While making a pinch pot on Wednesday, Hugh flipped his over and noticed it looked like an egg.  He added a flat circle to transform the pot into a sunny-side-up egg.  Seeing him work, Frannie also made one.  Then on Thursday, Seon made a sunny-side-up egg, along with tiny pancakes for small world.  

In a similar fashion, children borrowed ideas from one another on Thursday.  Jade started rolling coils, with the intention of making a container from them.  She discovered that her coil also looked like a snail.  Intrigued by this idea, Seon and Wilder made snails of their own.

Halloween is in the air... even in small world.  Yesterday, the animals that live in this world went trick -or -treating.  The goodies include bubble gum, chocolate fish and chocolate cake.  Conveniently, the animals don't need costumes as they are already dressed up as animals.  These creatures only visit animal houses, not the homes of people.  
    Finlay- Definitely not at people's houses -- just animals -- because people hunt us.
    Frannie - My small world is a restaurant called Georgetown Club.
    Cate - Yeah!  It's a real place.  I have been there.  I had ice cream.
    Frannie - Yeah!  And there's also chocolate cake.
    Cate - I got lots of bubble gums.  I love your house!

Joy is one of the St. John's values and it is also a category of book fair books.  KW was tasked with making a joy-inspired centerpiece for the table that will feature the joy-related books.  This is an abstract concept, so our group started with a conversation.  As expected, the children had several wonderful ideas to share.  Children collected shiny, sparkly materials and created a "Joy Like A Fountain" centerpiece.

On Wednesday evening,  Molly, Elena and three teachers attended a DCREA meeting.  DCREA is a DC-based Reggio study group "committed to elevating professional discourse through research and collaboration."  On Wednesday, Sandy Lanes was the speaker.  Sandy has worn a lot of educational hats in her career and is currently the host of the "Awakening to Reggio" podcast.  Sandy spoke about the image of the child and creating a culture of connection.   She encouraged teachers, when  they notice something happening in their classrooms to ask themselves the question, "What does it mean that...?"  So....
                    "What does it mean that KW children are so invested in the
                                     time they spend creating small worlds?"
When we ask the children, they usually say something like, "Well, it's fun."  When we look more closely, we can speculate about the attraction.  Here's some possibilities:

• Small world lets children explore whatever they are interested in: magical creatures, castles, families, cooking, etc.  
• There's usually some interesting power dynamics.  For example, for some reason, a tiny stingray figure is often a ruler in the community that is created.
• The characters, both human and animal, are often having a great time:  baking cookies, attending a movie night, relaxing in the hot tub, etc.  

Perhaps your child has spent a lot of time this week working on these miniature intricate and creative scenarios.  If so, you can ask them about the world that they've created.  We would love to hear their responses! 

The KW program is a mixed age group, allowing for children to make connections with children that they don't work and play with in the morning program.  We have seen a number of friendships and supportive relationships form.  For example, children often make messages for a friend from another class. 
The children also share their knowledge and expertise with one another.  Yesterday, Lucas was working on a ginkgo transformation drawing. Ellie came over and was impressed with the train he was creating.  However, she wasn't sure how to get started. Lucas came around to her side of the story and explained the process. Both children enjoyed the interaction! 

We have almost completed all of our square for the table runners.  It's time to think about how we will put them together!  Luckily, the KW children are excellent problem solvers!

After measuring the tables yesterday,  children organized the squares on the three tables.  Cape, Louisa,  and Jade took the lead on this work.  Later Mimi, Lily, and Seon checked out the design and gave their approval. 
   Seon - How do you do that?  (Attach the squares together.)
   Brigitte - We will sew them with the machine.
   Seon - You have to go straight!
   Cape - I want Cully's square next to mine and Jade's.