Vivian said " I feel nice on ice!"

A great project to kick off our recycled materials sculpture (that we are starting next week), these flowers brightened up our room for the party. We were busy during our short week making decorations, preparing the Friendship Tree, and learning the Chicken Dance!

We spent much time this week talking about what it means to be a friend, how friends solve problems, and of course sending messages to friends. We plan to continue with that next week and expand it a bit to the bigger Stephens community. Next week, we will be sending notes and expressing thanks to the people at the facilities department who help keep our building clean and well maintained. We will also visit Coach Pavlovich at the gym...have basketball, will travel!

Connections

Making a silhouette...

...appeared to inspire Zachary and Willa to work on another kind of portrait...together!

The snowy weather made for a slow start to our day. As the children drifted in, we decided to have one larger group, rather than break up into smaller groups. We read Snowflake Bentley and then went outside to try to catch and photograph snowflakes. Back inside, we used the overheard projector to enlarge a "snowflake". Check out the story at PBS for more on the man who photographed snowflakes.

Today at the art table, we re-visited this...Cathy Topal can say it better than I can. "Thinking With A Line shows you how the edge of a small rectangle of cardboard dipped into paint can become a tool for making lines. By repeating a single line, children discover they can print vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. They also discover ways to extend, cross and space their lines. They find when lines connect they can form shapes. By combining lines and shapes children begin creating complex structures such as letters, alphabets, patterns and designs, trees and plants, buildings, boats, machines and vehicles." --from Thinking With a Line, by Cathy Topal

Starting Friday, Kim, Teresa and I will all start posting what we are doing in our small groups. Lately it has been story-acting, speech bubbles for animals, and book making. Many of them shared their work with the class. As we go into next week, we will be engaged in listening to them during worktime to hear what other interests are developing.

Coloring Mandalas

This is the preschool version of a "quilting bee"...everyone's hands busy working, engaged in conversation. And it's relaxing work too!

Valentines for Veterans

"Love is in the air...." We worked together with students from the Multi-age classroom to make cards for Veterans.

And our basket runneth over! These cards will soon be on their way to a Veteran.

In addition to using puppets to tell stories and making our own books, we have been talking about sending messages to others. We can use our symbols to "address" messages and sign them.

And, even "chalk rocks" can be used to write.

We have a new resident in our classroom--A magic mouse, who, it seems might also like to write messages given the "offerings" the children left for him. We read Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni and it gave me the idea to try to sculpt a mouse out of clay with the children. That lead to the secret mouse door...and beyond! Who knows what will be waiting for us when we return on Monday. Some of the children think the mouse may leave us a message, or even build something with blocks. Who knows?

Alphabet City? No, New York City!

Okay, this is just a teaser. You should take a moment and check out the pictures we have in the room and see the little city they have created. ..complete with high rises and the Statue of Liberty...but no smog!

What's In a Name?

This morning during sign-in, a group at the art studio table decided it was time for the animals to have nametags (and symbols, like we have). First we just labeled the animals, and that gave way to more distinct names. 'Bugsy', the gazelle, 'Sweetie Belle' the giraffe, and so on. The same group revisited the table during work time to make little tents and beds for the animals. Koala Lou listens to a story.
Instead of paper on the table, why not under it?

Jumping cars ...through a ring of fire? This later gave way to a super hero boat. Zachary said "I work for the company superheroes...I can stand in fire because I AM fire!"

Orange and Blue

The fog and rain made for a very crafty afternoon. Beading, clay and painting at the "weasel". I enjoyed watching and capturing with the camera how each of the painters used the colors differently, how they stood or knelt, used two brushes at once, and talked as they created their scenes. Their work is hanging in the room and each piece has a unique personality.

Lions and Tigers and Bears....Oh My!

It started with the barn, then a paddock was built for the plastic animals and then it was expanded and turned into a zoo. Catherine became a Tiger that the whole class came by to see, and offer books and food. We are going to add to their animal acting by making masks on Friday.

Miss Teresa Joins Our Classroom

Searching for just the right sculpture treasure

Some of the comments left by viewers of our exhibit included "Your sculptures make me happy", "Very creative...I would love to have them in my home", and "Thank you for sharing your work with us." I agree, I agree, I agree!

Bembo's Zoo

Letters, letters everywhere. It seems as if many of the children came back to school, after the break, with a heightened curiosity about letters. Today, we made letter collages, and all week we have been playing with our wooden letter pieces. Kim and I prepared the Highway Letters so that our race car drivers might perhaps put them all together to make a rambling alphabet road next week. And check out the Bembo's Zoo website.

A Sneak Peek into Our Artists' Studio

The building and sculpting has drawn to a close, the stories are being told and the strawberries will get dipped in chocolate tomorrow...all in preparation for our gallery-style showcase on Friday. Come at your leisure and let their creations take you back to a place where imagination reigns. The sculptures make Kim and I smile...hope they will brighten your day too.

Sculptors at work

Last week, we explored the properties of wood and foil in preparation for starting our sculpture work today. We used wood cut-offs, Beautiful Stuff and cardboard. After our work dries, we will add another layer. Some of their suggestions were to add paper. We also sculpted letters using these wood pieces.

"There's a steering wheel in my heart." --Makayla

We introduced writers notebooks. These can be easily made at home, too. We used story pages with a few modifications. After they draw something, we help them with a word or two about an especially fun detail in their drawing.

We had so much to share and do today...how do we fit it all in? There were animal amusement parks to build, books to share and still more boats to build. On Wednesday, we will dive into a study of sculpture and what materials we can use. Westlake has generously saved their lumber cut-offs for us. In combination with our Beautiful Stuff, recycled material, clay, and foil, we will begin building on Friday.