Maker Monday

 What started as a simple question last week has now become a new part of our learning space!  It went something like this...

"Today is "Think About it Thursday". Ms N

"If today is Think About it Thursday, and we have Tapping Tuesday, Walking Wednesday, and Forest Friday, what is Monday?" CF

"Wow!  That is a great question."   "Is it like....Make it Monday?" CF

And the answer is...absolutely yes!  Your teachers put their brains together and it absolutely IS Make it Monday.  It will evolve with the interests of the children as all of our spaces do.  Today the children were asked the broad and open question....

What can you MAKE with these materials?

"I'm making a robot.  The wheels go all directions." CF

"Look what I made!  Look what I made!" AS

"It's a birthday cake." JB

Aww, you are thinking of your friend AS  It is his birthday today!

Happy Birthday AS!

CF you stayed at the makerspace for the entire morning adding, changing, rebuilding, and testing out your creation.  

"Look at these.  I need more of these ones." MS

MS you noticed which pieces fit best together and you were searching our materials to create something new.

Today at our makerspace it was all about exploration of new materials.  The children were eager to get their hands on new pieces and see what those pieces can do and become.

There were some specific creations made, but overall what was MADE today was an introduction and a spark for our new theme.

We are so thankful for our focus on following the leads of the children, and for the relationships that we have fostered in our space that allow such conversations to be heard and valued.

So, here's to Maker Monday!

Of course there was other learning going on as well.  We focused in our our color work again today but this time with a different medium

How can you paint playdough?

We brought out our patterned rolling pins and they gave us great ideas!

We can paint right inside those lines!

"Look what happens when I twist it up.  I make my colors disappear." MT

"It's a pattern.  The colors go over and over again." MT

CW you made colors on your playdough and your friends said it looked like tye-dye!

With all of the color creating and mixing we have done today we wondered how we might make sense of all of our colors.  We have a LOT of blue.  But, what do you notice when you look at them?

"Its darker, darker, darker."

"It's different, different, different." 

"This is white and this is blue"

"You start here and then go here, here, here."

These are all things we heard as the children explored the colors they had created.

What do you notice?

What is your brain thinking?

What are your eyes seeing?

Expanding our learning and pushing our thinking to the next level was our goal today.  

Happy Maker Monday!  Today we made....

creations

colors

connections

memories

fun!

Forest Friday

 What an amazing forest day we had today!  

As we entered the forest I noticed much of the same activities from last week.  I wondered if we might have another day of stick adventures.

                                                 "I'm sleeping on the house-car-bed." CF

"We are drawing in the mud." DM MS

"Look at this GIANT stick!" MT

"It's bigger than you!" RM

Usually your teachers are busily involved following around great adventures, or investigating amazing bits of nature.  Today was busy and amazing, but your teachers hardly moved an inch.  Well...that isn't exactly accurate.  We moved a LOT, but never left our spots!  

Every forest day we have teachers positioned inside the forest and outside the forest.  Today, Ms N was at the top of the forest, and Ms L was inside.  With all of the leaves completely blanketing the ground it was hard to tell where the paths were.  Where did the forest end and the grassy hill begin?  Our friends began investigating the big hill outside the forest and almost immediately started doing what children do best...they created FUN!

The friends were rolling down the hill like giant logs.  There was laughter and smiling all around both from children and teachers.  Some friends stood up and began running down the hill as fast as they could...right into the arms of Ms L!  They were scooped up, spun around, and set back down to run again!

"Hey!  Everyone!  Line up behind me!  Everyone come here!" ESE 

With this cry of invitation from a friend other Birch friends began a morning filled with fun.  One teacher at the top, another at the bottom, and a connection between them of children being "blasted off, running down, and soaring up and around".  This was fun, to be sure, but it was so much more than that.  It was a bond being built between teachers and students.  These friends knew they would be safely "blasted off", they knew they would be safely caught at the bottom.  There was trust that they knew they were safe, there was joy in the experience, there was confidence in trying a physical activity that was challenging, there was pride in initiating something that was SO fun, there was belonging as we all joined in as a Birch family, there was inclusion as we invited the friends from the Oak room to join us too.  

A simple run down the hill...and yet so much more!

Think about it Thursday

 

Today's question came from the briefest of moments yesterday.  We were playing in the sand and a friend asked me what I wanted from her restaurant.

"I would like a salad and a muffin and a bowl of blueberries." Ms L

A minute later the friend made me my meal.

"Here is your salad and cupcake." JI

"Cupcake?  I ordered a muffin."

How does our new space make you feel?

This friend showed me a specific page on our book and then gave me a HUGE smile!

"I feel happy."

CW you brought me the very same page when you noticed this question!

"Pink is excited!" CW

JL you looked for a long time at our emotions to find just the right one.

"I feel good, like SUPER a lot" JL

And you showed me with your dark marks how SUPER good you feel!

What Shapes can your playdough become?

Our friends showed us so many ways their playdough could become shapes!

CW you poked a shape with the toothpicks.  A friend from Sycamore created a shape!

"I used a circle and a long rectangle to make my creature!"

We were having a challenging time thinking about how to make shapes so we brought over a resource to help us.

As soon as these friends saw them they began stamping the shapes into the dough and using the toothpicks to "cut" them out.  What a clever way to show me your shapes!

Check out what else happened during capers today!

Some friends went on a shape walk to discover what shapes they might find in our community

sycamore blog

New spaces

 

Why does it look so different? JI

What?  Why did you move stuff around? RM

"It's different!" MS

"Why is the light table here and the table is there? JI  "Everything is different." RM  "Hey, did you know there was an old Birch room and the light table was here?" 

"Ms N is going to be SO surprised!" JI

"What happened?"  GC

"It's a different small world, what the what?!  We can build fun world house!" MS

Why did you move all this stuff? MT     "Why did you move that?" JB

"This is a cool space." HW

"Who moved the carpet? DM

"The classroom looks sorta different." CF

"It looks like a new school now!  It's PRETTY-PRETTY!" ESE

It was so fun to hear each expression as the friends came in today.  Some friends stopped and stared, others exclaimed loudly, and some took a minute to notice.  But what was common was the question, why did you move stuff around?

To help us think and learn in new ways!

The environment is another way we shape our learning.  Just as we create invitations that shape our specific work, we manipulate the environment in response to the children's interests.  

Our children LOVE building with loose parts.  Our map work has sparked a desire to build and work with small pieces  We noticed that the cozy feel of the light table space attracts our friends..  We combined these two loves and our friends have a new loose parts building space.

Our small world has always been a favorite space.  We noticed that many of our friends are playing "family".  We reimagined our small world and it is now a place to create a home for the families that live in our imaginations!

These birch friends LOVE to read.  We now have our own library space.  

Our meeting space didn't move much, but it was a strategic move.  It is centered away from the walls so we use our strong tummy muscles to sit up instead of slouching against walls and shelves!  Our bodies are strong! 

Our friends LOVE to write and draw.  Our circle table is now in a space we can all access easily.

Big block building is always a favorite.  This space didn't move much, but with the movement around it, it feels like a whole new space!

We are excited to see how our new environment shapes our work to come!

After such a fun morning, we headed our for walking Wednesday!

I wonder what we are going to do with all of those sticks?