Thinking about wolves, children and Grandmothers

'these are the Grandmother's eyes inside the wolf'

just the wolf, by himself

The Rainbow room (4yr.) children have been living the story of Little Red Riding Hood in their classroom. To me, their wolves show so much about why we still think about this old, old story, and about people's conception of vulnerability, fear and danger.

the Wolf when he is pretending to be Red Riding Hood

wooden Wolves and a Riding Hood House

some blood on the wolf

'Wolves are just alone. They like to stay by themselves'

Making Monsters (Forest room, 2yr.)

What is music? A discussion with the 2nd grade

 As a provocation for the second graders, their teacher Laura brought them to the studio to think about music and sound. Here is what they said when we asked "what is music?"

Abigail "Music is where you take some thing, and you could blow in it, or you could bang on it,or you could smash it, or you could ring it, or you could hit something, like a triangle...

Eliza "Well, everything in the world can be music

Anna "I read a poem that said this; 'the music of the leaves'. What would that be?

Abigail  "the swish of it coming down... or the crinkling that you step on... or up when it's a tree, the wind blowing it... and when it's still..."


A. "How about, what would be 'the music of children?'








"what they do... and how they talk.. and listen... and laugh

"making can be a sound.

Ryan "sound can be anything, music has to have a tune...

Theo "But music is different...

Abigail "Music and sound are related, because music has to have a sound, so technically, they're the same. But music is usually something you create. You take something, and you create sound with it. So, you take sounds and you make it into music.

Theo "When a bird goes like this with his beak (mimes a bird whistling), that's music. That is music."

How it works on the studio: learning techniques and skills

Within a child-centered, emergent curriculum, it is very important for children to learn the skills and techniques they will need to support student-driven inquiry. In the studio and classrooms at Sabot, this is done by providing provocations that are engaging and allow students to practice new skills. Creating this jangling sculpture was a good way to learn to twist wire.(The sculpture is much bigger, but hard to photograph!)

Here are some of the drawings the Meadow Room (5yr) children made when they came to the studio
             with their teacher Nancy.

Sound and Music/Children and Birds

In the Meadow room, our school wide investigation of music and sound started with children bringing in a 'sound of summer'. These were brown paper bags containing a sound or song, or something that evoked a sound. In a beautiful coincidence,the Meadow room teachers had set up a balcony outside the classroom window with bird feeders and perches, and many of the sounds families sent from their summer memories contained hints of birdsong children had encountered over the summer. The children and teachers began to share interest in birds, their songs and homes.

















Last week, Nancy brought a group into the studio to represent the songs of birds. She played the sounds of cardinals, hummingbirds, and others on the computer while the children drew.

I like how you can see how engaged the children are with this inquiry

but that doesn't mean there is no action

Some of the drawings showed birds, while others were more graphic
representations of their songs.

Bluejay by Fiona

                                                        

Robin by Adelina

How it works in the studio

Here is one thing that can happen in the studio. The Rainbow room has been drawing instruments and thinking about making music together. Children come to the studio to work on instruments or pictures that will further the work in their classroom.

Lorenzo wanted to make a banjo.

He looked for materials and chose cardboard, different kinds of string, and tape.He used a stencil to draw the circle shape and then cut it out himself. Lorenzo enjoys finding materials, and uses them very experimentally (notice the several kinds of tape he tried).

After working a while using his plan for a reference, we looked together at a picture of a banjo. Lorenzo noticed some lines on the neck, some dots, and the pegs. I wonder if he will be satisfied with the sound this banjo makes when he plays it in his classroom? Perhaps he will come back with a revised idea, and continue to work on this banjo, or another.

Wonderful Things Happen in the Studio

making Knight costumes

Making a dinosaur

Drawing an obstacle course for birds

Designing a video game