Happy 5th Birthday Giacomo!

 On December 4th, Giacomo turned 5!  We have been patiently waiting to celebrate him here at school, and during that time, we've been working hard on his birthday committee (George, Nora, and Lochie)! This work has taken place over the course of a few weeks and has involved a lot of research, trial-and-error, and a lot of excitement and joy! 

"When are we going to work on the birthday committee?" - Nora, 5.1 years

November 18th

Why do we do an interview? 
"To start finding out what you can make with what you got in the interview." - Lochie, 5.0 years

 With a sneaking suspicion that Giacomo would like something that was mechanical or required some engineering, I prepped some materials for Giacomo's interview that would allow us to experiment with a new "tool", learn a new technique, and keep our minds and hands connected.   
​**the interview involved Giacomo, Nora, and Lochie as George was not at school that day.**

​"I think he likes things that move around and around?" - Lochie, 5.0 years
"I like things that move around and around and tip. Around and around in circles and tip it." - Giacomo, 4.11
"So, something tilting sideways." - Lochie
What's your favorite kind of paper?
"My favorites are just normal green paper." - Giacomo

After we established that Giacomo would like something that spins, we pulled out the tray of materials that I brought for the committee.  I was thrilled that it was truly related to the conversation that we had just had, and Lochie was eager to teach Giacomo what he and Nora had recently learned about using brads to make paper spin; a technique that was introduced to Lochie and Nora in anticipation of them being on Giacomo's committee.  It is so wonderful when we find these connections in the work that we are doing, and even better when we can intentionally connect it to a meaningful process for one of the children.  

​After they made a few spinning paper creations, and Giacomo left the atelier, Lochie and Nora began collecting possible materials and created a color palette for our future work. 
**We were approaching Thanksgiving break and knew that our work would have to continue afterwards. They were slightly disappointed about having to wait, but we knew it would all be worth it in the end.**

The Research Phase

On December 2nd, the committee met to research things that spin.  There were so many questions to ask, explore, and answer.  A few of them were: 

Thanks to the collective efforts of many teachers, and the general awesomeness of our materials at St. John's, we were able to collect a good variety of objects that spin or have the potential to spin.  

For this committee meeting, the objects were on the tables in the atelier and we spent time creating hypotheses, experimenting, and gathering information to inform our eventual gift making process.  

"They all spin!" - George, 4.6 years
Do they all spin in the same way?
"NO!" - whole group 

The dreidels and gears from an old clock were instant favorites. 

How do they spin? What makes them spin? 
“The bottoms that they have.” - Lochie, 5.0 years
“And these bottoms [dreidels].” - George, 4.6 years
Does this [the pinwheel] have the same kind of bottom? 
“No, it doesn’t have a bottom, it just spins because of the wind. It’s made of paper, and the wind goes here to make it spin.” - Lochie
"And without the bottom, it [the dreidel] wouldn't spin." - Lochie

The majority of the conversation focused on what made each object spin or the spinning mechanism. 

“Without this, it wouldn’t spin.” - Lochie [spinning the handle of the wine opener] 
What is the part on the color wheel that makes it spin? 
“This weird kind of metal.” - Lochie
What about the game board? Is there a piece that makes it spin, and without it, it wouldn’t spin?
"Well, it needs the bottom." - Nora [as she takes apart the spinner]
What makes the pinwheel spin? 
"The stick." - George
"The wind." - Lochie 
"If there was no pinwheel here, it would still spin." - Nora [as she spins the stick between her hands]
"If there was no arrow [on game spinner], it would still spin." - Nora [as she spins the cardboard base on the table]

At one point, they were debating whether the objects were rolling or spinning. 
"When you spin it, you can't see some parts.  They disappear. It's going so fast."  - Lochie 
"Rolling is on the side and pinning is on the top." - George

In the end, they separated all of the objects into categories based on "what makes it spin".  

Objects with handles: Clock gears, music box wine stopper, wheel, magnetic gears, dreidels, pinwheels, and a lego piece (Ines's husband made it for us).

Objects with a metal piece/circle piece in the middle: Color wheel, games spinner, and our paper/brads creations. 

Objects that push to spin: Wine bottle opener. 

Things that spin/roll on their sides: Tree cookies and paper lantern. 

But, how can we translate this to paper? 
           "We could make this [pinwheel].  We just need paper and a stick." - George

Additional research and prototypes

For our next meeting on 12/8, we began by drawing our ideas for the pinwheel.  

Nora's first plan

Nora's second plan

George

Lochie

Our work for this meeting focused on how we would make the pinwheel.  What materials would we use? What did we need to look for around the school? What could we make from scratch? How would we put it together? 

I intentionally used the word prototype and explained that it can be a first version (or second, third, fourth, etc.).  George reminded them that we needed a stick, and so they set to work making a "stick" out of paper and tape.

They then turned their focus to the actual pinwheel portion, and the original idea (Prototype #1) was to attach a clock gear to the paper stick.  With a reminder that this piece had to be returned to the original "machine", they moved on to Prototype #2.  Prototype #2 included a paper stick, a metal brad, and metal "x" that we found in the Tucker closet. 

Brainstorming for Prototype #1. 

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In the end, we decided to take a closer look at our green pinwheel because our prototypes either did not spin, or the metal was too heavy to be held up by the paper/brad.  So, what other information did we need to inform our choices about materials? 

Prototypes #3 and #4

This meeting was primarily about figuring out how we might need to fold our paper to make it spin.  We took a close look at the pinwheel we had, and Lochie determined, "They cut paper and put it into short and skinny pieces." 

Curling the paper to match our green pinwheel.

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Closely examining how the strips were put together.

Cutting strips to begin experimenting with folding. 

Nora and Lochie were not satisfied with the strips of paper, so Nora suggested that we try a whole paper. She attached it to the paper sticks from our previous prototypes, and we cut slits in the corners and she began folding it; Lochie soon joined her.   

​Nora tested out this design, but the paper was not spinning. 

When it did not work as she wanted it to, Nora immediately went into problem solving mode.  She had a theory that adding weight to each side of the paper pinwheel would make it spin properly.  She used a hole punch and additional brads to add weight.  Then, she tested her theory once more. 

​When it still didn't work, Lochie came over to make additional folds in the paper before they tested it out again. 

At this point, we decided to collect some strips of paper from the classroom that we could twist and fold to meet in the middle.  Lochie focused on creating the circles that support the strips, and then Lochie and Nora hole punched each paper strip (that had been folded and glued together at the tips), aligned them, and put a brad in them to hold them together.  Lochie's circles were on both sides to support, and then they attached it to a paper stick using the brad.  Once everything was attached, we tested it out again.  Unfortunately, we discovered that the pinwheel portion was sitting too close to the stick and it would not turn.  So, we knew that our next (and final) committee meeting would be about finding a solution to this new problem.  BUT, we had made it this far.  We were so close to the final pinwheel(s)! 

At this point we had four prototypes.  Each one taught us something new and brought us closer to the final gift.

The final day

Lochie, Nora, and George each came in with their own plan for now to make a pinwheel.  Once they created their own paper pieces, glued them together, punched the hole, and were ready for the stick, we worked on how to hammer a nail into a piece of wood.  Each pinwheel required a different size nail and a bit of problem solving on how to make it spin and stay on the nail (without slipping off).  They were patient, creative, and enthusiastic about our beautiful pinwheels.  

"I have three of each." - George

And oh the joy when we finally saw it spin! (Reed had come in to investigate what Nora was working on)

And finally, celebrating our birthday boy! 

Giacomo's committee planned to sing "Happy Birthday" in at least two languages, so we sang in English and Italian to celebrate our friend!  It was a wonderful celebration, and we hope Giacomo knows how loved he is in the Tucker family! Happy 5th Birthday Giacomo!