On starting a new country:

This is a project completed with a group of 4th graders at PS 276, where I asked them to start their own countries.

Step one was to create a new landform out of felt. They became topographical map paintings of imaginary places.
Next we made tools out of the materials we found on the island. Our resources were wood, styrofoam, wire, grass, etc... You know, 'natural' stuff. Pictured above is a microwave, a chair, a table, a bow and arrow, a cell phone- everything you need for basic survival.

Also above, take notice of the coins on the right hand side. You guessed it, we made currency for each country. But that came AFTER we made treasure maps so we had somewhere to hide it.


After we had developed tools, we could get into some serious construction. We built our own shelters, which we hoped would keep us alive on our islands for the first few weeks until we had the lay of the land. That's where the currency became really useful because we could pay other people from other islands for their services. Everyone could use their expertise this way. And sell it. We are not socialists at ps 276.

You can see the passports we made layed flat on the table above. Travel was also a priority for all these adventurous capitalists.