Are These the Same Sculpture?

On a visit to the sculpture park in late January, Kaya brings along the card with this face on it. During a meeting time mapping game, he had said he wanted to know where it was.

Upon arriving at this sculpture, Kaya asks Diane to hold him up to take a closer look. He comments that the sculpture looks angry but the face game picture doesn’t, though it does have prickles. Kaya concludes they are not the same sculpture.

A week later, Kaya notices a photo of the sculpture hanging on the board. Diane reads his words about one sculpture being angry and the other having prickles, and Kaya decides We should go back. We should go do another hunt. Then he brings the face game card to the ball maze table, comparing the card to the statue photo there. Now he says This one matches. Right here. This – it doesn’t have hair. It has… this one matches.

The next day, Thomas notices the picture on the board too: Hey! Look at this sculpture again! We’re gonna go see this sculpture again! Right now! I love this sculpture! We’re gonna go past these sculptures and this sculpture and then we’re gonna go all the way up the hill and then we can just walk a little bit more and to this side and then we can just walk a little bit more to the bench we just saw. We did that yesterday.

 

This Wednesday, upon leaving for a walk in the sculpture park with Emily, Thomas exclaims We’re gonna find that woman! Kaya adds The woman that was in the puzzle. When we arrive, Thomas sees the sign below the sculpture: What does this sign say? Travers answers It says don’t touch her. So we just look at it. Oh! She looks…her hand up…let me back up… He moves back to get a better view, and
Amelia says She’s naked. Cal says That’s an orange. (Where do you see an orange?) Right there in her hand. Her hand’s saying stop. It’s saying stop.
Ruthie quietly strokes the statue’s dress, then bends down to touch its feet.

During meeting this Thursday, we handed out pages and asked if the two images were from the same sculpture. (you may have discovered this in your child’s backpack, though not all of them made it home). Then we all voted! Here’s what the tally looked like.

We are encouraging children to look closely, take consideration, and form an opinion that may differ from what others think. Where the children actually place their names on the voting board doesn’t necessarily correspond with their actual opinion, and this is okay –   asserting one’s opinion while acknowledging dissent is the first step in learning to hear others opinions without feeling threatened, and that’s when productive conversations, teamwork and synergy take place, and we become generous in spirit.
So when Kaya says the face has prickles on it, we don’t correct him: No, those aren’t prickles, those are drops of water; we respect his opinion so that he continues to look closely and form theories about the world that he can share with others.