“Yeah, we can make his favorite food. He loves crickets!”

On Wednesday’s at CCPCS, children participate in Service, which can range from cleaning their classroom to working on service projects throughout the school.  Every week, I pick up one “Glitter Grabber” from each Pre-K classroom and we work on cleaning smocks, palettes, tables, chairs, etc.  in the Studio.

Today, once the Studio was sparkling again, Maia asked if she could continue drawing on a pumpkin that she wanted to give to Mister Skinny Legs.  She started this project the other day and was overjoyed that the rest of the Glitter Grabbers wanted to help out as well!

Maia: Can we decorate the pumpkin for Mister Skinny Legs?  We could draw things that he would like.

Elijah: Let’s draw bugs for him.

Nneka: And crickets!

Maia: Yeah, we can make his favorite food.  He loves crickets!

William: How do we know how to draw a cricket?  Can we look at the crickets?

Maia: Yeah, then we know how they look.  Don’t forget to draw the food.  The food looks like circles and lines.

Elijah: I like crickets.  I want to see them hop.  I’ve seen them do it at recess.

William: What do they eat anyways?  It looks like watermelon.

Elijah: It smells like oranges.

Maia: Yeah, stinky orange.  Hey guys, are you going to help me with this pumpkin or not?  We have to color the whole thing.

Nneka: I’ll make a fly.

Elijah: I’ll make the zombie crickets.

William: Yeah, let’s make zombie crickets because some of the crickets are dead.

“Instead of going to a pumpkin patch, our school became a pumpkin patch!”

Last week, we kicked off our Pre-K expedition with a pumpkin explosion on the playground!  Children arrived at school and were surprised to see that there were pumpkins of all shapes and sizes everywhere!

Briana: I found a pumpkin on a bicycle!

Andres: There’s pumpkins everywhere!

Amen: I found something!  A pumpkin!  I need to find more.

Mae: Instead of going to a pumpkin patch, our school became a pumpkin patch!

Friends noticed and wondered all sorts of things about the pumpkin on the playground.  As children found them, they were asked to bring them to the picnic table so that we could explore them further.

Waju: I have never seen a white pumpkin!

Sarah: Is it an orange?

Trebor: I want to smell them.  I don’t know how they will smell like.

Ayub: Is this the pumpkins home?

Siah: Wow… heavy!

Ayub: The baby pumpkins on the branch look like marshmallows.

Zeina:  Yeah, it looks like roasting marshmallows on a stick!

Elliott: I can make a snowman.

Next, all four Pre-K classes piled onto buses and we hit the road for Butlers Orchard to learn more about where pumpkins come from and what it means to harvest.

Bennett: Thanks bus driver for taking us to the pumpkin patch!

Cory: This is a bumpy ride.

Esther: It looks like a pumpkin party here!

William: It’s really tough to walk through the vines at the mumpkin pumpkin patch.

Waju: I think a porcupine ate that pumpkin!

William: Lots of spiders on the pumpkins… ah!

After the long weekend, friends returned to school and continued to notice, wonder and ask questions about the pumpkins.  Children were ecstatic to see that pumpkins were still on the playground, in their classrooms and even in the Studio!

Kavalli: Pumpkins in the Studio! That’s crazy! There’s more pumpkins! Pumpkins are everywhere!

Friends used twist crayons to do an observational drawing of the pumpkins.  Children examined the color, size and texture of the pumpkins and gourds very carefully.

Carlos: I’m counting the pumpkins so I know how many to draw.

Siena: The red pumpkin on top looks like a hat.

Miguel: I like these pumpkins.  They are all different sizes but I like the little one the best because it’s like a baby.

Next, children used liquid watercolors to paint over their pumpkins.  Friends were excited to see that they could still see their crayon drawings and enjoyed watching them emerge through the paint.

Ra’Maya: I can still see the dots on my pumpkin!  It’s like the paint disappeared in the paper.  I think it went to church.

Waju: Hey, I remember these!  They are water paints!

Dai’Jah: I can still see all the lines on my pumpkin.  And they were skinny.

“It’s amazing to use all the colors you want to make the color you want to make the most!”

Art groups are in full swing in the PK Studio, and we’re continuing to work with and learn about new materials every week.  This past week, friends used liquid watercolors to make paintings.  It was exciting to paint with watercolors after learning about tempera paint, because it allowed them to explore their similarities and differences. Friends enjoyed watching the paint settle into the paper, as well as laying colors to create one of a kind paintings!

Before we could begin painting, friends practiced putting on smocks.

Siah: Good smocks!

William: Darby, let me help you with your smock.  It goes like this… long part in the front, short part in the back.

Reese: We wear smocks so we don’t get our clothes messy.

In the PK Studio, we keep liquid watercolors in glass jars.  Before we began painting, friends shared what they already knew about glass, and how to handle working with the fragile material.  As you can see, children really covered all of the bases in regards to using glass jars in the Studio.

Adrian: Don’t be rough with the jars or they will break.  Jars are like a small bottle.

Mae: If you drop the glass it’ll break all over the floor and it could hit your foot and your foot could get bloody and you will cry and the paint will be gone.

Ra’Maya: Glasses have glass in them, too!

Sophie: If you put the jar hard on the table, it could scare friends and also break.

Selwyn: If we pick the jar up and throw it in the air, it would make a mess and it would break.

Zoe: If you drop the glass it could break and you could step on it and your foot would bleed and you might not walk and your foot could fall off, so that’s why you have to be careful with glass.

Friends also learned that if we want to mix colors, we mix colors on our paper and not in the jars.

Sarah: Don’t put the pink brush in the blue jar because it’ll mix it all and no one can use the blue anymore because it’ll change to purple.

Luke: You can’t trick us… we know the green brush goes in the green jar!

Nayeli: I always don’t put the pink brush in the blue.

Jax: Do I put the orange in the yellow?  Nooooo!  Do I put the orange in the blue? Nooooo!  Do I put the orange in the orange? Yes!

Finally… friends could get to work on their masterpieces!

Naomi: If someone comes in, we could tell them they can come paint with us!

Marquis: The pink paint disappears when I put it on the green.

Zavier: This yellow paint is sparkly and golden.

Christian: Mister Skinny Legs, look, I’m painting Mikey Angelo.  And Mister Skinny Legs is like “OMG, I didn’t know Christian could paint the Ninja Turtles!”

Carlos: It’s amazing to use all the colors you want to make the color you want to make the most!

Iris: How do watercolors dry so quickly?  Maybe if you blow on the painting, it’ll dry up.

Miguel: This yellow looks sparkly like pirates gold.

Nneka: That color looks like emerald.

Madison: Mine is beautiful because I know how to paint really well like an artist.

Elijah: This looks like fern green, which is like our art group!  It’s a light green, it’s fern green.  Can I call you Ms.Fern?

Florentina: Watercolors get sucked up into the paper faster than other paints.  Look at the back of my paper… the paint sucked all the way through to the back!

Isabella: Paintbrushes love the watercolors.  They look like they are swimming in an ocean of pink paint!

“Is that an octopus in the cage? He a spider? He gonna eat us!”

It was a very busy week and a half, as friends have started coming to the Pre-K Art Studio for art groups!  For children that were Pre-K 3’s last year, they acted as real leaders in showing new children around the Studio.  We spent some time noticing, wondering and asking questions about different spaces and materials that children observed in the new space.  Children that are new to CCPCS this year were very curious about the tarantula, Mister Skinny Legs, that lives in the Studio.  Friends that learned about spiders last year, and were a part of the naming process, helped introduce him (from the safety and comfort of his tank) to other children, and let them know that there wasn’t anything to be scared of!

Greyson: There’s a spider that has hair on him. He’s brown and orange.

Dafnee: I love your board and your lamp!

Claire: Why is there a classroom right next to yours?

Christian: I hear kids next door saying, “I have a block.”  I bet they are building.

Siah: The spider is moving. I think he likes your story!

Siena: It’s a little room… that’s so funny!

Nneka: Wow! Look at this place… it’s so cool!

Amen: The sink makes a noise.  A really loud noise.

Luke: This is the most awesomest room ever!

Esther: I’m scared the spider will get out of the cage and come to us.

Amen: Is that an octopus in the cage? He a spider? He gonna eat us!

Florentina: We get to go back to the back table when were done and the back table is always so fun!