Headbands..... and Masks At today's meeting, we revisited the headband ideas that were generated yesterday. Some new ideas emerged: Lou Lou - I would make a tiara. Louise - A rainbow headband.... I'm gonna make it out of fabric. I'm gonna start with fabric and put some beads on it and then these (points to small crystals/gems on her headband. Lou Lou - I'm gonna make a valentine headband. Some of the online images went beyond the typical head band. Perhaps this lead the children to consider working with another form today....masks. Children shared other ideas as well. Louise had started with a rainbow headband. Grace D. took that idea and made a rainbow heart. This theme continued as Grace M. made a heart mask. As Joslin worked on a panda mask, Gigi was inspired. "I'm making a mask, too. It's made of fabric and ribbons." She added there might be some wacky stuff, "I'll decide when I start to make it." Sewing.... with a TwistFor weeks, children have been preparing clay slab and pieces of wood for sewing. Today we were able to start sewing on these novel materials.
Valentine's Day is in the Air!The Message Center was a popular place as children made messages in shades of pink and red. There was additional enthusiasm for this process as the Tucker Room had made mailboxes for Victor and Lucilla during the morning.
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Have You Seen The Light?Most children had noticed the light hanging in the greeting hallway either yesterday or today. We visited it as a group to reflect on how it looks and the process of making it. Some children paid particular attention to the ways in which the light looked different from the way it did when they worked on it. Here's some of the conversation: Austin - I like the gold cord. Grace D. - I like the green bottle things and everything. Sam - I like everything on it. Louise - I showed Tita and Frances the part that I did. Joslin - The light was hanging when we came to school together. I thought like.... whoa. Sam- I put on the keys. Grace D. - I see something someone else put on the silver line (a rectangular bar). Grace M. - I like the glass parts Evelyn - I like the silver polka dots. Austin - (Referring to the documentation on the wall) Look at the picture there. It looks better with the light. That's (the photo) silver and that's (the actual light) gold. The children were asked to look at the ceiling above the light. Austin - Yeah, it's turning (the ceiling) gold. It's reflecting. Joslin - I like the shadow. Grace M. - It's shining on the wall. "We can do whatever we want because we're creative in our imagination." SallyToday we encouraged the children to dream big, to explore bolder and more fantastic possibilities with their headband work. They were presented with images of amazing head pieces and asked to consider what elaborate head bands or head gear they would like to create. (If you want to see some cool examples, you can start by googling Alexander McQueen head gear images! Trust us..... that's only a beginning!) Our meeting included a brainstorming session..... what kinds of head gear would they like to make. Here's some of the ideas: Austin - Like a unicorn headband that goes down to a tail. Grace M. - Or a earth headband. An outer space headband. Sam - A shark and dragon headband. You could make a dragon body and and dragon tail and the dragon head and a great white head and a T-Rex head. Sally - A dalmatian headband with baby puppies all around. Evelyn - A butterfly headband. A butterfly headband unicorn. A rainbow big butterfly headband. Louise - A wild cat headband, because I have cats on my tights. Sally - I want to do an owl headband. Austin - A robotic one. Over lunch, Louise wisely pointed out, "Coco Chanel drew her designs before she made them." This was the task for the day: representing their big ideas with careful drawings and watercolors. We look forward to the challenge of translating these drawings into head gear. NOTE: The designer and a brief description can be found by hovering over the image. "Everyone could think about building their own thing and everyone could work together." AustinAustin was actually referring to building with hammers, nails, and wood, but it could also apply to the collaborative construction we saw in KW today. Austin and Sam focused on a ship, while several girls built a house with a family. As is often true with our buildings, there was a fine line between construction and dramatic play. We also continued clay slab work. Watch for sewing with clay and wood over the next several days.
While working on the collages children spoke about their decisions and representations: Maren: "Now I am doing a big bed." Jack: "You can't see my bed, because this is the outside" (of the house.) Leigh: "I made a flat roof. This is a stop sign. I have a stop sign near my house. I'm going to do a chimney." Maren: "This (green) is the carpet." Leigh: "Here's a rainbow." Lane: "I'll use this for the bottom of the house. The top can just be the map. I'll put these flowers on. Perfect." Lane: "This is going to be some grass, brown grass." Lou Lou: (Referring to the first rectangle she placed, "That's a bed." Later she changed her mind and had the rectangle represent a house. She cut out pieces of paper to represent the frame on the windows instead of drawing them in as she had done yesterday. Overall we have seen the children's collages evolve this week including more details each day, both for those returning to the experience and for children coming to the experience for the first time, perhaps showing the ways children build off of one another's experience and learn through relationships. Light Table Arrangements "When everyone walks in they will love all the work we have done." -LaneThe entry light table saw a lot of attention this week leaving it in need of some care. We invited children to tidy up the area and create a beautiful new arrangement which would invite others to return to the table in the new week. Lane and Lou Lou began the work, creating collage-like arrangements with materials at the light table. Maren joined later, then Jack briefly. Lane and Lou Lou began putting some items away and making perfumes for fairies with candles and gems. A playful start develops into ideas for fairies. Here's some of what was said as the children carefully made their beautiful work: Lane: (placing gems in a candy tray) "The tray of medicine marbles." Lou Lou: "This is a real mar-ball." Lane: "What's a mar-ball?" Lou Lou: "It's one of these." (holding up a marble) "They're real, I don't know where they live." Lane: "These are gonna get lighted- so pretty and stylish." Lane: "When everyone walks in they will love all the work we have done." Lou Lou explains a place for fairies to come in and relax. Lane refers to "fairy baths." "This is a spa, the place where the fairies go to get messaged." Lou Lou: "It actually hurts when you get out of the spa because you have to get a spray in your face to get the germs off because there's so much spit in the pool." Maren joins. Lou Lou: "Maren, I need your help gettin' these to stay up." Maren: "To make it stable you mean?" Lou Lou: "We're making it very fairy-ish. That's very pretty, Maren." Lou Lou and Maren make an outdoor play area for the fairies. Lou Lou: "A sea playground." Lou Lou (as they worked in the final section of the light table): "We want it to be organized so it's not lookin' too messed up." Jack joined, helping add finishing touches and Leigh came to see the work done by her friends. When the children finished, Maren took photos of their work. Maren captures the beauty of the arrangements:Lou Lou stood back, seeing the finished product in it's entirety: "Now it's like perfect. It's more than I imagined." Also today...Lou Lou and Leigh drilled holes in wood to prepare for sewing next week, Maren glazed her clay house, and Jack worked in construction at the light table in Tucker Room. Game: People to PeopleDue to the weather, we started our time together indoors. Children were delighted during a game of People to People Jill taught us yesterday. In the game the children partner up and respond to action commands called out by the caller. For instance, the caller may say something like, "Toe to toe," or "Ankle to ankle and wrist to wrist." Children giggled at the silliness while seriously thinking about body parts and how to manipulate the body in order to meet the requests. At times there were silly or creative responses. This game, while an opportunity to use and learn through the language of our bodies, also involved relationships. The game includes a command "people to people" which suggests everyone find a new partner. This created some new partner mixups than the children may have naturally gravitated toward as well as finding a beloved friend again on another turn. Children were challenged in a fun way to find ways of working together and experience closeness which builds relationships the children can later rely on in their work and explorations. Collage ChallengeOur collage challenge continued today as some returned for another opportunity and others approached the experience for the first time. Children had to visualize the shapes needed to represent their intentions then carry out the necessary steps to create the shapes. They also were challenged to think beyond representing a lone house, for instance, and consider the house's relationship to the world, objects, and creatures around it. Take for instance Jack who thought he had finished his picture. He explained it to others but, in reviewing it, decided to add grass because "my house is in Woodley Park," where there would be grass in the environment. After this he added a few more details to his house. The experience of a challenge gives children the opportunity to face potential cognitive obstacles and overcome them both by sharing ideas with one other and in working through perceived problems by creating a shift from cognitive to the physical. In this case, how to represent something which isn't there and with a new method (not using a drawing instrument!) Many children showed pride, confidence, and joy in the challenge such as Jack who said, "This part was the hardest so I did it last. I like things that are challenging." Hover to discover the creators and descriptions of today's completed collages:ClayClay continued with clay slab preparations for future sewing and open clay. Check out the photos and captions for what the children got up to with clay: ConstructionA few children continued working with construction structures that have been made by Tucker and KW over the last couple of days.
A Collage ChallengeYesterday and today we read books that used collage to illustrate the story. The children are familiar with making collages that create interesting and beautiful compositions. Today we asked them to try to represent something with their collages. One of the books featured collages done of houses and children were drawn to this idea. Some children found pleasure in cutting pieces before using them in the collage. Others started with a specific idea and searched for the colors and shapes to form images. Children also explored texture as the materials included balsa wood, corrugated cardboard, and various papers. Here's some of the things they talked about as they worked: Joslin - (Cutting a "background" piece) This is going to be the under layer. It's made of cardboard. Grace D. - This is my house and this (the shape next to it) is the work place. This (orange folded paper) is the computer. This ( a piece of corrugated cardboard) is the piano, for practicing. Grace M. - This is my house. I did a little hummingbird. This (yellow paper) is a sunrise. Gigi - I'm making.... I'm cutting it out first. (She explains that she doesn't know what each piece is until she finishes her cutting.) Lou Lou- It's a neighborhood. My house and the neighbors. NOTE: You can hover over each image to see which child made each collage. Building Houses In addition to collage houses, children worked on building houses and other structures. Some children added to the interesting structures that had been built in the Tucker Room during the morning. Grace M. was thinking about her new house as she and her friends built, saying, "This is my new house, but it's a little different." Outdoor FunCollaboration and cooperation were big themes outside today. In the construction area, a group of children worked on setting up increasingly challenging balance opportunities. Leigh and Lou Lou enjoyed swinging together as Joslin pushed them.
A Trip to the Koi PondIt was the perfect day to get outside! We took advantage of the nice weather and walked to the Koi Pond. As we walk, children share their knowledge of the neighborhood. Austin remembered riding bike around the Georgetown campus, and Grace M. let us know when we were almost back to the school. It's also time to appreciate elements of the natural world. Sally was struck by the "lovely waterfall" and noticed that the birds were singing. Lou Lou and others noticed some fuzzy buds on one of the trees. Some children captured the scene with drawings, while others spent time observing the fish and the plants. Looking Ahead
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April 2024
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