Baking the PersimmonsAfter much anticipation and a lot of work trying to get our few persimmons off of the tree in the outdoor classroom, we finally had the chance to bake with the persimmons! Children took turns adding ingredients for persimmon bread. Because Austin who had been a key player in obtaining the persimmons earlier in the week, he was invited to start off the chopping of persimmons in the morning. While adding the ingredients this afternoon, Jack spoke about "the sweet 'simmons." There was enough to bake two loaves which will be given to Rainey and Tucker classrooms to enjoy on Monday. The children had a taste of the batter today and already decided it tastes great! Inspired by our Shiny CollectionChildren had another opportunity to paint items from our shiny collection or other light-related ideas. Lane shared with the group what she had painted yesterday: a menorah, the copper brillo-like material, and some other shiny ideas from her imagination. Lane returned to the experience today along with Sam and Lou Lou. Here's what the children said about their paintings: Lane: "I'm going to do this (points at colored metal wires) different." Jessica: "Do you mean you are inspired by the wires but you want to make something different?" Lane: "Yeah 'cause I want to turn them into rainbow wire." She began by painting circular lines reminiscent of the wound wire, then turned them into flowers by painting petals and other details. Sam: "I'm going to draw this." (menorah) "I have three at my house." Sam showed how big each of the menorahs is by holding his hands at various lengths apart. "Now I'm gonna do this." (pinwheel) Later he also painted the copper brillo-like material. Lou Lou: "I just want to do a rainbow that I see at Gibson Island so many times...at the point."
We look forward to seeing everyone at the Thanksgiving Feast
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 | Jack in KW!We are thrilled to have have Jack join us in KW for today and tomorrow! Jack helped "shake those 'simmons down" for our backing project tomorrow, set the table with Austin, and joined the light building work for today. |
Light Building
In our work of building with light, we invited the Tucker Class to join us. We left our building for them and then they responded to us, and we responded to them, and so on.
Here's a look at some of the back and forth creations:
Here's a look at some of the back and forth creations:
"I'm starting to love KW." -Jack
Thoughts on light and reflection...
During meeting and lunch, children had thoughts to share about light and reflection. Some of these thoughts they return to over time, adjusting and adding to their thinking. For instance today children try to further define reflection, what it does/how it works, and what relationship exists between light and electricity.
Austin: "Reflection is on shiny stuff."
Grace M.: "Light is a kind of electricity but it's not. Half electricity and some is just not."
Jack (new to the conversation seems to add to Austin's thought by thinking about different perspectives): "If you're really down low and you're looking at something, it will get narrower and narrower."
Grace M: "Light is like electricity because it's hot."
Jack: "It can electrocute you."
Sally: "You know, lighting is light and it can burn you."
Sally: "Metallic things, like over there (points to faucet) the light shines on it and it makes a copy, like the window shines on it."
Sam, looking at the window with the children's rainbow art: "Once, when I was eating my lunch there was a rainbow on my hand. There was a rainbow in the window and on my hand."
Evelyn: "Did you know the sun is 100 degrees and it lights?"
Austin: "Reflection is on shiny stuff."
Grace M.: "Light is a kind of electricity but it's not. Half electricity and some is just not."
Jack (new to the conversation seems to add to Austin's thought by thinking about different perspectives): "If you're really down low and you're looking at something, it will get narrower and narrower."
Grace M: "Light is like electricity because it's hot."
Jack: "It can electrocute you."
Sally: "You know, lighting is light and it can burn you."
Sally: "Metallic things, like over there (points to faucet) the light shines on it and it makes a copy, like the window shines on it."
Sam, looking at the window with the children's rainbow art: "Once, when I was eating my lunch there was a rainbow on my hand. There was a rainbow in the window and on my hand."
Evelyn: "Did you know the sun is 100 degrees and it lights?"
Drawing and Painting our found Light and Shiny Items
| Children were invited to draw and paint light sources found on our walk yesterday and/or depictions of some of our shiny/reflective collection. A few items the children chose to draw and paint today were a menorah, copper brillo-like material, and brass handle. Here are a few comments from the children while they worked: Leigh: "It goes in the wall and it protects the wall. Light is inside it and it makes the wall shiny." Sally: "It's a shiny heart. I call it glowing, flying heart. Sparkling, glowing, flying heart. That's the sun and it's reflecting on the heart." (She works some more.) "I did a bouquet of flowers." Lou Lou: "I saw a lot of Christmas stuff yesterday, so I painted that. Here's two Christmas trees." Grace M. (Referring to the shiny silver & golden shapes) "Those are the shiny handles." (That she saw on yesterday's walk.) | |
As the Thanksgiving Feast approaches, we are wrapping up details on our lanterns. Today we completed our clay lanterns. We can't wait to celebrate with you next week!
Finding Light in Georgetown
The KW children have been taking walks around the school in search of light and shiny materials. Today we extended our search into the wider community. We walked around the neighborhood looking for light, reflections, and shiny things.
 Grace M. noticed this light and said "It's electric" |  Grace noticed the blinking lights on this truck and took a photo of it. |
We noticed reflections.....sometimes in unusual places!
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There was also a lot of shiny stuff
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Other images....
(Some) photos taken by Joslin | (Some) photos taken by Lou Lou |
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"Everybody can have different decides." Leigh
Before lunch today we looked at the shiny items that have been collected recently. We discussed the categories that children invented. The group felt that the categories were adequate, but some people might have slightly different ideas. Thus, Leigh diplomatically suggested that "different decides," indicating that there could be flexibility with these categories.
What Kind of Shiny?
   | Today we revisited many of the ideas we worked on last week. Children thought again about the various categories of shiny things and how they could be described and sorted. Here's some of their ideas: Grace D. - (Examning materials) Metal. Kind of rubber. Diamonds (clear gems). Joslin - Shiny like cubes (clear gems). Louise - Hard (metal hose and brass). But this is not hard ( green sparkly tape). Joslin - It's tape-y..... a roll of sparkly. As they sort the items and materials..... Joslin - Where do these go? Maybe with the rainbow stuff. Grace D. - Metal. Joslin - That's golden stuff (clear items). That's golden stuff (golden and metallic stuff). Jessica - I thought that (clear stuff) was the golden stuff? Joslin - Oh, that's golden (golden and metallic stuff) and that's silver (clear). They discover more items as they look for a box to sort the stuff..... Grace D. - This (clear cube) I can see through it. Joslin - I think these gears go in different sections. Grace D. - They're with their family. Lou Lou - (Coming over to see the categories) These are different golden. This is crumbly golden.... actually it's crumbly silver. Children also expressed a lot of interest in making something with this shiny stuff. We'll keep you posted! |
Watercolors
Children worked with watercolors to represent sources of light. Once again, we noticed how children influence each other as they work. Today we saw a lot of sunrises, rainbows, and rainbow sunrises!
 Louise |  Grace D. |  Grace M. |
 Joslin |  Sally |  Louise |
Building with Light
Building with light and shiny materials was a big hit last week, but not everyone had a chance to do it. Today new builders were in the areas. Many children remembered structures or environments that had been built before and added their own interpretation.
Alexandra and Evelyn worked on two castles, with an assist from Lou Lou at the end of the day.
Austin, Sam, Lou Lou, and Sally worked on a lighthouse. There were lots of opportunities for negotiation, collaboration, and problem solving.
Grace M. built "a fireplace that no one can touch." It later became a museum for fire and light.
The two building areas created by Tucker Room children were saved. It will be a wonderful surprise for their classmates tomorrow.... and we can't wait to see how it changes with the participation of different children!
Persimmons!
Children used a variety of strategies to harvest some of the persimmons today. We were somewhat successful! We will use them in a cooking project soon!
"We Call It Snowing!" Maren
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Almost every year, we get a day like this. Potomac Street is transformed into a carpet of green, yellow, and gold as the gingko leaves drop to the ground. What a fun, beautiful way to end our day!
Light Buildings and Stories
The building with light and shiny materials was a bit hit yesterday and we brought it back again today. As children built, they began to tell stories about the environments that they were creating.
Joslin and Louise
Louise and Joslin started building with the stained glass block and quickly added several lights to the structure.
Louise - (Balancing on light on top of another light) I hope it stays.
Joslin - It's beautiful!
Louise - Yes, but it needs a touch of...... (she adds a flat mirror)... a beautiful dance floor.
Joslin - It's a little dark. We'll put on lights. One light on each corner.
Louise - (Adding some people) These four people are getting married with each other and dancing.
Joslin - What's it called?
Louise - it's called "Star House."
Joslin- We need beds. Here's some beds! (Adding small shiny circles)
Louise - (With a mini-flashlight) I know what this can be..... a chandelier. And this can be the red carpet. And when they're on the red carpet, they can see their castle.
The two continue to work on a path, all the while telling a story of people getting lost in the maze, cries for help, and returning down the path to the castle.
Louise - We found ourself home with the royal queen.
Joslin - (Decorating the path with small clear cubes) We can do ice cubes to continue the path.
They build another structure at the other end of the path. This building doesn't have any lights.
Joslin- It's supposed to be dark. It's the woods.
Louise - We'll trap them in the house.
Joslin - We're the bad guys and we trapped them in the house.
Louise - (Adding blocks to the original castle. ) We'll make it bigger and when they come back, they'll be surprised.
Louise - (Balancing on light on top of another light) I hope it stays.
Joslin - It's beautiful!
Louise - Yes, but it needs a touch of...... (she adds a flat mirror)... a beautiful dance floor.
Joslin - It's a little dark. We'll put on lights. One light on each corner.
Louise - (Adding some people) These four people are getting married with each other and dancing.
Joslin - What's it called?
Louise - it's called "Star House."
Joslin- We need beds. Here's some beds! (Adding small shiny circles)
Louise - (With a mini-flashlight) I know what this can be..... a chandelier. And this can be the red carpet. And when they're on the red carpet, they can see their castle.
The two continue to work on a path, all the while telling a story of people getting lost in the maze, cries for help, and returning down the path to the castle.
Louise - We found ourself home with the royal queen.
Joslin - (Decorating the path with small clear cubes) We can do ice cubes to continue the path.
They build another structure at the other end of the path. This building doesn't have any lights.
Joslin- It's supposed to be dark. It's the woods.
Louise - We'll trap them in the house.
Joslin - We're the bad guys and we trapped them in the house.
Louise - (Adding blocks to the original castle. ) We'll make it bigger and when they come back, they'll be surprised.
Joslin and Louise incorporated both light and darkness in their environment and in their story. Naturally, the dark structure belonged to the "bad guys!" It seems as the the story did have a happy ending, with the people returning to the castle!
Alexandra and Maren
Alexandra was ready to pick up where she left off yesterday. She returned to building with the stained glass blocks on the light table. Today, she included more materials and light sources as she built with her friend, Maren. They started by building a house.
Alexandra - I think this is the bedroom.
Maren - I'll get more rainbow blocks.
Alexandra - (Adding more blocks) That's the roof.
Maren - We're making it bigger.
Louise - (Coming over to take a look) That's fancy. I like it!
Maren - (Adding a shiny circle to the light table) This doesn't work so well. (Maren is indicating that the solid circle doesn't let any light through. She removes it from her building.) We're doing decorations.
Alexandra - These are the grown-ups.
Maren - And these are the kids.
Alexandra - We changed our minds. This is a castle. It's a perfect castle
Maren - (Adding smaller, colorful pieces) We're doing decorations. So.... the grown-ups are inside. The kids are inside, too.
Alexandra- We're decorating our house for Christmas!
Maren - It's Christmas! This is all the decorations.
Alexandra - I think this is the bedroom.
Maren - I'll get more rainbow blocks.
Alexandra - (Adding more blocks) That's the roof.
Maren - We're making it bigger.
Louise - (Coming over to take a look) That's fancy. I like it!
Maren - (Adding a shiny circle to the light table) This doesn't work so well. (Maren is indicating that the solid circle doesn't let any light through. She removes it from her building.) We're doing decorations.
Alexandra - These are the grown-ups.
Maren - And these are the kids.
Alexandra - We changed our minds. This is a castle. It's a perfect castle
Maren - (Adding smaller, colorful pieces) We're doing decorations. So.... the grown-ups are inside. The kids are inside, too.
Alexandra- We're decorating our house for Christmas!
Maren - It's Christmas! This is all the decorations.
Maren and Alexandra thoughtfully built off each other's ideas. Because they were working closely in a small space, parts of the house/castle were knocked over from time to time. In each case, the two were resilient, calmly making the necessary repairs.
Light Watercolors
Children worked to represent light with watercolors again today. Maren worked on a sun with some rainbow colors included. Lou Lou included some possible technical terminology (e.g. HP HP) as she painted light sources found in her home and then proceeded to draw how they work. Leigh talked about lights that hang from the ceiling as she painted.
Categorizing the "Shiny Stuff"
Leigh and Lou Lou reflected on the shiny materials and object that children collected yesterday. Everything was certainly shiny, but were they shiny in different ways? Definitely! Here's the categories they identified:
Leigh - Like yarn shiny. (Then, looking at a pinwheel) I think that's paper shiny.
Lou Lou - This is glittery shiny (copper mesh). That's called string shiny.
Leigh - It's painty shiny.
Lou Lou - It's reflective and it's made out of metal.
Leigh - Like yarn shiny. (Then, looking at a pinwheel) I think that's paper shiny.
Lou Lou - This is glittery shiny (copper mesh). That's called string shiny.
Leigh - It's painty shiny.
Lou Lou - It's reflective and it's made out of metal.
Our explorations of reflective and shiny things is bound to continue! We look forward to meeting with everyone for a conference this week!
 | Welcome Alexandra!It was Alexandra's first KW day! She started her afternoon by opening her place card and then set the table with Grace. She also jumped right into our light investigations. We're happy to be able to work and play with her! |  |
Light and Reflection
As we reviewed our light conversations and finding light photos from last week, we noticed a few recurring ideas. Children talked about light helping us to see and making things less scary. They also noted that light made things shiny and paid attention to reflections. Today we included experiences that explored light and reflection. In the construction area, children built with light and shiny and/or reflective materials.
Joslin and Evelyn
Evelyn started a building with a light that was centered on a mirror. After Joslin finished painting (more on that later), she came over and worked with Evelyn. Joslin added some sheer netting saying, "We can still see it (the light.). The girls worked together, eventually putting more things under the netting. They also added small LED candles on top of the netting.
Joslin - It's a candle building. You can go in there and get warmed up. It's called a warm-up building.
Jill - So, the lights you added do more than just light it up.
Joslin - Yeah, 'cause it's getting colder out, so I thought people could go in there and warm up.
Later, Evelyn and Joslin added small, colored plastic pieces.
Jill - So, not all the materials that you used are shiny.
Joslin - Yes, but the light makes them shiny.
Joslin - It's a candle building. You can go in there and get warmed up. It's called a warm-up building.
Jill - So, the lights you added do more than just light it up.
Joslin - Yeah, 'cause it's getting colder out, so I thought people could go in there and warm up.
Later, Evelyn and Joslin added small, colored plastic pieces.
Jill - So, not all the materials that you used are shiny.
Joslin - Yes, but the light makes them shiny.
AlexandraAlexandra worked on a building with stained glass blocks on the light table. Alexandra - It's just a home. (Indicating the triangle blocks) These are the persons. (Finding and adding a sting of shiny beads) Let's see, I will wrap it around. Wrappy, wrappy, wrappy. This is to show where the door is. |  |
Grace
Grace was immediately attracted to the small flashlights that were available. She built a lighthouse structure that could support the lights. With the lights on top, she added a graduated stack of blocks along the side saying, "There's a stairway."
Grace - ( After adding a flashlight to to the top that was balanced on a block.) This works. Maybe one on each side. (She adds another mini-flashlight on top.) These are mirrors (adding some mirrors around the base of the building).
Sally - (Walking over and noticing the blue stained glass blocks around the flashlights) I noticed something. When you look here, it looks like a blue light. I really like it.
Grace - Thank you.
Lou Lou - (Coming to the area shortly before clean up time.) This looks so like a lighthouse. (With Grace's permission, Lou Lou adds some decorations at the top of the lighthouse.)
Finding Shiny Stuff
Austin, Louise, and Lou Lou set out to find shiny materials and objects around the school. As they collected, they thought about how the materials might be used.
Louise - I know, we can make a present. It would be a monster shiny present. You have a big box, you stick shiny stuff on, and then you hold hands to everybody, and then you make a wish. And we close our eyes and then it will go to the atelier.
Lou Lou - We can make a ginormous book. The book is going to be lie four or five pages. And this (metal hose) will be the book mark and this (sifter) can be the closer, and this (copper brillo-like stuff) will be on the front and on the back. And then, we will sprinkle these (glass stones) so it will look pretty, and then, put this (menorah) so it's like a candle. You can glue it on the book.
Austin - We could make a cake or something.
There will certainly be more ideas as we continue to collect shiny stuff and think about the potentialities of these materials.
Louise - I know, we can make a present. It would be a monster shiny present. You have a big box, you stick shiny stuff on, and then you hold hands to everybody, and then you make a wish. And we close our eyes and then it will go to the atelier.
Lou Lou - We can make a ginormous book. The book is going to be lie four or five pages. And this (metal hose) will be the book mark and this (sifter) can be the closer, and this (copper brillo-like stuff) will be on the front and on the back. And then, we will sprinkle these (glass stones) so it will look pretty, and then, put this (menorah) so it's like a candle. You can glue it on the book.
Austin - We could make a cake or something.
There will certainly be more ideas as we continue to collect shiny stuff and think about the potentialities of these materials.
Sources of Light
Children worked with drawing and watercolors to create stunning images of light sources. Today, they focused on the sun and stars.
 Sam |  Sally |  Joslin |  Grace |
KW's light conversations and photo collections are featured in the hallway documentation. Check it out!
Lane & Lou Lou day!
As Leigh and Sam weren't at KW we had a small group of just Lane and Lou Lou. However, we had some special surprise guests of Lily and Hugh who joined us outside and then had a visit from Vikki, a visiting educator who has been observing at the school. Vikki joined us as a mystery lunch guest and stayed to observe the afternoon on her last day at St. John's. Lou Lou asked Vikki to come back another time and the girls gave her hugs goodbye.
Monster Light Shows | "No one table setted like this before." -Lou Lou |
We had planned a children's choice day today with several options on the list. However, Lou Lou and Lane became so inspired by their collaborative table decoration today that we added another option: a monster light show! The idea came from observations of the children wanting to play with the monsters during lunch and Lou Lou saying the monsters can be used as finger puppets. Thinking of our recent shadow play, we wondered if the children could make a light show with the monsters. Lane and Lou Lou were keen on the idea!
During the Monster Light Shows the children had so much to say their teachers could not write fast enough. Here is just *some* of the dialogue during the shows:
Lane: "Let's put the light here."
Lou Lou set up the monsters and beads on the light table.
Lane: "How about we do a story about the monsters go somewhere."
Lou Lou: "How 'bout they go to Rainbow Land?"
Lane: "Or how 'bout they go to Fairyland...it's scary there."
Lou Lou: "How 'bout it's called Rainbow Fairyland?"
Lane (Agrees and then to the teachers): "Who wants to watch the show?"
Lou Lou: "The show will be more beautiful by decorating it. It will show up the whole city. The light will shine up."
Lane: "The show is going to begin soon." (She hangs beads over mini shadow screen) "Let's hang that over. The monsters have to fly over town and then the whole stuff will be ready."
Lane: "The monsters make a rainbow with their bodies. And then another monster comes and lay down in the light."
Lou Lou: "He said, 'I want pizza.'"
Lou Lou: "We need to turn ALL the lights off and all the...(points at the window s)."
Lou Lou: "This is the sea. The sea is not quite ready. This is going to be the narrow side."
The girls play for a bit setting up and vocalizing aspects of their show ideas.
In a quiet pause, Lou Lou looks up at Lane, smiling: "I will invite you to my birthday, Lane."
Lane: (explaining the show to the audience) "The show is ready. One at a time you will come up and tell the story. There is no eating in this place., but you can write"
Lou Lou (moving finger puppet monsters on her fingers over the edge of the table and growling): "Once upon a time there was a monster. All the monsters lived in Rainbow Fairyland and they wanted to hit people down and poke them in the eye. They were so mean. And they got even meaner. They came to the people and punched the down and poked their eyes. And they (monsters) were never seen again."
Lou Lou: "We're going to break the show...like when people get water."
Lane: "Once upon a time there was a monster behind and once upon a time they went down into the ground. The little bitty monsters came up and down."
Lane added some decoration to the light pad; one section was in the shape of an L: "We're going to put L because this is going to L movie today. Prepare the scary movie but not too scary. Have you ever heard this happy movie?"
Lou Lou tells a story about "an ugly monster. (named Orangey) So ugly that no one would give him a turn...he was so sad he never even cried...he was so unhappy...but then his best friend, Yellowy" came along and stood up for Orangey. "This is Yellowy. It's his first time at this school...they became best friends forever and they became so happy."
Lane took a turn: One upon a time there was a monster who walked through the town and pushed everyone down with a big belly push...he flied through the air to find more town people and he makes them so cuddly and once in Fairyland...they were all hugged up and the monster jumped...and leaped through the sky."
Lane: "Let's put the light here."
Lou Lou set up the monsters and beads on the light table.
Lane: "How about we do a story about the monsters go somewhere."
Lou Lou: "How 'bout they go to Rainbow Land?"
Lane: "Or how 'bout they go to Fairyland...it's scary there."
Lou Lou: "How 'bout it's called Rainbow Fairyland?"
Lane (Agrees and then to the teachers): "Who wants to watch the show?"
Lou Lou: "The show will be more beautiful by decorating it. It will show up the whole city. The light will shine up."
Lane: "The show is going to begin soon." (She hangs beads over mini shadow screen) "Let's hang that over. The monsters have to fly over town and then the whole stuff will be ready."
Lane: "The monsters make a rainbow with their bodies. And then another monster comes and lay down in the light."
Lou Lou: "He said, 'I want pizza.'"
Lou Lou: "We need to turn ALL the lights off and all the...(points at the window s)."
Lou Lou: "This is the sea. The sea is not quite ready. This is going to be the narrow side."
The girls play for a bit setting up and vocalizing aspects of their show ideas.
In a quiet pause, Lou Lou looks up at Lane, smiling: "I will invite you to my birthday, Lane."
Lane: (explaining the show to the audience) "The show is ready. One at a time you will come up and tell the story. There is no eating in this place., but you can write"
Lou Lou (moving finger puppet monsters on her fingers over the edge of the table and growling): "Once upon a time there was a monster. All the monsters lived in Rainbow Fairyland and they wanted to hit people down and poke them in the eye. They were so mean. And they got even meaner. They came to the people and punched the down and poked their eyes. And they (monsters) were never seen again."
Lou Lou: "We're going to break the show...like when people get water."
Lane: "Once upon a time there was a monster behind and once upon a time they went down into the ground. The little bitty monsters came up and down."
Lane added some decoration to the light pad; one section was in the shape of an L: "We're going to put L because this is going to L movie today. Prepare the scary movie but not too scary. Have you ever heard this happy movie?"
Lou Lou tells a story about "an ugly monster. (named Orangey) So ugly that no one would give him a turn...he was so sad he never even cried...he was so unhappy...but then his best friend, Yellowy" came along and stood up for Orangey. "This is Yellowy. It's his first time at this school...they became best friends forever and they became so happy."
Lane took a turn: One upon a time there was a monster who walked through the town and pushed everyone down with a big belly push...he flied through the air to find more town people and he makes them so cuddly and once in Fairyland...they were all hugged up and the monster jumped...and leaped through the sky."
Building Clay Lanterns
After the monster shows, Lane and Lou Lou created clay lanterns. (This was a plan Lane was certain of right away at meeting!) They used fine and gross motor strength and coordination to roll out their clay slabs, trim the edges to create a sharp rectangular slap, and cut markings through the clay to allow the light through. While the children worked, they talked about the process, the Thanksgiving Feast, and holiday.
Light and Lanterns | For the third day in a row, children showed up to meeting with their thoughts on light, (before any prompting) showing their connectivity to and ongoing thoughts on the subject. Today children expressed thoughts about certain fish which have lights, light related to weather, the temperature of light, and when and where the sun shines. It is fascinating to see where connections are being made and what children understand about light from their experiences We will continue these conversations as children continue to work through such complex thoughts on the topic of light. |
Children were given the opportunity to create vessels for light once again as paper and clay lanterns were both options. During these experiences, children were able to work with the mediums of paper and clay, exploring shapes, symmetry, design, pattern, opacity, and the way the light came through the shapes made for the lanterns. They also worked with tools in both circumstance to cut through media in a variety of ways.
As we've been discussing the lanterns' purpose for our Thanksgiving Feast, children are building connection to the upcoming event because they are directly involved in the preparations. On a couple of occasions during our lantern preparations, children have connected the idea of lantern centerpieces to their memories and plans for celebrating Thanksgiving with their families. These opportunities to engage in community (school-wide and family) events brings meaning to the children, their experiences, and their relationships.
Rachael and the Compost Worms
After the children had given Rachael her open invitation to join us for lunch, she decided to visit us for lunch again today! The Tucker Room has been collecting compostable food scraps since the beginning of the year and recently started their compost with worms. We often collect food scraps at lunch to give to Tucker's compost and today, Rachael shared a little more with the children about how the worms need the food to be cut up into smaller pieces right now. She let the children help feed the worms the food scraps from today and the children were able to see the process a little more close-up. Thank you, Rachael for the surprise experience!
 | Happy Birthday, Molly!As today is Molly's birthday, children had an opportunity to make surprise messages for her. They chose special details including many hearts, to include in the messages. Most children took on the challenge of writing Molly's name on their message. |
Lanterns and Light
On Friday, children began to make paper lanterns that can be used as Thanksgiving Feast centerpieces. Today the work continued with other materials. Children made cut-outs with cardstock, and implanted a variety of shapes. There were hearts, diamonds, "a boat," and long slits. Louise spent a long time thinking about her cut-outs as a series that would form a dancer. While this proved challenging, she persisted and completed the task.
Maren, Joslin, and Leigh worked with clay to create lanterns. They rolled the clay and poked holes before shaping the clay around the paper cylinders. In this experience children also engaged in problem solving and overcame challenges.... the clay was dry and hard, forming shapes was difficult, and we all worried about the possibility of the clay collapsing. Due to the resilience of these children, the Thanksgiving Feast tables will be filled with light!
Once again, children wanted to talk about light at our meeting. The conversation is linked to the right! | 
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"Fa la la la......"
Have you noticed that the Christmas season starts right after Halloween, or sometimes even earlier? It certainly happened in KW today as children built a house and celebrated Christmas. There was enthusiastic singing, building a green Christmas tree, cooking an entire feast, and sleeping so that Santa could come!
Reflecting on Light
As we gathered for meeting today, children started talking about light before the teachers could even ask questions about the topic. They have clearly been thinking about light, shadows, and reflections.
Grace M. - I saw light at my house last night. Light is a kind of reflection and you can see shadow. If it's a little bit of light, you can see a little bit of your shadow moving, but with a bigger light you can see your whole body (in shadow). And I think like how light works is it gets very hot. And sun is very bright.
Austin - So, if there's a bunch of light, the light gets on top of you and makes a shadow.
Lou Lou - At Gibson Island , every night I can see the sunset.
Jessica - Do you know where the sunset is?
Lou Lou - It's not close, it's on the different ground.
Jessica - Do you see the sunrise?
Lou Lou - I see both of them. My sister watches the sunset and I watch the sunrise.
Jessica - Where do you see the sunrise?
Lou Lou - It's somewhere else.
Evelyn - Some thing makes the sun brighter and you can see the shadow, but if you can't see your shadow, it's okay, you can get a spotlight
Lou Lou - You could bring a flashlight.
Sally - When the sun is out you can see your shadow, but if you get in the darkness, you can't see your shadow. If you get close to your shadow, your shadow disappears.
Grace D. - When you're walking on the sidewalk, you can see your shadow moving to different places.
Austin - You can never outrun your shadow.
Lou Lou - It will follow you.
Grace D. - (Continuing her idea about the shadow moving on the side walk) .... but only when you're outside.
Austin - If it's sunny, you can see your shadow.
Lou Lou - But if you turn on a flashlight, you can see your shadow.
Sam - When I'm walking in the darkness, I can see my shadow... the shadow was walking toward the door and I was walking toward the window.
There's so many ideas expressed in this conversation: the different types of light, the locations of light, when and how shadows exist, and the ways in which shadows move. The children once again have given us plenty of ideas to consider in the days and weeks to come.
A Shadow ChallengeIt was only fitting that the children were talking about shadows during meeting. One of our plans was to work with shadows and construction! On October 22nd, the children made a building that created a shadow. At that time, we challenged them to trace the shadow of the building on white paper. Today we extended that challenge. We brought the paper back, and asked them to make a building to match the shadow they had previously drawn! |  The building and shadow created on October 22nd. |
The children were quite successful as they built something very similar to the structure they previously built. They consulted the image from October 22nd as they built and were able to get the shadows to line up with their drawings. At one point, Austin said, "Something looks weird." He felt that the light source was not where it had been before, so he adjusted the projector to solve the problem. There was so much good thinking and collaboration throughout this process.
Finding Light, Continued
Today, two more small groups went out in search of light and took photographs of the light that they discovered. Joslin and Grace M. took off first. Joslin said, "I want to go to Molly's office." From here, Joslin indicated that she needed a light to shine in a dark place in the bell tower. They used the flashlight form Jessica's phone. After exploring the attic area leading to the bell tower, Joslin and Grace used a light to shine in other dark places. At one point, Joslin asked to shine the light on some glasses that were left in the church. "That's perfect," said Jossie, as she snapped a photo. Looking at the stained glass windows, Grace said, "That's God." The girls also ventured outside, where Grace noted, "I will take a picture of the shadow."
A few of Grace's Photos | A few of Joslin's photos |
| | |
The second group to search for light was Evelyn and Sally. As they took photos, they learned to focus using a tap on the iPad screen. Evelyn and Sally noticed reflection as they looked for light. At one point, Sally said, "Look at these bells. there is light. When you put it near the light, the light goes on the bowl (the rounded part of the metal)."
A few of Evelyn's photos | A few of Sally's photos |
Lunch and Invitations
At today's meeting, we read a lovely message from Rachael. She said that she had really enjoyed having lunch in KW and hoped that she would be able to come again some time. The group decided that it was a good idea to let teachers know that they can always join us for lunch. Children spent time today spreading the word through one of their favorite experiences: message making. Children also enthusiastically made messages for their friends and family members as well. Our luncheon guest today was Jessica Kuhn. We had a terrific time talking about the book fair, siblings, and Halloween candy. More visitors are certain to join us in the future!
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