March 31st, 2021

Pod B

Flip Book Ideas
You might recall that prior to Spring Break, Cannon had inspired his Pod B cohort by introducing Medusa. They looked at a Mythological Creatures book and eventually designed their own ideas for a flip book that will eventually become a collective Tucker Room project. 
Today, the new Pod B, got to work. First we explored some examples from the Mythological Creatures book and then we reviewed the work of the former Pod B kids. Nora was excited to explain her previous idea to the group.  Afterward, each child decided on an idea and worked to create a draft. It was wonderful to see these ideas begin to come to life. Here's part of our meeting conversation leading up to the work:
 (reviewing the work of the former Pod B)
Nora: That's mine. That is a mermaid and I just made it just like Lane's. Maybe I can tell you about the powers? Well, she does have a unicorn but I didn't draw that on the paper because it was too small. And how to make the unicorn fly, she uses her powers, her magical dust like Santa.
Brooke: Does she ride her unicorn when it's flying?
Nora: No, cause she's not old enough.
Brooke: So today we're going to think about what kind of creatures we could imagine...
Dakota: I'm gonna imagine a dragon monster and it blows fire at everybody that comes by it.
Aida: A bunny that has powers to make it into a unicorn and it can fly.
Andy: A medusa with 100 feet!
Nora: A unicorn bunny and maybe in my imagination I could make the unicorn bunny fly. 

Aida: Ponytails that go up. There's actually star earrings. There's a lot of toes (counts to 13) I can't even believe it. Instead of food, she only eats boats. Whenever the boats try and go by her, she eats them. Instead of wearing a swimsuit when she dives, she wears clothes.

Andy: A snake that has 3 eyes. Actually I'm doing the feet all over. I'm going to draw grass. She (Medusa) eats flowers.

Dakota: The dragon has a heart in the middle (green stripe), skin above and below and a place where food goes. The feet are on the sides with toes, the two without toes are wings.

Games
The group enjoyed playing a new game today: Sturdy Birdy. This "board game" enables children to practice balance and coordination by trying to copy poses made by the game's bird character, Reggie, who is hoping to join the circus as part of the high-wire act. When the children roll the die, it determines how long they have to hold the pose. Today we played on teams and had lots of fun trying out the game.

Later, Aida taught Brooke how to play Hoot Owl Hoot while Nora, Dakota and Andy enjoyed a round of Zingo.

Construction/Dramatic Play
Construction was very popular today. Aida built a house for HopHop.... it had some nice features like a garage and landscaping in the front yard.

This later inspired Dakota and Andy to incorporate stuffed animals into their play. In addition to building a house for Light Fury, they also used blocks from the construction area to create a vet office to care for the animals. Here's some of the dialogue from their play:
Andy: This one (Light Fury) ate a marble. I have to cut the body.
Dakota: She has a broken bone on her tail.
Andy: I will scan it up.
Dakota: Is it ok or will she need surgery?
Andy: She cannot move.
              She got a broken ear so I put a bandaid on it. I'm gonna scan her paws.
Dakota: Andy what's wrong?
Andy: Her hands cannot move.
Dakota: Do you see bugs in her eyes? (using tube as an ophthalmoscope)
Andy: Yes!
Dakota: So now we need to do surgery to get out the bugs.
Andy: Let's check her ears.
Dakota: Bugs or ants?
Andy: Ants.
Dakota: Yikes! 
Andy: Let's do surgery to remove the ants.
Dakota: Bugs and ants are coming in.
​Andy: I need to patch her.

Aida was then inspired to take HopHop to the vet and have her checked out as well. Here's what she said:
(dominoes on Hop's ears)
Aida: Those are bandaids because she hurt herself on her scooter. 
(using the tube)
Aida: This is the long medicine sprayer. When I put it in Hop's mouth it sprays medicine.
(putting blocks to her eyes to use as ophthalmoscopes)
Aida: I think something is wrong with Hop's eyes.

Pod A

A Backwards Day Birthday
This week, children have been thrilled to reconnect with their friends after Spring Break.  Today, they organized a birthday party for Grace’s large, imaginary dog.  By the time, they sang “Happy Birthday,” all eight children had participated in some way.

   Olivia- Let me get the old mulch.  I’ll be right back with some petals.
   Melanie - How much do the treats cost?
   Olivia- Ten dollars.  (Smiling) REAL ten dollars. 
  (Grace fetches bones for the toy dog Sunshine.)
   Grace - I’ll be right back with some bacon.
   Lane - Do we have pizza?
   Grace - My dog’s birthday is today.  Do we have soup?
   Oliver - We’re still working on it, right Olivia?
   Olivia - Yeah, we’re still working on the birthday party. I’m making things as fast as I can!
    Oliver - I have a blender.  It makes dog food if you want it to be a smoothie for your dog.
    Palmer - Now beaver is collecting twigs and bark for the dog and the ninja turtle.
   Lane - (Indicating food on the table) The muffins are chocolate chip muffins. 
​   And this is chocolate spinach, and this is    vanilla spinach, and this is caramel spinach.
   Cannon - Let’s have a party!  Want some pizza?
   Olivia - Here’s the ice cream!
   Palmer - I gave them some sticks for the dog to fetch.
   Lane - Here’s the cake pops.
   Grace - I’m going to cut the cake.
   Olivia - I’m getting a knife to cut the cake.
   Lane - (With drawing materials and tape)  I’m making decorations for the party.
   Grace - I don’t think we ever had a better day.

Screen Printing Continues
 Today, Fletcher finished his New York City screen printing.  Children new to Pod A worked with tape and stickers to create negative space images and printed them.  Gigi worked on Darth Vadar and  Lane made a Candy land with a large lollipop.  Cannon made a truck for a honey badger while Palmer made a trailer hauling something with padding around it.

Construction
Palmer brought in enough monster trucks to share with his friends.  This inspired the building of roads, jumps, parking garages, and a gas station.
Fletcher - I’m making a parking lot.
Gigi - I’m making a road that leads to a gas station.  And jump for the monster truck.  Palmer, do you want me to show you   how this works.  You go under (the arch) and up (the ramp) and jump.
Fletcher - My car went up the ramp.
Palmer - I can do some more roads.
Gigi - And here’s a car wash.
Cannon - This is a transfomer.  It can transform to a boat or a bridge.

After the building was done, several children rotated through the area developing dramatic play scenarios.  The morning ended with Santa delivering multiple gifts to the monster trucks and various animals.