Friday, March 11, 2022

"I am having so much fun!"                             Marley

Beginning to Build the Guardian for Shiny Things

​We often refer to the famous Loris Malaguzzi phrase, "nothing without joy."  In our recent conversations with Amelia Gambetti, she has pointed out that this phrase implies that the joy comes with effort.  In other words, it's not only about having fun and being joyful, it is about the joy that comes from trying new things, solving some problems, collaborating with others, etc.  (NOTE:  Amelia Gambetti is a lifelong educator with the Reggio Amelia schools.  We are fortunate that she has collaborated with our school for over 10 years.). Last week, children thought about the guardian for shiny things, and drew their ideas.  This week, the work and pleasure of construction could begin.   
Marley explores the materials and makes a pile of what she thinks will be the most useful.
    Marley: These (gems) could be for the outline. I'll add them to the pile.
Marley collects shiny papers and examines it
    C.C.: Definitely these,  Marley
   Marley: Definitely
   Jack: You can't just use little stuff. Then you can't build big.
The group finds cardboard boxes but they are not shiny. 
    Jordan: Have you tried the tin foil. You can bend and move it around things.
C.C.experiments with the cardboard boxes and foil.
    C.C.: Wrap it up like a present!!
C.C. wraps a medium size box in tin foil and the other members of her group attempt to do the same on other boxes.
    Reed: What if we make more boxes then glue them together and make a huge body?
    C.C.: Yea! But wait. We need more boxes.
Reed, C.C. and Marley collect more boxes. Jack stays behind and wraps tin foil balls in wire to make eyes. Marley and Reed begin working on the head.
    Marley: I want to make a square head.
    Reed: My idea was we could make a head like a robot
    Marley: I want this (box) to be the head
    Reed: OK. We can add these (gems)
The girls take turns adding materials onto the head
    Marley: I'm putting eyeballs in the middle
    Reed: Can we put on the gems?
    Marley: They can be the mouth.
    C.C.: No, No! Not there! (CC points to a different spot)
    Marley: Oh, that's a good place.

​Today the guardian for shiny things gained a body.  As this involved gluing gems, there was a lot of enthusiasm for the process.  Audrey joined in, even though she had previously worked on two other guardian groups.  It was noted that the gems were not sticking to the foil with regular glue.  It was time to bring in the big guns!
   Violet: That's a hot glue gun. My mommy helped me use it at home.
   C.C.: We need more (gems for the body).  Remember when we looked at the transformers. There was a circle on the body
   Reed: Oh I remember.
   Maxon: (holding up a circle) This could be a perfect circle.
   C.C.: That's what I was thinking.
   Marley: That's what I was thinking.
C.C. and Violet find a metal circle. They hot glue it to the chest of their guardian.  While exploring the materials, the group comes across a door hinge
    C.C.: It's a door thingy.
    Maxon: It holds a door.
    Audrey: It looks like a book.
    Violet: (examining a rusted gold piece) It looks burnt.  (Examining the glue for the hot glue gun) Is this glue?
    Audrey: Yea. This (the glue stick) gets hot and it comes out here
    Marley: So that's dry glue?
    C.C.: Yes. 

Portfolio Guardian Progress

As children began to work on the portfolio guardian, collaboration, problem solving, effort and joy were once again on display.  However, we were also struck with the children's knowledge of and ability with wire.  The Tucker Room has recently used this material for the constellations, and their expertise was evident during KW. 

Giacomo twisted wire into a small propeller. He decided these small loops could be the fingers for the guardian.

Today the group needed to think about legs and other details.  We started by thinking of things that are in our portfolio basket.  
   George- Drawings.
   Nora - Messages.  Wire.
    Giacomo - Clay.
   Lochie - Sewing.
   Elle - Watercolors.  Paintings.  
Would any of these materials work for legs?  The group concluded that cardboard tubes would be the best choice.
     Lochie - The tubes could be wrapped in wire.
The group agreed with this, and spent time wrapping some tubes with wire.  Again, their dexterity with this materials has grown due to their work with wire on the constellations.  

Nora realized that our cardboard tubes were not the same length. "We need to measure," she said.

This and that....

We still love puzzles, but rousing games of "High Card" (or as George accurately calls it "War" have become a new favorite.  We also loved spending time outside on this beautiful day!  Enjoy the images and have a wonderful weekend!