Do you have to wear a Spiderman costume if you wanted to be Spiderman? Is that important?
Henry said "No, you have to be strong." Abel thought it was important. Benjamin said that you had to spray webs to be Spiderman.
I asked Henry about his blue and red clothes. Were they a Spiderman costume? He thought about that.
Abel considered this and said, "Well, I have a blue shirt and red pants and blue pants at home. But it doesn't have webs on it." He seemed pleased that clothes might work to help make him a Spiderman.
I asked "How could you do the webs? How do real Spiders do webs?" Benjamin guessed they just spray out webs from their hands, and start weaving it. This led to a debate about webs. Do they come from fingers or wrists? Do real spiders have wrists? Benjamin was sure the web comes out of Spiderman's fingers. He thought it was the same with real Spiders.
Abel said "Where webs come out of real spiders, is their feet." Ben said "Spiders don't have feet." "Yes they do, they have eight feet." Abel went on, "Well, I thought it came out of his (Spiderman's) pointer (finger), but my Mom said it comes out of his wrist." Abel traced his hand twice and drew both versions.Abel "Well, Spiderman just turns into Spiderman".
Do you want to turn into Spiderman?
"Yeah." "Yeah, a real Spiderman."
Later, Abel found a Spiderweb on the brick wall outside the Forest room.
After discussing Spiders, webs and what they know about Spiderman, the boys came up with three things they'd like to do next.
1. Find out about real Spiders and where webs come from (fingers, wrists, feeler fingers or feet?).
2.Make a rope web that real people could climb/swing on.
3.Find out about being as strong as a spider by drawing bones.
Great post, I appreciate the detail you include. Isn't it fascinating how together (Atelierista and children) an idea born out of consumer culture (spiderman) transformed into the emergent child culture of this group of children? Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteMarla
http://Atelier.schoolwithinschool.org
I was going to say the same thing! I think that, as Americans, we are part of a consumer culture. Even if we are not consumers ourselves, it is a big part of our culture. I love the way you're taking this interest and thinking about more links, like nature, rather than just the "spiderman" part.
ReplyDeleteKudos for a great selection of dialogue among the children. Recording dialogue is very challenging for me. Do you do it on the spot, or use a recorder and transcribe it later?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think this is a good example of following the child's lead. I'm in Reggio for the documentation study week now, and I'm surprised that a lot of the activities in the centers seem to be more structured and created by the teacher (perhaps the children influenced them in a less-direct way).
-Lauren
http://bigvoices.wordpress.com
I usually try to write notes, but really rely on the video setting on my camera when something seems really important. I also have a digital recorder for small groups. But the camera is always right there, so I use that the most.
ReplyDeleteThanks for talking with me this way!