Tuesday – Cool and rainy
Some of the students started picking photos for the Yearbook. They showed each person images from the school year and let them choose their favorite. Other students completed their math and language before moving on to card games. The games played today were Pokemon, Chaotic and Magic.
After lunch the students worked on their writing projects. The end of the school year is rapidly approaching and they are all working diligently to finish in time.
The Global Studies subject presentation today was Cell Phone Technology: Its impact on our world. Students watched and discussed a video about current and future technology and the rapid increase in users over minutes, hour and days. .
Our younger children examined a world map, which showed the location of all the volcanoes on the planet. They were amazed at the number of volcanoes. They spent a good deal of time comparing countries considering how many volcanoes each one has and the physical location of each volcano. Students noticed that most are located on the coastline of continents. We discussed plates and the earth’s crust and how it has moved over millions of years.
Reading groups met and focused on a variety of reading strategies. The children are all progressing nicely and are more often viewing themselves as readers.
Wednesday – Warm and cloudy
Students worked on many projects during morning workshop. Some stayed in the Studio exploring materials for an art projects and finishing puppets for their writing projects. In the Town Hall a group of strategists played a game of Bugeye Stratego followed by Monopoly. When workshop was over they put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the game to be continue on Thursday.
While doing their independent projects the children all took time cycling through the kitchen to prepare lunch. They whipped up an African meal consisting of chicken in many spices, brown rice, raisin quinoa, baked yam and sesame seed cookies. Everyone was very busy.
After Reading/Writing the children dressed in their Dashikis and greeted African drummers and dancers. They listened to the drums and participated in several rhythm and dancing exercises. They learned a dance from Senegal and were invited to beat on the various drums. We had a great time.
Thursday – Damp and foggy
We had a productive morning finishing up board games started yesterday, playing cards and speaking Italian, beading, starting a puzzle, observing and drawing more bugs and a frog, painting boxes for projects, working on writing projects, and playing with magnets. Whew! Everyone kept busy and managed to get math and language done as well.
For snack we harvested the first vegetable from the garden. Sliced radishes and lettuce were added to the array of other vegetables and snacks. The garden is flourishing due to damp days mixed with sunny ones. The children are interested in the harvest as well as weeding and checking out the progress of the plants.
Health class met during lunch and then joined in a friendly game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Before the older children arrived the rest of the student successfully undid a few human knots. This cooperative games builds community spirit. We try to intersperse these with more competitive games so that the focus isn’t always on winning but rather on having fun.
The students are industrious during Writing and seem to know what they need to complete. They realize that their time is growing short.
During art class students were asked to focus on negative space that surrounds things so that they can draw things more accurately. The idea is to really see the object for what it truly looks like rather than what it is supposed to look like on paper. The students really grasped the idea; they were able to translate it to paper in drawings of chairs and other still objects. They are turning into dissecting observers.
The Global Studies project about cell phone technology and communication took the children out to the woods today on a scavenger hunt. They had to use different forms of communication to navigate the area looking for topical questions, which they then answered.
Friday – Wet and cloudy
Another wet morning walk, but despite grumblings students found they really enjoyed being out in the mist.
The discovery of an abandoned American flag while on the morning walk sparked an in-depth conversation about the traditions and rule surrounding our country’s flag. We talked about the symbolism of the stars and stripes, how one is supposed to handle the flag and how it is treated in general according to the constitution. The children were knowledgeable, interested and shared a great deal of accurate facts about the flag.
Writing was busy, busy, busy again. Students were constructing puppets and game figures, typing up their work, editing scripts, planning monster truck rallies and dictating stories. This writing project requires a lot more effort than many of the students anticipated. Most of the approaches blend writing with technology that has never been tried before. Teachers and fellow students are teaching and supporting each other.. We are learning new programs on the computer, figuring out layout methods, building and rebuilding prototypes for artwork, and trouble shooting when things don’t work as planned. Often projects morph as we become more adept.
During art we revisited the ideas of positive and negative space and relational qualities in a composition. We talked about how to estimate the size of on line to the next in a drawing, how to fit pieces together and how to see items as they actually look instead of what our minds think they should look like.
