seeds of inspiration to grow good ideas, incorporating as much double meaning as possible: full rays of hope, deep in thought, strong roots, space for possibilities, sprinkle with encouragement, support growers everywhere, harvest wholesome goodness, spread new inspiration, and recycle old ideas into nutrient-rich ground for new growth. Perennial Blend.

The playful, expressive art by the students conveys the imagination and whimsy needed to be open to the growth of new ideas.

This book’s theme is a reminder that being inspired is the first step in a process that, with the right environment and care, can grow goodness and good ideas that thrive in our lives.

The Covid-19 Pandemic began as we were finishing production of this yearbook, the last one I would work on because of my youngest child graduating from elementary school. This especially challenging time for everyone certainly reinforces my hope that somehow these small messages of play, working together, wellness, optimism, kindness, life’s journey, happiness, inspiration and growing the good will somehow help our young people — all of us — in the future.