What's the Frequency?

Today's dangerous thing--deconstruct an appliance!

This is a perennial favorite and I have a box of broken or unwanted small appliances in the closet for this very purpose (but can always use more more more!)  My personal favorite is a rotary telephone but I no longer have one of those on hand, although I did put out a big heavy old push button model.

I sat nearby for a while, and here's what I heard:

Martin:  I can't find one but this is what I'm doing.

Grady:  Guys!  Stop one minute!

Martin:  Oh look how cool it is under it.  We need to break this out.

 

Martin:  This one's moving.

.

Fin:  Hmmm...this looks really archaic.

Martin:  We need to break this clip.

                                                  

Aidan:  I need help getting it open

Fin:  Maybe stabbing it isn't the best thing.

Martin:  I'm going to take this apart and take it to my dad.  I broke one out.  I'm using real muscles.

Meanwhile, in other areas of the room...

Rishi, Aidan and others use crayons and oil pastels on pieces of bark that were all over my yard this morning screaming "Take me to school!  I'm an art project waiting to happen!"

Jacob experiments at the light table with acrylic rods we borrowed from the 2's classroom.

Andrew masters the perfect somersault around the bar.

And our fascination with mud continues!

Robert Munschkin enjoyed some outdoor playtime too!  He became a living sundial as I had to keep moving his cage as the shade traveled.

Schroeder spends a little bonding time with RM on his last day at SSNS.

S'mores...how do I eat thee?

Let me count the ways...

Friends in Motion

As I laid newspaper out on the art table this morning, which is the only way I ever get to read the paper it seems, a quote caught my eye and I quickly scribbled it down...

"If you're not doing anything different, you're not doing anything at all."  Edward Tufte on Leadership in the Washington Post.

I'll take it as a challenge to overhaul what I do in the classroom and try to give it a fresh approach.  We'll see if I'm successful or whether like New Year's Resolutions, it lasts 3 days.

But for now, we're engrossed in summer school and motion and action were the bywords of the day.

We began with pendulum painting!  I've done this many times before, but always inside, hanging the cup from the ceiling or once from a broom handle I held while standing on the chair!  Green paint was flung from one end of the room to the other.  Clearly, I needed a new way to do this so I took it outside.  I hung a cup from the grated floor of the climber.  Punched a hole in the bottom of the cup.  Mixed tempera paint and water.  Handed it off to a child. Let it fly.



Check out the motion in the upper left hand corner!

  Today's dangerous thing, (motion above notwithstanding!), Master the Perfect Somersault!



 Tulley contends that somersaults may soon be banned from schools.  I can only guess that this is because of possible neck damage from children flinging themselves onto the floor.  Tulley makes a case that once a somersault is perfected, it will be a handy skill to have should you ever need to recover from a fall...

 Most of us have long since mastered this dangerous skill...

 ...and can do it repeatedly quite proficiently...

 ...with expert form and grace...

 ...not to mention speed!  Dangerous thing #03/50...check!



 We continued driving nails...

 I pulled him off the table a minute later but I've gotta love the enthusiasm that beckons him to crawl right into what he's working on...

 We explored the properties of magnets and their polarity...

...and the added dimension of building on a mirror...

 Again we used real tools to do real work...

 ...and in honor of the REAL International Mud Day, we revisited our ever present puddle...

 You just know what happens next!

 You guessed correctly!

 Joy in motion...

 ...again...

 ...and again...

 ...and again.

And apropos of nothing, simply a lovely way to serve a lunch...all in one container...nothing touching!

Juicy, Juicy Tuesday

We so enjoyed making lemonade last week that I brought in a couple of dozen oranges and nearly everyone contributed to pressing them all into juice. 

It took all morning and huge amounts of brute force to turn a boxful of oranges into juice.

The great thing about this "machine" is that it does all the work with the motion of the lever, but it offers enough resistance from the fruit to require full body effort.  Most children wanted to do it over and over again.

And...it was as much fun to watch or help a friend at work as it was to do it yourself.  Here's the blue team in action!

I tried and I tried but I just could not capture his facial expression...so intent on the task at hand!

Another wonderful thing about the orange juice, no sugar or water to add or find just the right ratio...it was delectable just as we squeezed it.  Note to self for future...need strainer!  Annabelle doesn't like pulp!

Our dangerous thing of the day...driving nails!  "What does driving mean?", I was asked.  Four and five year olds are so sensitive to the subtleties of language.  "Like a screwdriver!" someone answered.  There you have it!  Rishi outfits himself in all the necessary safety gear.

 Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 29th...

 ...is International Mud Day!

 Some of us chose...

to celebrate a day early!

 Every day should be Mud Day!

 Someone observed today that this is the quintessential summer activity!

 Kid wash!

Self service!

Other Tuesday events of note...we found a toad in the sandbox!  This is the third toad (or the third time for this toad) in the sandbox this summer! 

Grady went in to wash his hands and the hot water faucet hit the ceiling and we had an active volcano in the Men's room!  I struggled to find the main water cut-off, Pam went in frantic search of a bucket, but Elizabeth braved the flow to turn the water off at the under sink cut-off.  Our she-ro!

Fortunately, when I left today a plumber was at work replacing the faucet.  Tomorrow all things should be back to our kind of normal.