Dear Studio Red,
We hope you enjoy sharing your sketchbooks together this weekend. We know how excited you were to bring them home! Please remember to find a special place for them at home to help you remember to bring them back to school on Monday!
Love, Lauri and Emily
OUR WEEK IN PARTS
INDOOR EXPLORE
This week we introduced sketchbooks to the whole group as they cut and glued in their color work. We talked about how sketchbooks are tools that artists, scientists, doctors, chefs, electricians, musicians, and teachers (etc!) use to record their ideas, questions, and observations. We invited some children to practice recording their work in their sketchbooks. These children will become teachers for more to engage in this practice. As we share back our work, it is elevated; the power of drawing is revealed. We invite you to foster this experience as you reflect with your child on their sketchbook!
How do we use our sketchbooks to record our work?
Jackson and Charlie Schubert work in a small group to construct with blocks together and then save a memory of their work in their sketchbooks.
Reflecting on their structure, Charlie Schubert chose to draw a memory of the base, while Jackson stood on a chair to view the structure from above, capturing the shapes he saw from that perspective.
Later in the week, Jackson decided to record another structure he had made on his own. In this way, our sketchbook practice will begin to grow. As more children are invited to record their work and share it back, others begin to take the initiative.
What did we figure out as we mixed red and yellow?
Look, this one has more yellow. Caroline
No blue, so no greens. Charlie Nicholson
What did we discover when we broke apart these pods?
“You can see it cuz it’s pretty clear [where to break the pod apart]. You can feel it cuz it’s bumpy.” Kieran
“They break apart.” Will
“I’m getting the seed so I can plant it.” Will
“They smell like edamame.” Charlie Nicholson
“The secret tree is actually an edamame tree!” Ruth
“Wherever I plant them the edamame will grow!” Jackson
BOOKS
This week we read aloud A Seed Is Sleepy and continued to revisit our summer books, non-fiction books, and those stories we have read aloud. Ian brought in Hello Lighthouse to share for his birthday celebration.
That green seed is the one we found! LUCA
It looks like a bean. TRAVERS
And look, it says “bean” right here. EMILY
Then what we found is a bean. CHARLIE NICHOLSON
So we can eat it! CAROLINE
Can we eat all kinds of beans? EMILY
Some mushrooms are poisonous and you can’t eat them. LUCA
Luis, Kieran, and Kaya found a space in the library to reread a chapter from Frog and Toad Are Friends. Looking at the pictures they recalled the story of A Lost Button.
Later in the week, Kieran and Katie read aloud to the toad.
OUTDOOR EXPLORE
Outside we have observed games of police dogs, kittens, and family. Caroline, Luca, Will, and Kieran worked together to create a habitat for an inchworm. Kieran asked to hold the caterpillars and others joined her outside! Jackson, Louis, Kaya, and Case worked hard to solve a problem: How can we take turns with the rickshaw when nobody wants to be last?
What is one memory you have from our time outside?
REFLECTION MEETING
This week we reflected on our color mixing experiments. We projected the two diagrams we have been using as tools.
What have we figured out about these two diagrams?
When a few children gathered to help feed the toad mealworms, Will shared a theory, “She sucks it in with her air.” Another child added, “No, she gets it with her tongue…no her, nose.” Luca suggested, “You should video it in slow motion.” We found a video online and presented it to the group to guide a conversation.
What do we learn when we watch a toad eat in slow motion?
GREETINGS & GAMES
We continue to learn each other’s names! It takes time to remember them all. Remembering another’s name is a tool for knowing them better. We continue to ask when we do not remember, we make mistakes and know that it is okay! As we learn names, we are also learning our letters. Somehow the letters of a name become very personal. We learn the R for Ruth, the J for Jackson, and the letters we share: K for Kieran, Kaya and Katie!
On Friday, Nancy and Lauri challenged the children to pass a hoola hoop around the circle, passing their bodies through it without breaking hands.
STORY WORKSHOP
This week we heard a story from another author, Ruth! On Tuesday we explored how clay, pencil, and blocks could help us find true stories. Children drew in their sketchbooks, constructed with loose parts, and shaped clay to build narratives.
