September 15th, 2021

9/15/2021

Ginkgo Transformation

Inspired by the work of previous member of the St. John's community, KW children transformed ginkgo leaves with new and exciting ideas. At first we were sure how to progress but, we came together as a group.

"How do you make it into an animal?" - Wilder

"I know! You (start by) making the shape that the animal is." - Jade

Our first attempt at transformation

Unicorn by Bea

Elephant by Wilder

Upside down Turtle by Bea

How to Catch a Rainbow

KW was transfixed by the rainbows in Tucker Room last week. Unfortunately, we were unable to create a system to 'catch' said rainbows. Jill and a small group of friends left to discuss the rainbow catchers and how they worked. From there, the children sketched and planned out how to create their machines.

Jill - Here's what I was confused about. It seemed like we had different idea about the rainbow catchers.
Lily - Well, I didn't really do it. I tried to, but I couldn't.
Lucas - The rainbows went in the rainbow catcher and flew around. And when it was dark, you can't see them
Jill - So darkness has something to do with it?
Finlay - Yea it does. So the light is making the rainbow. The light was coming from the sun.
Cate - Well maybe the rainbows come when it's sunny out and the sun goes behind the clouds when it's dark out.
Lucas - (My rainbow catcher) worked forever.
Finlay - My rainbow catcher worked like 16 times.

Lucas - (starts drawing large square). I need a big area in here. (adds large lines through box) this is how (the rainbows) move.
Lily also starts with a large square shape. Finally starts with a series of dots.
Finlay - These are the rainbows in light. There's the rainbow that my rainbow catcher caught. And there's a dot
Jill - What does the dot do?
Finlay - Catches rainbows
Lucas - (adding green in his box) This is where the rainbows go. The rainbow catcher gets it here and then it flies into (the green area.)
Lily - I'm not really making a rainbow catcher. I was thinking it could be steps. Colored steps.
Cate - There's lots of ways to get in (describing the tubes in her catcher.)
Finlay looks at Cates drawing and audibly gasps.
Finlay - I'm doing light, light, light (with colored pencils.)These are the older ones of my rainbow.
Lucas has been watching Finlay's work
Lucas - I'm going to do a ball of energy.
Finlay - And here's where the rainbows go in.

Lucas

Cate

Finlay

Lily's rainbow stairs

Lucas

After taking time to carefully plan out our ideas, we returned to Tucker Room to build our ideas.

Our Field Trip: The Koi Pond

Today, we took a lovely walk to the GW campus to see the Koi Pond. This was an opportunity for us to bond as a group and explore our neighborhood more. It was great for the children to experience more of the Georgetown community we all share. Once we arrived, we used pens and water colors to capture what makes the Koi Pond so unique.

"That's Georgetown!" - Cate

Wilder - I want to draw the fish
Lily - What do I want to sketch? What are you sketching, Bea?
Bea - I'm drawing the flowers in the pond.
Cate - I'm drawing a big one (koi fish.)
Jade - I'm making big lily pads and big lily pads.