Tuesday, December 3, 2013

120- We continued our adventures in paper mache.  The masks are turning out so well.  Some of the students went back to the construction stage to add more, after using the paper mache last time.  This is a really great sign because I've always had students rush through things to get to the finished project, but these students are getting used to the Reggio Approach and know they will be given the time they need to finish, so they are taking the construction to the next level, whatever their vision might be, and I'm really excited about that. For example, a long-nosed mask was given ears today and now it clearly looks like an elephant.  That wouldn't have happened if the student just rushed to get to the painting stage.

118- I took the "church group" for their last day of clay construction.  They seemed disinterested at this point and we decided to just fire the church facade and move onto the next group, which is the group that will build School #33. I look forward to building the school with them.  Hopefully, the "church group" will want to add to their church once it's been fired.

108- One student, Roshelys, brought in a huge spool of fishing line for our foyer mobile project!  Her dad donated it to our cause.  THANK YOU, Roshely's Dad! We decided to string up some of the cardboard "cheese" pieces to see how they would look.  We discussed patterns and the students picked their colors.  They started to string them and I showed them how to tie knots to space them apart.  One student didn't make knots- he just kept piling them on the string- and it actually looked more interesting than the neat, tied pieces.  The students decided to redo theirs and make them all his way.  I think the result is pretty fascinating, but I'd like to see a variety.  I'm thinking about buying some beads to use as spacers.  There were students in second grade and kindergarten who were very interested in a ceramic beaded necklace I wore a week or so ago, so another thought I'm having involves making ceramic beads.  I hesitate with that, however, because I think the students would want to take their beads and create jewelry... I will have to ask them what they think of these ideas.

Our fascinating mobile pieces

I will trim the excess fishing line, obviously, but this gives you an idea of the
way the entrance will look with these hanging from above!

I'm thinking about attaching these to fishing line that runs across the entrance, perhaps hanging from pieces of bamboo on either side.  I want them to be one large piece so hanging and takedown, if necessary, is easier.

116- The students were only interested in one thing- painting more cardboard pieces.  So that's what we did. Good thing, because the students in the next two classes went through almost ALL of the pieces!

103 & 102- We discussed AB patterns with the preschool class and they made patterns using two colors.  The kindergarten class made ABC patterns using three colors.  These kids were mobile making machines.  I can't believe how fast they went through the pieces.


I'm trying really hard to show how cool these look in real life, but the photos just aren't capturing how interesting the shapes are and how glittery they look when they move in the wind.  Here's a lot of pics from different angles in my attempt to show you the coolness that is the School #33 Foyer Mobile.