exploratorium
Today we closed down the school and visited the Exploratorium to help the Tinkering Studio try out a new project! Wow and thanks to the staff at the Tinkering Studio for inviting us in on a Monday, when the museum is closed to visitors.
The project for the morning was to explore pop-up cutouts from paper.
A break for lunch in the Palace of Fine Arts.
After lunch, we went back to the Tinkering Studio to work on larger cardboard pop-ups.
Waging a spy war against the consistent seagulls and pigeon bother during our time outside after Tinkering Studio ended.
…and on a last note: the pig legs came out of the salt and are now hanging up in the basement! Prosciutto next October.
acting and building
We’d like to call this day a huge surprising foray into the next phase of the Cities arc, Expression. The collaborators had planned the whole day of being in the space with intriguing activities to capture the kids’ interest, but the whole plan was scrapped and it instead became a sneak peek of Expression as the kids directed their own projects based on their interests of the day.
Instead of joining in role-playing to facilitate discussion about the rules of boundaries and listening to each other if asked to stop, the kids made plays of their own and performed them for each other.
They learned the goats were heading down to Southern California to their new home, looked at pictures of the farm, and talked to their owner about their new environment.
Goodbye, goats!
Construction began on a second story to the cardboard hut.
Some watched Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights.” Here, Aidan is demonstrating the kind of dancing that happened in the film.
A few requested a second go-around of mayonnaise making, since they missed it the first time.
Henry wrote and directed play based on the boundaries discussion from the morning. The kids did more than a few rehearsals, created sets, and had a dedicated stage crew helping out!
Construction came to a conclusion as the second story was finished. Who knew a cardboard hut could have two stories?
It was an incredible day of creation of all kinds – and we can’t wait to see what the kids will imagine and create next week! Happy Friday.
transportation
Wednesday was all about transportation. How do you get such a large population around a city to everyone’s particular, singular destination? The kids began their study by visiting the Cable Car Museum and Powerhouse. They learned about Andrew Hallidie, the inventor of the cable car, and Friedel Klussmann, who helped save the cable cars of San Francisco.
But first, the older kids debated whether every invention should be patented, or if all information and ideas should be free-access.
The debate got a little heated.
Then everyone hopped on one of the most accessible of transportation options, the Muni bus, to head down to the cable car museum.
They met Joe Thompson, whose website is so packed in a wonderful way with ideas and history and stories about cable cars that we couldn’t resist asking him to join the kids as they explored.
Questions for Joe included: How did people go to the bathroom? What’s the top speed of a cable car? Have there ever been cable car explosions?
Why, yes, there has been a cable car explosion before: in New York, but only because they were carrying a wood stove in winter time.
The kids were enthralled by the constant spinning of the gears that pull cables along and make the cars move.
There was a clean-up crew down below the cables clearing up all the debris that the cable cars drag in during their days of service.
The kids headed out to the park with Joe and asked more questions. They’re learning how to interact with experts by brainstorming questions before arriving at their destination and thinking about what they’d like to learn before they get there.
And of course there was a break for play.
Nothing’s better than sliding down the banister!
Back at school there was a moment of reflection…
…and illustrating…
…before construction began on the maze-city.
