Museum Small Group: Asha, Sam, Will

On Wednesday morning, Diane and Emily took Asha, Sam and Will to visit the museum. As mentioned in previous museum visit posts, we are following the children’s lead on these first small group visits. Each visit has been a unique experience, led entirely by the children. 

We first stop in the coat room to hang up our jackets.
We quickly go over the rules we need to remember while in the museum.

We decide to take the elevator upstairs. Will is intrigued by Reflection II and he looks at it as we walk by.

As we get out of the elevator, we walk by Cube 48 Orange by Marta Chilindron. It is fun to see each other through this orange material, but the children are quiet, almost overwhelmed. We move on. 

Asha asks if we can go to Emily’s office, pointing to the door to go outside. Sam and Will also want to go outside, so we go through the door by the stairs. It is a beautiful day and we spend a few minutes outside, looking out upon the parking lot. Emily asks if anyone can see Studio Blue from where we are. 

Asha:  I don’t think I can see it from here, but maybe when we walk to it, we can see it. (Asha then turns to Will) Will, can you see it? 

Will looks out across the grounds, spotting a man walking through the lot. 

Will: I see it. I see right through that red car. I see it right there. I found it. That friend…do you see it? 

Asha responds, Found it! 

We head back inside and up the stairs. We stop for a moment in front of the Dewey Gallery to decide where to go next. A group of people who work at the museum say hello to Emily and come over to us. 

Asha: Are those your people, Emily?

We say hello to Rachael, who we met in Emily’s office a couple of weeks ago and Sarah, who we met out on a walk in the park one day.

The children then decide to go up the stairs to our left. The children still seem uneasy and Will reaches out to Sam as we climb the stairs. In this kind offer of support, Will also seems to be reaching out, looking for the support of a friend himself. 

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We go right into the Lab where the children finally seem to relax. Here we are able to touch things and move our bodies comfortably. Here we can play. 

In the Lab…

Sam is drawn to the table set up with clipboards, pads of paper and pencils. He swipes the pencil back and forth across the paper.
Asha goes directly to the legos. She tells us that she is making a fort and then a dinosaur.
Will plays with the legos for a bit and then sits on the floor with clear magna tiles.

Sam and Will go with Emily into the dark room with the Pond Camera Obscura for a moment while Asha chooses to stay in the Lab. She goes directly to the binoculars and takes them down.

Asha: Because it’s too dark in there because I need to see. I got them because it’s too dark in there. I wear it on my neck so I can do something. 

Sam is also intrigued by the binoculars. He holds them in his hands and studies them. He looks through them in different ways. 

Asha notices that the lens of the camera I am using to take pictures is like the lens of the binoculars. 

Sam: I can see Frozen down there!

Looking at Ursula von Rydinsvard’s Elegantka

 

Before we move on, Will wants to put all of the Lego pieces back into the bin. He then covers the bin with the mat and is ready to join the others. 

The children decide they want to go up to the roof. We quickly find out that the elevator to the roof is broken but we all agree that we want to go anyway, climbing all the way up the stairs. Here is what happened when we got to the top…

We arrive on the roof: This is fun!
This is an island.
I think it's a pond down there.
We're lost.
No, we're not. We have to take a car .
I think we're lost because we took the steps to get up here.
That's a big, big, big castle!
I think I see the road!
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It is such a glorious day to be up on the roof! We are all a bit sad when it is time to go back inside and then all the way down the stairs. As we arrive back at school, we notice the fire trucks are here. We join Studio Yellow for a practice fire drill with the firefighters and then join our friends for snack.  What a lovely visit!