Dear Families,
Our first full week of school flew by! We began working on a bird for Prince Philip to fly upon. Children helped crumple paper and attach masking tape to form a body. We worked in small groups to wet strips of newspaper and dunk it in watery, sticky glue. “Quack, quack,” said Suleman, showing his growing knowledge of English words, especially related to animals!
Some friends were most interested in ripping tape, while others found tearing and crumpling paper most captivating.It was hard to believe that this activity would transform into a bird! Outside of baking, this is our first piece of collaborative art work. The process will continue for weeks as we revisit our puppet friend, talk about feathers and notice birds outside, linking our classroom stories and culture to the greater world we all inhabit.
“Look,” said one child as a ‘V’ of geese flew overhead, “they’re going way far away.” Later, we brought out bubbles and children ran to try and catch the streams of iridescent spheres the wind helped blow. “Are they flying,” I asked. “Yes!” “But how? Where are their wings?” “You can’t see them.” “Are they invisible?” “Yes, you just can’t see them.”
The children watched quietly and closely as the story of the star inside the apple was told using our tiny dollhouse inhabitants. At lunch we often discuss how fruit holds seeds and pits and how these seeds can become trees. This is also hard to believe. How can a humble seed transform into a fruit-bearing tree? The children were evenly divided on whether or not they believed there would be a star inside the apple. “There is!” “Yay! There is one.” “There’s really two!”
One morning we put out collage materials. It was interesting to observe how each child approached the task of creating a whole from such disparate elements:green tulle, tiny apple tree twigs, golden grasses, sunflower petals, black beans, white beans, sparkly glitter, colored wooden tiles and shiny buttons. One child spent time painstakingly breaking branches into tinier and tinier pieces, stockpiling his wood beside his palette of cardboard. Another child spent time pulling petals from a sunflower’s face, another picking only black beans out. Each collage is like a small self-portrait. Come see our ‘class picture’ above the fireplace!
We revisited clay. “It’s cold!” “It’s wet.” “It’s stuck on the table!” This material takes getting used to, it is not pliant and easily manipulated like play dough, it takes strength and intention to work with it. It can also be tremendously grounding and it was amazing to see a group of small children working so quietly and diligently together to create little worlds. “It’s my garden. See? My garden has all these trees. It’s a forest. A forest garden.” “This is the snowman and he can go way up on this tree.”
On Friday we were surprised by an unexpected fire alarm. We were very proud of how well the children adapted to this “very surprising” event and were able to quickly and quietly exit the building. Later we took a peaceful walk around our beautiful campus and collected many treasures from nature:goldenrod, ‘cherry apples,’ twigs, bark, pennies, leaves, pebbles, jewel weed and more! We will make a different collage with these treasures on Tuesday.
It is a joy to see these children growing in confidence as they continue to familiarize themselves with their classroom materials and routines and forge friendships with one another.
I hope you enjoyed a beautiful last weekend of summer!
Sarah