Put a song in a rainbow

A group of 4 year old children have noticed rainbows around the school, near windows, on walls and floors. They have hunted for rainbows and colored many pictures of them. A small group came to the studio and I asked them two questions...
"what do rainbows sound like?"
The children looked at me for a moment and then laughed.



Bella and McGuire said "Quiet, cause rainbows don't talk."
"Anna, rainbows don't have mouths, so they can't talk. Rainbows don't say anything!"




So I asked "Well, what do rainbows hear?"

"They hear animals." "They hear cats, owls, and dogs. Meow, meow, woof, woof, ooooo, woooo, ooooo"
Dahlia said "rattlesnakes, cause of the rattles, and they hear Unicorns."   

Bella said "If you listen to a rainbow, you might hear a unicorn."

McGuire said "I don't think unicorns live in rainbows. I think they just live in fairytales. I think it (the rainbow) would just hear animals."

Henry though the rainbows inside school could hear him walking in, and demonstrated the sound of footsteps. Lorenzo thought they could hear the sound "of me putting my bag on the hook, tap tap tap." McGuire said "they can hear me talking. They can hear all the children in the world."

Someone said "maybe we could put a song in a rainbow". So that's what we will try to do next.

new year, new projects

During phase-in time for preschool, the children have been learning routines and getting to know each other. I am learning new routines as well. This is complicated by the fact that routines and timing and scheduling are my WORST ENEMY, with the result that I can't find any of my camera cords to download pictures now, but yesterday I couldn't find any of the chargers to charge the cameras, which all died because of taking so many pictures. Let's all breathe, ok?             Good.

Last week I helped a lot on the playground and in classrooms. I brought some studio materials with me. These children (above) were drawing the wheel that Duke is holding.
Meanwhile..

I have been working with older children inside the studio. One very exciting inquiry is the 3rd grade's look into the water cycle. One group came in to draw out what they know about the water cycle, which led to questions about what happens with water underground, and how water (for instance) in a pond, which seems self contained, relates to the ocean or the water that gets to our houses. Another group is composing a dance to illustrate the water cycle, complete with costumes and music. It is both great fun and inspiring to work with them.

finding our way to the studio

Pre-school hasn't really started yet, but each class k-8 has had an introduction to the studio, which began with a reading of the Hundred Languages of Children by Loris Malaguzzi. I never truly felt the poem until I decided to discuss it with all of the children, but it is really quite powerful. First graders wondered if the part where "they steal 99, the school and the culture" was about mean people. Second graders liked to think about feeling joy and excitement every day at school, not just at holidays. Middle-school students agreed that school should not "separate the head from the body", and that students should be free to move, run and play games.

Here are a few pictures from this week
-the second grade

                            ...and 4th and 5th graders mapping the sounds we could hear around us

And the poem, by Loris Malaguzzi

The child is made of one hundred.
The child has a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred, always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling
of loving
a hundred joys for singing
and understanding
a hundred worlds to discover
a hundred worlds to invent
a hundred worlds to dream.
The child has a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine
the school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child to think
without hands
to do without head
to listen and not speak
to understand without joy
to love and marvel
only at Easter and Christmas.
They tell the child
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child that
work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there!

Studio Life

The studio is ready, and today the kindergarten tried it out.
It looks a lot better with
some paintings and clay work drying on the shelf, and sounds a lot better with some lively conversation.
Today's topics; Maps, Birds and Cars (the kind that can fly)