Consulting with Dinosaur ExpertsAs we’re sure you know, Brown Room has been abuzz with dinosaurs for many weeks now. From creating them out of clay to recounting dynamic narratives of T Rex hunts, Brown Room has been deep into dinosaurs. In order to learn more about dinosaurs, we decided to begin a Dinosaur Committee in preparation of speaking with some Dinosaur Experts from Rainy Room! The Dinosaur Committee Shares their knowledge.In order to ascertain what we still wanted to learn, we had to first share about what we knew. In small groups, children shared their knowledge and curiosity with each other. In a conversation between Charlton and Fay, the two shared their knowledge of dinosaur names and debated about the size and height of a brontosaurus and a T-Rex.
Mimi (picks up stegosaurus): This is a small one but this one has spikes and it can fly all over the sky. This one (velociraptor) has no spikes. Mimi: They have white teeth. Fay: This one (Trex) has sharp teeth Developing Questions After amassing our collective dinosaur knowledge, it was time for the children to develop questions for our dinosaur experts. Two different small groups met in the middle room and answered the question, "what do we wonder about dinosaurs?". Meeting with the Experts On Friday, April 8, Brown Room had a chance to meet with the dinosaur experts during the second half of our backwards day. Wilder and Hugh introduced themselves, explained they were from Rainey Room and then Brown Room jumped right in with questions. They volunteered all kinds of information about dinosaurs such as what dinosaurs eat dictates what kind of teeth they have, that dinosaurs are extinct and that dinosaurs may or may not have eaten an ant. Wilder insisted that dinosaur eyes could be blue, but Hugh disagreed. At the end of our Q&A, the experts suggested that there were all kinds of dinosaur bones and eggs to be found right here in the outdoor classroom! Brown Room expressed excitement about this, and the children immediately began digging for bones themselves. Check out the videos below for snippets of the conversations and the video of them digging together. Thanking our Experts Charlton: I see the experts right there. I choose the blue beads. I did a crystal. I need crystals.
Ford: I going to put some beads on there. Ramsey: Because they will like them. Ford: I’m putting a small. Charlton: Some leaves. I add some leaves. And is one yellow beads. Ford: I’m putting Wilder’s name. That’s better. Can I just put it right there? I go get my symbol. I do my symbol. Charlton: I puting Hugh’s name. Look, I add his name, ‘cuz I like him. Why are my hands so sticky? Fay: Glue! Charlton: I made this for Hugh. Fay layered the ribbons on her message. Fay: There's something going on top of that. Here (pointing to a spot of glue in the upper corner of her paper). I have thick glue at home. It going to be on top of here and a little flat (as she glued Hugh’s photo to her message).
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Similar to when we mixed colors for the school’s birthday, children were presented with the primary colors of red, white and blue, along with white. The challenge at hand was to mix new colors to be used at the easel. Each child mixed their own color to contribute to an exciting new palette. The children worked cooperatively to share the primary colors as they watched the transformation of the original colors into new shades and hues. Charlton: Ford, Can I have some red? Ford: I going to do some more white. Now some more yellow. Ramsey added red to the blue in his jar: It’s all red now. Charlton: If you add more blue, it would explode. Ford added more white to his yellow and began to stir: What?!?!?!?!?! It’s turning white! Charlton: Ramsey, can I have the blue? Ramsey handed Charlton the blue, who then added it to the red in his jar: Burgundy! Ford handed the white paint to Ramsey: You can use the white, Ramsey. I not using it anymore. Ramsey looked at the color he had mixed and then looked at Charlton's to compare: Burgundy. A different burgundy because it has different colors. Ford was happy with the shade of yellow that he had mixed and decided to try mixing some other colors. He added blue to the red that he had initially put into his jar. He began to stir it: Purple! That’s why I did red, blue and white! Bailee began by filling the bottom of her jar with yellow. Then she layered blue and yellow on top. She finished creating a bulls-eye-like pattern by placing a dollop of red last. Bailee: I want white now! Bailee stirred her colors together and watched as they mixed. Bailee: I want the blue. Mimi to Bailee: Can I have the white now? As the colors mixed, Bailee marveled at the change. Rawls looked into Bailee’s jar and declared: Mint green! Rawls set to work on mixing his colors and first added blue and yellow to his jar and then mixed: Look at my green! Win: This mixing up! I want to see what happen! Ramsey: Um, red and blue. Yellow, because there is so much yellow, blue and red. Fay tilted her jar of paint to stir it: Look, I tilt it. Ramsey continued to mix then looked into his jar thoughtfully: Look at mine! Fay: Mine is getting fuller. Look inside mine. I need more yellow. Bailee: I want yellow. Fay: Mine is rainbowish! Win mixed red and white and then stirred the mixture. She examined it closely and added more red. After mixing, she determined that she needed to add even more white. When she was content with her mixing, she held the jar up proudly: I made it! The Joy of Transformation!Mixing paint to make new colors gave the children an opportunity to experience true awe and wonderment when the paints were transformed into new colors. Cal: The yellow’s gone!
Mimi: I put white and yellow in here. But the green go away. I’m trying to take the green away. I put some blue, some red and some yellow. Digital Drawing
Ragnar: I’m working very hard. I like this tool, I like that it’s curving. This is filled in. We need a new one. I’m making a tool thing. Charlton: Why is there a pen here? Ford: I want to draw with my finger. Charlton: We are only using the stylus. I’m just going to wait. Ford: It’s fun to watch. I need more tools. This one looks like a paint brush. While the children produced a myriad of digital drawings, we've chosen a few to sample here below. The blue is the beginning of a drawing by Ramsey that he was interested in returning to tomorrow, Emma drew the bottom left one and the upper right one, and the remaining three were done by Ford and Ragnar. Each child was able to find a pen-type, a color, and a fill size that matched their need. Ragnar even went to far as to explore some line blurring and erasing features in his design.
Elsewhere in the classroom children explored a variety of clay, watercolor, and discussion provocations, all of which will be featured in the coming days (or at classroom stories!).
Talking About Teeth...and Skulls.With all of the talk about dinosaurs in the Brown Room, the conversations have taken an interesting turn...to that of TEETH! To get a better look at teeth that were not our own, we first examined a preserved crocodile skull. Charlton and Louisa's Investigation Karen: Under this blanket, there is something very special. Charlton and Louisa, you both know a lot about dinosaurs and dinosaurs’ teeth. So what do you think might be under this blanket? Charlton: Dinosaur teeth! Louisa giggled: Nothing. Karen: Let’s see…3, 2, 1… Charlton: A crocodile. Karen: Tell me what you notice about the crocodile. Charlton was full of questions:
Charlton observed, "They’re pretty sharp teeth." He then touched his own teeth, "My teeth are not sharp." Louisa pointed to her own teeth and then to the crocodile's teeth, "My teeth are not like this. My teeth are big." Ellie and Ramsey's Investigation Karen: What else do you notice Ramsey and Ellie? Look closely. Both Ramsey and Ellie leaned in to get a better look at the crocodile’s head. Ellie: It close it mouth! Ellie and Ramsey both pushed down on the upper jaw to see how it closed. Ramsay picked up the crocodile head and turned it over to examine it closer, "He doesn’t have to bite." Ellie picked up the crocodile head and observed, "This has too big, big teeth. Look here." Then Ellie closed the crocodile's jaws and narrated, "We close this. Close, close, close." Karen: Ramsey, did you want to add something? Ramsey: Well, yeah. Ellie: Dinosaur has sharp teeth like this, Ramsey. Ramsey: It has a line on it and its mouth is because his teeth are like a dinosaur. Karen: You think his teeth are like a dinosaur’s? What makes you say that Ramsey? Ramsey: Because this has a hole (looking at the bottom of the crocodile’s head). Karen: There’s a hole? Ramsey: Yes….on, on this…(pointing to the lower of the crocodile’s mouth). Karen: Why do these remind you of dinosaur teeth? Ramsey: Well, dinosaurs, there’s no teeth right here but they will eat fish without teeth. Drawing Skulls
Before, beginning her first drawing, Louisa declared, "I want small paper." As she drew, she narrated her process, "I'm drawing the crocodiles’ head. Look at this. Look at this. I draw. This is his eye." For her second drawing she once again chose, "Small paper because I like small. It’s baby tiny," before describing her work, "I’m going to draw his eyes. No, first his body. I write his ear up here. This is not his ear here. This is his 'nother ear. I want another one." She provided a reason for choosing the smallest paper for her third drawing, "This is little. This is his body. This is his baby. This is his baby crocodile (picking up the skull). He is a baby crocodile. This is his teeth. It has sharp teeth and ears." Ellie approached the table and looked over the paper choices, "I want to choose the big one. We drawing it. These teeth and mouth and eyes. I need to draw his face. I need to draw inside his teeth." Seon picked up the skull and examined it. She described her work, "Alligator! That’s his head. I drawing his eyes over here. I want to draw the nose. I did it." Cal picked up the deer skull: "I want this one. I gonna draw this mouth." He went to the materials shelf in the studio and examined the drawing implements. He came back with a piece of charcoal that he used to add to his drawing. "That’s the teeth. This his eye. That his nose. That’s his mouth. That’s his tongue. I think this might be a dinosaur or a stegosaurus." Ramsey hypothesized, "Or and a T-rex. Maybe because it has these teeth." Cal pointed to another hole in the skull, "Maybe this is another eye." Ramsey looked at the skull that Cal was drawing, "Well, this is the bone and this is the face." Win examined the cow mandible first, but then decided on drawing the crocodile skull: "A dinosaur. The eye." Win chose the thin black marker and traced around the outside of the crocodile skull. Mimi picked up the crocodile skull: I want teeth. Ouch! It’s eat me. It's very sharpie. Cal looking again at the deer skull and shared his thoughts: "I think this is a diplodocus." Rawls: I would like to draw this one (pointing up the crocodile head). The one that Mimi has. Mimi: I’m drawing this part. Rawls: I want to draw it, too. Cal: I would like to draw that (pointing to the crocodile head again). Rawls: I'm going back to drawing. It is a spiky dinosaur. The crocodile has sharp teeth. Fay and Mimi talked about why they chose their preferred artifacts to draw and then their conversation took a new turn. As they continued to draw, they talked about the sizes of the paper choices in the studio and then compared what sizes of paper they have at home. Fay: I want this one. This one has sharp teeth. Mimi: I want the small one. I always pick the small ones because I like them. They different. Fay pointed to one end of her drawing: That’s the tail. She pointed to the other end: That’s the eye. I draw the teeth. I draw all of the body. I have small paper at my home. Mimi: I have big paper at my home. Fay: I also have big paper at my home. I make a small tail. It goes this way.
Before Spring Break, some of the children had the opportunity to work with Plaster of Paris. A few more children had the opportunity to mix plaster and make a very special collage for Isabelle's birthday gift. Mixing the plaster and making collages with various materials was an exciting experience and we wanted to ensure that every child had the opportunity, so we brought the experience into the Brown Room's studio after the week away. Mixing the PlasterKaren: When we mix plaster friends, we need to make sure that we are wearing our dust masks. We need to have 2 cans of Plaster of Paris for each can of water, so let’s get our materials together. Ellie: I do another scoop. Win: Another scoop. Ellie: I having fun, Karen. It so much fun scooping (Plaster of Paris). It look like wet clay. Karen: Since that the plaster is wet now and not dusty anymore, we can take off our dust masks. Now we are going to choose our materials for our collages. We have this whole tray of materials, but we want to choose one at a time and be very thoughtful about what we choose to make our design. Each day, we had to mix new plaster. Ford: It’s turning white. Elena: Is it changing colors like you thought it would? Ford: No! Emma: Wow, it's coming white! Ford (in the studio): If you’re not wearing a dust mask like me you have to be in the classroom. Adding the second can of Plaster of Paris... Ford: Maybe that one will also turn white! It’s disappearing! Emma: It’s disappearing, it’s melting. Just like a snow monster does. Just like a snow monster melts. It’s disappearing! Elena: Where is it disappearing to? Ford pointing to the mountains of plaster: Here and here and here and here. Look at the water! Emma: What’s happening to the plaster? Ford: It’s different colors. Emma: It’s getting all melty. Ford: Why we gonna do both (cans)? Emma: It’s like a powder. Ford: It has like a lot of different water. Creating our Plaster CollagesThe children had a variety of materials from Tucker Closet to choose from to design their collages. As they perused the materials and began placing them in their trays of plaster, they shared their thoughts. Emma: I like this (blue tile). I like this (bead from the materials tray). I like this seashell like the beach. This Elena, I like this (jewelry hook). Ellie: I choose this one (red ball) and put it here. I push it in. Look I push it. Win: Look I push it. Ellie: Look I put that in. I choose because I like it. Louisa carefully chose her materials. When she was satisfied with her selection of materials and her placement of the materials in the plaster, she declared, "I’m done." As Isabelle created her design in the plaster, she narrated her process: It has to go in there and in here. Emma: Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I wanna put this (bead) in here (plaster). Mix it with together. Mix it, Elena. Ford: Where’s mine? Emma: You take materials and put it in the plaster. Ford: Ahhh! It (the material) disappeared! Emma: I can put this in. I can put this in, Elena Ford: Ahhh, look when I do this. Look (the material sank to the bottom of the plaster)! Uh oh! I got it on my finger! Emma: I’m getting my hands all dirty, it's like soap. I like this (tile), Elena. I’m rubbing it like soap (referring to the plaster on her hands). Ford: You just do like that. Just pour it and then use this (tile). I covered everything! In anticipation of drop off on Monday morning, please take a few minutes to check out The Brown Room's arrival routine. Wire in the Outdoor ClassroomIt was a beautiful spring morning and we brought wire and styrofoam along with a variety of threading materials into the outdoor classroom today. Children also had the opportunity to gain more practice with the wire cutters. Charlton: I’m clipping wire. I think this will fit. Look this red thing. Louisa: I want to do one. Look. Charlton: Blue wire look at the materials. Ellie: I want to do red. Emma: I want the cutting scissors, Elena. Ellie: This is mine (wire cutters). Emma: I could try the blue one. Ellie: I keep dropping beads on the floor. Louisa: This end goes to this end (touching the end of one piece of wire to the end of another). Ellie: Button caps. I need this. I working hard on this for mama. Emma: How does it look, Elena? Ellie: I choose button caps. Emma touched a pieces of fabric on the materials table: Want to try collaging. Ellie remarked holding up a piece of bent wire: It’s not collaging today. I want this. I will add this to my sculpture. This one wrinkled like a boat. Emma: Look it’s a spooky ghost. Ellie: A ghost! Construction and Book Browsing After SnackAfter snack and our mystery reader visit, we explored the Brown Room a bit more before dismissal. A number of the children chose to build collaboratively in the construction area, while a few other chose to spend time in the cozy corner. Ellie was building a structure in the construction area when Ramsey walked towards her. The structure had four walls, but one was not as tall as the other. As she pointed to the shorter wall, which was made with a thin block, she asked, “Ramsey, help me!” Ramsey went to the block shelf and started searching through the blocks, pulling a number of blocks off the shelf and putting them on the floor. Karen asked Ramsey, “Is there a specific block you’re looking for?” Ramsey replied, “Yes. This one. It’s not as big on the side,” he explained as he held up a block the same exact size and shape of the one in the short wall of Ellie’s “house.” He stacked his thin block on top of Ellie’s thin block creating a wall the same height as the other three. Ellie pointed to where the block walls met, “This has corners." Ramsey moved onto another project, “This is my boat. This is the engine.” Charlton entered the block area and joined Ramsey in his new project. "Charlton is helping me now. Helping me build the boat." -Ramsey When Ramsey joined Charlton, Ellie invited Isabelle to work on another "house" with her. This Week's Mystery ReadersWe were treated to two mystery reader visits this week. We look forward to welcoming mystery readers with an in-person option next week! On Monday, Mimi's mom Nan shared stories with us featuring Pete the Cat and Mercer Mayer's Little Critter. Louisa's grandmother, "Mimi" visited us on Friday and shared three of Louisa's favorite stories: The Runaway Pea, Ten Apples Up On Top, and If You Give a Moose a Muffin. If you haven't had a chance to join us as a mystery reader yet, there are still a few visits available on the sign-up genius. Looking Ahead to Next Week |
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