Glorious sun

 

What a glorious Monday it was!  We knew we had to take full advantage of what is promised to be the peak weather day of the week, so your teachers planned a day filled with outdoor invitations!

Several months ago we spent a lot of time creating a beautiful wrapped-stick work of art.  We remembered how much the children enjoyed that activity, and what amazing fine motor practice it was.  We took the beautiful patterned washi tape outside with a frame and hung it from a tree on our hillside.

It was an instant hit!

It was so fun to listen to the comments the children made as they worked.

"This looks like a window!"l

"This is so fun!"

"It's so beautiful!"

Large scale painting with warm colors layered over the cool purples

Small scale painting of tiny corks

Sidewalk Chalk art

What would a day outside be without....

WORMS!!

What a glorious sunshine-filled day!

A picture/video is worth 1000 words

 

Our Birch friends said it all,

"This was the bestest day in history!" GC

"This was the best day of my whole entire LIFE!" RM

"Best day EVER!!" CF

And the Birch teachers agree!

   

Think about it..

 

Think about it Thursday...poetry inspiration

We have been reading some of the poems in this classic book by Shel Silverstein

When we read this poem a few days ago our friends thought it was so funny.  

Today we invited the to think beyond the humor and imagine what they would do if they were only one inch tall!

" I would ride on a worm." JL

It was clear that the illustration of this poem inspired many of our children.

"I would drive a worm car." JA

"I would come to school." RM

How would you get to our tables if you were only one inch tall?

"I would build a catapult!" RM

CG you drew a teeny tiny one inch house with an itty bitty swimming pool.

"I will go to the beach." JI

Can you swim in the ocean if you are only one inch tall?

"My floatie wouldn't fit me.  That's why I have scissors.  I would cut a tiny piece this big." JI

We invited our Sycamore friends to join us in exploring this math invitation.

It was so fun to watch how different children interacted with the materials.

Some friends simply lined up the sticks in a pattern, oblivious to the dice.

Some friends keyed in to the colored dice and began a rolling and picking game.

Some friends noticed the numbered dice and rolled and selected a specific number of stick.

Some picked up BOTH and selected by two variables.

l

These friends spent their entire morning in the block area.  At first there was talk of creating a sail boat.

But soon enough the play changed to ramps.

I watched as these friends discovered by trial and error exactly what they needed to do to make the cylinder blocks roll all the way down the ramp.

Working together can be a challenge.

We continue to be flexible and appreciate the ideas of others who may be different from ours.

We strive to "add to" the structures of others rather than "take away".

Placing value on each child's ideas and point of view expands our thoughts, patience, kindness, and friendship...and of course, it expands our ramp too!

Artists part 2

 Today we continued our work of self investigation through the eyes of the artist Akaimi Davis, professionally known as Akaimi the Artist.

Once again we focused one of her pieces of work.  

What do you notice?

What do you see?

How is this artwork like you?

What is different from you?

How does this inspire you?

RM you noticed her head...

And you drew yours.

You zoomed in on her long neck...

and drew your.

You continued to look at Akaimi's painting, and back at your reflection.

After adding all of the important features you noticed you focused in in the word "in her hair."

That word says "confident".  I wonder what that means.

"It means you are all new, like you can start again." RM

I love the way you thinking about that word.  That is a wonderful definition.  I wonder what word you might put to describe YOU?

"Happy?" RM

Hmmm, I agree you are happy.  I wonder if there is a word that is like happy but is a juicy word?

"pleasant." RM

What an amazing word!  That has so much more meaning that just happy!

JA you began by looking at your reflection.

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

"My head!" JA

You noticed this artist likes to add interesting details to her portraits.
"I see these circles here." JA

And you added them to your portrait too!

You, too saw that big, important word on this portrait.

As we talked about why the artist might have chosen that word I asked you

What word lives inside you?

"Mighty!" JA

And I couldn't agree more!

HW what do you notice when you look in the mirror?

What do you see in the work of this artist?

You noticed her big eyes first.

At first you made tiny dots.

Hmmm, I see your eyes.  They are tiny dots on your paper.

When you look at your eyes in the mirror where are the tiny dots?

"They are ovals." HW

And you changed your dots to ovals.

I see your big empty oval eyes on your paper.  When you look at your eyes in the mirror what do you notice about them?

And with that, the details emerged.

ears

hair

neck

and a word...

Such introspective work takes time.  We are in no hurry to rush the process.  The anticipation of this work has made our friends eager, and this eagerness has translated into amazing work.

We are excited to continue exploring ourselves through the work of Aikimi the Artist.

Enjoy these glimpses into other independent parts of our day.