motion: exposition
Exposition night! Filled with cleaning, prepping, parents, friends, peers, support, nerves, and a little bit of showing off. Here’s what happened:
After a day of feeling the buzz of focused kids, and an afternoon of intense cleaning and setup…
We started the night with the Flying Fish’s paper airplane contest. Aidan and Ben were pilots, Clementine and Natasha were judges, Lola was announcer, Bruno was the scorekeeper, and Logan was the assistant. They began with a reading of the poem “Who Has Seen the Wind?” and continued on to demonstrating different kinds of throws and measuring each distance. They finished by having their audience throw the paper airplanes they’d passed out at the beginning of our exposition.
Next, we listened to Theo’s radio play, “Da Microbe Play,” with live microbe puppeteering by Theo and Audrey.
Norabelle made a speech about her comic-making work.
Since Coke and Quinn weren’t able to make the open house, they made a video of their trebuchet project to explain all about their work process and the physics of the device.
Kaia showed a video of her accomplishments in learning to draw horses.
Isaac, as his character Jimithy Smithenheimer, read excerpts from his novel entitled, “On the Subject of Sports” and “Some Facts I Would Like to Disprove.”
Alexander and Daniel presented their anti-gravity dominoes and explained how they had to make more than thirty identical pieces to make it work.
Henry showed his video documenting the work that Connor has done on his rigid wing glider.
Josh complemented Henry’s video by explaining, in Connor’s absence, the process that Connor has gone through and the iterations of his project.
We moved over to the cork floor and William presented his wood block domino pyramid.
Zada and Audrey did their aerial silk performances. Audrey’s story was about a mermaid princess who gets chased by a shark but then defeats it by chasing it away. Zada’s was about the very last bee in the world.
The night was a huge success!
The kids showed clear and obvious pride in their accomplishments through the Motion arc during the Exposition night. Our exposition night showed just how much the Brightworks kids can be dedicated to projects and ideas when they choose ideas that they are thrilled about. Not only that, but they showed incredible respect for their peers’ work and support for each other overall.
We’re so pleased with this Motion arc! We’ve learned so much since January and are thrilled to return to school and our next arc reinvigorated and re-energized, and ready to take the next big step in the growing and making of Brightworks.
See you after spring break!
prepping
Last night, the video producers for the “My Country” Tuneyards music video hosted a viewing for the Brightworks and Rock Project kids who were involved in the photo shoot. Everyone was excited (and maybe a little embarrassed) to see themselves on film!
Today, it was back to the tables and notebooks and drawing boards to put finishing touches on projects and get prepped for Exposition night.
The Flying Fish set up their throwing course and measured its distance.
A few more practice runs on the aerial silk.
Final additions on drawings.
Will and Beth continued to provide engaging art projects for the kids during their free moments throughout the day; today was watercolors and clay sculpting.
Everyone practiced and prepared for presentations.
One more day until the big show!
machines, filming, practice
Everyone’s getting focused and nervous about Friday’s exposition night! Projects are wrapping up and headed into the more formal portfolio stage the the kids reflect on their work and document the process of getting things done.
Ben continued to work on the ATV project.
Connor worked on the next generation prototype of his glider.
Working on portfolios, reflections, presentations.
this one
The Flying Fish made a series of how-to videos this afternoon, like this one.
William worked on his project, a domino pyramid (details later!) with Theo’s help.
Zada and Audrey worked with their aerial expert friend again to come up with a more elaborate routine with music.
Tim Hunkin, engineer, artist, and maker of the series The Secret Lives of Machines, came in today to satiate his curiosity about this school, to provide expert engineering advice, and to inspire the kids to start thinking about making their own coin-operated arcade machines, like the ones he builds for his arcade in England.
The Ninja Cats headed to the park with Quinn and Coke to test their trebuchet’s launching distances.
So much work, so little time until Friday…
painting, water dropper, projects
It’s Monday and our open house on Friday is fast approaching. Everyone is making big strides in their projects – and even getting close to finishing!
Quinn and Coke finished building their trebuchet today and took it through several test runs.
William worked on a prototype for his project.
Will helped Nicky with some of the mechanics of his marble run.
Beth put out watercolors for the kids so they could paint in the later afternoon.
Will built a Kelvin water dropper that engrossed everyone.
The Flying Fish made paper airplanes displays from frames Mackenzie hung from the rafters so they could show off their best work for Friday’s Exposition.
Norabelle and Kaia took a trip with Elizabeth to the Aurora gaming studio and returned to Brightworks with a few more drawing and illustrating tricks up their sleeves.
The Goats got down to focusing on their work.
Audrey and Zada worked on the story for their presentation on the aerial silk.
busy
So many advances in project work today…
The Flying Fish brainstormed ideas together for their paper airplane airshow.
A visiting artist taught some drawing fundamentals to Norabelle and Kaia for their drawing projects. They learned tips like how to draw with the whole arm and how to hold the pencil. The girls were engaged for two hours!
Norabelle and Kaia raced to the ending circle with their illustrations to share with the school. People “Oooo”ed and “Ahhhh”ed.
The Fish made flyers for the airshow, with the date, time, location, and illustrations of paper airplanes.
Quinn, Audrey and Theo highlighted their lines as preparation for their first recording of Theo’s play, “Da Microbe Play.”
Ben and Logan made prototypes of their best paper airplane designs.
William’s declaration was approved for a chain reaction set. He practiced setting up different arrangements.
…and collaborated with others for more ideas.
Coke and Quinn are almost ready to test their trebuchet!
And of course, our incredible hot lunch continues to bring new tastes to our palates!
walking
Thursday…
The Goats went out to the bay on foot and found lots of rickety leftovers of docks to climb on.
And it was business as usual at the school, with aerial practice, writers workshop, upside-down-ATV-turned-doghouse, and projects.
a lot done
So much was done today!
Josh helped Ben puzzle through a problem with his go-cart.
Audrey (and Kaia) prepped for a day on the silk.
Chane’s friend Cyd, an expert in aerial silk, came in to show Audrey some tricks, which she will teach Zada when she gets back from being sick.
Quinn and Coke continued work with Mark on their full-size trebuchet.
Kaia and Norabelle took a wet walk to Coffee Bar for a drawing and work session with Chane and Theo.
Isaac and Evan helped Debbie grate cheese for the five-cheese macaroni that she made for hot lunch today.
Connor video-chatted with Rick Cavallaro about his glider project and got great advice on his next steps.
And we had a great lunch together!
Because of the deluge of rain, the kids spent their park break inside on the cork floor playing a game called Fire in the Forest.
Nicky made progress on his marble run.
The Goats used the table saw for the first time and were terrified. They had to stop now and then to calm their nerves and wipe the nervous sweat from their foreheads.
