April 28th, 2021

Pod B

Clay Work Continued
Today the children continued work on their clay pieces. Aida added a door and windows on her rocket ship.
Nora worked to assemble her various deer body parts into a complete animal. She worked meticulously to score and slip her clay pieces to properly attach them. Eventually she attached all 4 legs but she encountered a problem: one leg was way too short! She solved that problem by making a new leg and cutting off bits and checking the size until it was correct. Later, when she looked at an image from the internet to see the shape of the tail, she realized she had forgotten ears!
Nora: Silly me I forgot ears. I’ll make some.
Nora also used a pin tool to add spots to her deer body and draw on eyes and a mouth. 
When Maren came to clay she discovered the some of the rays she had attached to her sun had broken off. But, it was no problem - Maren knows clay as a material and understands that sometimes you have to fix parts as a piece dries. She created new rays and attached them. We’re hopeful that these rays, which are a bit thicker, will not break as the sun dries. 
Maren also worked on a new piece: an ice cream cone. After shaping the cone, she used a pin tool to add detail. Afterward she made the ice cream scoop and attached it. We talked about how, because of its shape, the ice cream cone won’t stand up, but instead will have to be displayed on its side.
Andy made a house today. First he had to figure out how many sides the base would need. Initially he thought it was 4, so we talked about how many sides are on a die. He named the numbers on a die and realized he needed 6 sides…he hadn’t been counting the top and bottom. He made a triangular prism for the top and then attached the pieces. Afterward he added a door and window details with a pin tool.

Exploring the Light Table
Jen set up a new provocation at the light table in the greeting hallway. There were lucite trays with colorful sand. The children explored drawing as well as writing. They wrote their names, numbers and explored different “challenges.” Rachel challenged the children to draw something using circles, squares and triangles. The children then created challenges for each other:
Maren: My challenge is to make a memory box with the stuff inside. 
The children quickly realized they didn’t have enough space to draw such detailed images but they compromised and found aspects of their memory boxes that they could draw:
Aida: I only made planets because I didn’t have room.
Maren: I made the map on top of mine.

Andy and Aida also created challenges the group:
Andy: My challenge is to draw a basket with a line.
Aida: My challenge is to make all the people in your house. A house with people in it, with clouds and trees.

Sewing Fix
Aida showed us a little hole on the seam of her cubby bag. Today she picked out some thread and sewed it closed!

Outside
The pump had soapy water in it today and the group enjoyed splashing about and using the pump. It brought such joy!

Pod A

Balmy Backwards Day
It was a great day to be backwards!  The gadget board became a system for ordering pizzas and children prepared a birthday cake in the sand area.   Children played with squishies and shells in the small wooden house.  Of course the swing and the water pump were popular.  The enthusiasm for the pump led Lane to remark, “This pumping energy is too high!  It’s over the speed limit!”

Messages for Dakota
Dakota’s family has sent the class some great giraffe resources, as well as the fun cookies we had for snack yesterday.  Several children worked to create thank you notes for Dakota today.  The children carefully drew and wrote on the messages.  It’s sure to make Dakota’s day!

Everything Else

• We worked with clay in the studio today.  We would love to tell you more, but for now it’s a secret project.  No further details can be given at this time!
• In construction, children employed patterns to create a new type of stable building.
• We had a few energetic rounds of Candyland toward the end of the day.
• We showed the children the layout of the pajamas with each classroom’s designs.  They approved to the overall pattern and the color that were used.