Wednesday, September 14, 2022

This Week's Projections

Continuing to Get to Know Each Other Through our Drawings

As our hallway documentation grows, children are taking inspiration from the display.  They become eager to add their drawings.  They are also aware of what they're learning about their friends through this process.  Louisa, Mimi, Saul, and Luke all checked out the KW drawings in the hallway.  
     Luke - I want my friends to know that I like robots.
     Saul - Trucks are my favorite.
     Mimi - A rainbow flying unicorn is my favorite.  
​     Louisa - (While drawing) Some dinosaurs have two legs and some dinosaurs have four legs.  My dinosaur has two horns.  He needs a nose and a mouth.  

Micheal and Remy did their drawings in the morning on Tuesday.   Remy worked on her favorite food (salad) and Michael drew Pikachu.
As they worked together, they provided an example of how children often support each other.
   Michael - Pikachu has a silly mouth.  That's kind of tricky (to draw).
   Remy - Do you want me to help you?  I can draw it here on my extra paper.  (She draws a mouth as Michael watches.)
Michael watches and draws the mouth.

Big and Small Building

Yesterday the large construction table featured a race car that Saul had built with his friends during the morning program. Children added to it during the the afternoon.  Ford's deepest desire was to sit in the racing car.  Eventually, his dream became a reality!

On another table, children worked with small building materials.  Houses, towers, and animal enclosures were popular as children found ways to collaborate with the blocks.  Today, Saul and Remy brought the race car idea to this area.

Seon's Small Building 

Seon spent most of her afternoon with small building materials.  
   Seon - It's a forest.  It's a huge forest because there's a lot of trees.  There's a house in the forest.  ​

The playground.

   Seon- And here's a big square.  It's a playground.

   The above photo shows Seon's completed landscape.  Her linear design extends down the length of the table. 
 

Quidditch!

Quidditch is in the air.  Yesterday, children zoomed around the outdoor classroom on their Quidditch brooms (and rakes and shovels). Last week, Hugh and Wilder noticed silver rods with circles on the top and thought they would be perfect for a quidditch game.  This became our construction challenge today.

    The process started with green paper on the large construction table.
    Wilder - I have a great idea!  We'll build stairs.
    Hugh - Look!  (He indicates that he has built three levels of bleacher-type seating.)
    Wilder - I'm building some high spaces to watch the games.  
    Hugh - And sometimes there's little rooms to watch (like box seats in a stadium or arena). 
    Jade - (Bringing over her Spiderman figure) Here's one guy that can watch.
 Building continues, and the children move on to figure out what else they would need for the Quidditch game.
    Hugh - We don't know what the golden snitches can be.  
The group quickly finds some glittery golden paper that can be folded into some sort of snitch!
    Hugh - And what about broomsticks?
 The group solves this problem by clipping clothes pins onto certain figures to represent broomsticks,
    Hugh - (Looking at the chess figures that are the Quidditch players). We have two teams, the black team and the white team.  
     Wilder - Jade, try to find the white dementor.
As Jade searches, one flies up from behind the stadium seating.
     Hugh - It's a dementor party!
    
This experience includes problem solving and collaboration, which are often featured in the construction area.  In addition, the materials available in the construction area presented unique possibilities  (e.g. clothespins could be broomsticks). Of course, it was also just a lot of fun.  Enjoy these images!