Tucker Room |
Mysterious Treasures Found at Montrose ParkWhen the children invited their families to Montrose Park, their intention was to: Charlton- Go on an Acorn Hunt for Squirrel Trees. Ford- In the forest! We didn't find many acorns, but we did stumble onto other exciting treasures: large yellowish orbs covering the ground. Reflecting at Morning Meeting We began morning meeting the day after our field trip by sharing photographs from the day. We asked children to think back to the day of the trip. Emma: What do at Montrose Park? Ford: We were hiking. Charlton: And drawing. Isabelle: I draw water. Ellie: I draw a rock climbing wall. Seon: I draw water. And some boulders. There’s a rock and some trees. Next, Emma displayed a photo of Charlton holding an Osage Orange. When he saw the photograph, he explained to his friends- A monkey ball. In real life they are called monkey balls. Whit described the object- They’re roundy. Ford looked closer for more detail and pointed out small black specks on the surface of the orb-They look like sprinkles. Zari predicted- If you try to open it it will crack open. I see lines. Karen- What could we use to open it? Zari- A knife. Karen: What do you think you might find when we cut it open? Whit- Nuts. Ford- No! Monkeys! Just go cut them open! Karen: What else could we do with them? Isabelle- Draw them! Investigation in the Studio: Observations and HypothesesA pile of Osage Oranges were arranged as a provocation in the studio alongside drawing materials. Before drawing, we took time to examine the strange objects closely. Ellie picked up an Osage Orange first. Ellie: OOO-OOOH! Wow! Cal: Notice that it’s kinda strange. Kinda looks like. We should cut it open. Karen: What do you think it might be like inside if we cut it open? Cal: It might be kinda goopy. Ellie: It’ll be sticky and black and grimy. Karen: Do you think we should cut it open with our friends during morning meeting tomorrow? Collective: Yes! This set the stage for a dissection of an Osage Orange at Morning Meeting the next day, but first we wanted to investigate the exterior of these strange objects using our senses.
Seon also used her sense of touch to observe and describe the mystery object, while Ford explored it with his sense of smell. Observational Drawing of Osage OrangesWe had begun observational drawing before our trip to Montrose Park. During our trip, the children enjoyed drawing what they saw in nature. It only seem natural that we would continue observational drawing with our yellowy orbs as our subjects. Seon looked at her Osage Orange and drew a circle. Seon: I see some holes. Then Seon began drawing circles on her larger circle. Seon: Hmmmm, what else do I see? Ellie: I’m adding those to make a rollie. This (Osage Orange) is my big rollie thing. This is an apricot. A big thing for apples. As Ford added two dots on his initial outline of the Osage Orange, he explained: Eyes! Dissecting An Osage OrangeThe next day, we revisited our conversation about cutting open an osage orange. We talked about the tools that we would need to cut open the orange and Karen reminded the children of the hypotheses that they had shared previously. After the dissection, the children were excited to make more observations and to their their hypotheses. Ford used a magnifying glass to look closely at a seed that he found inside a slice of the Osage Orange. Ava also used the magnifying glass, but to look at the larger slices instead. After examining the seed closely, Ford returned to the slice of Osage Orange and studied it before drawing. He described the slice as: A big seed coco-melon.
Getting to Know RawlsAt snack time, the children interviewed Rawls to learn more about him to help the birthday committee create his gift. Ford: What’s your favorite color? Rawls: I like blue and red. Ford: What’s your favorite toy? Rawls: Cars. Ford: What’s your favorite dinosaur? Rawls: A pterodactyl. Charlton: What’s your favorite sea animal? Rawls: Shark. Ellie: What’s your favorite food? Rawls: Catch a fish. Rawls then shares with his friends about going fishing on a boat and catching a fish to eat. Karen: And how did you cook that fish Rawls? Rawls: In the oven. With the information the children learned about Rawls, the next step was choosing the birthday committee and beginning their gift for him. Emma thought about the children who know Rawls well: Ford, Charlton, and Ava. The Birthday Committee Decides on a GiftEmma, Ford, Charlton, and Ava go to the Atelier to begin work on Rawls’s birthday gift. Emma begins by asking the children: Why do you think you are part of Rawls's birthday committee? What do you and Rawls like? Charlton responds: Tigers and sharks. Ford shares: Dinosaurs, sharks and cars. Ava says: Rawls plays with me. The birthday committee look for materials for Rawls's birthday gift in the atelier. Emma then reminds the children of what they learned about Rawls during the interview including his favorite colors of blue and red, and his likes of sharks, dinosaurs, cars and fishing. Emma asks: What could we make for Rawls’s birthday gift? The birthday committee look around the atelier for various materials to get inspiration for the gift. Ford: We could make fish. Charlton: We could draw a fish and put paint on top of it. Or we could paint him a fishing rod. We could get some paint. Red, blue, yellow and black. Ford: Let’s mix the colors to make a brown fishing pole. Emma: These are great ideas! What else might we need to make a fishing pole? Charlton: A handle. Ava: We could use rubber bands. Ford: A stick. We could paint it. Charlton holds up a sparkly wire thread: We could cut this rope. It could be the thing to catch the fish. Charlton then holds up a blue wire: And this could be a blue shark. Ford looks at the wire: We can use these for wrapping it. Charlton: Maybe we could make a rainbow shark. The birthday committee decided a fishing rod made from stick, paint, and wire would be a perfect gift for Rawls. Painting the Fishing Rod
Wrapping the Rod with WireAfter the painted sticks dry, the children choose which stick they think will be best for Rawl’s fishing rod. Ford picks a stick up: This one. It’s longer. Charlton agrees: Yes, this one is stronger. Emma reminds the children of their conversation about what materials they wanted to use to make the fishing rod and shows them a collection of blue and red wire.
Emma also set out different pictures of the different parts of fishing rods, flies, and people fishing in the water. While the children were wrapping the wire around the fishing rod stick she asks them questions about fishing. Emma: Where do we fish? Ford: The water Emma: What do we catch? Ford: Fish Emma pointing to the picture of the fly: What’s this used for? Ford: To catch fish, it’s pokey. Ava sees on the spread of materials a small bristle brush normally used for cleaning. She notices that it looks very similar to the fishing flies in the picture. Using wire she attaches it to the end of the fishing rod. Charlton: I was gonna test it out. We need something to stick the fish. Ford noticed that Rawls didn’t have a fish to catch with his fishing rod and decided to draw him one. Ford: That’s the fish and that’s the tank, it's a shark fish. Rawls likes sharks. Celebrating RawlsOn the day of his celebration, Rawls brought in special cookies that were printed with his face and covered in blue and red sprinkles. He was very excited to share them with his Rainey Room friends who were surprised to see his picture on top of a cookie! Rawls’s parents, Britney and Billy then joined us for the second part of the birthday celebration. They read one of Rawls's favorite storybooks: Goodnight, Little Blue Truck. We then lit Rawls’s birthday candle and he walked around the table decorated with his favorite things: cars, dinosaurs, sharks and fish. Rawls blew out his candle and the birthday committee presented their gift to him. Rawls finished his birthday celebration by testing out his new rod and catching the shark-fish that Ford painted for him. Rawls's birthday gift. A fishing rod made by Ava, Charlton, and Ford out of stick, paint and wire.
We will be sharing the work of the Rainey Room children on Thursday evening with families during our Fall Classroom Stories night in lieu of blog posts this week.
The Portfolio Drawer
Choosing Materials and Techniques
One day while working with clay in the outdoor studio, Emma had found a leaf on the ground and set it on the table in the center of where Ellie, Zari, and Seon were working with clay. Ellie sees the leaf on the table and picks it up: Look I put a leaf on top. Zari sees Ellie’s leaf and puts it on her clay: I want a leaf too. Ellie: Hey she took my leaf. Emma: I think there are enough for all of us. Can you find another leaf nearby? Ellie: I found some more! Seon: I want a leaf too. Seon proceeds to also go look for a leaf, finds one and presses it into her clay: I put the leaf and pushed it in. Let’s see what happens. Seon begins to slowly peel the leaf from the clay: Woah that’s so cool! It stamped it. It made the leaf so silly (she was noticing the clay left behind on the other side of the leaf). Seon examines the mark made from the leaf in the clay: Look at this! It looks like a fossil. Emma: Wow it really does! Where have you seen a fossil before? Seon: On the ground. Emma: What kinds of fossils are there? Seon: Of leaves and a lot of animals. From these and other similar conversations with the children, Karen and Emma decided to support them in using natural materials to make prints in small rectangular slabs of clay for the tags. Many of the children were already familiar with this process. During the Brown Room year, the children used leaves and other natural materials to print into clay slabs to fashion centerpieces for the annual St. John’s Thanksgiving Feast. To introduce the studio experience, the children were presented with a sample of their work from the previous year during morning meeting and asked what they noticed. Creating the Tags in the StudioUpon entering the studio, the children explored a selection of materials including pine cones, natural fabric, sea shells, sea glass, sticks, bark, moss, dried botanicals, feathers, rocks, metal, acorns, nuts and seeds, and vertebrae. Each child was given a collection box and invited to choose five pieces from the materials to begin their print. Ford and Ava Ford pressed an object into the clay and then pulled it out: Look I made prints! Ava looked on and chose a different object: Look! Ford: Look! Ava: Pinecone. It’s sticky to the table. Look at me! Look at me! This one (the seashell print) is a very good one. Seeing the quality of Ava’s print, Ford asked: Could I please have some shells, please? Whit and Bailee Whit and Bailee looked over the spread of materials. Whit: I did this one (acorn). Bailee: The seashells. Whit pressed down a piece of metal into the clay and watched it sink in: I can’t pull it out! Bailee peered over at Whit’s clay slab and saw the print that the metal loop had made. Bailee: I want the other one (another metal piece). Whit noticed as he pressed the acorn into the clay and pulled it back out: The mushroom (acorn cap) came off. Rawls and Ellie Rawls approached the collection of materials. He counted his items, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” as he carefully chose his materials. One of his chosen materials was a small seed head. He pressed it gently into the clay and then looked at the print that it had made, “Seeds.” Touching the imprint he observed, “soft.” Ellie quickly gravitated towards the seashells in the materials collection. She looked over several and then chose one that resembled a scallop shell for her first print: It’s Ford’s symbol. Rawls looked over at Ellie’s chosen material for her first print: It’s a seashell. Charlton and Seon Charlton and Seon were thoughtful about their choices. They both gravitated towards the bones! This was not as surprise as they both have expressed interest in fossils before. Seon: Look at my print. Charlton: Look, I made a print. Look at this (the print made by the peach pit). Look at my print (pointing towards a print made with a bone highlighting the long thin portion of it). It makes a pirate sword. Seon: I doing my print. Fay and Louisa Fay picked up a seedpod from a sweetgum tree: I don’t know what these are called. Karen: Where do you think it came from? Fay: From a tree. Karen: That’s a seed pod from a sweetgum tree, I call it a gumball. Fay picked up a peach pit. Karen: I remember someone sharing seeds from their collection. Fay: Ellie! Karen: Do you remember which fruit this one came from? Fay: The peach! Fay picked up a pinecone: A pinecone tree. Karen: I wonder what a pinecone tree looks like. Fay: It has leaves on it and pinecones. Fay picked up a shell and then a feather: This (shell) comes from a beach. This (feather) comes from nature. Fay picked up a vertebrae from the basket of bones and hypothesized: A muscle from a big dinosaur or a bear. I think a dinosaur. Louisa: I want to try it. Louisa tried a number of materials and then picked up a vertebrae. Karen: Louisa, which print do you like the best? Louisa pointed to the print made by the vertebrae. Fay picked up the sweetgum seed pod: I think that’s not going to make a good print. Karen: What makes you say that? Why? Fay used the sweetgum seed pods to make an imprint in the clay. She looked at the imprint. Then she picked up another seedpod that was a texture that was similar to the gumball. Fay commented on her work: Not good. Just like the gumball. Fay: Let’s see what happens with the rock (acorn). Isabelle and Mimi Isabelle and Mimi looked over the collection of natural materials. Isabelle picked up a piece of bark: I think it comes from the playground. Mimi: I think it comes from the country of China because there is supposed to be a very beautiful collection that they people there see and they bring them home. Isabelle: It’s a shell. Mimi: Just a circle. Isabelle: I’m some to do one more shell. It’s different cause it’s a pinecone. Peach pit! Isabelle reached for the bark and used the end of it print: I try this one. Isabelle picked up a piece of metal: Like a leaf.. Isabelle stood the metal piece up on its end and pressed it into the clay similar to the way that she had placed the bark. Mimi: I want to try a rock. Cal and Zari Cal noticed different natural materials and chose the ones he wanted to print on his clay. He found rocks, pieces of metal, natural fabric, and seaglass. Then he saw the vertebrae. Cal: What’s this one? It looks like a dolphin. I can make something with them. Cal printed the vertebrate on the clay: I made a bone. It looks like a bone. Cal then saw a pinecone and began to roll it on the clay: A pinecone steamroller. I rolled it. Zari looked over the natural materials. Emma asked her: What do you see? Zari: Seeds and sticks and rocks. I’m putting the stick in here. Glazing and Firing the TagsWhen the children were finished imprinting their clay with natural materials, they set it out to dry for a couple of days. Once hardened, the children carefully used small brushes to paint on glaze. The portfolio tags then needed to be fired in the kiln. The children helped load the kiln and patiently waited overnight for it to work its magic. The children were eager to see how the kiln had changed the color and texture of the clay portfolio tags. The process in and of itself was beautiful, but in looking at the fired tags we were all in awe of the different colors, textures, and imprints. Getting to Know EllieKaren opened the discussion by pointing out that Ellie’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks. Karen: Since Ellie’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks, that means that we need to start working on a birthday committee. So what is a birthday committee? What do we do when we meet as a birthday committee: Ford: Make stuff. Charlton: Maybe we could make a spider. Spiders are scary. I like scary stuff. Karen: How do we know what to make? Ford: We ask “What’s your favorite things?” Ellie: Pink dinos. I like pink dinos! Pink dinos! Karen: Why do we make a gift? Charlton: We should make everything for Ellie pink and blue because she loves pink and blue. Ellie: I like pink and blue. Brigitte: Ellie, what is your absolute favorite thing in the whole world? Ellie: Elephants! Elephants. One name is “Baby Jake” and Ruby. Based on this information, the birthday committee set out to use two different languages and natural materials to make pink Elephants for Ellie. Sketching in the Outdoor ClassroomKaren: So the other day we interviewed Ellie to find out about her favorite things for her birthday. Today, as the birthday committee, we are going to start working on her birthday gift. Let’s think about what we, the birthday committee can make for her. Whit: A cake. Karen: A cake is part of a birthday celebration. What else could we make for Ellie? Let’s think about what we get when it’s our birthday? What do people give us? Whit: Presents! Karen: What type of present or gift could we make for Ellie? Louisa: Dinosaurs. Karen: Yes, Ellie likes dinosaurs. She also told us about some of her other favorite things. What was her most favorite thing in the whole world? Whit: An elephant. A big one. Karen: Could we make Ellie an elephant? Seon: Elephants have different body parts. Elephants have tails. Whit: The ears. The booty. Seon: Feet. Louisa: Legs. Karen: So the first step in Ellie’s birthday gift is going to be a drawing of an elephant.
The Birthday Committee's Sketches Incorporating Natural Materials-ClayFay, along with Seon and Lousia used tools to “draw” an elephant scene in clay based on the sketches from the previous day. Karen: Let’s look at our sketches from yesterday. What part should we draw first? Seon: Let me see. I will try this one (the head) first. Karen: Remember, when we draw in clay, we want to be gentle with our tools, we don’t want to push too hard or the tool will go too deep and cut the clay all the way through. Seon: Now I will do the face, but not too deep. Now elephant. An elephant also need a tail. Fay added “grass” as a border to the scene. Louisa assisted Seon with the elephant, making its eyes. Seon touched the clay: It feels kinda wet. Elephants need a trunk. After the elephant’s body and the border was completed to their satisfaction, the children moved onto the scenery. Seon: A tree. Louisa: Trees. Grass. Once the scene was finished the children, the children discussed the possibilities for glazing. Karen: When we look at Ellie’s elephant scene, what colors do you think we should use when we glaze it? Louisa: Pink for the elephant. Fay: Brown for the trees. A little bit of blue for sky. Seon: Green grass. On the next day, Whit and Fay returned to the studio to find a “leather-hard” clay slab with the elephant scene etched into it. They set about the task of using underglazes to add color to the scene. Whit: I’ve never been to the atelier. Karen: Fay, can you tell Whit some of the things that we do in the atelier? Fay: Stuff. Nothing. Whit: We can draw because I see drawing pens. Karen: Let’s look at our clay slab for Ellie. Fay: Pink pigs! Whit: Elephants, because she loves them. Fay: These seem not painted. Grass in the clay. Tree. Fay began using the pink underglaze on the elephant, first starting with the 4 vertical lines that had been drawn as “legs.” Whit looked at the photograph of an elephant on the savanna and pointed to the ground: That is brown. Fay: She (Ellie) will like it because her favorite color is pink and there’s pink on it. Whit looked at the underglaze that he had applied: It looks dry. Fay explained the process of firing clay in the kiln: It will get dry and hard and hot. It will look at little bit different. Celebrating Ellie!ElliEllie decided that she wanted her birthday to be a celebration of all things Halloween. For a special snack, she worked with her mom to make "Monster Cupcakes," which she decided had to be "Halloween colors," i.e. purple and orange. Each "monster" had 4 eyes to match Ellie's 4 years. To keep with the Halloween theme of her celebration, Ellie's mom Meredith shared the storybook Teeny, Tiny Halloween with the Rainey Room children. Next, her friends sang, "If It's Your Birthday and You Know It!" Ellie then carefully circled the birthday table, which was of course decorated with her favorite color pink and her most favorite animals of all, elephants. Lastly, members of the birthday committee presented Ellie's gift to conclude her celebration.
Reminders and UpdatesWe celebrated Ellie's birthday today. In your child's cubby bag you'll find a small token of friendship from Ellie and her family. Also, please remember that we have a field trip on Wednesday of next week to Montrose Park. If you're able to join us as a chaperone, please sign up here.
Bailee's Jewelry CollectionWhen it was Bailee's turn to share her collection, she went to the shelf and retrieved a jewelry box. She brought the box over to the circle and opened it up. Inside was a small ballerina figurine dancing to the tune of a classical lullaby which caught the attention of the Rainey Room friends. From the box, Bailee took out various necklaces and bracelets and placed them on a mat in front of her. She wanted everyone to know how special this collection was to her. She described different features of the jewelry and answered questions posed by the Rainey Room friends.
Rawl's Rock CollectionRawls was excited to share his collection of rocks with Rainey Room friends. He brought them over to the circle and described them. Each rock had a different story. Some were bones of dinosaurs and turtles. Some he had painted. Some he noticed had marks on them which he hypothesized to be from a Stegosaurus. Rawls engaged all of the children while presenting his collection and inspired them to ask thoughtful questions.
More Rainey Room HappeningsWatercolor Resist Cubby Bag TagsBased on their interest in painting during our Brown Room year, we decided to offer the children both tempera and watercolor paints to start the Rainey Room year. The interest in using watercolors carried on for a bit and we decided to bring it back to make our cubby bag tags. We added an additional layer of complexity to this studio experience by asking the children to draw a design on their paper first and then to paint the page using the liquid watercolors. This two-step process is known as a watercolor resist technique because the wax of the crayon repels the watercolor. The complexity of combining two languages, painting and drawing, into one project was exciting for the children. Additionally, the children had many "noticings" and "theories" related to the resist process that were documented in their conversations as they worked.
Ford and Charlton entered the outdoor studio next. When it was Charlton’s turn at the table, he drew swirls over his paper and declared, “A tornado!” Charlton has shown a recent interest in the weather phenomena, drawing tornadoes the previous week in the outdoor classroom. Charlton: I might need yellow, a yellow tornado. I did my tornado. Now I use paint. Ford drew his design on his cubby bag tag. When he was finished with his design, he explained, “I’m done with my mountain. I wanna use this color (purple).” Echoing an interest in weather, Ford chose to create a second cubby bag tag and described his drawing as "a thunderstorm, this is the thunder, this is the rain." Charlton: I’m using orange. Charlton began to use the purple again and noticed the “resist” effect happening, “Wait, why is the blue (purple) disappearing?” Karen: Is all of the blue disappearing? Charlton: Hey. It’s making black. Whit came to the table. Karen: Would you like to invite a friend? Whit: Um, Isabelle. Whit walked around the outdoor classroom looking for Isabelle. When he found her he offered, “Isabelle, I invite you to the studio.” Isabelle jumped up and walked to the studio with Whit. Karen explained the two-step process of drawing a design first and then adding the watercolor. Whit: I would like to draw a snake. Isabelle continued with a common subject from her earlier drawing experiences, “A rainbow.” As she drew, Isabelle observed that the light-colored crayon was difficult to see, "I can’t see my rainbow." Karen: Let’s finish our design and then see what happens when we add a layer of watercolor. Isabelle added to her drawing, “I’m done with my rainbow.” Whit: I’m done with my snake. Whit and Isabelle moved onto the second step of the process. Whit: The pink. The pink paint is disappearing (noticing the wax of the crayons “pushing” back on the paint. Isabelle chose to use yellow watercolor paint first. Then she added blue. She pointed to where the blue and yellow met and observed: It turns darker. It turns green after it was dark.
When she was finished she replaced her jar as we had practiced and declared, “Next color. Blue. I use this brush.” After a few strokes, she decided to add a third color, “I’m done with blue.” Fay: Now I use another color (as she moved the red jar to her tray). Ellie: I choose next color. This one (green)! Fay then added yellow to her watercolor resist. Ellie looked over her options: I don’t know what color is next. She thought for a moment and then picked up the green jar. She then examined her painting carefully and filled in the areas that had not yet been painted. As she worked, she narrated her process of dipping her paintbrush in the water to clean it and tapping it dry on the sponge before switching colors: I do this. I dry it. Tap, tap, tap. She dipped her paintbrush into a jar of paint and the began painting again: Oh, no! There is a puddle. I go on the carousel. This is a carousel. Fay: I put the pink on, but the paint is not working. Karen: What do you think is happening? Is the crayon part keeping the paint away? Fay: I think so. Mimi decided to draw her symbol, the frog on her cubby bag tag. As she drew, she narrated her process: I’m doing the belly. The feet. A circle for the belly. When she was satisfied with her drawn design for her tag, she chose her paint: Green, because it’s my favorite color. Bailee watched Mimi and Karen make their tags: I want to try now! She then picked up a crayon and began to draw a design: This is not going to work! I want another crayon color. Mimi: I’m going to try the (other) colors to see what happens. I’m going to choose…ooooh! This looks like shiny blue! Bailee swished her brush in the jar of water to clean it before switching colors. She saw the water change color: I need fresh water. It’s light blue. Karen: What do you think made the water blue? Bailee: The paint. Louisa visited the studio next to complete her cubby bag tag. She chose a crayon to draw her design: "A dinosaur!" which is her symbol. Once she was happy with her design, she chose to paint her tag using purple watercolor paint. Whit watched as Louisa applied the paint to her paper and noticed aloud: You have puddles, you need to dab your water. Louisa cleaned her brush in the water and then dabbed it on the sponge to rid the brush of the excess water. She looked at the water: I get new water now. When Louisa’s tag was finished, she had used green on the interior of the tag and placed a border of purple along the edges of the paper. Seon began to draw her design. After a few minutes, she look at it and declared, “My design is not ready yet,” before getting back to work with her crayon. When she was pleased with her work, she picked up a jar of watercolor paint and announced, “I choose yellow, because I love yellow.” Zari and Cal joined Emma at the table to make their cubby bag tag. They shared what they were going to draw first using the wax crayon. Zari: I’m gonna draw a cat. Cal: I’m gonna draw an elephant. Both Cal and Zari moved onto the second step of the watercolor resist process as they began to paint over the crayon. Cal chose orange and described what he was painting: I’m making the sun. Zari chose yellow and described her painting: This is the morning sun. She then pointed to Cal’s painting noticing a difference: That’s the bedtime sun. Looking back at her own painting, Zari chose the blue watercolor next: Here’s blue so my cat has some blue. Cal picked up two paint brushes to make his design: I’m using two so I can do two paints. I’m doing multicolored. Our Finished Cubby Bag Tags |
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