Wednesday, October 27, 2021

"I'm going to fly over the whole school!"     Lily 

It was a beautiful afternoon to go outside and fly some paper airplanes.  The process began with a series of folds, encouraging children to pay attention to different aspects of the paper and firmly creasing each fold they made.   
    Lucas- I pulled really hard to get a good crease.
    Finlay - Take these pieces and push them in.  
    Jade - I did it!
    Wilder - How do you do it?  
Finlay hold up his plane and repeats the fold to demonstrate the process.

Next, it was time to fly the airplanes.  There was a lot to think about for this process as well.  Where do you hold the airplane before launching it?  Are the folds that you made secure?  Are the wings sticking out from the plane?  Can you step into your throw, almost like a baseball pitcher?  Is there a difference between throwing a plane through a target and dropping or pushing it through a target?  Our form and our successes improved the more we practiced!
   Lily - I got it through the blue (hula hoop).
Bea, Cate, and Lily measure how far their planes fly by counting the steps between the starting point and where the plane landed.
    Lily - Six steps!
    Cate - Seven steps!
    Bea- I got eight steps!
    Lily - I got ten steps! 
The children were told that last week Giacomo felt that the plane flew higher if he stood higher.  Children quickly climbed to give their planes and added advantage.   Wilder and Finlay threw from the climber.
   Finlay - Mine went farther.
   Cate - (Standing on top off the slide) Mine went all the way to the bench.
   Jade - It works better that way (being up high).
   Wilder - You know what's a great place to throw?  The slide.  (He climbs up to the top of the slide and throws his plane.)
   Lucas - The wind helped.
   Wilder - Mine worked better when I climbed up high.
   Cape - I made a spooky airplane because it was white like a ghost. 
 

Fall Compositions

Children are starting to notice the changes in the world around them related to fall.  At lunch Cape said, "I love fall.  Because I see pumpkins and Halloween decorations."   At the light table today children were offered leaves and materials with fall colors.  Their compositions were stunning.

Some children worked silently, while others narrated their work.
    Cape - Let's see, what do I need the most.   All tiny things.  A red leaf.  The light doesn't shine through the wood (small wood buttons).
  Cate joins and starts using small materials like Cape did.
      Cape - I think the design is goo that Cate is making.
     Cate - (Using yellow buttons). Yellow is my favorite color.  Look at this orangey color.  (As she layers other tissue pieces) An orange pinky color!
      Bea - These (gold balls) look cool in the rings.  This has 100 eyes.
      Lily - Mine is kind of like outside.  It has flowers and hula hoops.
      Lucas - (Referring to some of the layering) I have some things hiding under there.

Fall Colors, Continued

Children worked with pastels today, primarily exploring the ways pastels blend and create new shades.  Here's some of the things they noticed as they worked.
   Bea - It mises together.
   Finlay - It becomes invisible!
   Bea  - it becomes like silver.
   Wilder - Look, it's disappearing!
   Bea - Can I show you what happens?  (Bea comes to Lily and demonstrates what happens.). The colors don't disappear, they mix together.  
    Jordan - What happens if you add more color? 
    Lily - It adds more layers.
​    Bea - I can make new colors!

Our Neighborhood Walk to Volta Park

"This (trip) was fun for me.  I go to Volta Park a lot!          Cate
Yesterday, we walked to Volta Park, taking time to appreciate all the decorations along the way.  Children identified "families" of spiders, ghosts, and skeletons as we admired the cool and spooky set ups.  Our walk took us past Finlay's house, and we saw his mom who was on her way to make sure his legos safely arrived at the big house!Not everything we saw on our walk was scary,  Frannie and Cate took time to notice the beautiful flowers along the way.
Once we arrived at Volta Park, there were more surprises in store.  Michael and Hugh were playing there, as well as Janie (Tucker Room) and Charlton (Brown Room)!  Finlay was delighted to see Hugh and said, "The best part for me was playing with Hugh.  He's my best friend."  

You'll hear a lot more about friendship during Rainey Room's Classroom Stories presentation tomorrow night!