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Wednesday, December 12, 2018

12/12/2018

Sewing, Sewing, and more Sewing!

Today was another day with multiple options for sewing. Everyone continued the hoop of red materials which will be a gift for Kurt. Then we had options for individual hand-sewing and sewing at the machine.

Choosing materials and developing the skills necessary to work with the materials in this way is complex work. The children are truly engaging with attention and patience! They show pride in their work, selection of materials, and decisions on how to sew those pieces. At the machine, children have been enjoying making choices about what type of stitch to use, when to implement the reverse stitch, and how to line up their work at the presser foot.

Hand-sewing a Gift for Kurt

Machine Sewing

Outdoor Challenges

What would a day in KW be like without some time to play and work in the outdoor classroom? Today we saw collaborative digging work in the sandbox and children challenging their independence and strength on the swing.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

12/11/2018

Welcome Will!

Today was a big day for Will Clarkson! He celebrated his school birthday and started Kids' Workshop. He got right to work and started sewing with us. It was also the first time Maisie used the sewing machine. With support from their friends, they both learned the procedures necessary for sewing.
Everyone had a chance to sew either at the machine or with hand sewing today. We continued to work on our gift for Kurt which features red materials. Children also worked on smaller, individual sewing experiences. A wide range of materials was once again available. Lily and Hugh did some sewing on bubble wrap, while Tommy used small pieces of paper. Tegan worked on her quilt for Saoirse, and one of her seams wasn't to her liking. She adeptly used the seam ripper to take out the seam, and mastered yet another aspect of the sewing process.

Despite the cold temperature, the sun was shining. Everyone enjoyed their time spent outside. Once inside, children worked on messages with holiday-themed materials. Messages were sent to friends near and far as Lily and Hugh once again chose to make messages for Max in California.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

12/6/2018

Parties and Presents

KW was invited to Leigh's (Rainey Room) birthday party today. The children had pizza and cupcakes and decorated gingerbread houses.

After the celebration, we reminded the children about a gift idea the teachers had decided to as a school. Each classroom chose a different person in our St. John's community to create a gift for. KW chose Kurt who works in the church. After introducing the idea to the children last week, we discovered Kurt likes the color red. and we had ideas around what types of gifts we could make. One idea was to create something with sewing. So today we began working on the present. We sewed all kinds of red materials and items to a hoop of mesh. Each child took a turn sewing. We're looking forward to see how the project looks when we're finished working on it!

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

12/4/2018

It had been a long time since our Tuesday group had ventured out into the neighborhood. Today we took a trip to Montrose Park. It was a special trip right from the beginning, our bus was decorated with holiday garlands and ornaments! Upon arriving at Montrose, we first walked down to the water. Children quickly began picking up rocks and throwing them to make wishes, Maisie wished that Tegan would always remember her and always be her friend. Tommy made a similar wish regarding Hugh. Louise made a sweet wish for real babies. On our way back up the hill, children stopped at a log to count the rings of the tree. There was a wide range of opinions about how old the tree could be. We finished our afternoon at the playground. It was a super fun day, and we didn't have one complaint about the cold! Enjoy these images!

Friday, November 30, 2018

12/3/2018

Sewing Papers and Miscellaneous Materials

We had another fabulous day with our sewing explorations. Today we noticed the children chose all non-fabric materials to sew with.

Sam chose to continue sewing his bubble wrap piece from earlier in the week. He worked with focus as he sewed buttons on, giving extra reinforcement by sewing through multiple holes in the button.

It was Hugh's and Tommy's first time using the machine and they were quick to pick up the steps. Tommy also made sure everyone was staying safe as he cautiously watched out for fingers near the needle. Lily confidently used her sewing skills to attach plastics and papers together. Then she, Hugh, and Tommy got to try out the reverse-stitch button! Hugh used it to sew several pieces together in one long zig-zag pattern as he slowly turned the papers under the needle to switch directions, reverse, and sew forward again.

Lily and Hugh did some drawing. Hugh turned his drawing into a card which he attached his sewing work to.

Outside, the children organized themselves to rake up a large section of leaves. They took turns using rakes and shovels and were adamant that Jill and Jessica could only hold the tools as to allow the children to do the work themselves.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

11/29/2018

It was another two-girl Thursday as Lou Lou stayed home today. Lunch took a little longer than usual due to a wide-ranging conversation between the two good friends. As Tegan pointed out, "There's a bunch of talking in here." Maisie and Tegan were able to choose between sewing and a trip to the canal for the day's experience. After some healthy debate over our lunch, we went to the canal. Along the way, we walked passed the Georgetown Glo installation that is near Dean and DeLuca. Once at the canal, we found and fedd the ducks and did some wonderful duck drawings. A wonderful time was had by all, including the ducks! Enjoy these images!

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

11/28/2018

Continuing Sewing Explorations

This afternoon was full of continued explorations with sewing, layering and combining a variety of materials in collage-like creations. Using hand- and/or machine-sewing, the children worked with great focus to combine the various textures.

Other Fun

Today was Lou Lou's first Wednesday in KW, and with that, came the surprise of sharing a KW day with Sam. (Previously they did not overlap days.) Lou Lou was so pleased she invited Sam to help her with the table setting and the two spent much of the afternoon side-by-side in their chosen activities.

While the sewing was happening, children also spent some time working on building with Legos. Sam said they were "building a doll house." Louise began acting out family scenarios with Grace that seemed to extend from the Lego play.

We read another version of Stone Soup and finished the day "telling" about the sewing work that was done. Each child had a turn telling about the work they had done, which type of sewing they did, materials they used, and about their process. Here's some bits of what they children had to say:

LOUISE - "This is my bag and it can pop and you can hold it and swing it around and it's a cloud. You can have whatever color, pink or black. You can swing it. I made it with hand-sewing and I did it all by myself."

TEGAN (about Louise's work) - "She made it look like a heart."

LOU LOU - "You can't pull it off because it will break. I did back sewing. I did a special button and it made it do it backwards. I did that to that to that. I missed a part."

SAM - "I sewed this part and then this button and this net on it. I put a spooky net on it. You want to see how I can make it do different things?"

TEGAN - (Speaking about the number of materials she used.) "I counted 12."

GRACE - "I picked this (corrugated cardboard). Teachers and children can try it. This part (bead) is standing up. I picked these (beads.)

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

11/27/2018

Explorations in Sewing

A big part of our day was taking sewing in new and interesting directions. Along with fabric, children had the opportunity to use plastic gels, rubber bands, cloth loops, bubble wrap,, cardboard, netting, and various papers were available. While we didn't come close to using all these materials, some children made new discoveries with the materials and the machines. Different types of stitches such as zig-zag were also part of the experience. Lou Lou and Louise stuck with fabric, but often compared their work and collaborated with sewing. At one point, the girls took turns going under the table to run the foot pedal, while the other would feed fabric through the machine. Some of the reflections about the sewing process:
Grace - A thread is like a line. The machine was moving so fast. It was not easy (sewing through paper by hand). Grace used both machine and hand sewing in her work
Lily - I used the sewing machine. These are big lines. (Lily adjusted the size of the stitches she used.)
Lou Lou - The lines I did with the sewing machine. I turned it around. (Lou Lou and Louise both were able to turn a corner with the sewing machine)
The new materials and processes were engaging for children, whether they worked together or individually. We will offer more sewing explorations in the coming weeks.

Our large group featured five Tucker Room friends today. We placed the bridge that was created as aThanksgiving feat centerpiece along with construction materials on the large table. Hugh, Tommy, Maisie,, Tegan, and Lily spent much of their afternoon creating a city around the bridge. This was another example of the small worlds children have created throughout the year such as the Curious Garden and the Main Street City book. As they worked, the children negotiated, took turns, solved problems and collaborated. Here's a few of the things that took place in their city today:
   Hugh - (Adding blocks) That a building because buildings are on the side of the road. (Adding animals) The animals should be in the wild. (Hugh then arranged the animals into their "families," al the elephants together, etc.)
After some more building....
   Tommy - (Looking at the roads and rows of building they've added) We made a "P."
   Hugh - Yeah, we made a "P" in our city. The letter P.
   The city is subject to a series of natural disaster, storms, wildfires, and an earthquake.....
Maisie - It's an island that has a lot of storms.
   Hugh - It's a massive storm and the animals are injured.
   Tommy - Yeah, so many are injured.
   Tegan - It's a very intense city.

It was so wonderful to be back together again! We had a great time just hanging out in the outdoor classroom as well. We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Friday, November 16, 2018

11/16/2018

This afternoon Lily, Sam, Hugh, and Tommy continued working on centerpieces for the Thanksgiving Feast that KW and Early Bird children have been creating together. We can't wait for you to see them at the Feast next week!! Have a wonderful weekend and we'll see you back on the blog after Thanksgiving Break!

Thursday, November 15, 2018

11/15/2018

Lou Lou, Maisie, and Tegan spent the day collaborating on Thanksgiving centerpieces. Children had started using watercolors on circles earlier in the week. Today that work continued, and Lou Lou spent some time collaging on the same circles. Maisie and Tegan helped create bases for these floating circles. The rest of the afternoon was attaching the circles to the bases. You will be able to see these masterpieces next week at the feast!