During this workshop, Jaime worked with a small group of kiddos to test the dirt in our wash in attempts to make cob. She explained that cob was a mixture of clay, sand, and tiny rocks and people would use it construct buildings, often slapping it on over some sort of frame. The kids seemed excited about the idea that they could make their own structure using cob. Jaime went on to explain that they needed to find a spot in the wash that had just the right kind of dirt.
To test the dirt each kid (or group of kids) would fill a jar 1/3 full of dirt – from any spot in the wash – and then 1/3 full of water. Then they needed to let it rest to see how it separates. After the rest process, each jar should have clay, silt, and sand/fine gravel. Some of the kids were confused about how the water would help them to determine if they could use the dirt from the wash. “But it’s [the water] just going to go down into the soil.” “That’s the point.” “It’s like dirt or soil.” The final step to this process is to find the coordinates of the spot where each jar of dirt came from so they could find that same spot again if needed. Some of the kids already had an idea about what a coordinate was. “Coordinates are a location.” “Oh, are those the satellite?” “Oh, like Pokémon Go?” It was great to see the way the kids were connecting their own cultural knowledge to this work. In the wash, they debated a lot over where to get their dirt. “Jazzlyn, over here! That doesn't seem like it will turn into mud.” “I’m gonna get some from the sand pile.” After the sand was collected, Jaime helped each group to map their coordinates and write them down on each jar. Then they added water to their jars and began the resting process. I wonder if any of the spots had the right qualities for cob? And, as Molly asked, “how much of this cob stuff do we need to make a fort?” A fantastic question!
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As exposition night draws near, all of our kiddos are working hard on their projects, some individually and some in groups. This week I had the pleasure to spend time with Sally’s group who are working to write and act out their own play. To help the kiddos think through ways to bring their words to life, Sally challenged them to engage in some interpretative dance experiences.
First she shared an example of some contemporary art activists who had created a dance performance to protest the creation of a mine that would harm animals and wildlife. Together the class watched a short clip of the video (you can watch it via this link: https://rosemontours.com/2014/03/04/trailer-for-rosemont-ours-a-field-guide/). After viewing the video, the kids broke up into three small groups to work on developing movements for their own story. Each group had a different part of the story (beginning, middle, and end) to act out, and had already chosen a piece of classical movement to use. Sally reminded the kiddos that the artists in the video they watched had used used a variety of spaces – high, low, and middle. The kids added their reflections: “they were going slow and fast.” “They were still.” Sally added the following directions: “think of a few specific movements representative of characters, emotions, and actions of your characters.” The groups got to work. I mostly watched and took some videos of their work. They did an amazing job! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnM3J_imgYc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN53urmLsVQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miRiRS0q_-A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z91yT-1afS8 {these videos are listed under restricted permissions - you can only access them with the links provided - they are not "searchable" via you tube itself} It is always lovely to watch children devote a lot of time, energy, and interest into a single project. Over the past month or so I have watched Abby (joined by Nyssa) work on creating caring homes for some local insects. Abby had found a small glass enclosure that became the home for a number of different bugs over the course of the past few weeks. As the bugs changed so did the items inside the enclosure.
On this particular day, I asked Abby and Nyssa a bit about what they were working on – who was inside and what were they building for them? The explained that there were two bugs – “this is Angel. The other one is Spirit.” They could tell them apart because one was bigger than the other. “The bugs we have in here, we call them beetle juices.” It was clear they cared about these animals as they spent a considerable amount of time developing their home. “These [buttons and gems] are fun pads for them to have fun on. It’s like an activity so they don’t get bored.” In addition to fun (“the gems are just for fun”) and game, they also had food for their little bugs. They created little bowls out of clay that held “salad” for them to eat. When I came back around to the girls after spending some time with other kiddos they had found another enclosure and were building another habitat! I guess they were creating an alternate home for one of the bugs, just in case they needed to be separated! During EBL time our students have the choice to create in many different ways. A few weeks ago (I’m a bit behind on my posts!) I watched a number of students create games after what I can only assume was a great workshop led by Faffs on game design. Creating games is a complex process as you have to think through the conceptual rules of the game, the physical game design, and then make sure that people can actually play with it.
On this particular day many of the children were engrossed with creating games during their creative time. Abby was particularly interested in a set of cards that I assume she had made during her workshop, and was playing with them during this time. Sula and Cyri were working on a complex game that challenged the player to rearrange many letters to uncover a hidden message! In the meantime, Parker was working quietly at a nearby table. When I asked what he was making he replied that it was a game – “called murder!” He had a flat piece of cardboard with a checkerboard pattern drawn on it and was carefully working on creating a pattern of blue and green dots. I asked how he knew where to put a green or blue dot: “cause, green, blue, blue, green so that it goes in a pattern.” Sebas was working on a game that seemed more of a challenge to make rather than play. He sat on the floor among many pieces of cardboard and a hot glue gun. “I’m making a game…it’s gonna be a game where balls go down and I’m gonna put a cardboard thing that says ‘finish’ and whatever ball passes to the thing that says ‘finish’ first wins.” While I absolutely love the act of documenting, it is sometimes sad to catch only glimpses of the children’s work. How did these games come out? Did the children play them, or was it simply the act of creating them that held their interest? While I don’t have these answers, I can say that it is always a pleasure to witness the kiddos think through design and process. The room was a constant buzz of excitement and energy as the kids happily set to work creating their own costumes for our annual Halloween celebration. They joyfully accepted the challenge that if they wanted to wear a costume to school that it had to be self made. Their comfort with making and thinking outside of the box was clear, as I did not observe a single student who was upset or frustrated with the task at hand.
Bodhi and Addie were collaborating on a costume for Bodhi, using a special fabric they had found as a face mask. “Look it. This fabric is awesome. You can see through it!” “I’m Addie’s mannequin.” “You’re my customer!” I asked if they were making anything specific, but they said no. “We’re just making him look cool I guess” noted Addie. They really liked the effect of the fabric tightly against Bodhi’s face and debated a lot of different ways to keep it that tight – using rubber bands? Tucking it in? I’m not sure what technique they finally decided on… Meanwhile, some of the girls had clear plans on how to execute their costume ideas. Talia was making a Cheshire Cat costume – “so I need purple and pink!” Jaime mentioned that she had seen some cool tutorials on Pinterest on how to make a skirt, but Talia had it covered – “Oh, I know how to make skirts!” I observed her a bit later working hard at creating a tutu using a technique I too was familiar with! Molly was busy creating her butterfly costume, and had some pretty specific plans on each step. She had immediately grabbed some wire hangers and worked hard to untwist them so the wire was usable for the wings. “I’m making wings for a butterfly. I’m gonna take black tights from Target and stretch them over my frame. But right now I’m making my frame.” The hanger wire was thick and hard to bend. Both Jaime and I worked with Molly to help her shape her wings. It was hard but she was not deterred! When I came back to her a bit later she proudly held up her work – three of the four wings were done! She had a new plan now to use two pairs of tights to cover her frame. It was awesome to see how the kids were problem solving while constructing their costumes. As a sewer myself, I can attest to the challenges that come with creating clothing. I wish I had been there to see how their costumes turned out! The cooking workshop that I wrote about in my last post seems to have taken off, with an added twist of capitalism! Last week during EBL, I observed three different groups of students engaged in cooking and, at times, attempting to sell what they had made. At the back of each classroom the students had set up tables dedicated to preparing and selling their food. At first I observed Jazlyn and Zoe making hot chocolate for interested students and collaborators (which seems like it was offered free of charge!). They prepared each cup, topped it off with marshmallows, and delivered it to their customers. Alongside their ingredients sat a tip jar with some dollars and coins already inside.
At this point I moved into the other room and observed Abby and Nyssa working on preparing corn tortillas, their first being given free of charge to Sally because she helped them set up their cooking station. They also had a jar on their table, which, unlike the other girls’ it was empty. Nyssa looked a bit bothered, so I asked her what was going on: “They think they’re better than us…” Who does, I asked? “In there [aka, the older girls in the other room], because they have tips and we don’t.” “Maybe we need a sign,” Abby declared. “We never thought of that!” At this point the girls got to work on making a “tip” sign for their jar. They justified their lack of tips with the idea that perhaps people didn’t know what their jar was for and the fact that they were “not even open yet.” When I returned to the other classroom, hot chocolate production had ceased in favor of preparing things to sell at Market on Friday. Sula and Cryi sat in a corner of the room making “mystery packets” and fortunes. Meanwhile, Zoe and Jazyln were working hard baking small sugar cookies. At this point I was let in on the details of their financial arrangement. Jazlyn and Zoe were making cookies and selling them to Sula and Cyri for $1 each. “The other group [Sula and Cyri] will add the fortunes into the cookies and add them to the ‘mystery packs.’” These will then be sold at Market. A student passing noted the days that will pass between Monday and Friday – “won’t they be stale on Friday?” “They’re supposed to be stale. They’re fortune cookies.” I am not sure how each group made out in terms of financial gain (at Market or via tips in class) but it’s interesting to watch them consider the ways in which money gets passed around in a capitalist society such as ours. Additionally, it’s clear that they are learning about the satisfaction that comes when people desire what you are able to produce yourself! Learning about Aztecs has been an ongoing theme for the past few weeks during workshops. On this particular afternoon the kiddos were challenged to follow various recipes using ingredients that the Aztecs would have had access to (in some form or another). Equipped with food such as tomatoes, onion, sweet potato, molasses, masa harina, and squash, they set forth to follow a few recipes making things like corn tortillas, salsa, and roasted veggies.
They were terribly excited to begin cooking, and started by gathering their ingredients, sometimes measuring carefully and sometimes not! They were also challenged to find the right equipment. One group needed to pour five cups of water. “This bowl can hold it!” They debated if they had the right amount of water as they used a ½ cup measuring tool: “That’s five.” “That’s ten!” “No, it’s a ½1/2 cup.” By pouring ten ½1/2 cups they reached their five cup goal. The group making corn tortillas only had two ingredients to mix, but they worked hard to get the right balance of water and masa harina: “Ok, what’s next?” “It’s too sticky, we need more water.” “Can I stir this time?” “Oh, we put too much water. It’s soggy!” “Double stir to make sure I mixed it all.” The kiddos making salsa worked hard to chop all their ingredients, but reached a breaking point when cutting their onions: “We just cannot cut the onions. They are just too powerful.” “I bet the Aztecs had some kind of face device.” Determined to finish their recipe, they got inventive: “We got goggles from woodshop!” Even though they chopped everything up, they were confused when they added it all together: “It doesn’t look like salsa.” “We’re gonna heat it up until it does!” “You need to smash it up. You need to cut it more.” “What do we do? It’s not salsa.” The ladies creating the roasted veggies seemed to feel that their recipe was too simple, and got a bit inventive. Inspired by the seeds that they found when they cut open their squash, they created something new. “We just decided to take the seeds from here and add salt and put it in with the sweet potato. So we’re making roasted pumpkin seeds!” They also veered from their recipe a bit: “We are inventing brown sugar on sweet potatoes!” As the kiddos attempted to follow their recipe, they were challenged to think about measurements in various ways and explored how ingredients interact with each other (“It says ‘almost porridge like.’ This is way too watery”). Along the way they also realized that careful reading of their recipe is key to success! Although their food didn’t turn out the way they expected, it all smelled pretty good to me! One of the EBL challenges last week was to visit the website “scribble scoop” and use creative tools to communicate one new thing that was learned. The kiddos weren’t really sure what to do at first and their interest was slow going. “what do you do on scribblescoop.com?” “I don’t know.” They were invited to visit the website and simply explore – look into the various posts, watch interesting videos, read short articles, and view images. But they were not told what specifically to watch, look at, or read. So they stumbled a bit. Sometimes we forget how often children are told what to do, even despite our best efforts to offer choices. Once they got comfortable with the website, what it had to offer, and the idea that they were not going to be told “how” to interact with the website, they gradually grew more and more excited. “Look at this blob fish! That is disgusting.” “Octopus escape! Look, he’s moving the cap off!” I observed them happily sharing their new knowledge with the people next to them and to friends across the room. “What if you went swimming and you see this!” “That is very scary. What did you click on?” “They have go-pro’s on their helmets so they can film the whole thing!” As I was getting ready to leave, the kids were engaged in their creative descriptions of what they learned. Many were drawing images of scenes from videos or still images and writing down some ideas: “scribble scoop makes fun of stuff.” “I’m drawing that thing – it’s a Pokémon.” “I’m not a very good drawer.” While I certainly love children using drawing as a means of communication, the experience the kids had exploring this site was certainly not fully communicated via their drawings this time! This week I spent some time in Faff’s workshop on fonts! Sadly I missed the first part of the workshop as I was helping a sweet kiddo, so when I walked in the kids were already hard at work designing their very own fonts. They graciously explained that they were using the template Faff’s provided to creatively imagine their own letters/font. They likened this practice to a sort of “fancy writing.” Molly declared that she was making “butterfly fonts.” They would eventually upload these fonts to a website and then be able to actually type with their own personally designed font!
I asked if they were thinking about a consistent style for their font or just kind of going crazy with each letter. Chloe mentioned that she was just kinda going for it, while Cyri noted that “mine are all kind of similar. I’m trying to make them kind of wavy.” I told Tula that hers looked a little block like, and she informed me “that’s what they're supposed to be.” The template they were using had upper and lowercase letters, and then some symbols at the bottom. While some of the kids designed their own version of the symbols, Molly and Addy chose to re-imagine some new symbols. Molly told me that she was going to draw a butterfly in one space so that when she used that “letter” it would actually be a butterfly! I told her it was kind of like her own emoji! Addy seemed inspired by this and did the same thing! “I made it so that instead of getting these letters [the original odd symbols] when you press that button you get these things.” These kiddos were reinventing their idea of what communication could look like, utilizing the new forms of digital language that they are becoming so comfortable with. On Wednesday I spent some time observing an architecture workshop which helped our kiddos explore how to build a scale model. The first steps of this involved measuring a room and building it digitally on the websites “home styler” or “room styler.”
There was a lot of collaboration during this first step, as the measuring tapes and rooms were rather large! Molly, Jazzlyn, and Bodhi worked to measure David’s old office. “This is 13 feet exactly.” “But how many inches?” “It was exactly 13 feet.” “With how many inches?” “Let’s look at 13 feet to see how many inches it is.” “156 inches!” This back and forth exchange was interesting to observe. Bodhi wanted to record his measurement in inches while Molly and Jazzlyn were working in feet. Bodhi’s seemingly simple question got a bit lost in translation, and challenged the kiddos to think about which form of measurement they were using and how they were different. Next they had to transfer their measurements into the design website of their choosing. They had to create everything to the correct size, and worked to add walls, doorways, and other elements of the room they were creating (like a desk or bean bag chairs!). “Oh my god, it’s 3D! I’m inside my house!” They continued to work together to learn the details of the website. “What about a doorway?” Jovian asked Parker. “Go to ‘building’ and then look for ‘doors.’” “How do you get it bigger?” Jazzlyn asked, obviously trying to make sure her design was in the right scale. It was great to see the students so engaged with numbers, design, and visual thinking! |