Friday, March 4, 2022

Guardian Groups

Yesterday, Sylvie gathered a group of classmates to flesh out the ideas for the Constellation Guardian.  George, Nora, Audrey, and Reed world along with Sylvie to generate more ideas.  We reminded the group that last week Lochie had suggested two guardians: one that hang from the ceiling near the constellations and one that guards from the floor.  
     Sylvie - Make sure it (the guardain) covers both sides (of the constellation) so it can protect it.  
     Reed - Are you saying there should be eyes on every side of the guardian.  
 It was decided that there could be eyes on the front and the back.  
    Sylvie - It can hang from the ceiling and connect to the floor.  
    Jill -  How can we make sure everyone knows that his guardian is for the constellation.
    Sylvie - I have an idea of how people could know it's for the constellation.  We could use the same materials we used for the constellation.  Like beads and wire.  Then people would know it's for the constellation.  
    Audrey - We should have stars on the guardian.  
    Reed - Like maybe add a paper star.
    Sylvie - Or make a star shape out of wire.  I know how to make it a powerful guardian.  Maybe it should have weapons.  
    Nora - We could use static electricity.  Jack knows a lot about static electricity.
    Reed - It could have paper airplanes that it shoots at the bad guys.  (You can see that Reed is thinking about something that could be in the sky...airplanes...as well as something that KW has made before... paper airplanes.)

   Reed - He has yellow teeth because he never brushed his teeth.  And it's going to have music.  It will be scary music and there will be paper airplanes flying down.  All the paper airplanes are pink.  

Sylvie - Mine is turning all green because he ate all the green food.  

Audrey - Mine is also turning different colors.  Sylvie's is all green and mine is different colors.  

Nora - This (the green streak in the upper right) is the power going into the guardian.  This (the blue speckled area). is the water and it gets into the eyes of a bad guy.  

George's idea is designed to stand on the floor under the constellations.  If you look closely you can see guardian figures climbing to the top.  

The Portfolio Guardian

This week we are imagining ways that the guardians could reflect the area the are intended to guard.  The portfolio group started right off with this idea, even with out a question or prompt from the teacher!
   Jack -  I think the portfolio guardian should be made out of portfolios!  
The group starts to discuss using a wire basket for the body.  
    Elle - But what could be the legs?
    Jack- Wood ! 
    Elle - (Gathering some blocks) What about these?
    Giacomo - We could use those blocks to make a model. 
    C.C. - (Thinking about the wire used for the body). The wire will have to be really strong.  
Elle and CC. suggest that the small LED candles could be eyes for the guardian.  
   Jack - We're just putting the guardians there in case the bad guys throw a rope up to the window and break in.  
    C.C. - What about hair?  We could use some string!

Giacomo uses a wire basket to demonstrate that it would be a good size for the guardian's body.  

C.C. strikes a pose to show how the portfolio guardian should stand. 

The group came up with this model for the portfolio guardian.  

This group had a unified vision, so their drawings are very similar.  Although Audrey had participated in yesterday's small group, she volunteered to join this one as well.  Notice how even their teeth are grid-like!

Giacomo

Audrey

C.C.

Elle

Jack

The Guardian for Shiny Things

The portfolio example proved pretty straight-forward.  Children were able to make connections between the item that should be protected and the guard that will do the protecting.  Thinking about a guardian for shiny things was a little more ambiguous.  Children seemed likely to connect their ideas for this guard to what they knew about the transformers or robots.​
    Maxon -  (It could be )blue and  it shoots lasers.
   Marley and Violet - It's a robot. 
   Maxon - I think it's a transformer.
   Violet - It's medium (in size). 
   Maxon - I agree.  
   Violet - Marley - Do you think it's medium?
   Marley - I think it's medium because I'm medium 
    Maxon - I think he's invisible during the day and shiny at night.  
    Violet - It has shiny things.  
    Maxon - Maybe a golden treasure.  

Marley adds sparkles on top of her design.  "His heart is on the outside."

Maxon added blue tubes to his drawing.  "There are tubes because he's a robot."

Violet used orange to indicate the "shiny things" on her guardian. 

Maxon's second drawing. 

The Committees at Work

Happy 25th, St. John's!

It was a wonderful day of celebration all morning long!Both Brown Room and Tucker Room ate our lemon-yogurt cake at snack.  The reviews were less than enthusiastic... clearly children preferred the chocolate cake we baked for National Chocolate Cake Day!  Nevertheless, a good time was had by all.  Thanks to all the families who came to participate in sewing and weaving.  We can't wait until this rainbow is hangin in our greeting hallway.  A special thank-you to Carola Mamberto for creating an exquisite and moving video!  Enjoy these image and have a wonderful weekend!