The children, who last met to represent sunflowers by drawing, met again to revisit their findings. We looked through our sketches and the pictures documenting their investigations. Theo G., who just joined the group for the first time, got to hear what the children discovered when they took a closer look. They revisited their observations of the leaf veins, small plant hairs, stem thickness, and the shape of the leaves. Since all the children had different information, we set our challenge at working on one clay sunflower together.Theo G. started working on a stem and made it stand erect.
Remy: We need to roll it up. We need to make it a little bit smaller so it can fit.
Teacher Jen: Grace, what part are you working on?
Grace: Stem. Look! (Matches her sketch). What’s next?
Aiden: The flower. I’m working on the petals. Here, Grace (as he passes it to Grace she adds to it).
Theo G. adding petals to the standing sunflower.
Remy: I’m adding veins (using tools).
Aiden then shows everyone his technique of how he can use the loop clay tool to cut out petal shape pieces. These pieces were then added onto the sunflower that was lying flat and the flower head that Remy started to shape. Remy supported Theo G., adding some petals on the standing flower and Theo G. started to add veins as Aiden and Grace were talking about the lines and plant hairs.
It was the teacher’s intention to have the children create one sunflower. By working together, there was so much more value in letting multiple points of view be expressed through the language of clay. The children each got to contribute to each piece through shared information, technique, and skill. Though not directly, each child challenged the other’s thoughts and original ideas. This is a step toward collaborating on yet a third representation of the sunflower, perhaps in a new material, that will have all the children truly collaborating on one piece. These sunflowers are a good reminder of how each one of us has something to offer our community. Where would we be without the wealth of others’ ideas? -Teacher Jennifer