A celebration!

We enjoyed such a lovely presentation/celebration of Chanukah this week. Thank you to all of you who made this possible. A wonderful story was shared as well as demonstrations of lighting of the menorah and playing with Dreidels. We even tasted a small amount of jelly-filled doughnuts! The children were delighted to be sharing their beautiful traditions as well as learning new things about how each family celebrates the holiday season.

A study of symmetry in snowflakes

“Under the microscope I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." Snowflake Bentley.

Wilson Snowflake Bentley is one of my favorite scientist/artists. He is one of the first known photographers to be able to capture ice crystal images. Every year in Math Workshop we read the book SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. It is a lovely story that captures the passion and determination of one boy from Vermont who was often misunderstood. His father felt that the time he dedicated to this study of snow was foolish. Snow was as common as dirt in Vermont...but the end he and his wife spent their savings on a camera with a microscope for Wilson to continue his work. Through great patience and tenacity his research proved two important truths no two snowflakes are alike and each one is incredibly beautiful in it’s design.

This story inspired us to continue our study of symmetry. Through loose parts the children were invited to plan and create a symmetrical design reminiscent of snowflakes. Throughout the process the students were counting out loud and helping one another find perfect balance in their compositions.

Canoes!

We totally lucked out for our canoe trip! The weather was lovely- crisp and sunny. The Blue Heron and Hawk were about the pond as well as many other types of birds. The children were brave and happy to explore the gifts of our wetlands. As we the time came to climb out of the canoe Carl exclaimed "I am not ready to leave the water!" I think that is how we all felt. Thank you to the parent volunteers for your help. It was a very special adventure.

Tossing the ball

Earlier in the year during an open ART STUDIO explore Eliot said:

“If animals didn’t have any blood then they couldn’t walk or anything.”

Around the same time Ms. Meredith shared one of her own vintage MAGIC SCHOOL BUS books where we were taken on an adventure through the HUMAN BODY. – this particular book sparked a lot of interest group wide. It was Karlee’s top pick for story-time for the remainder of the week.

So a few weeks later Meredith brought in her beautiful collection of animal bones and we set them out in the Wonder Corner for observational drawing. On small pieces of white paper we included the simple question of what do you wonder. This is some of what we collected:

How do these bones work?- Sally

Why does the sheath (from the antelope) fall of the bone? Noah

What is the tube that goes down the center of our body? The spinal cord? That is really interesting. Carl

What does a kidney look like? Carl

I know what a kidney looks like (starts to shape it with her hands)- Addie

Yeah- it’s like a large bean. -Jane

The next step was inviting Laura Foster Flynn in to see this beginning work and together brainstorm ways we could keep the conversation fresh in art studio.

So she set up a beautiful environment with images of animals and bones and invited more observational drawing.

I am drawing the brain of a coyote. Helo

I drew a skunk, this is the sack for the spray. I drew the spine too- oh and here are the stars in the sky. Sally

I drew an opossum. I kind of looked at the details. I drew bones. Coco

I am drawing a chipmunk. I am drawing his bones and a heart. I drew fur and I made blood. Eliot

I am making a Coyote. I am making the heart and connecting the blood to her back. Karlee

I am drawing a coyote. I am drawing the blood in circles, up and down. That is how it moves. Jane

I am drawing an opossum. He is eating foot and the food is moving in his body. The food is going to make him sick. But actually it doesn’t – it is magic and it makes him know. – Addie.

I drew a moose. I drew his stomach. I made the antlers. I made the fur. Olivia.

I am drawing the coyote. I drew the tube from his mouth to his stomach. I drew the tube from his stomach to his tail. I drew his intestines. He is sniffing and howling. Here are his fangs. He Is looking for food! And I think he is eating a blue jay already. Carl

This is how inquiry work often works- we hear a juicy nugget and toss out a ball to them in form of a provocation. In this case they threw it back with rich juicy observations and questions… Now the challenge is GROWING the investigation…what kind of ball should we throw back?

Last week we paired up into mind buddy partners and went on a shape hunt around campus. The kids loved being outside searching for shapes we can find in the world around us. We discovered that shapes are EVERYWHERE! We found them in fences, on the sidewalk, cross walks, bricks of buildings, signs and of course in the beautiful nature that surrounds our campus. The children also learned about recording their findings through tally marks- they were also encouraged to count the data along the way!