“One time… I had a giant nightmare!”

Over the past several weeks, children have been sharing about their dreams, imaginary friends and thoughts about magic in the Studio!

Weekly, children go around and share their dreams one at a time with their friends.  We’ve noticed that some dreams are reoccurring or follow a theme, while others consist of different characters every week!   Each week, children describe their dreams with more detail and have many questions for their friends.  After everyone has a chance to share their dream, they sketch about them in their dream journals!

Katherine: One of my dreams was when me and Lenin throw snowballs together. We laugh together.

Brianna: It was really loud in my dream. The cloud. The cloud was doing so much noise. The sun was blinking because the cloud touched the sun and then it was blinking. The thunder was scaring everyone. All people was running away.

Frances: One time, I went into my dream and I played with my dream friend and then he barked at me and then I gave him cupcakes. The animal is a doggie. And I give him cupcakes whenever I get in my dreams. He likes cupcakes. His color fur is rainbow! His name is Shooting Star.

Jacob: I dreamed about Chase and Rocky flying together. They were playing together and they came into the bathroom with me. And they brushed their teeth and played with me and with my toys.

Elena: The monster was down on my moms sofa and my dads sofa and my sofa and my grandmas sofa. He looks like a monster and his face is disgusting. Like he have a nail and an angry face. And he have a nail on his face.

Isaiah: My dad and my mom were singing. They were singing Spanish songs. I was playing fort night with my brother Mason.

Leah: Unicorns. Drinking soda. And eating pancakes. And coffee. And pigs drink coffee too.  Sheep drink soda. And the sheep and unicorns drink all the soda. And they die.

Maya: Squirrel Girl.  She’s in comic books.  Do you know how I get her in my dreams? From the comic books I read about her right before I go to bed!

Savannah: I saw a dinosaur and a ghost. They were fighting people. And then they fall and they get a boo boo on their legs. They go to the doctor. And get a bandaid. Someone slammed the door on the dinosaur.

Kaitlyn: A monster bite my finger. And I run and then I ask my mommy if we have a monster last night. Her said that’s ok, it’s not real.

Mina: One time I had a giant nightmare. The giant named Jack he really, really snuck in the door and my friend Charlie, he had a house, and we stepped down the stairs, and we walked upstairs, and they also turned into a slide. And the ceiling could come off and on. And when the giant was in my town, there was other people, Charlie decided to close the roof so they wouldn’t get stepped on.

Nora: I don’t really know if I’ve ever had one.  I only dream about colors.  They’re all the colors in the world.

“We can’t stay, we’re getting bigger!”

Just as the PK 3’s made gifts for the PK 4’s, the PK4’s returned the favor and created two special gifts for our rising leaders!

You may remember back in Spring when some children spent months learning about figure drawing through different printmaking processes.  We accumulated so many gorgeous Gelli prints of children posing alone, and with friends, that it seemed to lend itself to illustrations for a book.  Figures in the prints were expressive, and evoked many feelings.  Children added text to each image, ultimately creating a feelings/classroom rules book that friends will read at the beginning of the school year!  Below are some pages from the book…

“You can always hug a teacher if you feel sad.”

“That’s your teacher.  They help and play with you.”

“You can look out the window to see your friends and remember how much fun you had.  You can look for us, but it might make you miss us more.”

“You can give a friend a hug, a handshake or a high five.”

“See, that’s being teamwork!”

“Looks like they’re making a mess.  Don’t forget to clean it up!”

“They’re playing.  The big one is four and the little one is three.  They’re going for a walk together and holding hands in the line.”

“You can walk in the garden.  There are tomatoes, strawberries and flowers in there.”

“Raise your hand is how you talk to someone.”

“Technically, he’s not a spider.  He’s using his imagination.  Anything’s possible.”

“Sometimes you’re gonna cry.  Teacher’s help you, friends can give a hug, or you can go to the cozy nook.”

“Even though you’re small, you’re strong.”

In the back of the book, children wanted to take group photos for the authors page!

PK 4’s also drew on transparent colored paper that was compiled into a stained glass window.  Their art will remain on the window next year so that PK3’s can continue to be inspired by their friends!

Zoe: I’m going to miss you.  I want to stay!

William: My sister and Adrian’s brother might  be in the same class next year.  They will be friends.

Nayeli: They will miss us.  They can ask us to come back.  Can you please come back?

Maia: We can’t stay, we’re getting bigger.

Rayyan: I’m gonna miss you.  I’m gonna make you gifts.  Are you going to cry when we leave?

Zavier: I’ll make my name and me and tiny lava I can step on.  Don’t tell no one about this because they will want to do it.  I can’t believe I’m going to Kindergarten.”

Zeina: Oh, it looks beautiful when the sun is coming through.

Destynee: When you be a leader, you show them how to do stuff.

Selwyn: We can still come back and visit.  We can see you in the hall.

Have a great summer, everyone!

“Want me to help you make a tree?”

“We want to make you something special because we love you!”

Wow… what a week it’s been!  As we’ve been wrapping up our school year, I was able to join every classroom for a Morning Meeting to present gifts!  Friends were very excited to share with their friends what they made for them, as well as see what other friends worked on.  Here are some photos from the sharing experiences.

Tomorrow, rising Kindegarteners will take home their flower pots.  Be sure to look for them in the cubbies!  And hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow, our new curtain will be hanging in it’s new home on the window.

“The sun has to work hard to do them!”

Today in the Studio, art groups experimented with sun prints as a photographic process.  We began by observing a sun print and taking guesses about how it was made and what types of objects were used.

Looks like:

Jude: My moms belly.

Alexia: A jellyfish and a bear.

Michael: Did I see an eyeball?

Gabby: Let me look closely… a stone, a car and a game.

Darian: Is it a shark?

Next, friends shared materials that they brought from home.  Children enjoyed sharing where their materials came from, as well as sharing them with their friends.

Wallace: My mom cut out some of her clothes.  And ribbon and some cardboard with stuff on it.

AJ: Lots of leaves that are dry, some snowflakes that stick, paper with holes and a tree.

After friends selected the materials they wanted to use for their sun prints, they assembled them on light sensitive paper.  Some groups worked on this outside, while others lucked out because there was a lot of sun flooding into the Studio.  As friends waited for the sun to do it’s job, children worked in the sketchbooks.

Sarah: The sun has to work hard to do them.

Quentin: Look, the paper’s turning colors!

Alexia: Sun prints are mysterious.

Owen: When you pick the objects up, the shapes on the paper.

Darian: Sun… please shine down on me!

Maceo: Mine looks like a snowman.

Once the paper turned from dark to light blue, friends rinsed the paper in bins filled with water.  Children were ecstatic when they took their sun prints out of the water and loved sharing prints with their friends!

Chris: The water makes it bright.

Jasper: You put stuff on paper and you put it in the sun and the objects dry into the paper.

Elias: They match what’s on the sun print!