There was so much interest in working with wood, wire, and beads this afternoon that a few children built their base and added wire and beads to it. The No-Touch-Wire challenge continued as children used fine-motor manipulation and cognitive planning to create with the wire in a way that the beads would not touch one another. Children used a variety of materials such as traditional beads, clay beads they had made earlier in the year, and fabric to name just a few chosen today. 

.As we did yesterday, we challenged the children with the Dice Game. What appears to be most difficult about this game is following through on a few consectutive steps/rolls  and doing so on just one page in their journal. Some children default to turning the page after completing a step and others want to stop playing the game after just one or two steps. As we have given the children many opportunities to work at their own direction in the journals, we also see there is  value in having to follow-through on layering with the random choice of the dice. With encouragement, the children stuck with it. What seems to be happening for many children is after they have completed step three or four, they suddenly start embracing the challenge of the game as well as appear to have many of their own new ideas they want to try. Both yesterday and today children combined some of the steps in interesting ways as well came up with innovative ways of thinking about a step. For instance, upon seeing the roll "tear and glue," James tore the edge of a page straight off and then glued it to another page. Hugh liked this idea and tried it as well. Cate added a miniature book to one of her pages and Lily seemed to get everyone excited when she announced, "I'm going to add something from my pocket." The other children quickly looked to see what they had forgotten was placed inside their journal pockets. 

Also interesting is the way some children who usually prefer some sort of direction/starting point are embracing letting go and exploring the process more freely such as Will who opted out of the game today but worked on several pages. He even thought about his cover. After walking around the art journaling table for a bit, looking at tools and materials, Will wondered, "Is it OK to stencil on here (my cover)?" 

After the game was finished for today, several children did some free art journaling. Lily, Hugh, and James used the sewing machine to sew  together some ephemera for their journals.

We've noticed whether it's a construction challenge, art journal challenge, or a challenge of some other kind, children are eager and determined when presented with the various "challenges" offered lately in KW. Today the children were presented with a few wire challenges. The children approached them like a fun game but really they were putting some of their cognitive and social understandings to the test. They had to make a mental plan for their actions, try/test it out, evaluate whether it worked, and problem-solve along the way. The group challenges added a social layer to the task at hand providing the need to communicate and problem solve with others as well as patiently take turns in some instances or find ways of working together at the same time to accomplish the goal. When it came to working with wood and wire, children also had to use their physical strength and coordination working with tools (ex. hammering nails) and their hands to manipulate materials in complex ways (ex. twisting wire.) 

​A few of the challenges presented today: 

• No Touch Wire Group Game - each person twists and manipulates wire and adds a bead or object in a way that does not touch the bead of the previous player
• Wire Group Game - children had to twist and manipulate one large piece of wire with their peers at the same time...then undo the twists, loops, and bends together bringing the wire back to one large loop.
• Wire Base Building - hammering large nails into wood bases 
• No Touch Wire and Beading - Add wire and manipulate it as you bead so that none of the beads touch one another. 

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Other big-hits today were playing with Shelly’s House in the outdoor classroom, imitation-reading books together, challenge bodies in bib-body climbing/hanging/flipping/swinging, and play with water and sand. What a fabulous Outdoor Day we had together!!

We started out with the intention of having an outside day in KW, but the rain had other plans. Fortunately we were able to get through most of lunch outside, enjoying a change of scenery and some fresh air before the rain began. 

As we've been mentioning, our explorations in various workshops tends to loop around and layer the knowledge gained from each language onto one another. So as we've been discussing and thinking about where we're going in our wood workshop it becomes natural to think about combining wood with wire and beads (a workshop we've yet to do with two we've already worked with.) Today the children began building bases to combine these languages and possibly others as we go. As you can see in some of the notes from the experience, children bring along what is already known and test it in this experience. Abby also became so engaged with her work that she continued forward in including the wire and beads! When she was finished she proudly showed her work to the rest of the group. 
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Also today, children had the opportunity to build together at the light table. Through this experience and others, the children were eager and content  to take moments of simply being together.  One example is Lily and Cate who are seen below reading together and making a plan for the walkie talkies they will try communicating through over the weekend. We hope your weekend is fabulous and filled with moments like these of being with one another. See you next week!