Hair for the Human Guardian Last week, as we were designing the head for the human guardian, Bea mentioned that she thought the head needed braids. Several children had previously pointed out that the head needed hair. So this week we are weaving ribbons into braids for the guardian. We started by thinking what types of people have braids and what the different types of braids look like. As we braided, we focused on fine motor skills, pattern recognition, and sequential directions. Right: Materials for braiding and decoration. Left: One possible braid design Putting it All TogetherOnce we had our braids, it was time to attach them to the heads. The children were very excited if a little intimidated at the idea of attaching the vibrant braids they made the day prior. It seems overwhelming at first but Remy, Bea, Luke and Jade were ready to try. Each person took turns sewing braids into the head by pushing a small amount of "poof" together and sewing through that thin space. I can sew this! I have a sewing kit at home from Santa! - Remy Thoughtfulness and empathy have been felt throughout the project: Luke: I didn't make one but I want to sew one one. Jade: I want to help. Jordan. That's very kind of you. This is not your project, though. Why do you want to help us? Jade: I think I want to help you cuz I want to help my friends. Jordan. Wonderful. Bea, how does it make your feel that your friends see your work and want to help you? Bea: It makes me feel happy Clay Tiles Finlay - "First, we were picking our symbols. Second, we put them on with the glue gun, so it would be secure. And it looks like it has armor on it."
KW has experience in a number of materials and adhesives. One we know particularly well is the hot glue gun. We also know to be safe with it. Wilder and Capers remind of our safety measures. Wilder - Some of us wanted gloves (while using the hot glue gun) and some of us didn’t. We were holding the parts that were not hot. The green and the white parts were not hot. And we squirted the glue. Cape - The silver part is hot. Reflecting on the importance of our own symbols: Jill - Do you remember choosing your symbols in Brown Room? Lucas - I chose my symbol because it was my favorite color. Frannie - I picked the bear because bears roar like dinosaurs. Bea - I chose my symbol because it was my favorite animal. A spider. Finlay - I chose my symbol because it can go in the water and I like the water. Cate - I picked a wolf because a wolf is like a doggy, and I like doggies. Messages for New StudentsPart of our work this week is to make messages for incoming students next fall. Now that we know the names of the children, KW started making messages to welcome them. Our friends with siblings were particularly excited to write messages for their younger brothers and sisters. A Castle for Unicorns
0 Comments
Our week:Of course, it's guardians galore once again this week! We had a lot of fun with a glue gun and braiding today. We're excited to see the Guardians come together. We will also focus on creating messages for the new children who will be attending St. John's in the fall. The messages that we have already worked on are absolutely stunning! We hope you'll join us to learn more about our guardians next Wednesday!The Shiny Guardian Takes Shape
So today was all about the jet packs.....
Describing their work: Lochie: You hold onto the jetpack with straps. Longer wings makes you fly higher. Maxon: He’s flying over a mountain. But it (the jetpack) doesn’t work. Then he goes into the water and it does work. Nora: Jets are on the outside. These are glasses because she’s close to the sun. Reed: The girl is very far from land. The lines are handles. Materials and Processes for the Constellation Guardian
Yesterday, children sewed the shiny treasures on to the body. However, it was sometimes difficult to find a needle that would work with certain pieces. Today, children tried the "no-touch wire" techniques they used when forming the constellations. This and that.....We also enjoyed the sunshine during out outdoor classroom time, playing games, adding a slide area to the rat hospital structure in the Tucker Room, painting with watercolors, building and pretending at the light table, and making messages for the new children that will attend St. John's next year.
Recent GamesWe've had some rainy days recently, but nothing has dampened our enthusiasm for group games. One game that both groups have played recently is Rhythm Detective. One person, the detective, leaves the area and the group determines who will be the leader. The leader starts the group on a sequence of rhythm patterns (tapping their knees, clapping their hands, etc.). When the detective comes back, he or she tries to determine who is leading the group. Nora - It's kind of like follow the leader. Lily - Rhythm detective is easy peasy. As Tucker Room played the game today, they found they could often tell who the leader was because that person was often smiling! We tried some trickier variations after that, but it is hard to fool these children! Yesterday, the Rainey crew had a wonderful time with 'Hide and Seek." They are coming up with more creative hiding places all the time!
Clay Armatures
Lily: Bea, how did you make that shape? Bea: (pointing to her work) there’s a bowl under here (Assessing her work) It looks like a turtle shell Bea adds markings to make it more like a turtle Jade: (testing different techniques) So you cover (the bowl) and put the clay on to make the shape Jade: I made a moon. I used (different tools. She points to each tool she used) and I used my fingernails (to make the craters) A Head of the Human GuardianUpon inspection of our Human Guardian, we noticed it was missing a center piece, its head. How can it protect if it can't see or ear anything? We decided to use the natural materials and sewing that we utilized on the body to create a matching head. But the head needed to have specific dimensions. We agreed that it needed to be round or circle and not too big. At a certain point, we got a little overzealous... Lily: Maybe that is too much fluff. Cate: (Looking at her guardian head) Yea. Too much fluff.
Jade and Bea are invited to join and immediately find materials to add onto the work. Jade: It needs a mouth and a nose and hair. Bea: These could be braids. I think it's really interesting hair. She needs to have braids. Jordan: Bea, take a look a Jade's eyes. What colors do you see? Bea: Blue! And white and black. Jordan. Right. The black part is called the pupil. Do you think we could make that? Bea and Jade: Yea. (they go to the container of buttons) These could work Our two heads so far (work in progress)The Message Guardian's Tiles
Cate - If we just paint on it, you won’t see the symbol. The children followed this process carefully to dozens of clay tiles. As they worked, they recognized the symbols they saw. Lucas - Here’s my symbol. Jade gave it to me. Cate - And Lucas gave me mine. Jade - We don’t have Finlay’s symbol. We made one for him, but I don’t see it. Wilder - Here’s Finlay’s symbol. Springtime Flowers The seasons are changing and it looks like we finally getting into spring. Jordan collects flowers that served as both table decorations and inspiration for our work. We studied the different parts of each flower before we made our initial drawings. On Wednesday, we returned to our beautiful flowers with new, brighter materials and paints that captured the vibrant color of the flowers. Of course, not everyone wanted to create flowers. Some friends were inspired to draw monsters instead. Lucas - This is a robot guardian. The watercolors are the skin and the black is the mouth.
Wilder - This monster has fangs sticking out from all the eyeballs. Jade - It’s a one-eyed monster with buttons. (The buttons are eventually covered by the black paint.) Cape - This is a monster called Grumbly-Man. Jade - This monsters loves colors. Cape - This monster will grow up and eat a trash can. Jade - My monster is so big…he’s from outer space to the center of the earth. Our WeekWe will be working on guardians again this week. Some guardians are almost ready for their finishing touches. We will also get started on the constellation guardian by collecting materials and planning the creation process. We can't wait to see where this takes us!
Making It Work!
In the above conversation, you will notice that children were able to form theories on what would make a hinged joint. The also demonstrated their knowledge about the properties of materials such as tape and wire. In collaboration with their peers, they applied this knowledge to form a functional joint.
Children also looked at the legs and determined that they should be shorter to ensure their stability. Lochie: I think it should be four inches. Giacomo: If his legs are too short, he will walk like this. (Giacomo demonstrates by walking with bent legs.) Weaving a third guardian.Smoothies!What could be a better end to the week than a delicious smoothie! Our recipe included lemonade, ripe (frozen) bananas, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and a little bit of water. Almost everyone got in on the preparation. Reed: How does the lemonade blend (if it's a liquid?) Maxon: It gets mixed up (with the fruit) and you don't see it anymore. C.C.: I want to add some peaches. (Scoops some in) Now it's Maxon's turn Janie: (Looking at frozen bananas) I don't like those. They're brown Lochie: They smell really sweet Jordan: Those are ripe bananas. When they turn brown, they are very sweet and good for baking. Giacomo: We don't eat the brown part. I've seen my mom put bananas in the freezer. Everyone tries the smoothie Nora: Wow! Thumbs up! Audrey: It's so good! Janie: I love it! Trying a New Game: JengaThe KW crew enjoys playing games together, Today, we tried Jenga for the first time. We realized that we could not put our hands on the table as we played. Each time someone pulled, the children cheered their classmates on with excitement. Giacomo: It creates vibrations. Maxon: And then the vibrations make gravity pull it down. Reed: The middle one is the most important. Giacomo: No its not. If the middle one is gone, the ones on the side keep it up. But you can't take those ones. Nora: Oh careful, careful. Oh, I can't watch. Lochie: You have to say 'JENGA' when it falls. George: I like it when it falls. Some of our favorite things....Although we are spending a lot of time on guardian work, we also have time for the other things we enjoy:
|
AboutWelcome to the Kids’ Workshop blog homepage! Archives
March 2024
Print Page |