Wednesday, January 16, 2013

118- A group of students came to the studio with me to help me reorganize the studio. I gave them the task of organizing our wooden shapes.  They sorted the shapes into twenty or so different groups. A few key quotes I heard were:

"Thin wins!" (when noticing that the thin blocks were the most plentiful)

"These look like noses!"

"There are SO MANY different shapes!" 

"These are all flower shapes."

"These are all ball shapes."

The finished product

102- I sat with the group working in the block area. Jada is lining tiny green squares of fabric along the top of a horizontal rectangular block, which is balancing between two vertical rectangular blocks of the same size. She then places rocks on each of the squares, excepting the center one, on which she is lining up more fabric squares.

Jazmira is lining up the fabric squares and placing a flat-sided marble on each fabric square.

Cameron has created a platform by placing a large, flat piece of wood into the cubbies, so the wood sticks out.  He has horses and Native American figures going for a ride off the platform. They jump to the second table of blocks and then jump back again.

At the second table, Devon and Max are playing with zoo animals. They've built an arch with Ingrid. She has eight foam rectangles with the flat-sided marbles resting on top, one per rectangle, sitting beneath the arch.

Marciano joins Cameron at the platform and turns it into a diving board. The horses are jumping a few times on the board, just as you might on a diving board, then "diving" back to the table.

Marciano- we've made a sidewalk for the horses.

Teacher- is it up high?

Marciano- they need to fall.

The boys demonstrate how the horses fall.

I ask Jada to tell me about hers.

Jada- I'm making a tower of rocks. I'm putting rocks on it so people can get them.

Teacher- Tell me about the middle spot.

Jada- I'm making that for the pretty rock. It needs to be high.

Ingrid- Do you want to know what I'm making?

Teacher- Yes!

Ingrid- I'm making a zoo for the animals, but first I have to make the rocks and then I can do the animals.

Jada- Look! I found a mattress for me!

She refers to two fabric squares of a matching color. I now notice that she is placing the fabric squares in an organized manner- the pile has sections of royal blue, hunter green, and sky blue.  The fabric beneath the stones is all light green. The color choices are purposeful.

Jazmira is now creating an arch like Ingrid's zoo, with a rectangular bridge at the top with the flat-sided marbles on top.  In front of this are blocks that created two second, smaller arches that meet at the center, with rectangles beneath them.

Ingrid soon borrows the idea of lining up the fabric squares, like Jada.

Jada- Are you copying me?

Ingrid- Yes.

Jada doesn't seem to mind. She points out that hers isn't quite the same because the colors are different. She is struggling to keep her tower of fabric squares from falling, getting frustrated at this point in the building process. She decides it's tall enough and places the "pretty stone" on it, which serves a double purpose- it is displaying the stone and the stone is holding the fabric in place.

She then begins to decorate the base of her tower with blue fabric and a special rock on that, with other rocks lined up around the perimeter of the base.

Jada- This rock has blue under it. The beautiful rock needs to be there so they can see it.

Teacher- how do you choose which is the beautiful rock?

Jada- I look for the beautiful colors and a beautiful shape.

Teacher- what makes it different?

Jada- the color is light, but the other rocks are black, brown and black, white, brown and black. There are three that are the best. I have two now and I have to find one other one.  Oh, this is a good one. There are three that are the prettiest and they need to be seen.

A display for the beautiful rocks

104- We drew their houses for the block house project.  I asked them to close their eyes and really think about the details on their houses, teaching them the word, "detail," in the process. 

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

120-
The students are continuing to experiment with different solid objects.  They have a list of descriptive words for the solid objects and this experimentation is free and open to allow them to make more discoveries about what they are working with. R- we are making a big giant castle.
Eliani shows me that she made a cross out of Popsicle sticks- This looks like it's for the God.
Deyneira attempts to measure the castle with a ruler to see how big it is.
J helps R build but then he accidentally knocks the structure over. "I'm so sorry," he exclaims.
R tells him, "it's okay."
R and J then become very upset by Eliani, whom they feel is taking their supplies. They start to snatch and hoard supplies. 
Teacher- do you think you could solve this problem in a better way.
R- she took my paper, Miss! 
Teacher- so what should you say?
R- Eliani, can you please give me my stuff back?
Eliani complies and the table settles back into working.
N and Jean Luis remain quiet, watching their loud friends. I notice that R has now taken all of their supplies.
Teacher- R, do you remember what it felt like when Eliani took your stuff? I think you might have done that to your friends over there.
R looks over and quickly hands a pile of supplies back to his friends.

The mother

The baby in the baby's room

The experiment moves to the floor.

 Table three
Esmerelda asks for my attention again. She shows me what her table is building. 
Esmerelda- I'm making a person.
Jolimar is helping Esmerelda. 
Teacher- tell me about your person.
Esmerelda- This is a mommy and this other one is the baby. The mama said "do not cry" because the baby is crying and she wants the baby to go to sleep.
Teacher- do you have a baby in your house?
Esmerelda- I have a three-year-old brother.
She shows me parts of the body. The bottle cap is the belly. The Popsicle sticks with clothespins and twist-ties are the hands. She proceeds to make the baby's room. 
Teacher- What happens next? 
Esmerelda- the mommy will go to work and the baby will sleep.
Kialis notices the person.
Kialis- that looks like a ninja turtle!
Jolimar- yes, it does!

Table Two

Teacher- What are you guys making?

Gabriella- We're making things with clothespins.

Teacher- What is it? Tell me about it.

Gabriella tells me that she is making a chart like their class behavior chart, which uses clothespins to track their behavior. 

Table One

Table one has created a house out of the materials. The interesting thing I noticed about this table is that they moved to the floor to spread out. The table was too confining.  I thought that was an interesting development.

108- I wasn't sure if I'd be available the entire period, due to our visit, so I pushed in.  I was able to document two really interesting situations, so I'm glad I did!

The students in 108 are working with the blocks.

Teacher- can you tell me what you're making?

They tell me that one structure is a castle and the other is a restaurant. This is the class who turned their kitchen area into a restaurant and studied community helpers, so the restaurant idea is still intriguing to them. Castles are a constant theme in all of the classes, so I'm not surprised by that.

Kelis- I'm going to make the oven.

Jayden- how do the people get up here? Are they jumping?

Kelis- this is the fire! And the mailman is dropping off the mail.

Jailyn- the parents are talking

Kelis- this looks like a cake with people in it!

They build the restaurant to a height of about four feet and then they start to worry that it will fall on someone.

Jayden- maybe we should take one or two off

Kelis- don't add more- we can make another one!

Jayden- i have an idea! I want to put a person on each part

Kelis- we could just each make our own.

Nobody seems to like that idea, so they all continue to build one structure at a time, together.

 

The restaurant on the left and the castle on the right.

Jailyn notices that one of the thin blocks can create a teeter-totter effect. She tests this by tipping one side and the doll falls off.

Jailyn- if you throw something on this, it will pop up and fall.

At this point, the structure falls and they all erupt in laughter.

Teacher- jailyn, you noticed something with this block and a person.

She shows me now the person pops up when you hit the other end of the teeter-totter. The other students come over to test it out, as well.

The other structure "accidentally" gets knocked down (I'm not sure it was an accident) and they went back to building, abandoning this little physics experiment in favor of the building activity.

There is a definite understanding of balance and symmetry in these structures, even though they might not be able to describe what they are doing using those words.

At this point, they are no longer interested in building up. Instead, they build a wide rectangle that is only one block high all around.

J- this is our pool!

Jailyn tries to balance two thin pieces that meet at the top to create a slide for the pool. She painstakingly works to get the balance right and eventually succeeds. The boys place "diving boards" around the pool. Kelis and J start making a maze at the entrance to the pool.

Jayden- but we're making a pool!

 maze is how you get in the pool.

Jayden seems impressed with this cool entrance idea.

Jayden- so you go through the maze and then you get to swim in the pool!!

They added a fireman standing guard.

Teacher- what is the fireman for?

J- they are having a pool party so he's there to make sure there are no fires.

The maze continues to grow all around the carpet. Jayla is adding more diving boards. This is a pretty awesome swimming pool.

They build a bridge for people who want to skip the maze.

Jayden- the fireman is filling the pool with water for people to go inside it.

The pool with the maze entrance

Monah, yalin and joe are working with the gears. They've created fishing poles out of the gears and they are using the large bucket the gears came in as the water. Joe vividly describes the imaginary fish that Monah catches. 
Joe- you caught a little crawfish and now the shark ate it, so you can get him! It's a shark! It's huge with big teeth!
And they all scream in pretend fear.
Monah- oh no! Now I caught an electric eel!
She writhes around like she's being electrocuted and joe laughs.
Yalin is relaxing, fishing by himself in the reading chair. 
Aviyer comes over and yalin offers his fishing pole. 
Yalin- do you want to try?
He brings extra gears over and tells them that these are the fish.
Yalin- we need a lot of fish to fish! 
Aviyer started to put the fish in the bucket, but yalin said he wanted the rug to be the water. He's excited about all of the fish that are in the water now. 
Joe- this is a spiky fish!
Aviyer- the blue ones are the electric eels. Don't put one on me!
Monah immediately tosses one to him and he pretends to be electrocuted.
Yalin decides to build a fishing pole for Aviyer so they both have one. He then teaches Aviyer how to use it. 
I'm pleased with the social skills of this group. They are communicating well and paying attention to the ideas and feelings of the other students. 

Fishing is fun! 

Monday, January 13, 2014

120- The students each have a bag of solid objects. They drew a circle on their papers and are sorting the objects into groups based on what the objects have in common. We are trying to lead them to discuss what properties all solids have.

Genesis, holding a screw and a tube that are the same width and height- these two are the same because they are both straight.

Genesis holds up the screw and a piece of metal wire- these are both hard, so they are the same

Esmerelda's Butterfly

Windeliz- these three are all the same because they are straight.
She adds a wooden cylinder block to the mix and says this is also similar because they are all hard.

Genesis matches the two tubes and says, "these are both soft."  She adds that the cloth in the bag is soft, too.

Windeliz picks up a plastic triangle and decides it's also smooth, like the cylinder.
Windeliz- these four are the same because they are straight and hard.
She adds a pencil to the grouping and declares that it would also fit in this group.

Esmeralda comes over to request my presence at her table, so I follow her over.
Esmeralda shows me the tube and the screw.
Esmeralda- these are round, and so is this. They are the same size because you can do this.
She fits the screw inside of the pipe to show me.

Edwin is making a castle out of his solid pieces.
I ask him to compare some of the items. He finds it easier to explain what makes the pieces different. He discusses size and wants to show me that his friends have the same pieces in their bags.

Mrs. Wagner passes out clothespins and Esmerelda quickly shows me that the screw and the clothespin are similar. She shows me that you attach things with the clothespin and tells me that you use the screw to hold pieces of the car together.

Edwin then uses his clothespin to hold the wire. He starts building a contraption, using the wire, clothespins and bottle caps. He tells me the bottle caps are wheels.

This inspires Esmerelda to create a butterfly using two of the same pieces. She explains symmetry to me, without knowing the word, "symmetry." I explain the word symmetry to her and she is pleased that I understood what she was trying to show me.

It's interesting to me that when exploring these materials, each child uses them in an imaginative or artistic way. They are making contraptions and role playing as superheroes. There's no straight investigation of the objects, yet the comparisons are being made. The understanding is present, but they go about it in a playful, engaging manner.

Natalia sets up a sculpture.
Natalia- this is a machine that can build anything. If you pull this piece out, it will be an emergency, that's why people come in here to watch it. If you play video games or use the computer, you can pull these two buttons. One is for you to sleep over and this one is for coming over.
Teacher- so it can send you places?
Natalia- Yes. When you pull just this one white button, you can come over to play. This one is for an emergency, so if you're hurt, call 911, if you're alone. If there's a fire, you can press this one. It has water in it.


Gabriella can't wait at this point to tell me about her sculpture- I made a doctor. He took something while shopping, but he didn't buy it. He had to call 911 so they can do emergency things. He put a hat on that he didn't buy either.
Teacher- why did he steal?
Gabriella- I don't know. He just wanted to. He bought some stuff. He bought this triangle.

Natalia's Machine

112- We used our school's student iPads to watch documentaries on the students' ocean creatures.  We even found documentaries in Spanish, which made it much easier for the students to understand the facts. Each student sat with their own iPad and learned about their creature for their own research. 

108- I brought a small group in and showed them the map we'd started for their community.  They finished coloring the streets, labeled the streets, and created stop signs, a dead end sign and street signs.

The map

The map with some of the buildings

Dead End sign

I didn't meet with my afternoon classes  because our mentors, Ashley and Louise Cadwell, are in town to train and guide us in our Reggio Emilia approach!

Friday, January 10, 2014

120- I proctored an exam
116- I brought a different small group in to work on the church.  The original group was getting tired of drawing and coloring the bricks and I was afraid that we would start to lose the detail and care that they initially put into the piece.  This opened up a conversation about collaboration and the second group was much more enthusiastic to work on this project.

108- I proctored another exam.

118- I brought the "school" group in to finish sculpting our School #33 model. I love it.  I can't wait to see it fired and painted. As a recap, we used Google Earth, which allowed us to see the school in 3D.  This was the first group I'd thought to do this with.  The way the buildings looked like cubes and rectangular prisms made it really easy for the students to translate it from the iPad app to clay.

102- The students talked about what their houses look like and drew pictures of their house and families.

101- The class brainstormed more about Spring.  We looked at texts (artworks) from different cultures and ages, 2D and 3D and compared the two. We looked at two images from China- one from the Song Dynasty and one that is contemporary.  We also looked at Botticelli and a Monet.  I wasn't sure how the preschoolers would react to art criticism and brainstorming for the period, but they were really into it!  They've compiled about 15 spring-related nouns to draw on their mural. 

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Our school (and entire area) was "closed" due to the Polar Vortex Blizzard of 2014 Tuesday and Wednesday.  Today was a super productive day to make up for lost time!

116- The students finished the school mural!  I will get pictures of it hanging on the wall as soon as I can.

118- The students who are building the school out of clay did a phenomenal job!  One more day of work to complete it and I'll take a photograph then.

108- I helped proctor an exam. 

112- I borrowed some books on ocean creatures from the library. The students will spend the next few classes in art and science investigating the ocean creature of their choice.  I've booked the student iPads for next week and the students will have time to watch videos on National Geographic kids to learn more about their animals.  They'll draw the animals from the photographs and compile a list of facts that they want to share with the class about their animal.  We'll have a presentation or perhaps create videos that will teach the rest of the class about each animal. 

101- I hung our New York City mural in the wall beside the library.  I tried to hang it in the library, but with the way the lights and alarms are hung, there wasn't a large enough space! Our librarian was so excited to have artwork and then subsequently disappointed, so I brainstormed with the preschoolers about creating a mural for that empty space in the library. They wanted to draw geometric shapes, rainbows, flowers and insects when I asked them what they thought would be beautiful on the wall. We continued the conversation and decided to go with a "spring" theme and use the acetate paper so the mural will stand out on that plain, open wall space.

Ta-da! New York City is beautifying our cafeteria/library hall! 

Faux flowers (we did just have a blizzard!) drawn from observation

A springtime rainbow

Tracing (for fine motor) and drawing from observation 

Nice drawing of the wooden lady bug

104- I pushed in to observe their science lesson. 

Monday, January 6, 2014

We had a snow day on Friday.  Our city is experiencing some serious winter weather lately!

120- Today, I pushed into 120 while they began their science kits.  I love when I can push in and record dialogue and watch the students experiment with new materials, so this was a fun experience for me.

The students are starting a lesson on solids, liquids and gasses. They are being given supplies of solid items- Popsicle sticks and clothespins to start.

Teacher- What are you doing?

K- we are making a castle

J- we are making houses

Teacher- Is this whole thing a castle?

Both girls- yes

The teacher then hands out twist ties.

K- what is this?

Teacher- what do you think it is?

They have no idea.

W shows me that it twists and begins to attach it to a Popsicle stick.

W- I don't know how to tie it.

Teacher- Try.

She quickly figures out that twisting works. Now she has a new tool to build with the other solids she's experimenting with.

The other two girls continue to make little houses with the materials, systemically making each house the same. They are unsure about the twist ties.

K begins to attach clothespins together.

Teacher- what do these things have in common?

W- you can use them to tie.

Teacher- can you use a Popsicle stick to attach things?

W tries to demonstrate, but realizes that you can't.

Teacher- so maybe that isn't something all three things have in common?

W- no. I need some glue!

Interestingly, K's sister, E, is building a structure very similar to the "house" or "castle" and she's at a completely different table. She's also made a star out of the Popsicle sticks. I previously mentioned that the class is decorating their room with a star motif, so it's interesting to see it popping up here.

I move to another table.

N quickly shows me the "flashlight" she made with clothespins.

G is building a castle out of corks, bottle caps and clothespins.

I ask them the essential question- What is a solid?

G thinks I say "salad" and we laugh at the language mix-up. 

I say, "this is a solid. So is this. They don't look the same, but what makes them all solids?"

G- they don't look alike.

The teacher places wooden blocks of different sizes and shapes on the table and the students begin to build with them.

116- I brought the group in again to work on the non-living parts of our community for their classroom mural. 

108- I brought two boys in to finish painting their buildings and a small group to continue making the map on which their sculpted community will be displayed.

112- I wanted this group to give me ideas as to where we should take our next project, but attempts at brainstorming didn't really have the desired effect. Ms. Natal suggested that we study ocean life, as the students were previously interested in the shell project and would soon be covering ocean life in science class. I logged onto a live ocean webcam from the Aquarium of Monterey Bay.  The students were supposed to be writing down a question they have or something they are interested in learning about, but soon all eyes were on the webcam, anxious to see what creatures would swim in front of the camera. This led to a brainstorming session of all the sea creatures they could think of.  They were very interested in seeing videos of ocean creatures and they all wanted to learn more about this topic. We ended up deciding that we would use the school's student iPads to give the students time to watch videos on National Geographic Kids about the animal they want to learn more about. They will write about the animals and create drawings from observation of their animals. I would like to give them the opportunity to sculpt their animals in clay in the studio, as well.  I love when a project comes together like this. 

103- I had the students finish their drawings of houses made from cut shapes.  They added their families and wrote their addresses.  Two students finished early, so they built their houses out of clay.

104- I had the students think about what kind of building they live in.  Is it a single family home?  A double? A big apartment building?  They then drew their houses.  Some were extremely detailed- the correct amount of floors or the buzzers in apartment buildings, garages and street signs for houses.  They enjoyed this activity and were busy for the entire period.

Thursday, January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!  We're back!

120- We started off the new year with a fun project.  The class is decorating their room to take ownership of it.  They are collecting metal lids from cans (like pasta sauce jars) and painting stars on the inside of the lid, then gluing the lids to the classroom wall.  They are also painting the chairs for their kitchen area.  Today, I worked with a group as we sponge-painted the chairs. We talked about texture as we created a coat of white sponge prints all over the wooden chairs. Now they are a blank canvas for the stars and rainbows the students wanted to paint on them!

116- I took a group to continue working on the large drawings of the school and the church next door for their community mural. These should be finished by next week, hopefully, and we can add to the mural.  Our next step will be to add more living and non-living things from our community to the mural.

108- The class was small today due to the inclement weather, so I took the whole group into the studio to paint their community buildings.  Two girls hadn't finished their buildings, so they were in charge of making the map that the buildings will be displayed upon.  They looked at a map of our school on Google Maps for inspiration. They added the river and the 190 expressway, the park and lots of streets.

118- I brought the school group in to start building the school out of clay.  I had an idea to show the students the building on Google Earth (no, Google isn't paying me for any of this- I just happened to use their handy apps today!) Google Earth allows you to see the building as three-dimensional.  It's easier to see that a building is a rectangular prism or cube from Google Earth than it is to see a photograph of the building.  I thought this would help their creation and it did! I helped them draw the shapes we saw and they began to assemble slabs of clay into the form of our school as though it were a game of Tangrams or Tetris.  They need to add details like windows and doors, but it was a great start!  Google Earth was a huge help.

102 and 101- As a continuation of our lesson on shapes and houses, I had the students draw their houses and families.

Dialogue:

Teacher, showing students a drawing of her house and family- If you look at this image I drew, what does it inspire you to do something today? 

J- I want to draw!

C- I want to draw my house and family!

J- I have a dad like the one you drew! 

C-I have a tree in my yard just like that!

D- I have a puppy dog, too!

C- I think we are going to draw a picture of our family and dogs!

D draws a curved street with a house and a stop sign. He doesn't know how to write, "stop" but J does, so he helps his friend. J then adds a stop sign to his street scene and invites D over to visit his house. D then draws the school and the church by the school.

D- I live near the school!

 J- I'm drawing myself hiding from my dad!  He doesn't know where I am. I'm hiding because we're playing hide and seek. I'm going to hide my sister, too. She's eight. 

D- I have a treehouse.  Do you have a treehouse?

Everyone says, "No!" 

D- It has a tree with a ladder and I'm hiding from my dad, too, in the tree house. We're playing hide and seek, too.

J- I'm going to draw the whole street. Nobody can go in the street because it's dangerous. Cars go really fast. My mom is inside the house watching my sister who is one-year-old. My sister has messy hair because she always messes it up.

A drew a car in front of his house.  He isn't sharing much, but he's quietly working.

J- My cousin is here. She has pretty hair. She likes my house because she likes blue and white.  My little brother is three.

M- This is my sister and my mom and my car.

C- I don't have a car.  I drew my friend's house. She doesn't live there anymore.

Teacher notices that J's house has a sign that says, "yes." She asks why it says that.

J- It means only people who are good can come in my house.  The stop sign says they can't go if they are bad. At my house, I don't really have a stop sign or a yes sign. Just in the drawing.