Monday, February 10, 2014

120- We took a small group to the studio to see if they could build a bridge with art materials, after doing this provocation in the block area of their room.  I had two groups of two students each.  One group made a successful bridge and the other group might be successful with a bit more time.  They were heading in the right direction at the end, but didn't fully see it through.

116- I took group one into the studio to start the asymmetric balance part of the three-part balance provocation with me.  They've already created something with balance out of beautiful stuff and drawn a symmetric design.  I made copies of their symmetric drawings and cut them down into small squares. The students rolled the squares and glued the ends, creating paper tubes that they will use to assemble into a collage tomorrow. The collage will be inspired by the work of Nancy Rubins. The students will have to use their knowledge of balance to successfully assemble the collage.


108- I continued to work in small groups on observational drawings of animal habitats. The students are given a choice of materials to use, so they can practice working in a medium that they are comfortable with, or want to learn more about.

112- I've noticed that this group, like 120, has cars in their block area. I pushed in and documented this block play. The students are trying to build a bridge in the block area, a provocation that they will continue in the atelier. J and E immediately begin to build a bridge.
Teacher- How will the car get onto the bridge.
S- It will jump and go like this.
He makes the car jump about two feet in the air and fly to the other side.
Teacher- I've never seen a car do that in real life. Do you think cars can really jump like that.
J says no and hands us the ramp block.
J- You use this and the car can go up.
E and J begin to collaboratively build a great bridge. They test their bridge by rolling a toy car across it. The bridge lacks a ramp on the other side and the cars just tumble off. J adds a second ramp. Now the cars roll across easily. They played with their bridge for the rest of the time I observed. I can't wait to take them into the atelier to create their own bridges.

M was working with play dough.  She came over to show me she built a bridge with it!

We also found a block that is round with a flat edge. We played a game to see how many blocks could be balanced on it. It was really fun and E was better than I am!

103- I printed out photos of their houses and the students compared the previous block creations they'd made for their houses with the photographs. They were given a chance to return, switch out or add more blocks to their house creations. Then they counted the windows and drew them where they belong and drew the doors, too.

104- A small group came in to paint the bear cave.