The KW crew enjoyed their last afternoon together before Spring Break. Before lunch, friends took part in some movement activities with the parachute in Blake Hall. Whether it's play in the outdoor classroom or in Blake Hall, it's always nice to have the opportunity to move our bodies and expend some energy before settling down for the afternoon.

Back in the classroom, painting using the Bamboo tablet and 3D paper sculpture were on offer. Jay, Cassius and Mac manipulated strips of paper using curling and folding techniques, and then mounted them onto a base to create - you guessed it - bridges! Children also enjoyed working together to complete the Pterodactyl puzzle - one of our favorites. We were hoping to revisit some of the statue drawings from Friday for color and greater detail, but we'll have to get to that once we're back from break. There's never quite enough time in the day! 

Wishing everyone a lovely break and we look forward to seeing you when we get back! 

The Friday KW crew made it through the wind to Georgetown University today.  Last time we were at GU, children noticed the statues and referred to them as family members.  With that in mind,  we revisited the statues and took time to draw them.  Children clearly remembered which family member each statue represented.  Their drawings included interesting details and many children included the lettering that could be found on the base of the statues.    Enjoy these images and have a great weekend!
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Kids' Workshop got into the St. Patrick's Day spirit this afternoon as we prepared GREEN waffles for lunch! We'd say they were a hit for most of our friends - luckily we had cheesy pasta, fried ham and fruit available just in case! Children decided they were a lovely shade of "mint green" and most agreed that they didn't taste any different, even with their green food coloring!

Friends enjoyed surprising their teachers and Marley with our crazy-colored waffles on delivery runs!
After lunch, KW had a pretty chill afternoon. Children built ships with legos, read stories together, chatted over mandalas and finished their duck stories started yesterday. 

We find that mandalas in the afternoon offers children a nice, calm and comfortable context to engage in conversation together. Overheard while making mandalas today:
Rose: Let's talk about something we all know. 
Prater: How about My Little Pony? Do you remember the lion with wings?
Lila: Nightmare Queen?
Rose: When she falls and has scratches and her face and tries to say sorry? We only watch it in Italian. Do you remember the slaves?
Lila: Do you remember Nightmare's black crown? One of Olivia's friend's Grandma is named My Little Pony.
Rose: Was she 55? 45? Like my Daddy?
Lila: Yeah she was. Hey, Olivia's symbol was a heart, Rose!
Rose: Just like me! Does anybody know Pinkalicious? Does anybody watch the movie? 
Prater: Yes, because remember from ballet?
Ellee: Remember Goldilicious from ballet?
Lila: No it's called sing and dance. 
Rose: Can we all just call it ballet?
Lila: Yes we can. 

Construction and clay were also offered today.  In clay work, children glazed pieces they had recently created.  The Construction area featured bridge building.  We have seen bridges to be a popular structure in both Tucker Room and KW. Children worked carefully and collaboratively on the  bridge and solved problems of scale stability along the way.  The bridge was important because it served the purpose of keeping everyone out of the hot lava that flowed under the bridge.  Unfortunately, the bridge could not handle frequent traffic and collapsed.  Not to fear, our crafty engineers got to work and made a flat highway, that also kept people out of the hot lava.  Stay tuned for more adventures!

This afternoon, children were busy making collages and messages, etching ducks into clay slabs, and building bridges in the construction area.  

Cassius: Let's stuff each others mailboxes, Jay!
Jay: Let's make 500 messages!
Rose, Ellee, Mac, Vivienne and Max continued work on their clay slabs. Children also glazed some out standing clay pieces. Hopefully these will be fired and added to our "Life Along the Canal" wall in the next week or two! 

In the construction area, friends began construction on a new bridge. 
Willa: Under the bridge is hot lava and these are lily pads. The carpets are lily pads so you can step over the hot lava or you can use the bridge and land over there. 
It wasn't before long that children began dying in the hot lava and needed to be rescued. Luckily they were pulled to safety and onto the lily pads to avoid the hot lava!  

Today we planned to read down to the Potomac Waterfront to feed different ducks.  We were also hoping to collect some duck feathers that we could examine under the digital microscope.   We took our windy walk down to the waterfront.  Once we were near the river, we saw so many seagulls!   Unfortunately upon arriving at the waterfront there was one problem..... no ducks!   We decided to head back to the canal.   We went to a different spot along the canal this time, and the ducks seemed a little scared of us.  They only came up to eat our treats when we backed away from the canal.  Max suggested, "Maybe we need to introduce ourselves."  We did that and it seemed to work.  The ducks were more willing to approach the snacks we had tossed for them.
Our walk today also illustrated that it isn't just the destination, it's the journey.  Children responded to many elements in the environment: the brick columns, tree roots, cement barricades, and structures along the river.     Enjoy these images and have a great weekend!

We had a fun and busy KW afternoon that included cooking, glazing, book/message making and construction play. Grace and Lucy were able to put the finishing glazes on their clay ducks. We can't wait for these guys to join the group once they're out of the kiln! 

It's been a while since KW has had a cooking project, so today we made an old favorite (passed down by a Tucker Room friend last year) - cheesy pasta! This one's a crowd pleaser! You may have had a to-go box sent home with your child today. Friends also combined bits and pieces of crackers and other snacks from the pantry to create a "duck snack mix" for tomorrow's field trip to the waterfront. We're hoping to see some chicks and possibly catch some new signs of spring on the trip!

In the message center, children enjoyed making message books for another friend (or even themselves), and the construction area featured a Safeway grocery store and family play.  

We missed Prater and Ellee in our crew today but we're excited for them to be back tomorrow! 

Today Kate was out sick and we missed her!  Luckily we had Britta working with us and she has a lot of KW experience. Several children worked with clay.  Jay built a clay bridge for the hallway canal, while Hadley, Vivienne, Max, and Rose all worked on clay slabs.   As the afternoon drew to a close, Prater and Hadley worked on small ducks and ponds for them.  

We avoided the rain all afternoon and children played "family" outside.  Today, several family member sustained injuries and had to visit the doctor.  There were several injured arms, and at one point Carl suffered a broken neck (in our pretend scenario).  However, Prater soon announced, "Carl is definitely not dead!"   Once inside, children worked with magnetic building materials and created aliens, a double Washington Monument, the DeathStar, a training studio, and a house.   The big ideas just keep coming!  Enjoy these images!

Play in the dollhouse and a skate park construction that was created in the Tucker Room were also popular this afternoon.

We're looking forward to some cooking projects this week and a trip to the waterfront this Friday to continue some duck (feather) research! Stay tuned!