April 23rd, 2019

​Last Thursday, Rainey Room children spent a lot of their backwards day unclogging the pump in the outdoor studio. Today at drop-off Margaret was excited to try the pump, but discovered it didn’t work. After a little inspecting and troubleshooting with her dad--and observing at the new pump compared to the old one--it appeared that maybe something was interfering with the pump’s range of motion. We suspected a blockage, so Margaret enlisted Jossie and Austin to help fix it. They disassembled the pump, cleared out the large debris using pliers and paintbrushes, washed the pump in the sink to clear out all the sand and small debris, and carefully re-assembled the pump. Unfortunately, the pump still didn’t work after all this, but the process was pretty satisfying and they learned a lot about tools, teamwork, and mechanics. 

​Later in the classroom, children made light table arrangements from natural materials collected from trees—including seeds, flower stems, catkins, seed pods, cherry blossoms, and leaves. They took different approachs to the work, some scattering the petals slowly to watch them fall, others carefully placing several small objects to make a picture.  Lou Lou said of a new maple leaf, “It’s so soft. It’s smells like coconuts.” Sam observed of the seed pods, “It looks like eggs came out of them.” Sally explained to her friends, “I’m picking these to make a design.”   The process and the products were beautiful to observe and we're excited for more tomorrow.