September 14th, 2021

Painting

Today we began wrapping up our initial painting explorations. That’s not to say that painting is over, far from it! Now that children are familiar with the technique, the easel will remain open and children will have more autonomy about when and with what they’d like to paint. That said, we some of the children had their first chance with the easel today, and these are their experiences:

Fay and Mimi

Fay gravitated toward the easel when she saw Mimi enjoying it and talking about her paintings from the previous days. Fay began with a turquoise color paintings lines and swatches, and she was particularly mesmerized when the paper became saturated and paint began dripping down the page. She carefully chose colors stating “I want purple” and “I want green” as she switched out her paints. 

Mimi, enjoying paint for the second time, started with big green swatches, eventually channeling her movement into smaller dots. About these she said “it’s like pom poms when i do this! I like it”.

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Cal

Cal enjoyed some painting at the table yesterday as he acclimated to the classroom space, but was initially hesitant to try the easel painting. After watching several friends try it for themselves, Cal decided he’d like to give it a go before snack started. He was particularly keen on all the color offerings and looked at each before remarking “uhhhh green?” as he selected a deep moss tone.

Rawls and Charlton

Rawls and Charlton paired up and enjoyed painting again. Each shared an excitement for saturating the page and watching the paint drip down. ​

Light Table

At our light table, today, we introduced a new concept: sand drawing. The intention is and was to draw the children’s attention to the light emitting from the table, so they begin to see it as something more than just an elevated table. Ramsey and Fay were particularly captivated by this and both spent time sitting and drawing. Ramsey dragged the paintbrush through the sand, and then introduced shells to his design. He then used the shells to alternately scoop and push the sand to see the light underneath. Fay drew circles with her fingers and after covering a shell with sand, she remarked “it’s a pancakes”.​

Family Collages/ Photo Albums

Today the family albums and collages were particularly enthralling. Each took turns sharing what he or she noticed in the family portraits. 

Cal: "I’m going on to the next page”
Mimi pointing at her family collage: “Marte, Mimi, Andy, Mimi, Momma, Andy, Mimi, Dadda….”
Fay: “It’s both of my babies! And Coco!”
Ramsey: A car! 

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