Documentación
From a question to a panel on the wall
Every project starts with something a child said. Here is how it travels from the rug to the door.
A child asks
A question comes up at circle, in the yard or over snack. The teacher writes it down in the child's own words and keeps it.
The studio sets out materials
Hisako and the room's teacher choose a few things that might help children look closer: paper, clay, light, paint.
Children work, teachers write
A teacher stays close with a notebook and a camera. She writes what children say, what they try and what surprises them.
The panel goes up
Photos, a few lines of what children said and a note on what we noticed go on the wall by the door, in Spanish and in English.
Sample content.
On every panel
What a panel holds
A panel is short enough to read standing at the door, and plain enough to talk about at home. We never put a child's name on one.
The question the project began with
A few words children said, without names
Photos of the work, and of hands at work
What the teachers noticed
Where the project goes next, and how families can join in
Panels on the wall
Four panels, read the way families read them
Leaves under the roller
After a rainy week, the Threes room rolled paint over leaves and pressed them onto paper.
We noticed: some leaves printed their veins and others only a shadow.
A child said: “This one has roads inside.”
Next: a walk to find the leaf with the most roads.
Sand on a line of glue
In the studio, children drew with glue and covered the line with sand to see what stayed.
We noticed: children shook the card to find where the line ended.
A child said: “The sand is hiding the glue.”
Next: glue lines on cloth, and a drawing too big for one table.
Over, under, over
The Fours room wove cloth through a paper loom, and then asked who else weaves.
We noticed: children chanted the pattern as they worked.
A child said: “My abuela does this with hair.”
Next: families bring something woven to show the room.
Blue and yellow, and what came after
Two colors on a palette turned into a week of looking for green outdoors.
We noticed: every green children found got its own name.
A child said: “That one is a frog green.”
Next: a wall of greens, written in two languages.
Sample content.
Read the panels on a tour
The panels stay up in the hallway through the year. Come and read the ones on the wall now.