Friday, May 6, 2022

May Flowers!

 We begin with heartfelt thank you to the families who brought in flowers to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week.  Inspired by these arrangements, KW made their own flowers from a variety of flowers. The children started with different types of wire, paper, bases and paper strips. As they worked, children solved problems presented by the materials and the process. They came up with unique and designs and shared their strategies with others. 
    Experimenting with the materials:
   C.C. -  I can use this (wire) for the stem because it’s green!
   Lucia -  Janie, look!
   Janie -  (Looking at Lucia’s flower) It’s beautiful!
C.C. is not sure how best to use the materials. She notices Reed working and asks for help.
   C.C. - How do I attach (the flower to the stem).
   Reed - You can poke a hole.
   C.C. - With this wire, Reed?
Elle has been using the materials but is not satisfied with her work. She comes up with a new strategy.
    Elle -  Do you want to use my technique(to make a rose)? I roll the (paper strip) and then I put in the stem. I unroll it. Then I glue it.
Janie begins to cut paper. At first she is unsure of what to do with it but she delicately adhere it to her base to make “thorns” for the flower.
   Janie - These are thorns. Now its a flower magic wand.

Elle demonstrates her technique.

Elle's flowers

Janie's flower wand.

A Head, Arms, and Legs for the Constellation Guardian

This week, the constellation guardian crew was introduced to a material new to St. John's!  Brown Room had purchased hair foils, which are used in salons.  The foils are thinner and lighter than aluminum foil and have the added advantage of being embossed with subtle rainbow colors.  Naturally, enthusiasm ran high as children incorporated them into the work.
    Nora - (Folding and crumpling multiple pieces of the new foil) Sparkly, shiny!  More sparkly shiny!
    Audrey - We can use it for hair.  It's rainbow hair.  
    Nora - We don't know if it (the guardian) is a girl or a boy.  (She looks at the hair that Audrey has added). I think it's a girl because it has a lot of long hair.  

Yesterday was devoted to the hair and face of the guardian.  Today we put all the elements together!
     Nora - The arms should be shorter than the legs, so these (holding pieces) should be the arms.  (She begins to twist wire to attach the arms) I think I need a tool. 
   Nora and Lucia twist wire to attach the arms and the star-shaped hands.  
     Lucia - These (indicating the points of the stars) could be the fingers.
    Nora - (Attaching more materials to the body) I'm doing this the easy way (by twisting the wire on to the frame of the body).  Making this guardian has been so fun for me!

Pancakes!

When Jordan and Jill asked KW children what they’d like to do, cooking projects was the most poplar response. Several KW friends thought that pancakes would be a great project. Ask and you shall receive! We got to cook pancakes today and everyone was so excited! We used gluten free mix and organic maple syrup to make a delicious Friday treat. Making pancakes helped us practice our fine motor skills, sequencing, and numeracy as we created the batter.
When fruit was suggested as an addition to the batter, a debate ensued.
   Elle - I have an idea if it's ok with everyone. We can add blueberries into the batter.
   Jack - I only like syrup on mine.
  Giacomo - Maybe we can put the fruit on top.
Mixing the batter...
   Giacomo - I make this with my mom!
   Violet - I can crack the eggs.
   Nora - What’s that? (Nora looks over at the pam)
   Maxon - It’s so the pancakes don’t stick.
   Nora - Stick to what?
   Giacomo -To the pan.
The group begins mixing the batter.
    Giacomo - If you whisk it too fast, it will explode.
    George - It’s getting doughy.
    Violet - It smells so good.
    Giacomo - I think the blueberries will explode because of the heat

Of course, the eating was even better than the preparation!  Some of the reviews:
    George - They were so good.
    Maxon - I loved eating it.  It was so tasty.
    Nora - 10 thumbs up!
    Audrey - It was yummy.
    Reed - I would say, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy!
    C.C. - 10, 000 thumbs up!
    Janie - Mmmmmm.  I like it with the blueberries and strawberries.

Building Big!

On Thursday, children collaborated on three large structures.

Lucia - This is my structure. It's a robot that cleans up the classroom.

Jack - We're just making a building that we can fit inside. More than three people could fit inside.

Sylvie, Giacomo, and George worked on a smaller building that one person could fit into. When complete, their building had a roof and a window.

Today, there were similar themes.  Lucia built something else that would clean up andJack made a structure that EVERYONE could fit inside.  (Jack had to leave before we got the picture taken, but he fit inside as well!)

Have a wonderful weekend and
​ Happy Mother's Day!