Twig Towers!

This week during our outside time, students worked with their House Table groups on a STEM challenge. Using only twigs they foraged from our space, each group had to construct the tallest free-standing tower they could. There were a number of different techniques kids utilized, like stacking twigs in layers facing opposite directions (Lincoln Log style), creating a perimeter of twigs around the base to stabilize the foundation, and breaking twigs into more uniform sizes.  Sometimes Mother Nature sent some help to some towers in the form of frozen ground that kept the bottom twigs in place, but other towers felt the sometimes devastating effects of wind. The final heights of the towers were in close range. The tallest 2 towers were 15 inches tall, followed by a tower of 14 inches and one of 13 inches.

Below, see pictures of each group's tower and the measuring process. Next week, kids are going to try new techniques like bundling twigs with rubber bands, to see if our improved structures could top out over our current top heights.  Also included are images from today's Free Friday's adventures in the snow. Kids used make-shift sleds from recycled cardboard to take advantage of slippery hills while others found animals tracks in the snow.

Shimmertail House:

Slatebeard House:

Maia House:

Firedrake House:

Dog tracks

Squirrel tracks

Fun in the snow

Dragon Finale

Our Dragon Showcase this morning was a tremendous success! We are so proud of the hard work, energy and effort of all the kids. It is a big risk to step in front of such a large crowd but they were more than up for the challenge!

Below, you will find pictures from a special visitor to the 1-2s - a DRAGON came by yesterday to congratulate the kids on all their learning in this study and to sprinkle a little wisdom and a bit of magic on our student performers.  Also, realizing that the black and white photocopies do not quite do the murals justice, we have attached the color pictures for your enjoyment.

Enjoy the vacation! We are looking forward to more adventures in learning in 2017!

Dragon Puppets!

Today kids presented their FANTASTIC dragon puppet projects! We were very impressed with the wide variety of puppets on display. Kids used materials very creatively to create special features on their puppets like horns, spines, teeth, wings, scales, and fire! It was wonderful to hear the variety of tales these dragons hail from - some were lovely revisits of earlier read aloud books while others introduced us to brand new stories of dragons. There was also an impressive spectrum of artistic abilities in puppet crafting among the kids in the 1-2s from painting to sewing to stringing marionettes!  Please enjoy the pictures below. These puppets will be on display in the 1-2 hallway for you to see if you are able to join us next Friday for both our Dragon Showcase (10:00 in the music room) and our Winter Celebration (immediately after the Showcase in the front lobby.)