5.10.22

A Turn in the Tunnel

As we were wrapping up the work on our clay rat tunnels, Giacomo suggested that we needed "a real turn" in the tunnel. After studying the clay slabs he had rolled out and cut, he shared that he did not know how it would work; how would the clay roll and twist into a turn (curved piece).  After a few attempts, we collected the curved pipe from the white area. Giacomo initially added that to the tunnels and proclaimed it to be finished! Not so fast though, it needed to be made out of clay in order to complete our clay tunnels, which will remain here at St. John's! At this point, I reminded him of our new paper armature technique, and this created a spark within him. He was enthusiastic and immediately set to work. 

"I'll put it here first." - Giacomo, 5.5 years

"How do we keep it together?" - Giacomo

Adding tape.

Testing it out, but it was too long.

Together, we cut it to make it shorter and added more tape so that it would keep it's curved shape.

"I think it will work." - Giacomo

"I need it [clay slab] to be wider." - Giacomo

Clay Messages for the new children

"I love to draw." - CC, 5.7 years

Today, at the beginning of morning meeting, Melanie read a book called Ish by Peter Reynolds. It's about a boy who loves to draw and gets frustrated with his work. The children began having a conversation about how they love to draw, and what they love to draw. The first answer we heard when we asked, "What do you love to draw?" was, not surprisingly, "RATS!" This comment sparked a conversation about what kind of rats they love to draw.  

We heard: 
1. Unicorn Rats
2. Mermaid Rats
3. Banana Rats (revisiting Janie's idea from February)
4. Cherry, Kiwi, and Watermelon rats
5. Mermaid Unicorn Rats 

Naturally, we shifted our plans for the morning and invited the children to the low table to draw these ideas! 

Below you will see some of the things we just discussed with you at classroom stories: the imaginative/mythological nature of the rats, drafts of their drawings, versions of rats (particularly on the same page), and the contamination of ideas! 

"A unicorn rat that ate a lamp. Now he's a rat lamp. Inside of the mountain is lava." - Jack, 5.11 years

"A white, spiky rat." - George, 5.0 years

Mermaid Rat by Violet, 5.1 years

"He has a very long tail. He's an astronaut rat, and this is the moon. He has a space suit and those are his legs." - Maxon, 5.2 years

"Airplane Rats" by Giacomo, 5.5 years

"Unicorn Mermaid Rat with Constellation and Stars." - Audrey, 5.1 years

"A mermaid-unicorn rat." - CC, 5.7 years

CC and Audrey were sitting next to each other at the low table. You can see the contamination of ideas and even similar drawing styles. They also seemed to draw from our previous work and conversations by adding the stars and constellations.

"It's a girl. She lives in the ocean. It's a mermaid rat." - Jane, 5.6 years

Mermaid-unicorn rat by Nora, 5.7 years

"It's night time under the sea. Sometime she hurts herself on the rocks. The mountains are far away in the distance." - Reed, 5.1 years

Below, you can see Elle's drafts for her Mermaid Rat

"The Mermaid- Rat with the rainbow paws." - Elle, 5.5 years

​Janie, 5.2 years

Rats [left to right]:
Fancy Rat/City Rat
Cutie Rat
Cherry Unicorn Mermaid Rat
Leaf Rat 

Collaborating with Brown Room

Brown Room has been making plaster collage messages for the new, incoming children. Today, a few of the Tucker Room children were invited into the atelier to learn the process from the Brown Room who have become experts. 

Nora and Giacomo

Maxon and his sister, Win