Materials PrepLast Thursday night was our New Parent Reception! In preparation for this event, Jen invited the children to help her cut bamboo pieces! There was a lot of enthusiasm, and many of the children approached this challenge with confidence and prior knowledge! We love to provide these types of opportunities for the children -- they are excited to use real tools and take on these "grown up tasks". Their faces light up and there is such a sense of pride and accomplishment as they work! Portfolio Drawer ReviewsPortfolio Conferences begin this week, and we appreciate you all taking the time to sign up and join us for these meaningful conferences with your child. For weeks, we have been gathering to review the children's work, document their reflection and memories, etc. They have been sharing what they learned in Rainey Room, their favorite materials/tools/languages, and much more. We cannot wait for you to hear from your child! Climbing Trees and the Slack Line
0 Comments
A Recap of Forming & Shaping the Cobb House Model"We also have to make the right way inside. To make how the parts inside." -Lillian
"We have to look around and see if our clay shape matches the Cobb (house)." -Caroline Creating Our Cobb House Model RoofThe Cobb house awaits a roof. What does it look like? Which materials will be best? How will we approach it? Questions that required answers and action. Outside and into the Cobb house we went to observe the structural components and the material detail. Lillian and Georgia work on drawing the interior of the Cobb house roof. Through the fronds of the Cobb house roof, Caroline looks in, while Georgia, Lillian and Melanie look out. Bamboo was mentioned and considered as a material which matched the actual Cobb house roof. So, we explored and cut some fresh bamboo brought in by Jen. Sourcing bamboo, of different diameters, and additional bamboo-like materials such as thin wood slats and grassy fronds, the children were free to explore the materials and possibilities for how to create the roof. "Then you can put it across. See?" -Eliza "Now I see what you are doing." -Adaline Going more time to studying the elements of the Cobb house roof, through drawing and general observation, we found that the Cobb house roof had a base beneath the visible fronds on top. A base would help support the weight of the bamboo or other materials. So our next approach in the process of creating a roof was to establish a base. Familiar to the children is a flat base, but the roof is not flat. It's pitched. So, we also spent time observing and addressing the shape of the roof. The shape of the roof "it's a triangle." said Will. So, we made a choice to learn how to do a different scoring technique, on cardboard not clay. We observed the sandwich like structure of the corrugated cardboard and worked on a small piece of cardboard, as a test strip or prototype, before we made any cuts on our large cardboard base. Will and Adaline, helped in scoring, cutting through, one layer of cardboard. Then they folded the cardboard on the scoreline, and to their amazement the flat piece was now standing. More consideration about the material for the top of the roof, and the thought came to mind to use the actual cobb house fronds. Cutting some fronds from the cobb house roof, we began to add them to the cardboard base using tacky glue. However, while doing this work, we can encountered a problem with our first attempt! The convex shape of the frond was not allowing the frond to adhere to the cardboard. "The tacky glue didn't work because the fronds were kind of bended and twisted and folded." -Adaline Bringing solution to the problem, some collective brainstorming after the children left, and Jen offered the idea of using chicken wire as a base or armature for the cobb house fronds. So, this was our next approach. "The wire will help us connect the roof." - Henri "We tried chicken wire. It worked, and we weaved. And pieces that were wrapped and gathered were staying together, and we had to use wire to connect them. We had to use the hot glue to put more on top. Weaving & Wrapping: Pieces wrapped and gathered Weaving individual fronds through the chicken wire
Wrapping wire and cutting it A finished wrapped and weaved roof. Reflecting on our cobb house roof Last week we shared our flower impressions to help us "remember the flowers when they die". That process has been a great support for our work to "remember the outdoor classroom", and more specifically, the children's desire to create "clues" about the structures that are leaving. A sneak peek at our clues (more to come on May 17th): "It's iron oxide!" - Rainey Room
"Is it that stuff that stains your hands for a little bit?" - Georgia |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2024
Categories |