Friday, April 1, 2022

4/1/2022

Making It Work!

As children returned to the guardian for shiny things, the movement of the arms was a priority. Here's the discussion that children engaged in as they worked on Thursday.
Jordan: What does the guardian need?
Nora: Arms, legs and attach the head.
C.C.: (The arms) need to bend.
Jordan: So how can we make them bend?
Elle: We could tape them together.
We hold the two pieces together and test what happens if we attach them with tape. They do not bend.
Reed: We could tape but only on one side and then it could bend.
Jordan: Hmmm. I wonder if that will be strong enough.
C.C.: We need to use wire.
C.C. begins to wrap wire around the two plastic tubes to make an arm but the wire does not hold them together. Elle notices a hole in one of the tubes.
Elle: We can use a whole punch (to make more holes).
Elle and C.C. add holes to the tubes. C.C. wraps wire through the holes to connect the two tubes together.
CC: (This wire) is long enough. Definitely long. This is going to be hard. (C.C. spends a long time testing different configurations until the wire holds the two pieces the way she wants. The wire acts as a hinge joint (like an elbow.)

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.

Now, to make it shiny!

Reed and Sylvie join and think of ways to make the tubes more shiny. They choose to play the “no touch wire game” with the materials and add the finished products to the arms.
Sylvie: We twist the wire around and around. Then (the pieces) won’t touch.
Reed: I made them really really close and that tricky.

Children began to use heavy foil to fashion shiny hands. These hand will eventually hold "jets" made by C.C. from found materials.

Movement was also an important concept as children came back to the portfolio guardian.
Jack: The head (a smaller basket on top of a wire grid structure) is loose.
Jack begins to secure the head with more pieces of wire. Lochie and Nora ask him to stop.
Nora: Then he won't be able to nod. The children had intentionally left the head a little loose so it could move up and and down slightly.

Wire hand were added to the guardian on Thursday. One of the properties of wire is that it forms a line. This characteristic allows children to "draw" with wire, or recreate a drawing with wire. The photo on the left shows how children used their drawings to make the hands.

Sometimes a material will suggest possible uses. Jack found small circle of wire among the guardian materials.
Jack: This could be an ear.
In the photo to the right, Jack attaches his ear.

The children have been interested in the accordion files that will be used to organize their portfolio work. Giacomo had previously suggested that the guardian could be holding an accordion. The children made accordion files with various papers.
Lochie - This (his folded paper) could be his mouth with his pointy teeth.

The group had previously decided that small LED light would make good eyes. Audrey quickly selected and attached two eyes to the guardian. She noticed that they were also a little loose.
Audrey: The eyes move, too. Just like the head.

Today, we took stock of the guardian and formed some ideas about next steps.
   George: It looks scary with those eyes.
   Giacomo: If we put him in the dark, he's even scarier.
The group considered adding some of their accordion-folded paper into the body. This idea was quickly rejected.
   Lochie: It doesn't look scary.
   Jill: Is there something related to portfolio that we should use to make him look scary?
   Lochie: Clay.

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.

Elyse told us that Violet was a weaving expert. Today she added so lovely natural materials to the body of the Guardian for the Humans. This fairy-like guardian has been started by the Rainey KW crew. Giacomo also added to the 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: Jenga

The 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.