Week of March 9-13, 2015

I spent three days last week at Skillful Teacher training, which was really interesting and enjoyable. I already tried one of the techniques I learned (Popcorn discussions) to ensure every kid in my last group today was able to share out their experience about a field trip they went on. They were excited to try something new in our discussions, not that they don't love to talk anyway.

Here is a rundown of what everyone is working on: 

Pre-K- Mrs. Bennett, Ms. Hernandez, Dr. Lopez:
The pre-k students have been working on drawings of the lines we see in animals. They started with pre-drawings, moved to tracing the lines on acetate paper, then created a post-drawing to see if they could see the lines better after the tracing let them recognize the lines. We used vocabulary like vertical, horizontal, diagonal and curvy to understand that the lines we drew alone are used to draw anything in the world!

From the drawings, we are moving into two types of clay. Plasticine for practice, then firing clay for a final product. 

After this lesson, we are going to look at the patterns we see in animals, so I'm going to set up a provocation with photos of the details of animals with patterns and we will paint or draw those patterns. 

Kindergarten:

104: The kindergarten students are also working on recognizing lines to build their observational drawing skills. We are comparing fantasy paintings of animals from an Eric Carle book to scientific drawings of animals from a book on wildlife artists. 

102: The other kindergarten is also using lines to draw, but their focus is on the products we get from the farm. They will use observational drawing techniques to draw things like wheat, dairy products and fruits and vegetables. 

First Grade: 

The first grade is finishing up the sculpting part of their models of human organs. Our last group will finish today- Wednesday- and then I'll begin the cycle of groups into the studio again to glaze their organs. 

Today, Wednesday, I had a group come in to create their brain models. I'd used our previous example of a one pound object (plasticine clay in a sealed package) so I found that our wood glue comes in one pound bottles. We explored what three pounds might feel like, which is the size of an adult brain and I explained the concept of one-half, which is the size of a baby brain. This group made the same conclusion that the other group had, that a child's brain is probably one glue bottle in weight, or a pound. I thought that was interesting, that both groups were able to take those two facts- an adult brain size and a baby brain size and reason that they were closer to the baby than the adult. They measured their clay compared to the weight of the glue bottle and sculpted their brains.

Second Grade: 

The second graders were on a field trip to Reinstein Woods. When they returned, I only had a short amount of time to spend with 118, so I asked them some questions about the trip. The first provocation was Tell me the story of your day. The second was Tell me something you experienced with your senses on the trip. The third was What did you learn about today? And the fourth question was How would you share this experience with the school? The students used the popcorn method of answering then selecting a friend to make sure that everyone had a chance to share out about their day.

I pushed into 116 to work on the provocation, "How does it grow?" I sat at a table with that provocation written out, a jar of pens and some paper, with two of the plants they are growing. I waited and soon I'd acquired a small group of curious students.

How does it grow? 

Jose:You need a seed.
How do you get a seed? 
Jose: From other plants. When a plant dies, the seed falls and then it can become a plant again when it dies.
Yabdiel: Seeds and water. 
How does water work to make things grow? 
Jose: they suck it up, like a straw. 

Eliani: You need food. It keeps you strong and healthy and when it's your birthday you grow. 
How does your birthday make you grow? 
Jose: cause you change age.
Do you look bigger the day after your birthday? 
Eliani: Not right away.
Jose: when you grow for a while, clothes don't fit you. I have clothes i brought with me from Cuba and they don't fit me now.
Eliani: I had clothes from when I turned six and then I turned seven and I put on one of the clothes and it didn't fit me. The shirt was too short.

Can you feel it when you grow?
Eliani: no. I can't. I'm thinking if the babies feel it when they grow.
Jose: I'm not sure. My sister got shots on her over here.
Eliani: my brother can feel his leg growing. He's crying at night because it's stretching out, like how a snake is in a circle. 
Jose: when I pick my sister up, she is heavier every day.

How can we help things grow? 
Eliani: when we put water, some of the plants grow. My mom had these seeds she didn't know and they grow seeds that we can start eating, but we have to cook it. She bought all of these seeds, but we never used them and someone threw them out.

Jose Writes time water sun and ere.

How can clay grow? 
Eliani: clay can't grow, but if we mix clay together, we can pretend it's growing. 
Natalia: if we give it water, it might grow.

What if something grows too big?
Jose: whoa! A tree!
What happens if a tree grows too big? 
Jose: if a tree gets too big, it dies.
Eliani: if it grows too big and the wind is coming, it falls.
Jose: sometimes if a tree is dead, parts of it fall off and little animals come and live inside of it. How do you call that bird that eats the side? A woodpecker. He comes and eats the side and then he gives it to his babies and the babies grow!

So trees can help woodpeckers grow? 
Jose: yes, because they can find food in there. In the trees. And they can put their nest in there. 

Eliani: One time my stepdad's sister found out she had a little tiny baby in her stomach so she kept eating and the baby got bigger and bigger and then they took it out and now it's like a regular baby. It's a boy.

We had a lot of snow piles growing this year. How did that happen? 
Jose: the snow falls and goes into the pile and makes it bigger.
Eliani: and when the people move the piles, they push them and the piles get bigger.

Eliani describes her drawing and mentions watering the plant over and over.
I wonder if you could design a growing machine and then we wouldn't have to remember to water the plants.
Jose: like a robot!? 
Nelson: wow! Yes! That would be awesome.

They eagerly draw robots to take care of their plants. 

At the end of the class, a student showed me a stuffed toy he had in his backpack (it was dismissal at this point.) I told him I would love to read a story about this character he called, "Anger Man." He took paper to write a book for me over the weekend. Three or four other students then showed interest in writing a book, so I offered them paper. I'm hoping this will spark an interest in storybook writing!