Studio Red: week 32

Dear Studio Red,

It has been another week of discoveries and exploring.  Take a look below to see what everyone has been doing.  We send all of you virtual hugs!

Love, Lauri and Emily

BUILDING IDEAS AND QUESTIONS TOGETHER

As we experiment with these new virtual tools for building and maintaining relationships, we are learning right alongside the children!  We continue to reflect on our time together.  We note the challenges that remain and the learning and connections that shine through!  We have been amazed to see the ways children are becoming familiar with what it means to be together in this way.  They are also getting to know themselves in a new way—figuring out how they are feeling as they see their classmates and teachers on a screen and how they can support themselves in this experience.  Below we share some documentation of the ideas and questions we shared during our whole group gathering this week.

Thumbs up, passing the invitation to share.

KATIE:  Um.. the baby bald eagles weren’t fully grown yet.  How do you know?  It’s littler than the big bald eagle.

CHARLIE NICHOLSON:  The baby eagles are chicks still.  But they still are really big. They’re still a little small. I saw what it looked like in a bird book. The chicks of the eagle look like the video.  I read the label. 

THOMAS:  What I noticed about the baby eagles, the baby eagles kept picking up sticks and then the mommy eagle picked up sticks.  What did you see?  I saw something in their mouth.  They kind of have a large beak.

RUTHIE:  I saw that the big eagle looked like it was smiling with its beak.  What makes you think  it was smiling?  I saw it was turned up a little. (motions with own mouth)

 

KIERAN:  The mommy um.. there was um.. three baby chicks.  When the baby chicks growed like a momma them will become big.  Them will have to go live somewhere else.  It happens to every single animal.

IAN:  Thumb up, then choses to pass.

JACKSON:  So, the, if they take out the sticks from the nest then the nest is going to break.  If they take them out it will start to bend then it will collapse.  I hope the chicks are full grown now or they will get very injured.

LOUIS:  Um… if it didn’t,  if the babies didn’t grow they would be grown by now or they wouldn’t be grown by now.

CAROLINE: That there was mice in the nest.  Oh, what did you see?  I saw a little thing like this (motion).  And I saw a thin tail.

MEMORIES FROM A WEEK AT HOME

IDEAS FROM GROWN-UPS

We have noticed how parents have been exploring and experimenting with the roles they assume during our video gatherings and conversations.  Each child is making sense of these new experiences in vastly different ways.  Each is unique in their feelings, their needs for support.  We see you wondering, Does my child feel more at ease with me here by their side?  How do I best transition, leaving my child to have time alone with their classmates, with their teacher?  How do I know when my child wants to attend?  When do I invite my child to join, even when they are hesitant?  These are complex questions with no single answer!  You are listening to your children and it is beautiful to see!

Parents have been reflecting on the growth they see as children learn how to play alone—some finding comfort in this play for the first time! This is such important work for each child. They are building a new habit that will bolster their sense of self, their sense of agency. Playing alone also reflects their sense of belonging and trust— that their family remains connected even while its members are apart, that mom and dad will return. We came across this article with more thoughts on the subject.

We see parents listening to their children, discovering how their children are making sense of the physical world, of their social world.  We see parents responding with opportunities to extend their child(ren)’s research.  Abby invited Caroline to create a nest.  Ian and his brother Cole painted a birdhouse together.  Kieran is building animals in Lego after using figurines to tell a story.  Alex told Louis he thought he was ready to test out a bike with shifters.  We see so many examples of parents as teachers as researchers of their children and how they are learning.