Expectations v. What Actually Happens

We painted small wooden cubes.  I found a box full of cubes that all had "J." written on them, and I had not prompted children with a 3D painting experience yet this school year.  This became a real example in expectation and vision versus the children's agenda.

My expectation was that the children would paint the blocks different colors, getting paint on their fingers as they turned them around and over and tried to get all sides.  Then, they would dry, and we would use them for some tabletop construction, or combine them with another material as a prompt. 

But from the very first child that sat down, the agenda was different.  Children began using the paint as a sort of glue, creating towers and other connected structures.

One of the reasons that I was surprised was because we do not have blocks in this classroom.  It makes me a bit sad that we do not have blocks because it has to be my favorite open ended material.  And when we use small table top blocks, like these or others, the children have not been engaging with them.  I have not found the reason why, and it only aded to my confusion when the children began making structures out of these cubes with the paint.

Many of the sculptures fell apart as they dried, and they have become the painted blocks I was expecting, and we'll use them again.  I have to remember that I can plan for our hours and days and weeks, but there will always be an unknown.  Maybe this is because I strive to make all of the opportunities open-ended and there will never be 15 worksheets traced and colored in, looking the same.  For me, this is better.  No one was forced to stay at this table and work for 20 minutes - they did that on their own accord.  They made the material more engaging than I could have planned for!

little man

Making Music Online

Late last spring, I introduced this Lullatone Raindrop Melody Maker into the classroom.  Some of the children found it interesting and tinkered around on it, but I never got the chance to bring it back in. 

Now I'm thinking about visiting it with this year's class, and perhaps this, the week before our spring break, is the right week to do some creative music making.

This site, Tone Matrix, is more controllable - you can make loops, but you can decide if you want the tones to be higher or lower, you can make chords or dissonance...it seems like it could be really interesting work for those children who are always at the piano with the headphones on, playing their three note compositions over and over again.  I think we would also be able to record the compositions using Audacity, a free recording program that we have installed on the computer.

Journaling

Each child has their own journal, and they are mostly used for drawing when the children feel like using them. We also use them to do observational drawings in the forest.

But what do you think of this? The children are using cameras, and this would be a wonderful way for them to choose a variety of papers; use their own photographs for the cover, and have more ownership over it.

from five and a half, via urban preschool