Today we took a walk in the neighborhood and encountered a large moving inflatable cat, sparking questions and comments: Helena: Look at the decoration! Rondie: Is it real? Dylan: It’s pretend. Poppy: If it’s not real, why is it moving? Poppy had some feelings about the cat and was able to express her fears to…
The children’s first opportunity to “act out a show” together in the Cactus Theater in the East Wing was approached individualistically. The teachers kept hearing, “I want to be…!, My idea is…!” and the characters didn’t have a clear role yet. Listening to each other appeared difficult and no clear agreement between the players was…
Snack was prepared by Eli, Finn, Uma, Arnon (dropped it off early), Keaton, Santi and Juliette. The turtle tank was cleaned by Julius (Finn) and Haris (Phedon) who worked all morning with the children.
The children noticed a pumpkin growing in the Community Garden on the side of the East Wing. As the days passed, the children noticed that the colors of the pumpkin were changing from green to orange. When the leaves started to die, we decided to harvest the pumpkin and let it ripen in the Paper…
While working in the House Area, the EW children discovered that flower petals make marks on paper. This inspired the teachers to offer further discoveries through color, mark-making, and natural materials. To extract colors and see compost as more than a different kind of trash, we investigated natural dyeing processes. The teachers saved specific compost…
The children in the West Wing are taking their first group walks in the neighborhood. A chance to explore our surroundings revealed a shared knowledge when they encountered a brick wall. Miles: Look at this brick house. Let’s blow it down! Rufus: Blow, blow, blow! Miles: We’re the wolf. The West Wing teachers were surprised…
We have some new faces in the West Wing. Welcome to Helena Dubrawski and her family Heidi and John and her brothers Kai and Taj who have just moved back to L.A. after living in Palm Springs for a couple of years. Helena just started on Monday, October 7th, and the children are busy setting…
At New School-West, we have established a Birthday Book Tradition where children and their families bring a favorite book to read to the group. The Birthday Books are donated and kept in the classroom to revisit. They eventually become a permanent part of our whole school library with a special bookplate inside the cover celebrating…
The children continue to represent cacti in the Atelier with multiple materials. Using our cacti metaphor in the East Wing, we continue to explore how to navigate relationships when friendships get prickly. Olivia, painting a cactus: How do we make the spines white? Naomi, using dyes on canvas: We don’t want green! Cindy considers these…