Dear Studio Blue,
We're watching each other closely, learning new ways to play, and figuring out how to solve problems together...
What happens when you turn over a wagon?
We discovered a new way to play with a wagon this week – as you said, Arlo, I’m driving and drawing and that you were drawing a rainbow.
When you, Will, drew with the wagon, you said you were making a rainbow, too.
Alice, you liked to join in by sitting on the back. The next day, Cassie, you were drawing rainbows in the woodchips with your finger!
How else can we draw on the playground?
Augie, we noticed you pushing the brick over the sand on the bench. Then you began pushing the brick through the woodchips. Jemima, you liked Augie's idea and pushed your brick through the woodchips, too. You were making lines – kind of like the lines the upside down wagons were making. But these lines were different. Cassie, you noticed the lines, and said they looked like a maze!
Ferdinand, you also made lines on the playground, but you used pipes instead of a brick. Other friends saw you do this and tried it out, too.
We also found beautiful leaves on the playground. Vivian, you discovered these with Cassie, Jemima, and Will. Some leaves were used to make pictures. The next day, Vivian, you and Llewyn pretended the leaves were popcorn to eat while lots of us listened to music by Will, Camden, Alice, Kairan and Ferdinand. Sometimes, leaves were collected in wheelbarrows or used to decorate a cake.
How do you play a long sound on the xylophone?
It started when some of us used spoons like drumstick to play the blocks, and a spoon broke! Clearly, spoons aren't good drumsticks.
We needed to figure out how to play music in the classroom. At meeting, we used musical mallets and sticks to play the blocks. These worked well and didn't break. But wow, they were loud. We found out that hitting the blocks softly helped. It also helped when we had felt on the blocks.
The next day, we tried something new – we used a mallet to play an instrument with tone bars on it. A kind of xylophone. What happens when we let the mallet bounce? Where do we go when we want to hammer?
By the way,
here's where
we hammer!
How can I join in play?
William, you made a discovery. You told the children around you.
William: If you dig deep enough, you will find clay.
Will: What are you making guys?
Kairan: I’m making cake with clay.
William: I was digging for clay.
Will, you come closer and sit down. At first you tell us, I’m here to watch. I brought my tools.
William: We’re digging for clay. We found some clay.
You’ve changed your mind, Will. You tell us, I want to be a part of this.
Will wants to be a part of this now. What does he need to be a part of it? Does he need a shovel?
William: Yea.
Kairan: You can help me.
Will finds a shovel and brings it back to join William and Kairan in the sandbox.
Want to go for a hayride?
On Thursday, many of you played hayride. You took turns as the "hayride guy" and invited others to climb into your wagon for a ride around the playground.
