Friday, February 18, 2022

2/18/2022

Walking to the Waterfront

"The river is so beautiful." Nora

Although it was windy, it was a great day to walk to the waterfront. The children admired the water and fed some ducks and seagulls during our trip to the Potomac.

When we walk through the neighborhood, the novel spaces inspire new and different responses in children. Today children ran around the labyrinth (maze), balanced on posts, and used the wedge-like memorial markers as slides.
George - I liked the slide.
C.C. - Yeah, I liked the slide thing.
Nora - I thought the maze was tiring.
George - The maze made me sleepy in the middle.

Yesterday's Materials and Experiences

We had brand new watercolor sets to work with in the studio yesterday. When using watercolors, you can paint in any style from dreamy abstract designs to realistic representations. Both were on display in the children's work. Some children initially found the watercolors too watery, resulting in puddles on their paper. Brigitte introduced the technique of dabbing the wet brush on a sponge to remove excess water before painting.

While working:
Reed - I made a mermaid swimming int he water.
George - it's me walking my dog, Willow.
Janie - I made a rainbow.

Construction Collaboration

During lunch, we talked about transformers and guards again. there is definite interest in creating our own guards, so we will see how that develops next week. Using blocks, they thought about making a transformer again. there was some interest in reproducing the blue transformer.
   Jack - But Bumblebee is easier, because it has bigger pieces. The little pieces are harder to put on the building.
   The construction crew evaluated their blocks and their working space, deciding what they would build.
   Jack - I'm doing criss-cross building. Is anyone with me?
Eventually, two building teams were formed. Sylvie and Giacomo worked together, as did C.C. and Jack.
   Sylvie - It's a building for animals. We're adding walls so the people can't see them.
   Jack - We're making a house for cats.
Sylvie - (Adding small lights). The lights are so the animals can still see. it's so dark.
   C.C. - Because it's thunder storming outside.