Thursday, March 14, 2019

Books!

After another fun and engaging trip to the Lantern Book Store yesterday, children's work in their altered books really took off today!  Dagny, Caleb, Louise, and Tegan all started working on new books.  Many other children worked in existing books, using drawing and collage to create beautiful pages.   Along with creativity, children's capacity for problem solving is also on display.  Maisie drew a series of shapes on one page.  As she turned the page, she discovered that the marker had bled through and left a series of dots on the next page.  Instead of being frustrated, she was delight with the possibilities these dots presented.  In prepping their books, children are gluing pages together to strengthen the pages.  Hugh glued some pages together and then changed his mind.  He pulled the pages apart, which left a cool, textured effect on the pages.  He dried the glue with a hair dryer and kept working.  The group discussed the fact that in these books, there are no real mistakes, just happy accidents!

Here's a quick video of Dagny explaining the book preparation process to Caleb.  Pardon the banging sounds in the background (we'll get to that in a minute).

What's that pounding that I hear?

Wood working!  Today we expected to just explore tools, with a focus on hammers and nails.  We thought it would be good practice.  This competent group of children had other ideas.... they were ready to start building things..... TODAY!   We had to overcome some minor obstacles, like most of the school's nails were too short for the structures that the children  wanted to build.  Nevertheless,  some building was done.    Hugh plans on making a double bridge, and he was able to complete phase one today.  Tommy's building?  "It's a house for my toys."   Tegan built a table for Saoirse, with a pretty pink flower nailed in the middle.  Grace liked that idea, and also built a table.  Lily explored nailing down fabric, and thin materials that our nails could handle.  We will have longer nails tomorrow!
Children built in other ways as well.  There was indoor building with blocks, wooden people, and wooden animals.  Outside, several children collaborated to build a home in Palm Beach, complete with furniture.  Enjoy these images and check back tomorrow for more from this creative and competent group!