“This one has two, this one has four, this one has 6.”
K12 Field Trip to Eldora Mountain Yoga Ashram
Ready, set, GO!
The children have created a game together, which they are playing in many different settings. The game usually involves the phrase, “ready, set, go!,” some sort of simultaneous movement such as running, then gathering back together, waiting, looking back and forth at each other, and naturally taking turns being the one to shout joyously, “ready, set, go!” We are observing so much joy and excitement in the children around this discovery of cooperative, collaborative play.
City Building
The kids are interested in our homemade geoboard, and Lincoln has the idea that it could be a city. They all take turns adding different rubber bands, making shapes and strings of “lights”.
The city becomes a space ship, and Cal realizes the rubberbands can be ‘sound makers’
Chalk and Water on Black Paper
In this experience we worked with chalk and water on black paper. Some chose to pour the water over the paper, others spread it over the chalk using paintbrushes to smear and blur the lines.
Geography Class
Some pictures from an ongoing exploration of geography.
Communication
“Rawwwwrrrrr!”
“Stop! I don’t want to play that game”
“That was really clear. You don’t want to play this game. Does the growling feel scary?”
“Yes!”
“Stop!”
“I don’t want to play that game!”
“Guys, guys. I’m a friendly monster! See? I jump too!”
“Yeah, you can jump too!”
Invitation to play:
“This castle really need some friends! He wants the dinosaurs to play with him, because he’s really lonely.” -L “I’ll play with you!” -G “Can this one be my room?” -H
Drawing with Sand and Light
We observed children exploring various strategies for creative expression–using one finger, multiple fingers, one hand, two hands, experimenting with small movements and large movements, straight lines, and wiggly lines, circles and spirals.
Some words that came to mind as we watched the children interact with this offering: soothing, collaborative, shared canvas, impermanence, large scale, sensory…
Who will run meeting?
Amelia and Eddie want to run meeting, but so does Kai. How do we decide who gets to run meeting? We discuss the issue for a few minutes. Various proposals are brought up. The person who helped us negotiate the proposal was Jia, a 5 year old. She was able to see that since Amelia and Kai couldn’t make a decision that someone else should sit in their place until we come up with a system that works for everyone. Amelia and Kai were willing to be flexible and move on so the meeting could take place. Eventually, we agree on the proposal: “Neither Kai nor Amelia will run meeting today and we will put running meeting on the issues list.”
Counting Numbers
“Our calendar is almost full of numbers! What number will it be today, can anyone help me count?” “I can’t count that high, because sometimes I mess up the numbers.” “Yeah, there are a lot of numbers. Maybe we can learn them by practicing. Let’s count them together.” (After counting) “I did it! I didn’t miss any numbers.”
“How do you draw a 4?”
River practices over and over again, recognizing that 44 is a separate number, 444 is its own number, and even 4,444 is its own number!
“I want to draw a 4!”
Troy feels tentative about drawing a 4 all by himself, so we make dot to dots to help. Peter and Sean join in, drawing their own versions of a 4.