Wordless Wednesday: Sugar Shack!

March Month-To-Month Mural: Wet Clay

We weren't quite sure what the next step for our mural should be. The Frogs have shifted into a phase where they are investigating three-dimensional artwork. They are especially into working with clay. We weren't quite sure if it was possible to incorporate this exploration into our two-dimensional mural.

Then we put this out on the art table;

...Which eventually turned into this;

...And this;

...which, we decided, could easily translate to this;

There was one point in the process where the entire canvas was covered in wet clay. Our previous layers were completely obscured. We teachers definitely had a bit of an, "Uh oh, What have we done!" moment.

Not to worry! The kids revisited the discovery that they made the last time and used Popsicle sticks, paint brush handles, and whatever else they could find, to scrape off some of the wet clay, once again exposing the layers of paint underneath.

Just to be on the safe side, we fell back on an old pre-school teacher standby;

When in doubt, add glitter!

We have found that using spoons to sprinkle glitter works well with this group. The kids are so very precise, almost delicate with their sprinkling and spreading- very different from the "Shake the bottle, hard, until it's empty!" approach that we see when we offer glitter in shakers.

For good measure, we also offered google eves and plastic spangles, perfect for embedding in the wet clay...

Once the glitter-storm had passes, we figured we should probably attempt to somehow seal this new layer. We mixed white glue and water, and painted the milky mixture over the entire surface.

Here's what the mural looks like now;

We almost don't want to change it again!

Super-Mega Curriculum Update...

Howdy all! Wowza! We have so many balls in the air right now, as we juggle several different curriculum threads that are emerging. In the interest of getting them all out there before we lose track of them, I give you…bullets;

• Thursday, everyone pretended that the book area was a bus. Eventuallly, that morphed into an airplane, made out of chairs in the middle of the classroom. Friday, we teachers arranged the chairs on top of the loft, and added headphones, computer keyboards, and books to see if the Frogs would carry this airplane play further. They did, adding a ticket counter at the bottom of the steps. Today, we set the loft up in the same way. The Frogs started in with their “airplane” game, until one child announced “I’m on a spaceship!” Well, given a choice between a plane ride and a trip on a spaceship, which would you choose? The Frogs blasted off. We added some homemade jet packs and space helmets from a few years ago to the mix, then borrowed a few books from the Chameleon Room that featured astronauts and space craft. They were very well received. Can’t wait to see where this goes!


• In the interest of bringing this air travel thread into other areas of the classroom, we teachers started using unclaimed artwork to make paper airplanes on Friday. This weekend, Chameleon teacher Scott found a great how –to-fold-fancy-paper-airplanes book at the recycling center. Serendipity? We think so!


• We are still pursuing our exploration of clay. Last week, we experimented with mixing self-hardening clay and water. Then we decided to add a layer of the thick, muddy terracotta slip we made to our mural. There was a moment in the process where we thought, “Perhaps we’ve made a biiiiig mistake…” As usual, it all worked out for the best. The current version of the mural is hanging in it’s space near the school entrance, so be sure to take a look. We also have a very image heavy blog post elaborating on the process coming your way today or tomorrow.


• We have added a few ceramic pieces to our kitchen area, in order to give the children a chance to experience what happens to clay when it has been fired, glazed, and fired again. We look forward to working with Nort and Scott in the art studio again, to make some of our own clay pieces that we will glaze and fire.


• It actually feels like spring outside! This means it’s time to pull our maple taps from the tree, as the sap becomes bitter as soon as the tree begins to grow buds. We produced about a pint and a half of syrup from the 15 plus gallons of sap that we collected. After observing the process of converting sap to syrup on the small scale in the classroom, the Frogs were able to visit a local sugar shack to see how maple syrup is produced on a large scale. Thanks to all of the parents who helped to make our field trip happen!


• With the new season, comes a number of perennial class projects; soon we will be planting seeds, reviving our worm box, and setting some fertile chicken eggs in our incubator to see what happens!


• Michelle will be traveling to Pennsylvania on the 12th to participate in the 2011 Terri Lynne Lokoff National Child Care Teacher Awards ceremony. This award comes with a $500.00 classroom grant, which will be put towards implementing an expanded science curriculum in the Frog room. We can’t wait!


• Phew! That’s all I can think of for now. Stay tuned to see where this goes!

An Explaination

I'm Baaaack!!!

It occurred to me that there is a distinct possibility that many of the Frogs came home from school yesterday (Friday, 3/25) talking about a raccoon in the dumpster. Do not be alarmed, we haven't been playing in or around the dumpster, nor have we had any close encounters with local wildlife. What they were referring to was a Frog Room legend, The Legend of the Raccoon With the Teeny Tiny Spoon.

During circle time, I had a few requests for a story "not from a book". I broke out this gem of a classroom legend from waaaay back in 2006, when the Frogs attempted to make muffins with disastrous results. Here's the daily news write up from that fateful day;

Thursday, December 21st, 2006

How to make Applesauce Muffins the Frog Room way!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Raisins, soaked

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a muffin pan.

In a small bowl, mix together applesauce & oil. Crack the egg. Sniff and realize that something is horribly wrong. Pass the bowl around the table so all of the frogs can see and smell the horribly rotten egg mixture. Pour mixture into double plastic bags and lead the procession out to the dumpster. Dispose of stinky package. Return to the classroom to discover that there is no more applesauce. Find a couple of apples, peel them, slice them & put them in a pot with water. Lead the procession to the kitchen and put the pot on the stove. While apples are cooking, entertain five children with a dramatic re-telling of the rotten egg experience. Embellish with tales of a raccoon who sneaks into the dumpster at night to eat the stinky egg mixture with a tiny spoon. Remove apples from heat. Return to classroom and take turns mashing apples with a potato masher. In a small bowl, mix together applesauce & oil again. Crack egg into a separate bowl and sniff to confirm that the egg is OK. Pass around the table for more confirmation. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in non- stinky egg mixture. Stir until just moistened. Fold in raisins. Spoon into muffin cups, 2/3 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 2 minutes before removing.
Eat lunch, play outside, take a nap and enjoy for afternoon snack.

Inevitably, we wind up telling the story of this day- focusing heavily on the Raccoon with the Teeny Tiny Spoon- every single year. In the true spirit of storytelling, the Frogs often wind up adapting and re-telling their own versions.

Now here's the fun part; ask your child if they remember the story of the Raccoon with the teeny tiny spoon. If so, see if they can tell it to you.

We're dying to hear what they come up with!

Mud Season

So often, the inspiration for our next curriculum journey comes from what is happening outside. Right now, the snow that we've grown so very tired of has finally started to take it's leave (Everybody, Quick! Knock some wood!)

As the snowbanks on our playground shrink, they leave us with this;

MUD!!!

Gorgeous, soupy, sticky mud!

We teacher's know that asking the kids to "Please stay out of the mud" is almost as futile (and borderline cruel after months of ice and snow), as saying "Please, don't eat the snow!"

Indeed, we take a similar approach to mud bathing as we did to snow eating; state the facts, ie. "if you eat the snow, it could get you sick/If you squish your hands in the mud, they will feel sticky." , then monitor the kids accordingly.

We also try to offer opportunities for the kids to enjoy this kind of sensory exploration in a different setting.

Last month, the Frogs were fascinated with painting. They explored foam paint, watercolors, tempera- you name it- and cranked out so many pieces, we scarcely had room to dry them all. This month, we wanted to challenge them to try and extend this prolific exploration to another medium.

With mud season at hand, Clay seemed like the perfect fit!

We started out by setting out lumps of self hardening Terra-cotta and a bunch of small, simple tools like toothpicks and Popsicle sticks. This is what happened;

"I'm making a birthday cake!"

"He's a porcupine!"

"Dinosaur"

The Frogs were especially inclined to embed as many toothpicks in each lump as they could possibly fit. They also were very into making a foray into representational art, making sure to tell us exactly what they made.

As we continued to invite the Frogs to work with the clay, we experimented with our presentation.

Instead of setting out lumps of clay, we rolled out pieces of slab for the children to work with. At first, we presented the clay slab without tools, just to see what the children would do. Just like the mud outside, they were compelled to poke, prod and make their mark with their very capable fingers;

'These are my guy's faces."

The next day, we put out clay slab and toothpicks to see what would happen. One of our most dedicated painters sat right down and made a discovery;

Toothpicks can work just like markers or paintbrushes!

Her discovery was immediately picked up by the rest of the group, who were now asking for clay slabs to work with almost every morning.

Now, here at Nonotuck, we are lucky enough to have a couple of fantastic resources; First, we have a dedicated art studio space that the children can use for projects that require a little more time, space, or focus. Next, we have Nort, our afternoon teacher, and Scott, our Chameleon (Four to Five year old) classroom teacher. Both Nort and Scott are accomplished ceramic artists in their own right, and we are so very fortunate that they just happen to love sharing their expertise and passion for this medium with children!

We made a plan to spend some time down in the art studio with Scott, Nort, and a few of the older kids at Nonotuck who were interested in working with clay. Nort set up a table with softer clay slabs, and various items, including rocks, plastic hammers, and rubber stamps alongside the more traditional clay tools.

Scott set up another table with clay squares that had dried to a leather-hard consistency. He set out a number of pointier tools, suitable for carving the denser clay.

Both teachers, along with their pre-school aged 'clay mentors' took their places at their respective tables, ready to provide reminders on safe tool usage and to assist the Frogs if needed. the Frogs settled right into the productive, creative vibe of the studio. They were respectful of the tools, and used them carefully and creatively to investigate the different clay bodies.


They gouged...

They poked...

They scooped...

They stamped...

And they worked, for almost an hour, in a peaceful, spirited flow state.

It was truly beautiful.

Of course, 'tis the season for beautiful things to spring up out of the mud!

Supporting Caring Environments for Children...Here and in Japan

When I created this blog, one of my goals was to document and share the evolution of our curriculum by focusing on the environment. I decided to use photos that focused specifically on the physical classroom environment, rather than the children not only as a way to respect the children's online privacy, but to put the focus on how a well thought out, dynamic space can support children's physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
Upon hearing about the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, my thoughts went immediately to all of the parents and children who were affected by this catastrophe. I'm sure many of you did the same thing.
As a parent and teacher of young children, I appreciate that the day to day, moment to moment demands of life with children are as relentless as they are rewarding. As parents, we are driven to meet our children's needs, even if the world is falling apart around us. Children need comfort, care, stability, and time and space for joy. Providing all of these constantly can be stressful under the best of circumstances. When I think of the parents in Japan, who are trying to care for their children in an environment that is in shambles...I do not have the words. Truly, my heart breaks for them.
Save the Children is a reputable, international organization with a team on the ground in Sendai, Japan. According to a March 13th press release , one of their immediate goals is "to set up a network of child-friendly spaces aimed to provide children in shelters with a safe place to play, and to give parents a break from watching their children while they register for emergency assistance."
Given the focus on creating and celebrating supportive environments for children, this blog seems like an appropriate space to share this information. Please consider visiting Save the Children's website to learn more about their relief efforts, and, if you are able to, please consider making a donation to support their work in Japan.

Wordless Wednesdays