Week of June 8-12, 2015

In the atelier, we have been busy creating artwork for Imagine Community Gardens new garden for Hope House on Genesee Street. I wanted to keep the story workshop idea flowing into the atelier, so the first and second grade students are working on Story Stones. The students listed as many nouns as they could think of, categorizing them under characters, places and things.

The students then chose one noun to illustrate. The provocation was, "How can you draw a word?" After they got approval for their design from me, they drew and painted it on a flat stone. To begin the second class, I placed all of the stones on the table and we divided them into visual symbols we could guess correctly and paintings that we couldn't guess the word. The students with rocks in the latter category had to revise their painting to make their symbol easier to understand. Students suggested changes to the students, such as, "You could add a triangle for the roof- that would make it look more like a house." 

Completing research for their story stone nouns.

For the Pre-k's garden project, we are continuing to make insects with wood pieces and wire. Once they finished their insects, they drew observational drawings of the insects from photographs. Students in 103 reported out about their insect: 

R- It’s a firefly. I know that their butts light up.

C- This is a lady bug. It has six legs.

E1- This is a lady bug. The lady bug flies.

E2- This is a lady bug. He’s red.

J- This is a spider. They crawl on people’s floor at their house.

C- They can eat you, too.

E1- Did you know that the lady bug, they walk up the tree? One day I was putting a leaf under the lady bug, but it was red. Sometimes, lady bugs are orange.

A- This is a bee.  It flies in the sky and it goes on the ground on the floor and it crawls in my bed.

Teacher- You had a bee crawl in your bed?
A- No.

Teacher- But you just said that.

A- I know.

Ms. Cich- Why are we afraid of bees?
L- They sting us.

I- Mine is a butterfly. They have wings. They can fly.

Ms. Cich- What do they like to eat?
I- Apples.

N- This is a butterfly. They eat apples. 

Teacher- Where do butterflies come from?

N- The sky.

Teacher- Anyone else?

R- A cocoon!

Teacher- And before that?

R- A caterpillar.

L- This is a mosquito. They got wings and they got legs. They fly around and bite you when it’s nighttime.

Teacher- What happens when you get bit by a mosquito?

J- Mosquito bite.

L- It’s a mark when you get itchy and it itch you.

B- A butterfly.

Teacher- What do you know about them?

C- They live in the garden.

A2- A firefly. It flies around.

Teacher- How do you know it’s a firefly.

E1- Because it looks like a butterfly.

A2- It flies by people. It bites people.

Ms. Cich- Have you ever been bit by a firefly?

Teacher- Has anyone been bit by a firefly?

No one knows. We look it up. They do not bite, but they are poisonous when eaten. Frogs and lizards are affected by firefly poison.

B- It’s an ant. They bite and they are on the ground. They just stand there for a few hours. 

Drawing from photographs of insects.

Playing with finished insects.

The kindergarten students are continuing to work on wire and metal loose part insects. 

Concentration faces.

Completely engrossed.

Week of June 1-5, 2015

This week, we will be taking field trips to the Burchfield Nature and Art Center.

Monday- Pre-K:

We hiked along the trails.

We saw flowers.

We noticed the creek was full and moving fast. Some of the students
believed that the water comes from the ground, others thought it was
from the ocean. One student, L, suggested it was from all of the rain. 

We saw a few robins.

A very full creek!

The students knew right away that these were the roots of plants!

Wet buds and leaves

Buds. The students think either leaves or flowers will bloom from these.

Iya counted five leaves on these plants, checking for poison ivy. 

The kids said a caterpillar must be eating these.

The students enjoyed finding the sculptures in these stumps.

We collected materials for fairy houses.

J used a technique to wrap leaves around the sticks and tried
to get the fairy house to stand up this way. It worked for a little while.

C was reluctant to try it and ended up working the longest
on making his fairy house.

Two students finish up their fairy house.

First Grade: 

They noticed a bug on this table and wanted to observe it.

I've taken photos of this area each day and it's amazing to see how
the creek is receding when there is no rain.

We became experts at spotting poison ivy! 

And the light fell just right. 

Closely observing.

Collecting materials to build a fairy house.

They laid the materials out.

They found a better place to build the house and took turns carrying
their stash over to it.

The fairy house, complete with a pool! 

The "bathroom" and "bedroom" of the fairy house feature
leaf doors.

More poison ivy! 

Hiking the trail

Second Grade:

We found a toad.

We watched the toad until he hopped away.

I enjoyed seeing how shallow the creek was today, compared to Monday!

A critter was here!

Abdirizak was really excited about these water bugs.

They found a huge daddy long legs!

They love to show the teachers all of  the treasures they find.

Making a fairy house.

Looking for materials for the fairy house.

Treasure.

Completed fairy house.

It reminds me of Falling Water, the house by Frank Lloyd Wright.

A second fairy house was completed in a different area.

Exhausted students at the end of a fun day!