Movement- Late Winter Week 2

The second week of this term provided a chance to try out our new space (back tables in South) with a larger group of 8. With lots of teamwork and communication, we were able to clear some table and benches to make room for moving big. Although, we soon realized that we would benefit from a much larger carpeted space. We decided to share the classroom space with drama using some dividers which proved to give us so much more room and access to more materials to practice our balancing skills.
We first discussed the relationship between the inner ear and the cerebellum and how they help our body learn to balance. To start off slow, we practiced balancing our bodies while stationary. All showed a way that they like to balance on the floor, some on their feet, others on their hands and knees. Then we explored those same poses on different heights, widths, and surfaces (i.e. benches, carpet squares, and fabric strips) as well as stable and unstable objects (i.e. boards on blocks/teeter totters). Once we had this down, we worked on moving across these surfaces. We noticed how different it feels to move and balance and how our bodies shake a little less as our muscles are engaged in a different way.
By the end of the week, we were talking about balancing objects on our bodies. This was illustrated for friends with a balance where we talked about weight and counterweight and how both sides need to be equal weight for that objects to be balanced. We explored balancing beanbags and blocks which stationary and moving.

Art, Late Winter: Week 1

Jackson, Vija, Olin, Anja, Monica, Jay, Lana

Day 1: We talked about all of the various things in our lives made from trees. After reading a couple books about paper making, we pulled out a large sheet of recycled paper and made a plan on how to deconstruct it. Most friends wanted to work on individual projects, cutting and tearing away at the large sheet.

Day 2: We got a bunch of produce boxes from Chef David to deconstruct. The cardboard was extra thick so it was a bit tricky to cut into. Monica created her own shop out of her box. While sitting inside, she drew windows and buttons to look out of and push. Olin had an extra large box that he cut two large holes out of, creating a jet to fly around the room in.

Day 3: This day was kind of loud:) Using all the old ends and bits of crayons, we chose a handful of colors and glued them to cardstock. After agreeing to safely use the hair dryers, only pointing them at the art pieces, we melted down the crayons, watching the wax slowly drip and spread across the paper.

Day 4: Since we've been talking a lot about how things are made, I thought it would be fun see how our lovies and stuffed animals are created. Some friends were a bit reluctant at first, concerned that if we cut them open they might get hurt. We began cutting them open, revealing lots stuffing and many, many, individual pieces and hardware.  Some friends wanted to create something to take home while others enjoyed the deconstructing process.

Sensory: Later Winter Week 1

Finley, Lior, Gabriel, July, Ila, Lera, Malia, Meredith - This quarter's big theme is deconstruction.
We began our first day exploring a new material not explored last quarter, oil. After filling our own jars and a larger jar we each added blue water color and watched as it dispersed into the water. Friends shared observations about how the blue was mixing in. Some stirred rapidly with their droppers and others waited to see what the blue dye would do. Next, we added oil and spend the rest of day one talking about the natural separation which occurred each time we shook our jars.
We concluded that water is heavier because it sinks to the bottom and oil is lighter because it sinks to the top. The next three following days we began scaffolding upon the knowledge we gained from last quarter's ateliers using water, flour, salt and our new ingredient, oil.
Day two we examined the properties of prepared dough, trying to deconstruct how it was made. To enhance our sensory vocab and detection we added scents and parts of orange, lavender and peppermint. Day two we explored orange, grating orange peel (zest) into our dough. Day three we explored with peppermint and day four we explored with lavender. Day five we got to try and make the dough we had been exploring as well as adding any scent or combination of to make the perfect dough to take home and share using all of our senses.

Science: Late Winter, Week 1

Welcome back to Science Atelier! The past two terms the children have been experimenting with biodiversity and adaptation. To further expand on this knowledge we will be studying animal classification.
To begin, the children worked to understand the basics of deconstructing classification through a tangible process. Our first step was to deconstruct a place that we all had in common, our school. We drew out the downstairs, the upstairs, who is in each space, the number of classrooms, the number of teachers, the name's of groups, etc.... As an explanation I explained that each time we put someone into a group we were sorting, or creating a classification for that person. Next we moved on to our own families. Using a visual aid the children shared who (people and pets) is in their family and then we took turns sorting by girls and boys, parents and children, people and animals, short and tall....
On our second day meeting we took a closer look at the animal kingdom. The children took turns sorting animals into groups based on their own knowledge and what they understood through our research. Our conversation lead us to an in depth discussion on mammals and how they are sorted. How is it possible that a dolphin and a monkey are in the same kingdom?! Garland pointed out, "Humans are primates and so are monkeys." As we moved more into deciphering how to deconstruct the animal groups we began to understand more about fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and vertebrates.
On our third day we were all excited to examine the new specimen jars. I brought out all 100 of them to the tables and after explaining the guidelines of how to handle them (they are very delicate) the children began to sort or classify. The children decided to fill one table with all the vertebrates and the other table with all the invertebrates. Through further sorting the children grouped like color and like shape. Frogs and turtles went together because of their green and brown and all worm-like creatures went together because of their shape.
On our fourth day I provided the children with different animal characteristics such as snake skin and fur. The children were invited to explore the materials and utilize any of the specimen jars to combine together to create their own creature. As they combined materials the children would explain if they had created a mammal, reptile, amphibian, or something else based on the animal's characteristics.
On our last day together we got out everything that we had been discussing and experiment with so that the children could create their own specimen sketches. Some children drew new animals of their own imaginations while other drew those animals that fit into a specific classification. It was an exciting learning process to watch. Check in with your children about the animals you see in your own neighborhood and yard and decide where it should fit or create your very own fantastic being!

Mechanics: Late Winter, Week 1

We got off the a great start by discussing the overall theme of "Deconstruction," and what it means and where we see it. We all agreed on, it is when something that is built already is knocked down or taken apart. That lead us into the underlying theme of our atelier, mechanics. Where we discussed the different types of machines that we see everyday. We came up with quite a list, most of which were complex machines. We then turned our focus to what makes up the complex machines by disassembling a few machines of our own. As we took them apart we took note of all the parts that go into making up one complex machine. Noticing these smaller parts brought up the question, "what are these smaller machines that make this whole thing work?" On Wednesday we talked more about smaller, more simple machines that we use everyday such as scissors, staplers, hammers and pry bars, all examples of levers. We set up stations where the students could experiment all three classes of levers and a couple other simple machines. One station we used scissors and staplers, another using hand mixers to stir up water and soap to make bubbles, which was a huge hit! At yet another station we had hammers nails and wood to practice hammering and prying. on the final day we narrowed our focus yet again to one of my favorite levers... catapults! We were all challenged to build a catapult using two or three blocks and see how high or how far we could launch smaller blocks. blocks were flying everywhere, and when Solomon starting using his foot to launch the blocks the blocks flew even higher and farther! We ended the week by experimenting with some catapults that I made at home out of Lego. We discussed the similarities between the catapults they had mad and the ones that I made and then got to launching!

Engineering: Late Winter, Week One

Week One: Lane, Ryder B, Arlo, Natalie, Sierra, Abigail, and Vita.

Engineering is off to a great start! In keep with our overarching theme of Deconstruction, we'll be focusing on demolishing structures this term, and the kids have really been enjoying things. On Monday, we started thinking critically about this stuff by doing a little bowling in the hallway, with the kids having the opportunity to set up the pins themselves and experiment with a variety of configurations. From there, we moved on to using a "wrecking ball" made out of an old broom handle, some rubber bands, and a block, and the spent much of the rest of the week with a catapult we used to knock down a stack of coffee cans. The children very much enjoyed using a measuring tape to see how far their missile had travelled, taking apart and rebuilding the catapult together, and seeing how their different ideas affected the machine's performance. Have a wonderful weekend!

Movement- Late Winter Week 1

These eager movers started off the week by talking about how our bodies control and learn balance.  We talked about the parts of our body that control balance: the cochlea and the semicircular canals in our ears and well as the part of brain: the Cerebellum.  To show how the semicircular canals help our body to balance, we explored a level and talked about how the bubble in the liquid is determines whether it is evenly balanced or off.  When it came to balancing objects on our bodies, we looked at a scale and talked about weight and counterweight and how even distribution is important.  Throughout the week we worked on balancing our bodies in different positions and on different surfaces.  We worked on balancing on stable objects such as benches, fabric strips on the floor, and in wooden hoops, and unstable surfaces such as boards on blocks and coffee can stilts.  By the end of the week we had fun balancing beanbags on our bodies while walking and dancing.