January 21st, 2021

Pod B

Outside
Pod B started our short in-person week with a Backwards Day.  There was the usual building, digging, and cooking as children got started.  A bit later, children played hide-and-seek and ran races together.  They tried out a new spin on hide-and-seek: sardines.  In sardines, only one child hides while the others count.  The seekers must quietly join the person who is hiding until all the children are reunited in the hiding space.  After adjusting to this game’s requirements, the children really enjoyed it.

Studio
Inside we worked on Grace’s birthday committee and  glazing some clay that we had worked with last week.  We have noticed a lot of growth in children’s drawing and printing ability.  Recently the opportunity to draw pictures has been a popular way to finish up the day.  One of Gigi’s drawings featured a kindergarten classroom.  Here’s a summary of the elements she included, “The little girl has a kindergarten patch on her dress so everyone knows she’s in kindergarten.  There’s a bench with a pillow blanket and a teddy-lovie.  The lunch box has an apple, a chocolate bar, and a sandwich.  All the children are wearing masks.  The empty chair is for the girl outside the classroom.”

Construction
Of course, many children were eager to get back to construction.  Palmer started by building an animal home with an attached monster jail.   
Palmer - There are special security cameras.  Five security cameras.
Lane - (Building nearby)  Oh, to see if the monsters get out.
Palmer - Yes, they’ll set off the alarm.
Lane - This is a house on top of a bridge.  It’s kind of a farm and there’s five people.
Palmer - I have a barn, too.
Lane - This kangaroo is Nia and she’s the leader. 
Palmer - Can my gorilla visit?
 Lane - Sure.  We we're going to have a dance party.  Do you want to be in it?  It might be a sleepover.
Palmer - Well, I’m going home.  I have to talk to Gorilla about this.  (The gorilla family discusses it.)  He said I could sleep over, but I can’t bring baby because he might get lost.
Lane - Did I tell you one of May's sister is going to have a wedding?
Palmer - I don’t want to hear about that.  We’re too busy to come.  We always have important stuff to do.  We have to guard everything.
Lane - You can’t come to the wedding?
Palmer - No.
Nora begins building nearby.
Nora - I did a playground here and some palaces here.  
Lane - Oh Nora!  Nia came to visit!
Lane’s and Nora’s animals explore the playground.

Pod A

Fletcher was VERY EXCITED to show the group his finished projects that he worked on during our Zoom call on Wednesday.  He painted a prop plane and a helicopter and let the children pass them around to see them up close.

Before making plans at morning meeting today we had a brief discussion on the children's thoughts on the Inauguration. The question was open-ended: Did you watch the Inauguration and what did you think?
Andy: I saw when the president was going to the White House.
Oliver: I watched the president moving to the new place he has to move to.
Aida: I watched the Inauguration. Me and my mom watched the Inauguration but I didn’t watch it….I don’t like the news.
Dakota: The old one was Donald Trump and then the new one is Joe Biden.
Aida: And Kamala Harris.
Dakota: I watched it yesterday and I saw that Joe Biden has a girl that he married and she’s a doctor. 
(we then discussed how she is not the same kind of doctor as Dakota's dad)
Oliver: And that was on my TV too.
​Aida: I saw the Inauguration and I saw 2 famous singers on the TV and I saw Pete Buttigieg.
Maren: I saw Lady Obama.
Fletcher: I didn’t like it very much because it was a little bit boring.

CLAY VEHICLES....
During meeting the children looked at the clay fire truck that usually lives in the Greeting Hallway. Melanie explained that many years ago, a Tucker Room child made it. The children noted some of the features:
Dakota: It has a siren.
Olivia: And it has wheels.
Dakota: It's SO fragile.
Oliver: It has a siren right here. (pointing)
Melanie: How would you make something like this?
Fletcher: We just need a big piece and some wheels.
Aida: A square for the face.
Fletcher: We just have to measure it.
Aida: We'll have to put headlights.

At the studio table, children re-familiarized themselves with clay.  Teachers suggested they try making a clay vehicle inspired by the styrofoam cars we made before winter break.  Here are some of the quotes from the beginning of their brainstorming and tinkering.

Andy: I’ll make more circles, because I’m making wheels, and every car has four wheels.
(Andy has placed four spherical wheels onto a thin slab)
Andy:  I’ll flip it on the other side.  Here’s a door.  
(He adds an archway shape and notices clay on his hands)
Andy: It’s like the messy part when we’re making cookies.
Aida:  This car is carrying a ladder on its back.
(Aida has placed a square block on the front of the vehicle; she uses a needle tool to draw a face onto it)
Aida:  This is a scooper.  It’s a bulldozer.  It has a smile.
(Fletcher used four small balls and a rectangular block of clay to construct a small car.)
Fletcher:  I’m gonna make a truck.  It’s a moving van.  I’ll just cut the door open.  
(When he sees the size of the spheres on the table, he has the idea for his next vehicle to be a monster truck!)
Dakota and Oliver were brainstorming with clay for a little while (not pictured here, sorry!)
Dakota: Remember the glass you see through when you’re driving?  I’m making the glass of the ambulance.
Oliver:  At night they put the siren on, but they do put it on in the morning, too.  They say, weee-weee-weee to say, ‘get out of my way, I have someone to put out a fire.’

Documentation
We are creating some documentation around the recent collage work. Today the children helped make the title. Each child chose a beautiful paper and wrote/cut out one of the letters from the word collage. 

Mystery Reader
Thank you to Jennifer for being the Mystery Reader today! The children enjoyed the books and were inspired by the Sand Cake book when they played outside at the end of the day.