Kenny’s Students’ Work
“Dear Nurses, Doctors & Hospital Heroes 2.0”
In this special 90-minute class on Zoom with teacher Kenny, kids make GRATITUDE RESPIRATOR MASKS from old t-shirts, with their own written messages to honor and thank our HEROES working ON THE FRONT LINES of the coronavirus pandemic. Kenny shares stories with the kids about these heroes risking their own lives with minimal PPE Personal Protective Equipment (masks, gowns, gloves, goggles, etc) while helping to save other peoples’ lives. He uses FUN encouragement as he guides each child in the making of their own mask and expressing their heart to THANK OUR REAL SUPERHEROES TODAY. Stay tuned right here for many more kids’ HOMEMADE GRATITUDE MASKS to come!
KIDS IN KENNY’S ZOOM CLASS MAKE GRATITUDE RESPIRATOR MASKS FROM OLD T-SHIRTS, AND WRITE THEIR MESSAGES OF GRATITUDE TO HEROES ON THE FRONT LINES. WITH KENNY’S FUN AND ENCOURAGING GUIDANCE, KIDS IN THIS CLASS WATCH HIM ON THEIR ZOOM SCREEN AS HE AND THEY EACH MAKE A MASK WITH A MESSAGE. KIDS USE THE FABRIC OF A T-SHIRT TO CUT AND STAPLE ART RESPIRATOR MASKS THAT BECOME A BLANK CANVAS TO EXPRESS THEIR HEARTFELT FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE AND LOVE FOR THOSE NURSES, DOCTORS AND HOSPITAL PERSONNEL RISKING THEIR LIVES EVERY DAY TO SAVE THE LIVES OF OTHERS. THE KIDS ARE EXCITED KNOWING THEIR LITTLE MESSAGES OF LOVE CAN HELP TO FILL THE BIG HEARTS OF SOMEONE SPECIAL OUT THERE WHO NEEDS IT MOST.
“Dear Coronavirus, You Don’t Scare ME !!” In this interactive, live Zoom class with teacher Kenny as their tender & inspiring and funny guide, kids get to creatively and joyfully EMPOWER themselves and DISEMPOWER COVID-19 by giving a funny name to Coronavirus! They then write her/him/it a letter expressing their true feelings, and have their corona character write them back a letter. Finally they get to DRAW their cartoon virus with the silly name, and that’s always a FUN time!!!
TALIA, 12, in her online ZOOM class with Kenny, got to rename the coronavirus, MS CORONA CACTUS !! Then she got to write an amazing letter to this cartoon COVID-19. Her letter begins, “YOU BETTER NOT COME NEAR ME & MY FAMILY. CAUSE IF YOU DO UR GOIN DOWN !!” Ms Corona Cactus virus then got to write a letter back to Talia, and Ms Corona Cactus virus turned out to be a very sorry and apologetic virus for the harm she had caused the world. As Talia excitedly explained, her drawing of Ms Corona Cactus is a silly and very confused coronavirus. On the yellow half of her face, she’s showing her exhaustion from traveling the world every day, yet is kind of happy to still barely be alive. While on the purple half of her face, Ms Corona Cactus is depressed because she’s hurting people. BUT SHE’LL NEVER GET TO HURT TALIA OR TALIA’S FAMILY !!
LEO, AGE 5, DRAWING HIS AMAZING ART IN OUR KIDZhome.net CLASS ON ZOOM, DEAR CORONAVIRUS, YOU DON’T SCARE ME !!
WITH TEACHER KENNY’S LIVE & INTERACTIVE ENCOURAGEMENT THROUGHOUT THEIR ONLINE CLASS TOGETHER, LEO IS EMPOWERING HIMSELF OVER THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC BY CREATING HIS ORIGINAL & INSPIRATIONAL CARTOON CHARACTER & STORY, CORONA-ROCKET IN CORONAVIRUS LAND !!
TEACHER KENNY’S SKETCH TO HELP INSPIRE THE KIDS IN HIS ONLINE CLASS TO FIND COMPASSION FOR EVERYONE, EVEN FOR A CARTOON CORONAVIRUS WHO MIGHT JUST BE A LITTLE KID, TOO.
A TEARFUL AND REMORSEFUL CARTOON COVID-19, RENAMED BY ZOE, LITTLE COVID POOPYBUTT (AGE 19), WHO SAID, “I THOUGHT THEY WOULD LIKE ME IF I DID THIS!”
BY ZOE, AGE 9
“Dear Seniors & Caretakers, WE LOVE YOU !!”
In this Zoom class with Kenny, 10 girls from Girl Scouts Troop 33500, each got to write and illustrate cards to seniors and caretakers living in Long-Term Care facilities in their community. These elders are quarantined, isolated, severely lonely, and at great risk of COVID-19. Many are dying alone. These Girl Scouts were so JOYFUL to have an opportunity to mail them their cards of LOVE, to give someone they’d never met…some hope and a smile.
By Lily and Anna, age 12, GIRL SCOUTS TROOP 33500. In Kenny’s weekly KIDZhome.net online classes for GIRL SCOUT TROOPS nationwide, the girls each get to create something that makes a positive difference in their communities and in the world. In this online live class with teacher Kenny, “DEAR SENIORS & CARETAKERS, WE LOVE YOU !!”, the 10 Girl Scouts each wrote and illustrated a card to seniors and their caretakers they’ve never met, living in a long-term care facility in quarantine isolation and severe loneliness without family visitors allowed. Some of these elders are sick and dying alone, and their caretakers are giving their love at serious risk to their own health. But these amazing Girl Scouts’ generous love and creativity surely brightened their days when they received these cards in the mail ! These are just two of the many cards the girls created in class so beautifully!!
“MY HAPPY DREAMS ARE HERE.”
A 2-part 90-minute online Zoom class. In Part-1, kids write & draw their Worries & Fears and Wishes & Dreams during these Coronavirus times. In Part-2, they hand-build little Happy Dreams DOLLS or Happy Dreams ROCKETS, to put under their pillow to carry away their worries… and bring each child their dreams while they sleep each night.
MY WORRIES, WISHES & DREAMS DURING CORONAVIRUS
BY TALIA, 12
MY COVID-19 NIGHTMARES & MY WISHES & DREAMS
BY ZOE, 9
MY WORRIES, WISHES & DREAMS DURING CORONAVIRUS TIMES
BY LUCIA, AGE 5 (WITH MOM’S HELP WRITING AS LUCIA SHARED HER FEELINGS ALOUD)
“MY HAPPY DREAMS ARE HERE.” In Part 2 of this class with Kenny on Zoom, each child gets to make a little doll by hand, then place it under their pillow. Then while they sleep each night, their Happy Dreams DOLL carries each child’s worries away, and helps to bring their DREAMS to FRUITION!
Kids can also make a Happy Dreams ROCKET SHIP to place under their pillow, so when they sleep, it carries away their worries to outer space, and flies home safely with their dreams!
AFTER WRITING THEIR WORRIES & DREAMS, EACH STUDENT IN CLASS MADE FROM SCRATCH - A WORRY & DREAM DOLL - BASED ON THE GUATEMALAN WORRY DOLL TRADITION. WHILE THE KIDS CONSTRUCTED THEM OUT OF FABRIC AND YARN UNDER TEACHER KENNY’S GUIDANCE ONLINE, HE GUIDED THEM TO FOCUS ON GIVING THEIR WORRIES AND DREAMS OVER TO THEIR HANDMADE DOLLS. THEN THEY EACH PROUDLY PUT THEIR FINISHED DOLL UNDER THEIR PILLOW. THEY WERE VERY HAPPY KNOWING THAT WHILE THEY SLEPT EACH NIGHT, THEIR HANDMADE DOLLS WOULD TAKE AWAY THEIR WORRIES AND FEARS… AND REPLACE THEM WITH THEIR WISHES AND DREAMS. ALL THE KIDS LOVED THIS CLASS, AND SO DID THE TEACHER!!
“THIS is ME!!”
In this class, kids get to write a list of things they love about their life, and then each draw something meaningful to them, such as a ballerina or a plane or a rocket or a giraffe… and label the spots, or the parts of their artworks, with the things they LOVE in the world.
GIRAFFE SELF-PORTRAIT ART
BY ADAM, 9, AND HIS BROTHER MATTY, 12
BY TALIA, 12
BY ZOE, 9
BY ZOE, 9
BY LUCIA, 6
TEACHER KENNY PREPARED THIS PAGE COMPRISED OF FUN GIRAFFES CREATED BY VARIOUS ARTISTS WORLDWIDE, AND SHARED ON SCREEN WITH THE KIDS IN CLASS TO HELP INSPIRE THEIR OWN DRAWINGS AND IDEAS.
KENNY’S WRITING & DRAWING DURING CLASS TO HELP INSPIRE THE KIDS WHILE THEY WROTE AND CREATED THEIR OWN SELF-PORTRAIT GIRAFFE ARTWORKS.
In this live and interactive online class, kids get to write & draw what they love in their life, with teacher Kenny’s tender, INSPIRING and FUN guidance every moment.
THIS is ME! and THESE are the things I LOVE!
By JUSTIN, 9
THIS is ME !!
I LOVE TO IMAGINATE !!!
BY ATHENA, AGE 6
THESE AMAZING YOUNG ARTISTS AGED 5-12 AND FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY, ARE HAPPY & TRULY PROUD TO SHARE THE GORGEOUS WRITING & ARTWORK THEY EACH CREATED IN THIS KIDZ HOME CLASS TOGETHER…AS TEACHER KENNY APPLAUDS AND CHEERS FOR THEM!!
InsideOUT Writers. Weekly for the past 14 years, Kenny has been a volunteer writing teacher to over 2,500 inner-city teenaged girls aged 13-18 incarcerated in Los Angeles’ Central Juvenile Hall jail. In his writing classes behind bars, Kenny uses the art of emotive truth-telling, profound insight, courageous vulnerability, autobiographical writing and art-making as tools for his young students’ personal transformation and healing.
Here is a view of some of the countless true-life stories and artworks created from the hearts & souls & tears of the incarcerated teen girls in Kenny’s weekly classes behind bars.
THE TEENAGED GIRLS INCARCERATED IN JAIL WHO ARE KENNY’S STUDENTS EACH WEEK BEHIND BARS, WRITE, DRAW, READ THEIR WRITINGS ALOUD, OFTEN WITH EMOTIONAL TEARS, SUPPORT EACH OTHER, AND GET TO TALK WITH KENNY AND RECEIVE SELF-EMPOWERING FEEDBACK AND INSIGHTS FROM HIM ABOUT THEIR LIVES, THEIR RANGE OF EMOTIONS, AND TRUE LIFE STORIES. KENNY’S PRIMARY FOCUS IS ALWAYS TO HELP POINT TO AND HONOR THEIR INDOMITABLE SPIRIT & COURAGE, THEIR INNER BEAUTY, AND TO HELP EMPOWER HIS STUDENTS FROM THE INSIDE OUT WITH SELF-RESPECT, PRICELESS VALUE, AND AUTHENTIC SELF-LOVE. THIS IS A SMALL SAMPLING OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL WORK CREATED IN KENNY’S CLASS.