Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Pods of Sea Animals in Pod A

The light table featured a new provocation today.  There were small plastic boats constructed from found materials, blue gauzy scarves, shells, small people, and sea animals.   The children gravitated to this area and formed families of sea animals.  As the play progressed, children worked with matching, sorting, and forming sets.  Sorting and using sets are important skills in understanding numbers.  We also noticed children sharing their knowledge of animals with other classmates.
     Gigi - (With sea animals)  I have a family.
    Nora - And I have a family of manta rays.
    Gigi - I have a mama dolphin and a baby dolphin.  The mama and baby are eating shrimp.  
    Nora - The dolphins woke up the manta ray.  This is a nice manta ray.
    Gigi - (Singing)  That's the song they sing when it's time to go to sleep.
    Nora - But these manta rays want to play all day.
    Gigi - (With a large group of sea animals, singing)  I feel like this is where they all go to sleep.  Except the manta rays.
      Nora - Because the manta rays never want to sleep, not even at anytime.
Nora and Gigi go to the small group conversation on leaves.  A new group enters....
     Lane - This is a secret hiding place.  All of these families live here and hide from predators.
     Wolf - Did you know that sea dragons can't swim very well?  When a big tide comes, they go ssshooosh.
    Lane - I saw that on Aquanauts.
    Dakota - (Adding seaweed)  This is the plants and seaweed.
    Lane - (Sorting the animals)  Here's and octopus family.  Here's a shark family, separated by big sharks and small sharks.
    Dakota - Here's two clown fish.  
    Lane - Great, they can have their own family.
    Dakota - I have two more sharks, so they can go....
    Lane - Here, in the shark family.
    Wolf - Here's a snail.  He's only by himself. (Wolf is noticing that there's no other snails in a group)
​    Dakota - I found two more matches.  They are both green and white.  (Dakota is using a new criteria to sort.)
The group changes slightly....
  Palmer - This tortoise was bouncing on the trampoline.
     Cannon - (With a group of animals)  All of these animals are injured.
      Wolf -  The manta ray is bringing them (more sea animals) there to keep them safe.  
There is some talk of how the jellyfish should go to jail for stinging others.
    Cannon - (With his group of animals)  They're families and their pod is moving on to the depths of the sea.
 

The Lines in Leaves

As has been noted in the blog previously, children have been noticing the lines in leaves when they use the digital microscope.   Today each child took part in a small group discussion regarding these lines.  While we won't include the entire conversations here, we are happy to share some highlights.

Group 1 Highlights
     Dakota - I found that there are brown stripes that are straight on the leaf and on the back they're bigger.  Because the stripes are bigger on the back (turns leaf over) these stripes are littler.
     Lane - You can feel the lines in the inside. See?  But on the front you can't.
    Brooke reveals that the lines are called veins
    Brooke - Do you know any other place or thing that has veins.
    Dakota - In our body.
    Wolf - They help us.
    Dakota - They help us to move.
    Wolf - And breathe.
    Lane - Like they're on your lungs.
    Dakota - They're called veins because people planted the trees and the tree gave the leaf veins.  
    Brooke - Why does the leaf need veins?
    Dakota - So it can stand up (maintain shape).  So it looks right and won't fall apart too easily.
    Wolf - And also, so it can breathe a bit.
    Brooke - What do you mean by that Wolfie?  Why do leaves need to breathe?
    Wolf - So they can grow.
  Lane - Because the more they breathe out, the more they grow.
    Wolf - That's what I was saying.
   Lane - Their oxygen is inside the tree so that means that the oxygen.... You know that you can't see oxygen because it's air.
     Brooke - How does it get to the leaf?
    Lane - It just sucks up the tree from the bottom to the top to the leaf and then when it breathes in again, it gets more air.  And it stays alive.
    Dakota - Do you mean that the pressure is going through the hole of the leaf?
    Lane - NO, the tree.  The bottom to the top goes into the leaf.
    Brooke - What goes from the bottom to the top into the leaves?
   Lane - The oxygen.


    

Group 2 Highlights
Palmer: The lines go upwards and downwards. They look pretty much the same on mine.
Gigi: This one is kinda more down and this one is more flat.(Showing the backside) It’s going more down. (sticking out more) And that makes this more low. (pulls the front side in)
Cannon: Mine is up on this side (back) and smooth - flat on this side.
Brooke: So Gigi described that side as down and you described it as up.
Nora: The line (front) is flatter and this line (back) is rougher.  
Cannon - It (the line) goes on each side.
Nora - The line on the side connects to this line (in the middle.
Brooke: Do you know what the lines in the leaves are called? They have a name.
Children: No.
Brooke: They’re called veins.
Cannon: Like a weathervane.
Gigi: Or a vein in your skin.
Palmer: Or a vein in your head.
Nora: I think it’s your heart that’s pumping blood in your body.
Gigi: I think they’re for blood to go through.
​

We noticed many similarities in the the two conversations.  As we worked after school with Molly and Jen, we thought of more ideas to explore and ways to connect these big ideas to materials.  Many thanks to the families who have brought in leaves for us to examine!  Keep them coming!

Pod B

Outdoor Classroom:  Paper Sculpture, Construction, and Fun!

Pod B put their hour of outside time to good use today. The construction area featured a collaborative effort to build homes for Hop Hop and Blue.  Children also started working with paper sculpture.   While working, Olivia said, I'm going to pretend this is a weaving.  Because I love to weave.

The Book Fair has Begun!

Our Book Fair kicked off yesterday!  Children continue to show enthusiasm for the book fair selections that we have been reading in both Tucker A and Tucker B.  Today Pod B worked on collages of books that they are interested in acquiring .
    Olivia - I totally want this book ("Thank You, Omu").  I  LOVE books.  If I stick too many books (to this collage), Daniel might want one.  I think I'll stick one for him.  I'll get him two.

Messages!
There was a lot of energy around getting, reading, and making messages today.  Several children realized they have to work on their return correspondence.  We will devote more attention to message making tomorrow.