March 30th, 2021

Pod A

Screenprinting Continued!

Today we used the images we planned on contact paper to make beautiful prints on some tote bags!  

Top Left: Palmer's "Beaver Inside a Dam"
Top Right:  Cannon's "Honey Badger"
Bottom Left:  Lane's "House"
Bottom Right:  Gigi's "Slug With a Carrot"

Some highlights from the process...
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Lane: "This school has a lot of art stuff."

Gigi: (mixing various ink colors) "It doesn't have to make the perfect thing, it just has to make some kind of dark brown."
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After those four children were all finished, Fletcher came over to begin the screen printing process.  He had the idea to make "a city", and began taping down tall rectangles as buildings.  With help from a teacher, he used the computer to find images of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler building, and other city images.  He said, "That reminds me of Oliver the little kitty cat! Meow, meow!"  (Remembering the film "Oliver and Company").  Then he commented, "If I went to the tallest building in New York City, I'll get scared.  I'd get high-sick."

Gorgeous Weather! (Slideshow)
Over the weekend, the storm blew a couple of large branches down onto our playground.  We used some of them to make a "beaver dam" next to the Cobb House.  We needed lots of muscle power to create it! Afterwards, Cannon and Palmer placed many animals along the branches as a type of habitat.
Lane worked in the sand box, filling up a hollow block with sand as part of a "dog park".  After a long time working tirelessly with the shovel, she stood up and said, "Now that's what I call FILLED!"
Olivia made a "bakery", which gathered a lot of attention from hungry customers!

Some Great Quotes from the Travel Area!  (Slideshow below)

(Monday)

Grace:  Do you want to play travel?
Palmer:  Yes, where are we going?
Grace: Where would you like to go?
Palmer: Tasmania.
Cannon:  There’s the plane!  We’re going to Dino-land and then to Tasmania.
Lane:  I’m the one that runs the airplane.
Gigi: Do you want a safari hat?
Lane:  Where do you want to go?
Gigi:  Africa.
Lane:  Is everyone buckled up?  It’s going to be a bumpy ride.  Five four three two one…. The plane is out of gas!  Wait here.
Fletcher:  I have to get a suitcase.  I forgot to get a suitcase.
Lane:  You can have that one, it’s perfect for traveling.  Everyone get on the plane.  
Fletcher:  Don’t take off without me!
Lane:  I won’t.  (After some time passes on the flight) You’re in Africa… You’ll see a tour guide and we’ll take you to your apartment.
Gigi: I brought my wallet for shopping.
Olivia:  Here’s my bed. 
Fletcher:  I would like to sit in the refreshing sun.
Olivia: I just want to read books.

(Today)
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Fletcher:  Let’s go to Candyland!
Palmer:  Should we take the metro?
Gigi:  Yeah!
Fletcher: Yeah!
Lane:  I’m packing to go to the world of real vacation.  I’m out of this place.
Fletcher:  We’re taking the metro to Candyland!
Palmer: I have a map.  Where are we going Fletcher?
(A little while later)
Cannon:  We’re already in the desert.
Oliver: (browsing a map). If you want to get there, you have to…
Palmer:  (Looking through binoculars) Try these, they can go super far.
Olivia:  I’m ready to travel.  I need to bring this book.  I love to look at it.
Palmer:  (Still looking through binoculars). I see something in America.
Oliver: (Making ringing sound) Olivia!  I’m calling you.
Olivia: (picking up the phone from her bed) Hi.
Palmer: We’re going to California, Cannon.

Pod B

Sewing!

Sewing pillows was lots of fun for the children. So today they explored the different stitches the sewing machine can make and were also in charge of navigating the fabric. They learned how to place the fabric, secure the foot, adjust the needle and choose a stitch. Using solid color fabric helped make the stitches more visible.

Outside Time!

The pod was outside from 10-11 today and the weather was gorgeous! Andy and Dakota worked together to construct an obstacle course and later did some ‘spring cleaning.’ Dakota noted that it was, “like Persian New Year,”  remembering how Negar had told us that cleaning is part of the tradition.

Aida and Nora played together in the sand with some animals. They were very collaborative in their process:
Nora: We’re taking care of the pets. The tyrannosaurus is guarding them.
Aida: We’re making a snow pile for them to jump in.
Nora: The mound is perfect but we still need to make it a bit higher.
Aida: I’ll just dump this (the dump trunk of sand). Tell me when you’re ready.
Nora: Ready.
(Aida dumps sand)
Nora: Perfect Aida!
(Nora shapes the mound)
Nora: Ok, it’s ready.
Aida: Let’s see how they (the animals) jump.
Nora: Let’s make another Aida.
Aida: Ok, let me put the cats away because they are tired.
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Screen Printing
Yesterday and today the children have been finishing their screen printing projects. In addition to making new screen prints using tape, some children also worked to sew their prints into pillows.