|
Most of us are finding that life under "stay at home" orders has its ups and downs. And this week, we found that in many ways our Zoom calls were filled with many wonderful moments, but also some challenging moments. We're all learning as we go and some activities resonate more with certain children than others. What's clear is that although Zoom allows us to connect, it's really a distant second to being/working together in the Rainey Room. As we continue to work out the kinks, we thank you for coming along for the ride. Monday: The Golden Carrot GameContinuing on our learning thread around games, we created a game using the children's ideas. The Golden Carrot game was engaging for most of the children and it was fun to see what they chose for their game pieces. Tuesday: The Get Moving GameThe children had great ideas for actions to do during the game. Wolf M suggested, "We could do hopscotch." Ever the animal enthusiast, Cannon's movement idea was, "Gorillas thump their chests." Lane suggested, "spinning." In the second group, Grace proposed, "leap," and Emilia suggested, "ballerina dance." But not all children participated and some participated but we couldn't see them because of their camera angle. Wednesday: The High/Low GameThis online version of the card game, "War" was very challenging. With more than two players and without being able to see each other's cards well (even in gallery view) this game wasn't as successful as we had anticipated. The children tried their best, but over Zoom it can be challenging to hear one another clearly. Despite that, we do think this game has value and hope that parents might revisit it with their child. Playing the game is a fun way to help build numeracy skills. Plus, being able to win cards and go through, "war" is fun. (Though we do suggest a different name!) In case you need a refresher on the rules: Each player turns up a card at the same time and the player with the higher card takes both cards and puts them, face down, on the bottom of his stack. If the cards are the same rank, it is War. Each player turns up one card face down and one card face up. The player with the higher cards takes both piles (six cards). Thursday: The Storytelling Cube GameThough waiting for a turn was sometimes hard, this game proved to be lots of fun! We definitely suggest families play together at home. Notice some interesting story elements that got included: setting, dialogue, word choice, problem/solution. Oliver (cat and fairy) “The fairy was on her tree and her kitty was very nice. The cat just chased the fairy. She ran through inside a tree and the cat just ran out and licked her on the cheek.” Palmer (robot and cat) “Once upon a time there was a robot and a cat. And they decided they would go to school. Their teacher told them to go for recess. The end.” Cannon (gorilla and bee) “The gorilla stole the honey. The gorilla went to jail. But the gorilla escaped. And then the police saw him and put him back in jail. Then he escaped. Then they put him back in jail. Then he escaped. Then they put him back in jail. Then he escaped. A bumble bee stung the gorilla. And a dragon came. But you know what, a dog named Jazz came and put the police in jail!” Gigi (bus and rain cloud) “A bus was rolling down the lane when rain came down on the roof. And the road broke into teeny pieces. So there was no problem because the bus had wings. So the bus just flew in the sky. And then they got home. The end.” Wolf M (dog and bird) “There’s a dog on the street and a bird. They walked to the beach. And the bird said, “Let’s cool off!” Then they runned uphill. Then they saw a bowl of peas.” Maren (dragon and house) “Once upon a time there’s a dragon that lived in a house and the house was not big enough for the dragon. And there were no more houses so he decided to look in the jungle. The jungle did not have any houses either. But then he decided to live outside and make a house. The end.” Lane (fairy and bird) “Once upon a time there was a fairy and a bird. They were doing a race with a lion. And you know who winned? The bird winned the race then the fairy goed and sitted down on a chair. Then they keeped doing the race. The bird flyed away and the fairy was alone. And then the fairy cried and then the bird found the fairy. The end.” Emilia (gorilla and fairy) “Once upon a time there was a gorilla and it was looking for his friend Buttercup. And it (Buttercup) was a fairy. And then, as soon as he found Buttercup there was a dinosaur with Buttercup. And then the gorilla just tried to punch him and when he punched him he got madder and madder and madder. The end.” Olivia (bird and bee) “Once upon a time there was a chick and the chick saw the bumble bee and it was scared of the bumble bee. And it ran away.” Grace (cloud and gorilla) “Once upon a time there lived a gorilla and a cloud. And the cloud was looking all over for gorilla and popped out of their house but then a dragon came and spit fire at the gorilla. The gorilla went to the swimming pool to cool off. The end.” Ellie (fairy and cloud) “Once upon a time there was a fairy and a cloud. And they loved nature. So one day they spotted a zoo so they went to the zoo and said, “Hi, I’m a fairy and a cloud. Who are you?” The end. Fletcher (fairy and gorilla) “Once upon a time there was a little fairy and there was a little gorilla. They were little children. (MR: Were they so little that they could sleep together on a flower petal?” They could sleep together on a flower. (MR: Maybe a spider comes to eat them?) They didn’t get eaten because a bird ate the spider. The end.” Friday: CharadesAnother fun and engaging game for many of the Rainey Room friends. We used to play this together in person and the children have improved tremendously since we started. Thus far, we have always played within the category of animals but we might be ready to branch out! It's an easy one to play at home because you don't need any materials, just imagination. Show & Tell SharingIt was so fun to see the different items children shared this week. Some will hopefully inspire other families, others have inspired our workshop plans for next week. Some common themes: books, stuffed animals, projects children built, coloring/drawing/painting. A few siblings and pets also showed up on Zoom this week!Thank you for your continued support with the calls!
0 Comments
♪♬ The More We Get Together |
 |  |
During small groups, we approached the topic of creating games with the children by first refreshing their memory of some of our work creating a "golden strawberry" board game. The first group drafted an idea...
Cannon: What about bones?
Lane: Or a unicorn. I know what -- a pony!
(What will be at the end of the game?)
Cannon: The golden hay.
Grace: And maybe everyone could do it and sit on the pony and whoever touches the golden strawberries wins.
Lane: Or how about golden carrots? Bunnies could hop to get the carrots.
Cannon: Or golden hares need to race to the golden carrots.
(We begin chatting about what else bunnies eat)
Lane: Or silver broccoli.
Wolf M: How about lettuce!
Lane: Golden vegetable pieces.
Palmer: What if there was a chocolate egg!
Wolf M: Or a Easter egg.
Grace: Or we could just do it when the virus is over. Then we can play together.
Cannon: We haven't seen each other in a long long time.
We asked them how we will play the game if we're far apart. Grace said, "We could make the game and they play at home with their mom and dad and sister and brother." Here are some quotes from the next two rounds of brainstorming.
(Group 2)
Emilia: We should make it THIS long. (holds arms out)
Melanie: A long game? That might even take an hour to play?
Emilia: Or maybe 35 months.
Melanie: We talked in the last group about a game where 4 little bunnies have to go and get the golden lettuce.
Emilia: Or what about a golden carrot?
Wolf B: A dinosaur or a lion?
Melanie: Maybe the bunnies have to hop carefully through the forest and if the hop too loudly the T-rex comes.
Emilia: OH YEAH that's a good.
Melanie: That would be a very scary game.
Emilia: I'm not scared of anything. Except very scary things.
(after a little more brainstorming and refreshing our memories about the original golden strawberry game)
Emilia: ....I know how to paint a strawberry, so I could paint it, then let it dry overnight, then tomorrow, we could each add a very golden thing to the strawberry, then as soon as we get back to school, we can get tape then put all the strawberries together! Whoever gets to the strawberries first wins. And you have to go through the tunnel, then get the golden strawberry, and it's a race. The only thing is, how can we make it, and what can we make it out of? Grass or something, or moss? 'Cause I have moss right outside.
(Group 3)
Melanie: Maybe it could be like Candyland, where there's an ice princess...
Fletcher: (recalling his family's Halloween costumes from years prior) The ice princess is mama. And my daddy is at the castle. And Violet's the lollipop.
Brooke: Olivia, what kinds of things would you add to the game?
Olivia: A unicorn. Unicorns always glow their horns at night.
Brooke: So maybe the players could follow the unicorn's glowing horn at night?
Olivia: Yeah, but sometimes unicorns are in the city. When it's at night, all the unicorns in the world, even when they're in a cave, they glow their horns, even when they're in a cave. When you tell the unicorns "turn off your horn", it just keeps it on! 'Cause sometimes at night the unicorns don't know what you're saying. The unicorns don't have arms like us. I think it would be fun if we had a lot of unicorns, and the unicorns can get to the egg first. They hop all the way to the end! They're gonna go to Unicorn Land.
Brooke: Ellie, did you want to add your ideas for the game?
Ellie: Unicorns light their horns in dark places.
Melanie: Maybe it's a nighttime game in a spooky forest. What if a scary monster comes?
Ellie: She lights her horn to scare him away.
Cannon: What about bones?
Lane: Or a unicorn. I know what -- a pony!
(What will be at the end of the game?)
Cannon: The golden hay.
Grace: And maybe everyone could do it and sit on the pony and whoever touches the golden strawberries wins.
Lane: Or how about golden carrots? Bunnies could hop to get the carrots.
Cannon: Or golden hares need to race to the golden carrots.
(We begin chatting about what else bunnies eat)
Lane: Or silver broccoli.
Wolf M: How about lettuce!
Lane: Golden vegetable pieces.
Palmer: What if there was a chocolate egg!
Wolf M: Or a Easter egg.
Grace: Or we could just do it when the virus is over. Then we can play together.
Cannon: We haven't seen each other in a long long time.
We asked them how we will play the game if we're far apart. Grace said, "We could make the game and they play at home with their mom and dad and sister and brother." Here are some quotes from the next two rounds of brainstorming.
(Group 2)
Emilia: We should make it THIS long. (holds arms out)
Melanie: A long game? That might even take an hour to play?
Emilia: Or maybe 35 months.
Melanie: We talked in the last group about a game where 4 little bunnies have to go and get the golden lettuce.
Emilia: Or what about a golden carrot?
Wolf B: A dinosaur or a lion?
Melanie: Maybe the bunnies have to hop carefully through the forest and if the hop too loudly the T-rex comes.
Emilia: OH YEAH that's a good.
Melanie: That would be a very scary game.
Emilia: I'm not scared of anything. Except very scary things.
(after a little more brainstorming and refreshing our memories about the original golden strawberry game)
Emilia: ....I know how to paint a strawberry, so I could paint it, then let it dry overnight, then tomorrow, we could each add a very golden thing to the strawberry, then as soon as we get back to school, we can get tape then put all the strawberries together! Whoever gets to the strawberries first wins. And you have to go through the tunnel, then get the golden strawberry, and it's a race. The only thing is, how can we make it, and what can we make it out of? Grass or something, or moss? 'Cause I have moss right outside.
(Group 3)
Melanie: Maybe it could be like Candyland, where there's an ice princess...
Fletcher: (recalling his family's Halloween costumes from years prior) The ice princess is mama. And my daddy is at the castle. And Violet's the lollipop.
Brooke: Olivia, what kinds of things would you add to the game?
Olivia: A unicorn. Unicorns always glow their horns at night.
Brooke: So maybe the players could follow the unicorn's glowing horn at night?
Olivia: Yeah, but sometimes unicorns are in the city. When it's at night, all the unicorns in the world, even when they're in a cave, they glow their horns, even when they're in a cave. When you tell the unicorns "turn off your horn", it just keeps it on! 'Cause sometimes at night the unicorns don't know what you're saying. The unicorns don't have arms like us. I think it would be fun if we had a lot of unicorns, and the unicorns can get to the egg first. They hop all the way to the end! They're gonna go to Unicorn Land.
Brooke: Ellie, did you want to add your ideas for the game?
Ellie: Unicorns light their horns in dark places.
Melanie: Maybe it's a nighttime game in a spooky forest. What if a scary monster comes?
Ellie: She lights her horn to scare him away.
Getting Our Zoom Rhythm
One thread of learning we've continued to explore via Zoom is games. When we were last in school our main game of focus was hopscotch and we were beginning to branch out into creating our own board games. We continued with that thread some last week and expanded upon it is this week. In addition to various versions of bingo, we also added guessing games.
Number and Shapes Bingo
Stuffed Animal Guessing Game
Ellie's flamingo clues: It has pink and white and black and long legs.
Fletcher's cat clues: It's white and orange. It has an orange nose and whiskers. It has yellow eyes, stripes, big ears,a tail and paws.
Olivia's pig clues: It's pink. When you press her belly she makes noise. It lives in a farm.
Fletcher's cat clues: It's white and orange. It has an orange nose and whiskers. It has yellow eyes, stripes, big ears,a tail and paws.
Olivia's pig clues: It's pink. When you press her belly she makes noise. It lives in a farm.
Animal Drawing Guessing Game
In the second version of the guessing game children (and their adult copilots) were invited to draw an animal and then give clues about what they had drawn. The children are continuing to expand their understanding the art of how to give clues, not just give the answer!
Lane's butterfly clues: It lives in summer. It doesn't like the cold. It has 4 wings.
Wolf M's lion clue: I drew a lion.
Emilia's octopus clues: It lives in water. It's not mean. It's orange.
Wolf M's lion clue: I drew a lion.
Emilia's octopus clues: It lives in water. It's not mean. It's orange.
Sharing Favorite Games
On Thursday the children were invited to share about a favorite game they have/play at home. Some games involved dice, others involved cards, some used both. There were games like Hoot Owl Hoot that a number of children have and play at home and other games that some children were learning about for the first time.
Evelyn describing the special die involved in her game: It's something. You have to roll it.
Emilia describing Gnomes At Night: There's boards and you have to find the treasure. There's a timer.
Fletcher describing Hoot Owl Hoot: They go on each color of the rainbow. (Who are you racing?) The sun!
Wolf B describing dinosaur bingo: You have to get 4 to win.
Wolf M describing his bird game: You go around and around to the castle and you get opportunity cards. This is the geese; then you get to move to the geese (on the board).
Palmer describing Outfoxed: Whoever eats the pie goes first. Four people can play. There's a red hat, a green hat, a blue hat and a yellow (game pieces). You have to guess the bad guy. There's a good fox and bad fox.
Emilia describing Gnomes At Night: There's boards and you have to find the treasure. There's a timer.
Fletcher describing Hoot Owl Hoot: They go on each color of the rainbow. (Who are you racing?) The sun!
Wolf B describing dinosaur bingo: You have to get 4 to win.
Wolf M describing his bird game: You go around and around to the castle and you get opportunity cards. This is the geese; then you get to move to the geese (on the board).
Palmer describing Outfoxed: Whoever eats the pie goes first. Four people can play. There's a red hat, a green hat, a blue hat and a yellow (game pieces). You have to guess the bad guy. There's a good fox and bad fox.
Paper As A Material
Since paper is a material that many people have on hand we explored different ways to use it this week. Melanie led us in an awesome pop-up card making session on Wednesday. The cards were very different and all fun! We hope you mailed yours to brighten someone's day!
For Friday's call many children made paper hats/crowns. It was fun to share some details: stickers, names, paint, glitter, ribbons, flowers, sandpaper(!) etc.
We appreciate all the parent support: signing your children up for Zoom calls, copiloting during meetings, posting on Seesaw etc.
Weekend Challenge: "Hopscotch It Forward"
Draw a hopscotch for a friend or neighbor to play.
Encourage them to pay it forward and draw one for someone else.
Encourage them to pay it forward and draw one for someone else.
Friends from a Distance
Firstly, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone for participating in the Zoom calls and creating a Seesaw account. We're so grateful that you've shown your support each day. This first week, our objective was to get back in touch with the children and find out what they're up to and what they're thinking about, but also connecting the larger group back together the best we can. Through our small group and full group meetings, we learned some very sweet tidbits of information that we'd like to document here.
- Grace has moved to her new house! She is penpals with Sally and Marley who live in her neighborhood. She's been practicing a little bit of math and reading a "grown up" book called Rebel Girls. Grace just recently made a tie-dye shirt.
- Fletcher has been riding lots of different vehicles in his house, including a Thomas the tank engine scooter. He counted his scooters and said, "We have nine cars." In his house, he's been playing in a bouncy house to stay active and enjoying the movie Wall-E.
- Wolf M has been staying close to Zaza's house out in Virginia where he can visit some animals, like a "naughty rooster" who sometimes tries to "hurt the chicken's feelings." He also mentioned a bridge over a river, where the water "got huge until it splashed onto the bridge!" He showed us pictures of the lovely horses, like Peggy Sue. "They have pretty long hair", said Wolf.
- Palmer has a new big boy bed! At his house, he's been playing with lots of construction and emergency vehicles, including a "fire pumper". His family goes on a lot of walks, where they like to feed the ducks. "We heard them go quack, quack, quack," he said. He showed us special baseball cards in a treasure box in his room; his favorite team is the Whalers.
- Maren is in Florida, where she is swimming a lot in the pool every day. She's enjoying practicing her tap dancing, going on walks, doing some crafts, and writing her name. On the beach, she likes to collect shells that have holes (she says it's not hard to find those) and bring them home to paint them and string them onto necklaces.
- Ellie has been playing at the dollhouse quite a bit these days. She just recently had her 4th birthday, and she still has her special Elsa & Anna balloon, plus a Frozen crown. Soon, she's getting a bike with training wheels. She showed us some sand dollars and explained that when you break them, "little angels" come out, and they're "very teeny."
- Olivia showed us all the games she likes to play at her house, including Candyland. She has some mermaid stickers she really likes using, and explained that her brother Daniel prefers buses and cars. When we chatted with Olivia, she recounted some happy memories of going to the movies with Aunt Deena to see Frozen 2.
- Emilia has been reading Harry Potter with her family, and they're now on book number 4. She said she doesn't like Snape, and Hermione is her favorite character. For April Fools day she played some hilarious tricks on her dad by giving him yucky food for breakfast, like mayonnaise instead of yogurt! Soon they'll be getting a swing in their front yard.
- Lane made a picture for her daddy's birthday which is visible in the slideshow above. Lately she's been able to join her brother Will for his P.E. classes on Zoom, where she said they do "stretching". She told us that her bunny Ba-ba is doing well, and he can "make his own breakfast." Lane said, "When the coronavirus stops, I'm gonna hug you."
- Cannon has a bouncy house just like Fletcher that he's really been enjoying. He told us, "I have a computer in my room. My gorilla's working on it." He showed us a sloth friend and explained that real sloths can do "dog paddles." For a while, we discussed sea animals with him.
- Oliver showed us his Calico kitty cat friend, who he had adorned with some "wings". He showed us how Baby Ena can wear a special dress, and how some of his stuffed animals are superheroes who can bonk monsters on the head.
- Gigi told us about some delicious s'mores she was eating. She recently found a slug in her garden that interested her quite a bit, so she's been "pretending to be a slug" sometimes! Even though slugs are slow, she reassured us that she can still run "secret super speed". She said to us, "Good thing we get to talk together."
- Wolf B is at the farm with his family, where he is raising some tiny adorable guinea fowl chicks. He also showed us the many stuffed animals he has, including teddy bears, horses, and a hippo.
- Evelyn is in Montana, and has been having fun in the snow with her brother Clark. Her family rescued a baby goat named Pearl from a terrible storm. She was found on the back porch, and ever since they have been working to find her a forever home on a farm!
At one of our group meetings, we shared items from nature.
Palmer brought 2 rocks. "This one is sparkly, and this one isn't."
Gigi brought onion grass. "It does taste like onion if you chew on it."
Evelyn brought moss and pinecones "from under the tree."
Fletcher showed us a bee that he found outside. He put it into a little habitat inside a plastic container with sticks, leaves and flowers. He said, "He doesn't want to see you because he's a little shy."
>>>>Weekend Challenge: Bug Hunt!
Drawing inspiration from Gigi and Fletcher, we're wondering if any families would like to try finding a bug outside and creating a habitat where it can live inside with you for a while as a temporary pet. What kind of home will you give this pet? A comfy bed? Maybe a little television? Post on Seesaw if you find any crawly critters you want to share.
Palmer brought 2 rocks. "This one is sparkly, and this one isn't."
Gigi brought onion grass. "It does taste like onion if you chew on it."
Evelyn brought moss and pinecones "from under the tree."
Fletcher showed us a bee that he found outside. He put it into a little habitat inside a plastic container with sticks, leaves and flowers. He said, "He doesn't want to see you because he's a little shy."
>>>>Weekend Challenge: Bug Hunt!
Drawing inspiration from Gigi and Fletcher, we're wondering if any families would like to try finding a bug outside and creating a habitat where it can live inside with you for a while as a temporary pet. What kind of home will you give this pet? A comfy bed? Maybe a little television? Post on Seesaw if you find any crawly critters you want to share.
Archives
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
RSS Feed