February 24, 2021

2/24/2021

Pod A

Compass Work

During snack the children watched a video of the work they did in pairs on Monday and Tuesday exploring compasses. Afterward they had a discussion about some of their ideas. Some of the big wonderings are: How does the compass know where to point? What makes it move? How does it tell you where you are going?

The Mobile

Today the children worked to finish the mobile. With teacher help, children saw the process through from idea conception to creation. Many of the original ideas incorporated rainbows, so that became the inspiration for the project. After materials were introduced and the children began creating, the rainbow idea morphed into rainbow planets. The finished product has a sun in the center and the rainbow planets around it.

Backwards Day

The Unicorn Home

Olivia brought unicorns to school today. They became the inspiration for a complex, cooperative building project. Maren, Olivia and Grace worked together to build an amazing home for the unicorns.

Olivia :Maybe we should make a trampoline for them? How about we put a fence?
Grace: The table’s got to be inside.
Maren: This should be the base of the pool.
Olivia: We could make a hot tub.
Grace: I’ll make a garden. Healthy grass by the garden.
Grace: You have to be a unicorn to get in. (to the house)
Olivia puts a piece of bark at a slant.
Grace: That’s a great idea! There’s a slide!
Olivia: They can slide down or climb up.
Maren: But robbers could climb up. (She adds a fence)
Grace: And here’s a chimney.
Grace: That could be the porch.
Olivia: It could but there’s no chairs.
Grace: We could make chairs!
Olivia: I know how to make chairs!
Maren: I’ll make a gate. I need this to make sure intruders don’t come in.
Olivia: This is looking really good.
Maren: This is pretty cool
Grace: Now let’s collect acorns and stuff to decorate the house.
Maren: We can use sticks.
Olivia: And leaves.

Pod B

More Mythology!

Today Cannon, Lane , and Palmer created unique mythological creatures. They made practice drawing on scratch paper before bringing their ideas to life with watercolor.

Cannon
"Oh, good thing I have mare than one piece of paper, so if I change my mind, I can start over. (After working for awhile.) It's a snake. It doesn't eat you, it constricts you until it's a nice warm hug. It has a pattern and it constricts you with it's poisonous pattern. It has two sharp horns. I'm going to add red because it's just SO poisonous. It turns you into snow. It turns you into ice. Then it puts you in the freezer for a long time. Then it puts you in the kiln. Then the oven, where you'r burn up. Then it eats you."

Palmer
(While working on scratch paper) "It looks like a two-legged seven. The monster is one-eyed and when one side is heavier than the other, it can catapult a person into the volcano! Actually, it's a monster with one eyed it's hidden in a tomb and when it comes out, it can catapult you into space. But not just any kind of space. You stay use there until someone comes and rescues you in a rocket ship. (Discussing his final watercolor) Here's my ghost. It can turn you into stone. But you never know when it's attacking you."

Lane
"This monster, for its hair it has spikes, It has itches all over it and three fingers and three toes. And on one foot has two toes. (Referring to her other creature) This is my cat. It can fly. It has a triangle.... it's big. Bigger than a tree.It doesn't have toes. I take back the triangle. Its body is bigger than a redwood tree. Its head is bigger than a planet. It has tow antennae and at the end are gumballs. It has one eye. It has a curly tail."

Mythological Mystery Reader!

Addison was our mystery reader. He read about Perseus and the Cyclops, which was perfect considering our earlier watercolor work. Thank you Addison!

Gigi's Portfolio Meeting

Gigi reviewed the contents of her portfolio drawer and Nora joined her. Nora was especially impressed with Gigi's drawings of unicorns. Speaking of drawings, Gigi had over 30 items in the category. When asked if she wanted a specific pocket for her favorite pieces, Gigi replied, "Well, everything's my favorite."

This and That....

The icy snow was still around this morning, so we looked at it under the digital microscope. Nora noted that "It's like an x-ray of the snow."
Children had fun with building again today. Gigi and Lane returned to "Happy Land."

Lane - Let's make happy land happier.
Gigi -And more playful.