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​Kids' Workshop

Friday, February 28, 2020

2/28/2020

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Sweet Small Group Times Together

On these smaller days at KW we really get to hone in on some of the moments that we experience every day...just  in a closer context. This slide show gives an example of some of those sweetly shared moments in our day:

Headband Workshop

Maren and Lane began translating their headband designs into 3D work. Here's a closer look at their processes so far:

Maren's Unicorn Headband

Lane's Coconut Rainbow Headband

Wood Sewing

Margaret had decided she would like to make a wood sewing so she made a plan to drill holes in wood today. Margaret bravely and competently handled the drill as she placed holes for her sewing. After deciding she had made enough holes, she got to work sewing alongside Maren who was continuing her  sewing piece.

Margaret noticed a shell with a hole, "We can sew with this shell because it has a hole." She showed problem solving when she realized her needle was too thick to go through a certain button, "Next time I'll use a skinny needle."

Margaret and Maren's Work in Progress:

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Also today, children returned to their watercolor designs from yesterday and peeled away the tape, revealing the negative space between the paint!
A special note: at times the Friday blog posts may not go up on Friday evenings. Please check back later in the weekend if you don't see our updates on your first go-around and thanks so much for the flexibility going into the weekend! 

We look forward to more headband designs, wood sewing,
and other explorations coming to life next week!
​Have a fabulous weekend!

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Thursday, February 27, 2020

2/27/2020

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Margaret Opens her Welcome Surprise

True to KW tradition, Margaret received her official welcome surprise gift! She opened the present Candice has made for her to use each day in KW. (Everyone was excited to see Margaret's gift as they have been anticipating this moment since Margaret joined us last week!) Margaret explained what she already knew about the place card, "It's for me to use at the table so I know where I sit (for lunch)." Margaret then had her first turn setting the table with Maren. 
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Creating Headbands

Headband creations from yesterday continued with Gigi, Lou Lou, and Leigh working on their rainbow headband designs. Grace M. continued sculpting wire butterflies for her headband and welcomed Sally in beginning her similar butterfly design.

​The following slideshows give insight into each group's work:

Gigi

Lou Lou and Leigh

Grace and Sally

Watercolor Resist & Negative Space

Children painted geometric designs with a watercolor relief technique made using washi tape on paper. Children made decisions about colors, pattern, balance, and mark-making. 
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After painting a provided design, Austin, Grace D., Jack, and Margaret created their own using tapes...
...then painted their designs!
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Sam and Grace returned to their paintings made yesterday to remove the tape. The negative space emerged! Grace left the negative space as part of her design while Sam chose to add marks in the space.

Constructing Around Clay Houses

Throughout our discussion of workshops, an idea had formed around combining many ideas into a construction village of sorts created in part by structures and possibly other objects made by children (an idea we may continue in future weeks/months). So today we began playing with the idea by constructing around Grace D. and Maren's clay houses. 

Construction design elements included homes, pools, and a garden. 
Grace D. designs pools outside her house using curved blocks.
Maren explains the pools: a "shallow end" for children (left) and "the deep end" (right).
Maren and Lane add a flower garden.
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Wednesday, February 26, 2020

2/26/2020

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Headbands!

There was a flurry of excitement and energy as children began working on some of their elaborate headbands today.   Lou Lou, Leigh, Gigi, and Ellie started by designing headbands.   While Ellie's drawing featured a turtle in the water, the other three children worked on variations of rainbows.   Here's the designs:
Another design option was continued work at the light table.  Gigi and Sam spent time here. Gigi created a delicate crown-like headband.  Sam began with a head wear design that featured his favorite color: red.  He added Sally with red jewels.  From there, he created a composition that included several of his Tucker Room friends.
Several children were able to work from design to implementation.   This process is definitely in its early stages and we'll be following through over the next few weeks.   Children already encountered challenges and made adjustments in the materials the used.  Here's a quick look at where they are so far.

Louise

Louise spent time thinking about how the wire would serve as a frame for her falling petals design.  She also thought about the supporting structure as she placed wire on her head.   As she worked, Grace M. asked her, "Are you making it like Coco Chanel?"

Grace D. 

Grace worked on her heart headband design.  Her first step was to carefully construct a wire heart.  She did this by following her heart painting with wire.  At that point, she began sewing her blue cellophane to the wire.   

Joslin

It was Taco Wednesday for Joslin!  She began with the idea of making her taco shell out of cardboard.  When the cardboard didn't cut well (even with our fancy scissors), she moved on to brown paper.  When the design didn't transfer to her satisfaction, she moved on to white panel board.  Having cut out the taco shell shape, she moved on to gluing on the "sauce" and "spice" materials she selected yesterday.  This took time and persistence, but she confidently stated, "I'm not going to stop."

Grace M.

Grace's butterfly was another exercise in perseverance.   Her initial plan with the wire was to make each  of the four loops individually.  However, that presented challenges in getting them to stay together .  With Jen's initial assistance, she moved on to working with one long piece to create the entire butterfly and then added beads.  We're looking forward to even more of these creatures in the days to come.

Leigh and Lou Lou

Leigh and Lou Lou were eager to move from design to implementation today.  Perhaps taking inspiration from the rainbow design in the Tucker Room mini-studio, they decided to trace their rainbows on clear plastic, and glue on appropriately colored materials.   Upon finding a perfect "crystal," they talked about making "the heart of the school."    Lou Lou -  I should do the heart of the school.  I found this crystal that looks like a heart.  The heart of the school means that anyone can come to this school.  Unless they're mean.
Leigh - Everyone's nice.

Little help from our Friends


We were thrilled to have Jen work with us this afternoon.  It was her expertise that helped us launch so much headband work today.   Children also pitched in to help their friends when an extra set of hands was necessary.  
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Gigi's watercolors

Negative Space

Children worked with watercolors to explore the concept of negative space.   Presented with papers that had geometric designs  made with tape, the filled in the spaces with  paint.   When the paint dries, they can peel off the paint to see the white space revealed.  Everyone worked on watercolors today, but only Gigi had the opportunity to take off the tape.  More cool patterns to come!
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February 25th, 2020

2/25/2020

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Headband Prep

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This week we are getting started with headband work.  Today some children started by choosing the materials that they will work with to bring their ideas to life.   The translation from a two dimensional design to a three dimensional item is challenging.   As children select materials for their work, they carefully consider the properties and potentialities of those materials.  Children's knowledge of materials was evident as they made their choices today.
Grace M. - We could put glitter on the wings (made out of) some shiny stuff on the bottom (half) and some glittery stuff on the top  (half).
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Grace D. - "I want that ... the blue (cellophane)."
Grace D.  plans to work with a wire frame for her heart, with the cellophane and other stuff attached to it.  She also chose tapes and shells for design elements.
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Joslin chose orange fabric for the sauce and sequins will be glued on a cardboard taco shell to represent the spice!
Louise chose small items to represent petals.  Lou Lou excitedly helped her select materials,  leading Louise to caution, "Not too much stuff."  This is a practical suggestion:  we want the headband structure to be able to support the materials.
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Louise - "There's a wire that goes above and around the neck."
She plans to attach materials coming down from the wire.

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Children also worked on headwear designs at the light table today.

"I love sewing!"            Evelyn

With all the sewing that we've been doing, it's great to us that children are still enjoyed in the process of sewing with a variety of materials.   Evelyn went on to tell us that she had sewn a bean bag earlier in the day for the Rainey Room's hopscotch work.   Sewing is another experience where children are making careful choices.   Evelyn lined up stitches methodically at the edge of her clay sewing.   Grace D.  continued a pattern of adding materials that she had started last week, saying, "There's two of everything, two black, two oval, two golden."   Other children selected color palettes that were pleasing to them.  Please check out our growing collection along the top of the Tucker Room cubbies.
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Friday, February 21, 2020

2/21/2020

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Books, Books, Books, and a bit of Sewing...

Binding Books

We had another opportunity for binding books. For our Thursday/Friday crew this was their first day to begin binding books. Children made covers, added titles, and added details to covers already started previously.

"It's a different kind of sewing."
​-Lane

Vocabulary came up such as "title" and "author" and children wondered about and showed their understanding of these concepts. 
When Lane heard Margaret say, "The Whale Splashes by Margaret," Lane looked up from her work, "So Margaret is the author?"


New titles released today:
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Writing Books

Most children began writing the script for their stories including Leigh and Lou Lou who had bound and titled their books earlier in the week.
Here's a look at the progress Leigh and Lou Lou made on their stories: (From left to right: Leigh's Story, Lou Lou's Story, Leigh begin's writing her story onto her pages)
Lane and Margaret began thinking about their stories as well:

Lane began to tell her story:
​"Once upon a time, there was a piggy in front of a sunset." She added to the cover illustration, "I'm putting these as birds because sometimes bees come out and get their pollen from a sunflower."


Margaret's story so far:
"It all started with baby whales and their mama." (pg. 1)
"And they all go splashing and the baby whales went splashing all by themselves." (pg. 2)

Book-Inspired Discussion

As today seemed to be mostly about books, it was only fitting that we ended up having a thoughtful interchange when Jill read a new book Sofia Valdez, Future Prez. 
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The discussion began with some children noting who their parents are and are not voting for. Then it led into a discussion about whether or not a woman can be president. 

Child 1: "Girls cannot be president."
Jill: "Why not?"
​Child 2: "There's a girl who is president and she makes books."
Child 3: (After some discussion) "I agree that girls can be president."
Child 4: "Molly and Jessica (Kuhn) are president of the school."


The discussion went for some time with children going back and forth about whether they thought girls can be president. The concept of age came up, as in how old you must be to be president. Overall the children seemed to express they were unsure if a girl can be president. 

Later over lunch the thoughts continued...
Child 2: "Mostly men are presidents."
Jessica: "Could your mom be president if she wanted to be?"
Child 1: "Mmmmm...I don't think so. I saw a placement that had all the presidents...and they were all mans."
Child 2: (To Lisa when she came in the room) "We're still not sure if girls can be presidents."


It was an interesting conversation to come up on a day with all girls at KW. The children had us thinking about how, since they had not experienced the example of a female president, they were unsure of the possibility. 
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Maren's Wood Sewing

In addition to all the book work, Maren continued her wood sewing piece. Maren finds connection between sewing and her family. Oftentimes, while sewing, she talks about her sister or grandmother who sew. On this occasion she said, "My grammy's a sewer. She sewed for 100 years or something."

Also today...

The children climbed the rock wall, did tricks on the bar, Lane and Maren pretended Maren was Lane's baby and Louise began a cupcake doughnut shop her peers joined in helping to run. 
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Thursday, February 20, 2020

2/20/2020

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Welcome Margaret!!

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We are excited to welcome Margaret to join us in KW on Thursdays and Fridays! 

As it was an ECES Day, we have a just a brief blog for you today. 
Enjoy this small slideshow with captions of what we got up to today: 

SEWING ON WOOD AND CLAY

WATERCOLOR RESIST PAINTING

LEGO BUILDING

CIRCUIT BOARDS


And a special thank you to Brigitte for once again filling in, this time for Jill to attend today's presentation!

NOW ON DISPLAY: 

As many of you have probably noticed, children's completed clay and wood sewing pieces (including Austin's finished piece from today seen below)  have been going up above the Tucker cubbies. We invite you to check them out!! 
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Austin's Completed Wood Sewing
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Wednesday, February 19, 2020

2/19/2020

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Is it really February?

We are really enjoying this mild weather!  Today children moved away from the game of freeze tag ( a recent favorite) to play Hide and Seek.   The outdoor classroom also featured some Frozen re-enactments and hopscotch.  It was a great way to start the day!

A New Use for Sewing

Children explored another way to use sewing today: hand-bound books. We introduced the idea after being inspired by the book-like messages that Leigh and Lou Lou made last Friday.  At meeting children speculated on the process and the purpose for these books.  
After starting with folded paper....
    Lou Lou - We need to add colors.
    Joslin - We could add more pages... like a book.
    Grace D. - You need covers on the side.
    Leigh - You could put your picture on it, so they know who made it.  
    Joslin - Or you could make it for a gift for someone.
    Sam - You could make like a monster thingy (the subject of the book).
    Leigh - You could paint it.
   Lou Lou - Last time the paint ripped my book a little. (We're using sturdier paper this time!)   You could draw in your book.  You could sew in your book.
    Grace D. - First you need to glue it, then you can add the cardboard (cover).
Children worked with paper folding, piercing the crease with an awl, and stitching the cover together.   Children enthusiastically developed titles and some cover art.   Here's the line-up of titles and authors:
         "A Rainbow Grew Up to Have Its Clouds"   by Joslin
         "The Rainbow and the Sun Friends Together"  by Grace M.
          "Book About Apples"   by Grace D.
          " The Story of the Bunny"  by Leigh
           "The Battle of the Dinosaurs"    by Sam

       
         

Sewing on Clay, Continued.....

Children continued their work on clay sewing.  At this point, each child has begun a sewing on clay or on wood.... and some are working with both materials.   We'll keep you posted as these big ideas continue into next week.
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Tuesday, February 18, 2020

2/18/2020

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Sewing!

Each of the KW children worked on some form of hand sewing today. Many children worked on a clay or wooden base. Sally, Sam, Austin, and Joslin drilled holes in their wood this morning.   Sam and Austin arranged their holes in a somewhat linear fashion.  While drilling, Joslin commented, " It feels like I'm doing a pattern."   Austin also sewed in a very methodical, linear fashion, staying true to his aesthetic.   Hand sewing allowed children to include a variety of materials as they sewed including buttons, bead, shells, metal pulls abs, etc.  Children chose materials based on personal preferences, and according to which would work with the needle and the base they were using.    Louise worked on hand sewing that supported her interest in fashion.  While working  with the drawing figures, she hand-stitched a cape, which will also work with her personal dolls in the future.  
Some reflections on today's sewing:
    Sam - I finished really quickly.  I put on a shell.
    Ellie - I liked the pink that I put on.
   Grace D. - I liked the bead and buttons that I put on.  I liked them because they matched.
    Grace M. - I used some of my favorite colors.
    Sally - It (sewing on wood) was really cool.  I liked the sparkle stars and hearts.  

It was great to be back together after the long weekend.  We had a fantastic time playing in the beautiful sunshine.  Ellie opened her stunning name tag, which earned admiration from her friends.   Sam and Austin resisted the block buildings that they worked on in the morning, and encouraged others to enjoy them as well.  Although we missed Jessica, we were thrilled to have Brigitte to read and support the children in their sewing.  Here's wishing Jessica a speedy recovery!
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Friday, February 14, 2020

2/14/2020

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Light Table Composition

Once again children arranged Valentine's inspired materials at the light table. They seemed to draw ideas both from their interests/imagination and from responding to the materials themselves. 
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Louise: "It's called the 'L Maren.' We're making an 'L' right here. We live in here."
Lane: "Let's make a dog house!"
Maren: "Yeah!"
Lane: "It looks like a lighthouse. This (stack with candle) could be the lighthouse."
Maren: "This (structure) is the dog house and outside is the doggie dance."

Headband Designs

In reflecting on the recent headband and headwear designs, we thought about the cognition needed to visualize a three dimensional design in one's mind and then translate that on the two dimensional page. We were also curious how children are thinking about the practical aspects of their design; such as visualizing how, or what is needed, to make their elaborate designs wearable. 
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We began wondering if children would respond differently to their work, specifically in thinking about scale and grandeur, if they could add to their own faces/heads. So today, we did just that: we prompted the children to design headwear on/around printed photographs. The children first responded to this provocation as a humorous invitation but soon were adding their designs thoughtfully. 

Louise was inspired by her pink bow headband and drew a design with a gigantic pink bow attached to a headband. 

Maren drew a large unicorn horn on a headband. 

Lane: "It's gonna be a coconut headband...a giant stack of coconuts...(seeing the space still available) or maybe two stacks." She then added a rainbow headband saying, "It's made out of wire and clay."

Louise decided to make another: "It's a big flower." She painted colorful petal-like marks in the large shape drawn over her head. "...Lots of petals going down."

Valentine Messages

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We had to have one more day of Valentine message making! Symbols were clearly on the children's minds as they identified familiar shapes, numbers,  and letters, and made choices based on the symbolism of those shapes. 

Lou Lou made a message for her friend Carter who moved away, "Because I miss Carter." Leigh joined Lou Lou in collaborating on a beautiful card which ended up almost like a book! 

Jack: "I'm making a message for my mama." 
He folded a piece of paper: "I did the Lou Lou fold." (Referring to a folding method Lou Lou had demonstrated earlier.) He then cut pieces away from the folded paper and seeing the shape of it: "This like a '4' or a 'H.'" Realizing Hilary starts with 'H,' he excitedly proclaims: "'H!' This is gonna be for my mama!" 

Lane: "I'm making a message for my mom. I need a heart because that's her favorite symbol because 'I love you.'" 

Lane
(seeing a photo of Fletcher): "Oh, Fletcher, this is gonna be for Fletcher!" She added "a heart-like block because Fletcher likes blocks."

Wood & Clay Sewing

During our discussion of possible plans at meeting...

Jack: "I want to sew on wood."

Jill: "Is sewing on wood or clay the same as sewing on fabric?" 

Leigh: "It's sort of the same as sewing on fabric but it's a little bit different because it has holes...the holes were bigger."
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Jack drilled holes in wood for his own wood-sewing piece.
While sewing...

​Lane: "It's hard clay and you can't smoosh it around (like fabric.)" 

Maren uses multiple buttons while sewing. She notices that she cannot see the small ones, so she rearranges the order of buttons so all of the buttons will be visible. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 
We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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Thursday, February 13, 2020

2/13/2020

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Valentines & Thank You Messages

Children made more Valentine's today...for one another, family members, Victor and Lucila, and others in our St. John's community. Relationships within KW were evident as a few children made comments like, "I'm making one for you and..." 

Grace M. began with a plan: "I'm making a message for Charlie because I miss him." (She added her name and her symbol.)  "He might not know my name (by print) but he definitely will know my symbol."  After delivering Charlie's message: "Now I will make a message for my baby Charlie." 
Lane: "I'm making a message for Cannon. I know what I can cut out...a dinosaur! ...Or a gorilla! He really likes gorillas!"
Lane proceeded to cut out pieces to make a gorilla. (Perhaps working off of the collage challenge idea from last week.)
Maren: "I hope Cannon likes that."
Gigi: "I'm making one for Lane."
Grace M: "I'm making a message for Victor."
Additionally, Lou Lou and Grace worked on special THANK YOU messages for Jen's husband, Todd, and Victor who helped us complete and install the Shiny Light the children worked so hard on and that is now hanging in the entryway. Lou Lou and Grace dictated the messages they wanted to then write out...
 
To Victor: "Thank you for hanging the light!"

To Todd: "I love the light. Thanks for fixing the wires!"

Grace and Lou Lou were given a couple photos of the light they could choose to add to the cards. They both chose the photo of the light which is taken from the perspective of looking up, underneath the light. 

A Construction Challenge with Heart

Given how much the children have been enjoying and working intentionally with recent challenges we decided to offer one with a twist for Valentine's Day: Build something in the shape of a heart! Many of the children were excited to engage with this experience today. Here are two interpretations which began in these heart-shapes. One on the light table with translucent Valentine's colored materials and one out of blocks and other construction materials. The children in both groups declared: "It's a heart!"
The children continued working on these heart-inspired creations, collaborating with one another and developing elaborate designs and representations. At the light table, children created a type of prince and princess wedding.

Lane: "This is a slide and this is a dance party."
Grace D.: "These are the cookies."
(red circles)
Maren: "This is kind of connected" (to the slide).
Grace D.: "If you go down the slide or win the flower dance you get a cookie."
Sally: "This
(cylinders & stained glass blocks) is the royal miniature dance party. This is the best thing ever."
Lane: "Where is the flower girl? Let's start this dance party."
​Grace D.: "I'll do it right away."
(Make the flower girl.)

In the construction using blocks and other materials, there were elements of pattern, symmetry, and balance. The children seemed to alternate reflective with opaque and matte materials on the block heart design.

When Austin, Sam, and Jack were finished building, Austin asked to photograph the finished work. Look at all they included:

Wood & Clay Sewing 

Today Jack, Maren, Grace David, and Ellie returned to the clay and wood slabs they had prepared and began sewing through the holes. They used a variety of materials as well as stitching to create designs. 

Grace D.: "I love every kind of sewing." (While working she explains:) "Mine is a pattern." (She placed two beads on each stitch.) "I did this at my home." 

Jack about sewing on clay: "I like the feel of it." 

Thank you, Katherine & Sam for the delicious treat!!

As a special surprise, after lunch we all enjoyed brownies made by Katherine Boone. The children were delighted with the red hearts placed on top and everyone agreed how incredibly delicious the brownies were. In fact, we hardly took a photo to document this highlight of our day in between devouring the goodies! 
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  • Home
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