Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Welcome Elena!

Elena started KW today, and quickly picked up on our daily routines.  With a little coaching from Hugh, she was one of our table setters.   She and her friends were happy to be back together today and talking about their winter breaks.  Over lunch,  children talked about movies, games, food, and stocking surprises.  We are thrilled to have Elena as part of our KW community!

January Projections: Book Making

It's a new year and a great time for new ideas.  As a faculty, we have been working on making projections of work and making them visible in the school.  Here's a look at what's in store for January.   Jessica is a talented book maker and  we decided to share her expertise with the children.  It also fits nicely with our sewing experiences, as possible strategies for binding books include hand and machine sewing.  Before we got started, Jessica brought in some example of books she had made.  Children were very respectful and they carefully handled and examined these treasures.  

Children were very enthusiastic about the process.  They carefully folded the pages, used a tool to poke holes, and stitched the binding.  Although one classmate proclaimed, "This is impossible,"  everyone who began book making finished the process.  Some children began adding illustrations to their pages.  It's exciting to have a book that can included anything that you want!  Lily, Hugh, and Tommy worked on a book as well.  They returned to the "Main Street City" work that was started this fall.  Some time was spent organizing the pages and understanding the story line.  The children then collaborated to create two new pages.  Up to this point, the story featured a lot of vehicles.  While vehicles were still a part of today's work, there was also a unicorn in a museum.

Another New Idea: Bead Making

This fall, it sometimes seemed as if Kids' Workshop was a Sewing Workshop.  Before Winter Break, we asked the children what other experiences, or workshops, they were interested in pursuing.  Their answers are found in the image above.  Over the coming months, you will see how these ideas are woven into the monthly work projections.   We thought we could have interesting connections between our previous sewing work and the use of beads.  Even before lunch today, children got to work making paper beads.   This was also challenging at first, but over time children became more successful.  Lily was thrilled to have made a total of  13 beads in just one day.   Opportunities to make beads with both paper and clay (and possibly other materials) will continue this week.