Giving Feedback Part 2After such a successful time yesterday of sharing headband work in progress and hearing feedback from the group, we offered the opportunity to Sally and Maren who weren't here yesterday.
Headbands, Sewing, and Building with Georgetown HousesThe following slideshow gives an overview (and some captions for closer insight) of the rest of our day. Children worked diligently on continuing their hand bands and finishing previous wood and clay sewing pieces. Children also built with a projected image of Georgetown houses which Grace David picked out for us! We hoped this construction challenge will help us stay connected to the idea we're considering for a village of children's structures. Ideas to Consider Over Spring BreakAs we shared in our email, we've brainstormed some possibilities for you and the children to try out over the break. (Remember: there's no "homework" and this is all optional!) We hope these will help the children stay connected to some of the current work and ideas happening in KW. We also hope you can use them to take pause in this strange time away from our usual routines to wonder and be with one another in joy.
We can't wait to hear about what you try or come up with! Have a happy and healthy Spring Break!!
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Offering FeedbackWe had a fairly small group for KW today, so at meeting, we asked children to quickly present their headband work. After this brief summary, we opened it up to the group to provided feedback. Children handled this process very well!
Will It Work?At St. John's the work of children focuses on the process rather than the finished project. Although children draw and plan for their creations, they often encounter questions and problems along the way. For our headband work, here are some of our questions: Will it even work? How will we translate our design into work with materials? How will we make the base? How can we attach the design.... and will it flop over?
Some challenges we encountered today...
Everything else.....Other experiences were offered for children along with headbands. Austin was excited about a drawing he began in the Tucker Room, so he continued to work on it during KW. He also joined other children building an undersea world with a cool video projection in the Middle Room. Children also made messages for their school friends or special family members.
Leigh: "I wasn't saying no girls can be president. I was saying not much girls can be president. They (women) have a lot to do." Jack: "Donald Trump is president and Bernie Sanders is trying to be president." This naturally led us into Jill sharing the candidates who were on the ballot to vote for...some of them being women! Gigi: "I think they (women) could be president." Lane: "I think all of them could be president." Austin: "But in different countries." (Knowing there hasn't been a female president in our country yet.) Jessica shared a website she had found in her wondering about female presidents around the world. It showed the history of women as presidents and heads of state. She scrolled through, showing the children how many women were on the list. The children noticed country flags next to the photos of presidents.
Also at meeting, we reviewed our plans as we do each day. One child, hearing the plan to continue a piece of work they had been at for some time, expressed some hesitation to continue today. Jill led a reflection on the challenges that can come up when we're working on a project that may take a lot of time to complete (like our recent complex sewing and headband designs.) Jill asked if it gets tiresome, hard, or we run into problems along the way, "Do we just throw the project in the trash?" Several children: "No!" Jack added: "Keep trying. Never give up." We discussed maybe taking a break but then coming back to the work. Austin: "I never get a break. I never really need a break...Sometimes I might get thirsty." Leigh: "Or you might need to get a tissue." Everyone agreed to commit to their hard work of the day and we continued on with our plans. So Much SewingWe continued with our magic list of yesterday to follow up on all the beautiful sewing work children have been working on. The children worked so diligently and have almost completed all of their projects. Ellie excitedly announced she was finished with both her clay and wood sewing pieces! While working, children thought about people they know and their experience with sewing... Jack: "My grandma can sew anything. She can even sew a sock." Grace D.: "My grandma can sew a blanket in one minute, if she has a sewing machine she can." Lane: "Palmer's grandmother (who recently came into Rainey Room for a sewing experience) can sew. My mom has no process for sewing. She has no technique for sewing." Headbands, HeadbandsThe headband workshop was in full-swing today with sculpting, collage, adhesives, and a new design!
More glimpses from our wonderful day...Including:
Have a great weekend!Headband Progress!Children are starting to see results with their bold, beautiful headband. The photos above represent the two approaches taken by the children. Louise has been working on creating the base... the part of her headband that will stay on her head. Everyone else has been working on the design.... which leaves them with the challenging work of forming a base and attaching the design. It took perseverance today, but children began to see their ideas come to life. Stay tuned.... we'll be working on these for quite awhile! Sewing..... continued....Yesterday we had 12 children on our sewing magic list. After working diligently yesterday and today, we have eight children with pending wood and clay sewing projects. Today Leigh moved forward by working on both her wood and clay sewing. She also said, "This time, I'm going to be careful with this (clay) because in Rainey Room, Reed tore all my papers and all my clay broke." Working on sewing often allows for conversation... or in some cases music. Today Ellie and Leigh sang selections from "Frozen" as they worked. Remember to take a look at these masterpieces on top of the Tucker Room cubbies. While you're there, you can see the headband designs on the wall opposite the cubbies. Everything ElseChildren also retuned to some of their plans for building by adding details to the drawings they made yesterday. There was also time to build, today primarily with magna tiles. The structure was a collaborative effort and featured a pool, a round-about, and cannons for protection from the bad guys. More children discovered the white marks left on their watercolors as they pulled away the tape. Of course, we truly enjoyed the beautiful weather during our outside time. Sewing Extravaganza!We have reached that point in the year when we have a lot of exciting ideas to follow. When reviewing our sewing Magic list, we noticed that there was a lot of sewing to finish. We made that our focus today and almost everyone worked with clay sewing. When children work in a group like this, they are often influenced by others and share their ideas. This was also true today. Austin took a new approach to his clay sewing by deciding to not attach any items, but to use only string, "because it's going to be like a spider web." Evelyn noticed that he was using string that had not been used before and included it in her work. When deciding where to sew, Louise found one corner where she hadn't done any sewing. "It's (the corner is) a little lonely," she said, and began sewing in that area.
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September 2023
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