Tucker Room |
Recently, we explored making tiny collages at the light table with transparent, translucent and opaque materials. This provocation gave children time to build their fine motor abilities, while also providing an opportunity to explore the interplay of light with different types of materials. On the first few days, we collaged on transparent "windows" using materials representing the colors of the rainbows that we've been talking about recently. To add a new twist to the provocation after our first explorations, the children used strips of film and slides as bases for their collages along with an array of monochromatic materials. Fay: Oh, a ring! Look, it fits (on her pinky finger). It’s a little mirror! I see myself, look right there. Win: I want to do another one. Ragnar's 3 Collages Ragnar: These (two film strips) are stuck together. Charlton: If they’re stuck together you have to stick them apart. There’s glue on the table. I can wipe it off.
0 Comments
Happy Birthday Ragnar! While Ragnar's actual fourth birthday isn't until August 4, today he had a chance to celebrate with all his friends at school! As always, in preparation for our birthday celebrations, we interviewed Ragnar and created a beautiful gift for him. During the interview, Ragnar told us his favorite material was clay, his favorite things were cars, specially "datsuns because they're expensive", and his favorite color is black. With all this mind the birthday committee got to work! Day 1 Because clay is Ragnar's favorite material, we decided to try a new technique to create his gift. Instead of building with clay, as we have all year, we approached clay slabs with the intention of drawing on them. Louisa and Sean were both eager to explore this new method. Louisa really enjoyed using the water bottle to spray the clay and "Erase" her designs and Sean explored the different drawing tools. Seon explores the drawing technique with a draft slab. Using images of cars and Louisa's suggestions, Seon drew "a car on the road," " a tree," "the wind" and a "sunshine with a sunshine eyes, a sunshine nose and a sunshine smile". Day 2 After the clay had dried, it was time to glaze it. As per Ragnar's specifications we included a grey black glaze as well as a light blue, a bright yellow, violet and a variety of greens! Day 3 While the clay tile fired in the kiln, we decided to make some wrapping paper in which to wrap the gift. In the studio, the birthday committee embarked on one of our biggest collages yet! Using watered down glue and monochromatic tissue paper, Louisa, Bailee, Seon, Mimi and Isabelle worked hard to cover the entire page. Louisa: Let me get some glue. I'm going to put silver first. It's like you're painting glue. I'm gonna fold it and then glue it!" Seon: I want to try. oooh it's sticky! Isabelle: What is this page (white paper). Put it (tissue paper) right here, right here Seon! The finished products: Wrapping paper and the clay drawing. Today we enjoyed celebrating with Ragnar and his family. They shared some of his favorite stories from home and brought delicious fresh bread as a birthday snack! Charlton helps Ragnar untie the bow and wrapping on his gift.
The Birthday Committee Interviews FordThe birthday committee began by interviewing Ford during morning meeting to learn a bit more about him. Ford’s favorite things Color: Dark Blue Food: Chicken Adobe Thing to play with: Transformers Place to Go: The smoothie place by Volta Park for strawberry banana smoothies The First Day of Birthday Committee Work Prepared with this knowledge, the birthday committee sat down to a table of clay and decided to make one of Ford's favorite things for his birthday gift. Thus began our online research into Transformers by googling images to inform our work. There was debate between Win and Cal about which transformer to make, but the ultimate decision was one that Ford had mentioned may times before as his favorite, Optimus Prime. Cal: We have to make it big. We have to make big clay. We make it big, big, big, We have to make his stomach first and we have to cut it (the clay) a little bit. Cal and Win set about forming the parts of Optimus Prime by cutting small pieces of clay using the wire and then rolling them into coils to make his appendages. Cal: It’s another leg. I'm just going to go get more here (pulling a small piece of clay from a larger chunk). Here’s his stomach. Win rolled a coil of clay and then cut it in half lengthwise using the wire, "I cut it like this." Cal: We need a bigger leg. Win: There his legs. Cal: Okay, I make 2 arms. As Cal rolled clay into a ball, he described it, "That’s a boulder." Win cut small pieces of clay and pressed them onto the front of the “Transformer.” Cal looked at the photograph of Optimus Prime and then back to the clay transformer: “He still not make yet. We need 2 belts and 2 exhaust.” The Second Day of Birthday Committee WorkOn the second day, we applied underglaze to the creation in its "greenware" phase before it had been fired in the kiln. Cal and Win looked at the photo of Optimus Prime and decided which colors they would use. Cal got to work with the blue and Win worked with the red. Cal: We have to put that (the glaze) on there. It's going to make colors and then it is going to dry. Win pointed to the transformer photograph and then to the clay sculpture that she had help create and proudly declared, "I made that!" Cal used the turquoise blue underglaze and described his process, "Up there, there, there. Okay, I get some blue in my jar. Yeah, now we can paint blue." As Win glazed the “transformer” with dark red, she carefully looked for spots that had not yet been glazed and made sure that she hadn't missed any. When she was satisfied that she had glazed the clay creation entirely, she proudly declared “All the spaces." Celebrating Ford with his Friends and FamilyWe celebrated Ford in the classroom with a birthday treat of cupcakes and clementines. Then Ford's mom and dad, Jess and Wes joined us for a celebration in Blake Hall. They shared three of Ford's favorite stories. The first, Go, Wahoo, Go was about the University of Virginia where Wes went to school. Wes sang the school's fight song for us as part of the story. They also shared Field Trip to the Moon and Birthday Monsters. The celebration concluded with Ford's friends singing "If It's Your Birthday and You Know It," and Ford circling the birthday candle table 4 times to celebrate his 4 turns around the sun. Throughout the year, the children have explored the language of clay. Ford’s birthday gift is an example of a material (clay) becoming a language. The birthday committee learned about their friend and created a gift using the material to express their thoughts and feelings for their friend. Clay however is a delicate material. The process requires multiple steps. The clay was prepared for use. The gift was made using a variety of techniques, including pinching and coiling. Underglaze was used to color the "transformer." Clear glaze was applied. When these steps were completed, "Optimus Prime" was ready to be fired in the kiln. The children have learned that the kiln is not a forgiving tool. Sometimes, creations go in and they don’t come out as anticipated. Things may crack or even explode! Unfortunately this was the case with Ford's gift. When we opened the kiln, we found that his gift had not survived. Ford was presented with his gift, a framed photograph of the clay creation (pre-kiln) and when Ford opened it, he gleefully shouted, "Optimus (Prime)!" A Tradition at St. John'sEach September, the St. John's community welcomes a new cohort of children and their families to our school. In the spring prior, the new families are welcomed at the New Parent Reception (NPR), which includes a time of getting to know one another and a materials experience. At tonight's NPR, families will work with clay to make gifts for the children to use in the Outdoor Classroom's mud kitchen. The families will also receive a collection of welcome messages that the current children have made for them. In the Brown Room, we've been working diligently on these messages. Folding Paper and Making MessagesOn the first day, the children worked with friends from the Tucker Room and made messages from folded paper. One technique that they learned was how to fold paper accordion-style, which was described by Bailee's sister CC as "like making steps." Siblings, Win and Maxon had a chance to work together during the shared experience. It provided an opportunity for Ramsey to work with his older sister Nora as well. Nora: I can help you Ramsey. Do you want to accordion fold or roll? Ramsey: Accordion. I made a monster. As the children worked on their paper messages, they talked about welcoming the new children and what they knew about them: We’re making new messages for new Brown Room friends. -Mimi I know Christopher. He’s my neighbor. -Ford Creating Plaster Collage MessagesAfter a day of paper messages, the children had an opportunity to work with a material that they have really enjoyed this year: Plaster! First they had to don their dust masks and mix the plaster and then they were presented with a variety of tiny materials to create tiny plaster collage messages. Mimi made an observation, "It’s like milky. Do we have to mix it? " Seon looked at the plaster dust on her hands: "Because my hands is white, because this is all white." Charlton touched some plaster that was drying and commented on its warmth observed, "It's like a grey desert." Catching Up With Mystery Readers in the Brown RoomFor our last two mystery readers, we were thrilled to have Ford's Grammy and Grandpa and Ragnar's sister Dagny and mom Gillian visit the Brown Room. Portfolio Conferences Start Next Week!If you haven't had a chance to sign up for a portfolio conference with your child, please take a moment to view the sign-up genius for available slots. Thank you!
Treasures for Rainey RoomFor those who came to classroom stories, you saw the story of meeting with our dinosaur experts and digging for dinosaur bones and eggs in the sand. When we reflected on what the children enjoyed most about meeting our dino experts (Hugh and Wilder from Rainey Room) there was clearly excitement for the process of digging up bones. While making thank you notes for the Rainey Room Ellie recounted about digging in the sandbox and finding bones. We added some more books about dinosaur/ prehistoric fossils to the classroom, and the excitement really took off. Ramsey and Seon particularly enjoyed the fossil book (featured in the middle) and paged through it several times together. After one instance of looking through it, Seon walked over to her portfolio drawer, pulled out on of her plaster collages and declared "fossil!" Supported by our excitement about digging for treasures and our capacity for recognizing material techniques as an avenue for language and expression, we embarked on our most recent expedition: building and burying objects for Rainey Room. Using a variety of materials and colorful foil, the children had a chance to create their own special treasures for Rainey Room. Today's blog highlights some of the creation process and burying the products in the sand today! (Above) Seon explores her plaster as a type of fossil (Right) the treasures before wrapping On May 2, we invited children into the atelier to wrap materials for Rainey Room. Children made choices about objects, foil size and careful creasing while working on their treasures. Brown Room writes the letter and buries the treasures! With the treasures done, it was time to prepare to bury them for Rainey Room! Our preparation included counting up all of our treasures (33 in total!) and writing a letter to Rainey Room so they knew what to look for. Louisa was particularly excited about the letter and offered all kinds of suggestions for how to unearth the treasures and where to store them when they were done. Ellie, Louisa and Fay count the treasures. Elena: How could Rainey Room find the treasures in the sand? Louisa: They can move sand and move sand. Elena: How could they move the sand? Are there any materials they might need? Louisa: No they don't need, they move the sand with their hands. Fay: A shovel? Louisa: Maybe they can get a shovel and dig, dig, dig. Maybe they can dig with their shoes? Elena: What should they do when they see a treasure? Louisa: Um they should pick it up. Elena: What happens when they pick up the treasure? Louisa: Um they play? Fay: unwrap them! Louisa: Yeah! Ellie: You play with it! Louisa: Oh I got an idea, you can keep them outside. Elena: Where would you keep them outside? Louisa: You can keep them on the sidewalk! Elena: Is there a sidewalk on the outdoor classroom? Louisa: No Elena: Is there somewhere at the outdoor classroom we could keep them? Louisa: Oooh! On the slide! Once our letter was written, it was time to add our symbols and some decorative materials to make our message really pop! Fay and Louisa worked hard to ensure that everyone's symbol was represented and Win joined us in the studio after to add her favorite materials to the letter. Fay: I'm doing Ramsey now. See the crab? Louisa: What's next? Oh, I want the whale! Fay: This one is Ragnar's. It's a sand dollar. I want to do more of my symbol. Lot's of umbrellas. When we went outside after snack, everyone had a chance to bury a couple of treasures. Cal was particularly excited to dig the holes and offered to help friends "really hide the treasures". Rainey Room discovers the treasures!After we left for the day, Rainey Room had a chance to read our letter and dig up the treasures. They were thrilled at each new discovery, and by the end of the day there were only six treasures left to find! Check out the images and videos below of Rainey Room's discoveries below! Getting to Know Win!When the birthday committee interviewed Win we learned a bit more about her. We already knew that Win had an older brother Maxon, in Tucker Room, but on this day, we also learned that Win's favorite color was pink and that her favorite animal was a "piggie!" The Birthday Committee Gets to Work!
When folding the paper, the members of the birthday committee took inspiration from the vase of flowers alongside the paper that was to be folded. Fay: It (the paper) has pink, so we could put it on. Ellie: This look like the same color (picking up a piece of pink scrapbook paper with the same pattern as the first one she had folded). Is very, very, very color-y. Fay: They are pink so we can give them to win. It’s a little soft right here (touching the rose petals). Ellie: This looks like a hershey kisses (describing the rose flowers). It looks like a plant. It has water and these (pointing to the leaves). It is shiny. Fay: I need to wrap a corner and put this one here and fold and fold. I make another one (laying the tissue paper flat over the scrapbook paper). I make a boat. I bent both the sides. I made them because I love boats. Ellie narrated her process as she folded scrapbook paper and then tucked tissue paper inside the fold, "I pushed it down and rolled it." Fay took a piece of tissue paper and crumpled it. Then she stuck the tissue paper inside of the folded scrapbook paper and commented, "I made a pretend gift for Win. I need glue to make it stick." Fay had been on Ellie's birthday committee in October and had also made "pretend gifts" by wrapping mosaic tiles in cellophane.
At the end of the first day of birthday committee work, we had two very distinct types of folding: individual pieces of scrapbook paper and "pretend gifts" which were pieces of tissue paper crumpled and then folded inside of scrapbook paper. Collaging "Pretend Gifts" for WinIsabelle and Emma joined the birthday committee on the second day. Karen: Yesterday, Ellie and Fay made these “pretend presents” by folding paper for Win’s birthday gift. Today, we’re going to collage their “pretend presents” onto this frame. Emma picked up a piece of folded paper and asked, “Fay do this?” Next, she picked up a glue brush and carefully chose a spot on the frame to apply the glue and pressed the paper into it the glue. Emma: This one is going to stick properly. Stick. Really good job, that was a really good job. Isabelle: Just one in the middle. I need to get some glue. Emma dragged her glue brush on the edge of the jar: I get the extra glue off. Isabelle: I’m going to get some more (glue). Emma: Just a little bit (of glue). Isabelle: Where this one go? This go right here. This one go right here. This last one there. Emma: Paper. Isabelle: That sticks in there. Emma: There some more space here (pointing to an empty corner of the frame). Emma stroked the glue brush on the edge of the frame: I just smooth this out. This glue. This is a big one. Here. This is a tiny one. It has a spot right here! Isabelle picked up some yet to be folded pieces of scrapbook paper: I fold it. I do all of these. Emma: This are all of it! Win's Birthday CelebrationWin's mom Rory, dad John and big brother Maxon joined us in Blake Hall for her Birthday Celebration, which began with a reading of Sleeping Beauty. After her Brown Room friends sang their birthday song for Win, she walked around the birthday candle 3 times to signify her 3 turns around the sun, accompanied by Maxon. We concluded Win's celebration with a tasty homemade peanut butter and chocolate treat.
Day One
Ellie, Seon and Louisa all worked collaboratively to mix and achieve a red color to use on the hoop. Ellie: Good painting, Seon Louisa: Ah! the red, it's getting there (off the paper) Ellie: I'm painting inside the hoop. Ah there's paint on my arm! Day 2
Day 3 Seeing Ford and Ellie's interest in stringing larger materials on the wire, I (Elena) decided to offer beautifully painted pieces of paper in addition to materials to hang on the mobile. We asked the children to mix some colors of red for Bailee, and we ended up with four distinct shades ranging from a pale pink to a deep, brick red. The children then worked on painting and collaging the strips as additions to the gift. Day 4 On the fourth day, children collaged the painted strips and added it to the mobile. Ford was particularly focused on hanging his strips, and spent a lot of time pulling the string through the wire until he felt it was at the appropriate length to be tied. Bailee and her sister Emory on the day of the celebration with the gift!
It is a tradition in the spring at St. John’s for the children to make welcome messages for the new children that will be joining our community next school year. The children of the Brown Room will be carrying on this tradition making folded paper messages in the coming weeks. To prepare for this project, we introduced the children to paper folding at the light table using tissue paper. The tissue paper, when illuminated by the light table was an intriguing provocation. Ramsey: I gonna do blue. This one or this shape. It’s a square. Ramsey placed his finger in the middle of the piece of tissue and folded it in from the corner. He first folded a triangle, then a square and lastly a rectangle. Ramsey enthusiastically returned to the light table on the second day to add to his collection of shapes which he had folded the day before, "I fold it like a rectangle, both rectangles. Orange rectangles and I did a red rectangle."
Win was excited to join Mimi at the light table, where she exclaimed, "I wanna do that. Fold it down," as she began folding her first piece of tissue paper. In all, Win folded three pieces of tissue; green then purple then red. With each piece, her folds became more complex. Win smoothed down the crease that she had made in the red tissue. Then she opened her piece of tissue and closed it again, "I make it big. I make it small." Charlton: I folded it like a train track. Long like a train track. I like orange better now. I folded it. It’s a train track. It’s a blue fire truck. It’s a jet fighter. On the second day of the paper folding provocation, Charlton carefully chose his tissue paper, "I choose dark blue." as he continued with her work from the previous day, "These are fighter jets. " The folding of the tissue paper was a challenge for our fine motor skills as well. As the children explored the tissue paper and the folding process, they became more confident and were able to describe the steps. As the children gained more confidence, they were able to teach their friends. Charlton: You don’t crumple. Charlton then showed Rawls and Cal how to fold the paper. Rawls: I trying to fold! I fold it this time. I crushed it (the first time) and I did it again. Look at my house! |
Archives
March 2024
|