Quick Note: We were going to have a visit from a team of DC paramedics and/or firefighters today.  Unfortunately, they were not able to come because of a higher volume of emergencies elsewhere in the city.   Is there anyone who could get us in touch with a an experienced paramedic or firefighter?  Even if they are retired or in a new line of work.  Thank you.

In the Reggio Emilia approach, we use the word "provocations" to describe an experience that will provoke children's creativity and thinking, usually through a variety of exciting materials.

One example is a new area for building with cardboard, tape, paper strips, and other diverse 3D objects.  With open-ended prompts like this, we hope to allow children to engage with the available tools in whatever way suits their ideas.  For instance, Lane made a small umbrella, while Cannon and Ellie focused more on attaching materials to the corrugated cardboard.  Ellie has gotten very good at snipping the tape with scissors, so she gave some pieces to her neighbor Lane when needed.  

Now that we've covered how much we value the studio, let's address...

Today is Oliver's birthday and we started our day celebrating with him. Jennifer, Leo, Greta and Fatou joined the class. Oliver showed us his Baby Ena giraffe and her mother, Mama Newland.  The class was captivated as Jennifer read one of Oliver's favorite books, "Otis and the Kittens." 

Ambulance
Today in the doctor area, we set up a "digital landscape" or a projection to inspire play.  The video on the wall showed ambulances driving down the street.  We also set up chairs in order to drive our own emergency response vehicle.  Below, read stories about how children responded to various medical emergencies:

Today a small group of children chatted with Brown Room friend, Giacomo, about his experience going on a neighborhood walk. Giacomo shared that after their walk, the Brown Room children  drew, "maps because they're for if you get lost."

When Giacomo was talking about a photo from his walk, Palmer noticed that it was taken by a sewer. He then shared that, "we saw a couple of sewers, we noticed that lots of leaves fell down there."  We then shared some of our theories about why some sewer covers have holes:
Palmer, "Because the sewer is not that big."
Alexandra, "They're too big to fit together." (the hole and the squares on the cover)
We asked Giacomo if there was water near the sewer he saw and he replied, "Yes, in it."
We then began to hypothesize why there is water in the sewer.
Palmer, "Cause it rains a lot."
Fletcher, "It has water."
Finally we hypothesized about where the sewer water goes:
Palmer, "To a factory. To a treatment plant, it's called a reservoir where they take care of water and there are some castles there that have machines inside it."
Fletcher, "Down to the poop, by following the pipes."

Besides sewers, Olivia told Giacomo that she, "looked at a pumpkin because it was orange."
Giacomo said they also saw pumpkins on their walk. We asked if the Brown Room picked any pumpkins up because the Rainey Room had enjoyed exploring their weights.
Palmer noted, "We found a monster, a giant."
Giacomo said, "We didn't." (pick the pumpkins up)
Alexandra then told Giacomo about something we found interesting on our walk (magnolia seed pods).
Alexandra, "Palmer thought they looked like pinecones but they don't look like pinecones."
We asked Giacomo if he saw any of these and he did!
​When asked if he thought if it was a pinecone he replied, "Maybe it's a pinecone."

After chatting with Giacomo and actively remembering our walk experiences the children took time to draw something from the walk. Palmer and Fletcher drew sewers, Olivia drew pumpkins, Alexandra drew magnolia seed pods and Lane drew  flowers, a stick and a pumpkin.

Clay Centerpieces
Today we began our next studio project: centerpieces for the St. John's Thanksgiving celebration. The children worked to create leaf impressions in slabs and then roll the slabs into cylinders. The leaf impressions turned out beautifully but the children discovered that through the process of making the cylinder the very delicate impressions got damaged. So, we altered our original plans slightly and instead of using leaves, other items were used to make impressions. No matter what, we know these centerpieces will be lovely. 
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Here are some other happenings from around the classroom today (hover for caption).

Baby Ena's House
​What began as Oliver's construction project has continued for many days now, and has evolved to include other children.  Baby Ena and her mother live in a large house that gets increasingly more elaborate.  Maren and Wolf M helped take pictures of the house (seen below).

Oliver indicates two long sticks balancing on a tower.  He says, "It's the alarm and it makes smoke."  He points to two containers filled with colorful blocks.  "That's the bathtub.  That's Baby Ena's mommy's hot bath tub, too."  

A Walk Through the Neighborhood
As the fall weather makes changes to Georgetown's colors and atmosphere, it's a perfect time to collect things from nature and observe the decorations throughout our immediate neighborhood.  There was a lot of excitement regarding  loose bricks, sewer drains, and 'pinecones' (magnolia seed pods).

We plan to take all 15 children on walks in small groups within the next few days.  More updates to come!

Clay Fairy Houses
Recently we discovered that fairies had eaten the jam we left for them!  We continue to move forward in our investigation of fairies; the latest development is our realization that clay is a material that could withstand the elements outdoors.  We are using a new pottery technique called coiling, in which the artist uses many long snake-like forms to make a structure.  It's also referred to as the "pinch pot" method because of how it's important to pinch the coils together.
So far, about 11 children have started their fairy house.  Many of the houses have evolved to encompass other traits.  Cannon added two horns to make his house a "bull house".  Gigi said hers could be a "submarine house", while Alexandra said hers was a "pool house".  Palmer's was very oblong so he called it an "alligator house."

Please read captions to find out more: