Valentine's Day bags with our drawn symbols on them:Lots of LOVE to all of you!
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“Elyse! Look! It comes out.” - Pierce [observing that the wooden shapes slide out of the newspaper] Will, what do we do if the block comes out? Do we need it to come out first? - Elyse “No. You put it around it.” - Will What do you put around it? “Clay.” - Will Is this enough clay for Win or does she need more? - Elyse “If she’s using this one [small piece of armature] I think she would need more. That looks like it’s not that much [clay].” - Will “You need to roll it into a big slab so that it will fit around [the armature piece]. You need to make it a big slab, Henri and Pierce, so that it will fit around the armature.” - Will [Elyse and Henri are “stumped” - Henri’s clay isn’t going all the way around the armature] Ask Will. He may know. - Elyse [Henri approaches Will] “Will, how do you shape the clay?” - Henri “You could get a little bit more clay and put it like that.” - Will “Elyse, am I done yet?” - Pierce I don’t know. Ask Will, maybe he knows. - Elyse “Will, am I done?” - Pierce “Try it on your cone, but if it doesn’t fit, you probably need to roll it more.” - Will [Pierce picks up his rolling pin] How do you know if you need to roll it more? Ask Will. - Elyse [to Win] “I don’t know because I don’t think she choosed an armature.” - Will Have you chosen an armature? - Elyse [to Win] [Win begins to roll the clay around a piece of armature - cylinder] “To make it stay together, you probably need to score and slip it.” - Will “Where’s the score and slipping?” - Henri “I think it’s on the shelf.” - Will Will, what is Henri’s next step? - Elyse “I think that’s already an armature.” - Will But, is the block still in there? - Elyse “Yes.” - Henri How does he remove the block? - Elyse “Take it out of the part he didn’t cover.” - Will [Henri begins removing it] “You might unwrap it.” - Will How will you get the block out? - Elyse “I don’t know. By dumping?” - Henri Does you clay still stand up? - Elyse “Yeah.” - Henri “The first piece of armature that Henri made!” - Will “Will, is this enough [clay]?” - Pierce “You have to try it.” - Will “Will, does it need to reach the bottom?” - Pierce “Try rolling it around. Putting it around.” - Will How are you doing Pierce? - Elyse “It’s not the right size yet.” - Pierce Why not? - Elyse “Because it’s not going to go to the top.” - Pierce Let’s give it a try.” - Elyse |
| This work offered Pierce a chance to scaffold other children's work with wire just as Will had supported him the week before with clay. Pierce and Zoe both have stars as their symbol, and encountered similar difficulties. After Pierce problem solved how to twist the ends of his wire/tube together, he moved over to support Zoe with this same step in the process. “I kind of like did it. I tied it. Zoe, look how I tied it.” - Pierce Pierce moved closer to her, speaking directly to her with a calm, kind voice. Zoe watched him and started following his guidance. “Elyse, she doesn’t have any V’s. I only see these.” - Pierce [Zoe begins bending her wire again to reshape the points of the star] Zoe, let’s think about the length of yours. What did you do when yours was too long, Pierce? - Elyse “Cut it. And then the way I connect it is to tie it.” - Pierce How can you support her in twisting it together? - Elyse “Hmm…where’s my star. Let me get my star.” - Pierce “Zoe do you want to twist it how I did it?” - Pierce “Yes.” - Zoe [Pierce begins showing her, and Zoe is attentive to his words and actions] Pierce also offered to support Henri with his dragonfly. “Henri you need to twist it. Here, let me get my star. I tied it. You can tie it how I did. Henri, do you want to do that like I did?” - Pierce Pierce, you’re being such a supportive friend. - Elyse |
We have all had our turn with our "drawing game" of "closed eyes portraits." What a blast and a joyful delight it was overall despite some reservations and the inherent difficulty. When asked if it was hard, Christopher shared, "It was a little bit hard." And rightfully so, considering the drawing process of this game requires that the drawer does not look at pen, hand, or paper while drawing. Not to mention how holding the clipboard upright and subsequently holding the pen differently to approach the act of drawing is a mental and physical novelty and upside down way of drawing. While for some, the act of looking away or keeping eyes closed presents its own cognitive and bilateral coordination challenge. Knowing that the final result was not going to look anything like the person drawing it was perhaps the easiest aspect of the game. The collective, shared experience in just being together was worth the challenges. |
George began his work in the atelier with Jen and Pierce. He made two versions of his symbol. He and Jen discussed strengthening his clay at the different points of intersection because if the coils and connections are too thin, the clay will come apart or crack. George was patient with the process and editing his symbol as he worked. **Pieces of both versions have been fired and we will invite him to help us problem solve** |
"The trees, the rope swing, the mushroom table and chairs, the sandbox, and the sky, sun, and clouds. The clouds are purple because you can't see white pencil on white paper." - Gracie, 4.3 years | "The slide [left], green tunnel with a person inside, and the shed." - Eliza, 4.3 years | "The slide, and I added a design. That is the rope ladder [left]." - Adaline, 4.4 years |
"The slackline and the cob house." - Adaline, 4.4 years | The outdoor classroom renovation will be a major shift for the current Brown and Rainey room children when they return to school in the fall. This space is special to our school, and we want to honor the children's relationship with the space and their memories of being there with their friends. We know that the new equipment will be exciting, but we are embarking on a journey to remember (memorialize?) the space as it is now. In the coming weeks and months, our intention is to collaborate within the Rainey Room and with other classrooms, parents, and admin to "remember" the outdoor classroom. We are starting with the children's suggestions to draw and photograph the space. Stay tuned! |
As you saw last week, we started the process of creating our very own symbol curtain, inspired by the installation at The Renwick. We started by drawing our symbols and now we have begun the process of creating our 3D pieces out of clay. Moving from 2D to 3D requires some critical thinking and problem solving. Some children created shapes "flat" to the board, while others built "up". There is no right or wrong -- simply different approaches. |
Just as she did with her symbol drawing, Gracie began by focusing on the multiple lines on the left hand side of her "shark tail". She created a small clay piece to represent those lines. | Together with us, she reflected on the longer, larger lines of her symbol and the openness of the shape. She also decided to use her large symbol to trace with the coils and shape her clay. |
Will carefully worked to shape his coils, but eventually noticed that his spiral was going "a different way". Unfortunately, when his symbol made it to the kiln, it cracked. Today (1.18), Will was invited to create a new version of his symbol. The disappointment was short lived and he quickly got to work rolling new coils to create a second version. He also supported Caroline as she worked on her first version. | These images are from his first version. |
Win approached her symbol by starting with a long coil to create the outline before pinching clay together to make the lines that go horizontally and vertically across her ball. She counted all of them and began to add then -- first horizontally and then vertically. Win's symbol required a lot of scoring and slipping at each intersection of the clay lines so that it is less likely to break apart. | As other children have been observing the clay symbols, they enthusiastically identified "that's Win's!!" In fact, they had been able to identify each child's clay symbol. |
Henri looked carefully at his printed symbol and his drawing, counting the number of wings and pieces he would need to create a dragonfly. Henri's approach was to create large, 3D pieces that he scored and slipped together. His approach was unique among the first groups of children to work on the symbols -- other children worked closely to the board, creating flatter pieces (similar to the glass pieces of the symbol curtain). |
Adaline's first symbol cracked as we attempted to move it to the kiln. She responded by suggesting that she could make another one! She also suggested that she should use the frame again, and was once again extremely proud of her own work and patience with the process. | Clay can be so fragile and a test of our patience, recovery skills, and perseverance -- and this is true for both the adults and children. |
Zoe, like Adaline, created two versions of her symbol because the first one broke as we attempted to move it to the kiln. At morning meeting, we showed the children the broken symbols and asked why this might happen. They suggested a few things: 1. Not enough slip 2. Coils were too thin 3. The coils need to be "bigger" (re: longer) |
Georgia began work without any hesitation or assistance from others. She began by creating the coil circle in the middle and then rolling coils to create the "spokes" of her snow flake. "Do you know why mine is easy? Because it's a snowflake." - Georgia, 4.2 years Georgia did what we jokingly called "symbol math" as she counted the lines on her printed symbol and then created them one by one out of clay. "How many more?" - Georgia Ten of these pieces was a lot, but she worked for almost an hour creating each piece, scoring, and slipping them together. |
Caroline is a coil rolling expert -- she rolled coils with ease and confidence. Below, you can see her and Will rolling coils and discussing techniques on how to edit their work. Like others, Caroline chose to trace her symbol with the clay coils. Her symbol required a good bit of score and slip at the different intersections of the lines so that "it doesn't break like the other ones you broke." These symbols are incredibly fragile and we are being extra careful, but also giving each other grace. All of the children have been very understanding about this process, and Caroline reminded us that it was "okay if it breaks. We can do it again." We're crossing our fingers that the next batch makes it to the kiln without any breaks. |
Christopher created long, thick, strong coils that he said needed to "go up like this". Rolling the coils was a bit of a challenge at first because he noticed that his coils needed to be long and each needed to be a different length. Once he had each piece, he arranged them on top of the lucite frame/printed symbol, scored and slipped them, and then said, "okay. I'm done!" with a smile on his face. |
"I get by with a little help from my friends." "I can help Lillian with her hat." - Will | |
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Our children are very connected to their symbols, and the installation at The Renwick was powerful and memorable for all of us. Now, we are exploring the possibility of creating our very own shadow curtain. | “I see another moon only bigger.’ - Caroline “I see a pencil.” - Gracie “I see Melanie’s symbol.” - Zoe |
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