What do you see in the cup?

I am participating in the
Tuesday Slice of Life.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day.

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity

for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

Observational drawing by Jada

It's spring and we have a cup of caterpillars in our preschool classroom! Just this past weekend, they formed chrysalises and the preschoolers are in awe. I've tried to slow down the thinking, having the preschoolers make observational drawings of what they see. (I will share a few of these here, in this blogpost.) I knew this was the perfect lesson for the "See Think Wonder" thinking routine, which I had learned from Project Zero training last summer. As they drew, I asked What do you see? I tried to keep the children focused on simply what was visible in the jar:

I see four chrysalises. I call 'em caterpillars. And the jar. And spider webs.

I see cobwebs, 'cause they make cobwebs, and cocoons.

I see cocoons.

I see this one and it has a black part.

I see cocoons playing.

Observational drawing by Misha

There is dirt on the bottom.

I see the bodies on the circle.

The caterpillars made cocoons and they are hanging up.

I see caterpillars walking and eating food. 

Caterpillars make cocoons.

Four cocoons.

Caterpillars have pointy things.

Cocoons hang from the sky. They are shaking.

I see a spiderweb.

Cocoons. They are shaking. Caterpillars make it.

I see cocoons.

Try as I liked to have them simply focus on what they saw - what they actually observed - the preschoolers couldn't help thinking and imagining. They shared thoughts aloud that were clearly not visible. I tried to return them to observation mode with a quick, What did you see that makes you think so? However, their musings multiplied and I let them answer - What do you think?

I think there was an egg.

I think caterpillars walk around and they sleep.

The cocoon is for the caterpillar

That might be food. They eat leaves.

Observational drawing by Audrey

Something's in it - maybe a butterfly.

They come from eggs, they turn into caterpillars, and then they turn into butterflies.

And push out into a butterfly!

It looks like fish; it is the same color. It looks like a Daddy Long Legs with its leg stuck in the web.

The caterpillars will turn into butterflies and then will fly.

I never even had to ask, What do you wonder? The preschoolers were mesmerized by the disappearance of crawling caterpillars and the arrival of four chrysalises hanging from the top of the jar. Their questions poured forth - 

Observational drawing by Henry

What are the webs for?

Are the caterpillars shaking the cocoons inside?

What let's it hang?

What is the gakky [sic] thing on the bottom?

Did the cocoon on the bottom die?

What do caterpillars eat? I wonder if they eat dirt?

Is it a spider web.

Are there new baby eggs in the jar?

What are the black fuzzy things on the bottom? Is it part of a caterpillar?

Why shouldn't we touch it?

Is the cocoon on the bottom eating the food?

Would the caterpillars be scared?

Observational drawing by Gabrielle

The most frequent wonder revolved around the movement of the chrysalises - these definitely appeared to be shaking, wiggling, moving. I loved this exchange between four students -

What is making them shake?

- Because they are shaking a lot of days.

- Caterpillars are playing in their house.

- Because they are trying to spread out their wings.

It is amazing how much language and thinking comes forth when preschoolers can watch this metamorphosis right up close!

What if we made a map?

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.

We had such a crazy start to our day, today. Yesterday's 'wintry mix' concluded with torrential rains this morning, causing a two-hour delay for school. My commute was exhausting. I arrived at school completely soaked, having negotiated sidewalks flooded with melting snow and running water, and I witnessed my umbrella breaking into three parts due to the high winds. Yes, it was a wild walk from the metro to school. I am thankful that I had a day with preschoolers, who would readily accept me in wet clothes and socks but no shoes. We could have fun together!

I knew that arrival time would be frenzied for families, too, with children arriving at varied times. I also knew that our time at centers would be truncated...we needed to get right into the fun.

I cut a large piece of cardboard to cover our table, and this, in and of itself, delighted the children. We had never done this before! I got out our markers and our rulers. I challenged the children to think about the maps we had seen in Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. What if we drew a map of our city? Of course! Yes! We can do this!

The children traced the contour of found objects to create buildings, houses, stores, ballparks (Go, Nationals!), and playgrounds. The rulers made great roads and train tracks, plus the children could measure which roads were longer, which were shorter. The children searched through the found objects to create make-believe people (marker caps were particularly good), and the children counted steps as these 'marker people' walked the roads. The children also enjoyed drawing people, animals, sunshine, and other features on the map.

Before we knew it, it was time to clean up. Tomorrow, we'll continue our work - writing labels or perhaps using the map as a base on our floor in the block corner...maybe we'll build 3-d buildings for the map, out of our small blocks. We'll see!

Tuesday SOL Faces I have found

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


______________________________

In the writing center,
the art corner,
in crayon,
pencil,
paint.

No one tells them to draw or paint people. 

Yet,
they appear

and disappear

spontaneously.

Round faces,
triangle parts,
square possibilities.  

Spidery lines.
Arms and legs? 

Or is that hair? 

Big wide eyes, and

every now and again,

eyebrows and pupils, too.

Crooked lips, 

tilted smile,

frazzled look.

Ears?

Unsure.

Nose?

Not consistently.

Hair?

Sometimes.

No one tells them to draw or paint people. 

Yet,
they appear and 

disappear
spontaneously.

Tuesday SOL What about the Art Center?

This is a Tuesday "Slice of Life" for Two Writing Teachers. Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

*******

I am loving the art center in my new classroom. It is an ideal space, with a beautiful big window right nearby, giving such great light to all that we do here. Plus, it is equipped with a sink, cabinets, and counter, allowing me to set up and clean up with ease.

This area includes a table for small group work, a clay station, and two easels. There is a place to hang art that is drying. There is a small shelving unit, filled with art materials that the children have learned how to use through various "guided discoveries" this school year - glue, paint, scissors, collage materials, oil pastels, yarn, recyclables and other "junk."

I am slowly but surely making it into a space where children have total flexibility with their creative explorations.

We make sure there is paint set up at the easels at the start of each day. I love the way children wander over to the easels, sometimes grabbing a smock from the bin, sometimes not, and they just begin painting. The easels are in almost continuous use from the moment the classroom door opens each morning. 

The clay table has ample room for three artists but I've noticed that it is often home to just one artist at a time. How nice this is for the artist! Here, the children enjoy pounding and cutting the clay, making designs with clay tools, and rolling and patting it back into balls…I think it is a very nice corner for solitary exploration. The children are also intrigued by how to take care of the clay, enjoying the responsibility of adding water to it, keeping it moist and pliable. 

At the small group table, we set up a variety of process art activities, with materials for the children to create and explore with abandon. There aren't specific rules for this work - children consider what they want to do with the materials at hand and begin creating as they desire. It is magical and free-flowing work. 

Typically, we'll do the same exploration all week long. 

The children love this area of the room and it is in constant motion.

 

I love how they are free to choose between so many creative activities on a daily basis…

paint? clay? glue? cutting? three-dimensional? mixed media? 

The choice is theirs. 

I know this area of our classroom is working well when I watch the children…

• Simona, lost in concentration, with the perspective of a scientist on the brink of a new discovery, holding a length of yarn in each hand, dipping the center into paint, pulling the strand taut, seeing her paper instantaneously covered in speckles; she greets this discovery with sheer delight and dares to repeat the process over and over, seeing nothing but beauty in the speckles that also cover her face, arms, and table. 
• Naima and Evan, together at the clay, mashing the clay with hammers, over and over, and then realizing that, rather than using the tools in the manner intended, it would be much more fun to puncture the clay with tools, creating a 3D sculpture of these; this pursuit unfolds and they laugh out loud at their funny creativity, begging each other to see what the other has done - "Look at this!" 
• Paxton, discovering the table set up for four potential artists but empty of children; he works quietly on one piece, using 'junk' (various wheels, balls, small cars, other) to stamp and press paint onto the paper…still no one else has arrived at the table, so he moves on to create a second painting, and then a third, and then makes his way to the fourth and final, delighted by his find, delighted by this exploration, delighted to have the place to himself.

This is the concentration that I love seeing in preschoolers, a direct challenge to textbook notions of preschoolers having fickle, "less than ten minute" attention spans. 

It is essential that our classrooms provide them with time, possibility, and choice. 

Yes, the art center is becoming a place that echoes my goals for my early childhood classroom. And, the best thing - the sink is right there for them to clean off those messy, creative hands when they decide they want to do something else!

SOL One thing leads to another...

Tuesday Slice of Life with Two Writing Teachers

A small moment, today.
Children making magic,
seeing the wonder in small things.

We were on the playground - our side alley, that is.
Plants on the windowsill were watered,
and then,
being children,
the rest of the water was poured out,
onto the alley.
The water moved like a river,
flowing downhill towards our entrance.
Children hooted and hollered,
standing over the river,
straddling it with their legs,
laughing together.

Nearby, a bin of chalk - and possibility!

Someone decided to paint the path of the water.

Others decided to follow suit.
With great care and precision,
a beautiful, colorful, water path was created.

SOLSC #4 Drawing our walks

Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC)

This year, our arts integration project with the Phillips Collection has the theme "Art in the City." The preschoolers are creating three art panels about the city.

Somehow, some way, our daily walks needed to be represented.


We try to take a city walk every single day.  Our favorite path - our shortest "time-allowing" walk - is around the city block, to check out the construction on the road behind us, where a new YMCA is being constructed.

We take frequent pictures of what we see on the walk.
We often search for particular things when we walk.

Using the photographs and their memories, the children have been drawing what we see:

Construction

Many of the preschoolers are mesmerized by the construction work in our city neighborhood.  Each day, there is lots of action and surprises.  Here are some of their drawings of this constant work.

Concrete mixer.

Cranes in the city

"Grate Man"



In an effort to get the children to notice details and to add a little whimsy and magic to these walks, I started a story about a "Grate Man" who lives underneath the roads and loves to slip out and make fun magic.  It is Grate Man who puts balloons in trees, hangs shoes from telephone wires, created a "house" for neighbors to share books, and all kinds of strange and wonderful finds in the city.  The children are enchanted by this possibility, and whenever we see something out of place, we know it is the Grate Man.

Talking to "Grate Man"

"Grate Man"

Tree with balloon.

Tree with balloon (2).

Tree with balloon (3).

(This particular tree is also our "turn-around tree," when a very short walk is needed.)

Neighborhood "Book House"

I have grown to love these city walks with the children.  I think they are loving this daily ritual, too!


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This blogpost is my 200th since I started writing in January 2010!  Wow!  Time flies...and so does writing!