What we know, guess and wonder about Trees

I spent a day with the children investigating what we know about trees and what we want to learn.  It's always a pleasure to sit and listen to their insights, ideas and curiosities.  It also helps me track the children's interests and respond accordingly.  Based on our conversations and some great brainstorming with my colleagues, the studio will look very different after the break!  Make sure to stop by after the first of the year to check it out!

In the meantime, here are a few snippets of dialog and artistry to share:

Squirrels live in a tree.  They sleep inside the tree.     
-Will C.

I wonder how did trees become Christmas trees?  What, where and when was the first Christmas tree?     -Brynn

Well I know trees talk.  They use the wind to carry their words.  Trees have bark and leaves and wind and dirt and birds and bugs. Owls live in trees and squirrels and bugs.  Well... they do have big branches for all of them to live in.     -Paige W.

Trees talk with the wind and light.  I have a friend that is a tree.  It has swings on it and it let’s me swing on it.  It’s in my front yard.  The leaves on a tree fall off in the Fall. When it gets windy the leaves blow off.  In the summer it’s hot and in the fall it’s cold.  When it’s cold the leaves blow off.  When its in the summer the birds come out.  In the winter the birds sleep up high in the tree in their nests.     -Owen W.

I want to learn about birds and nests and eggs.     -Horace

Red birds, like a woodpecker and a cardinal, live in trees.  I wonder if bananas fall out of trees or does someone pick them?     -Piper

Birds live in a tree.  Blue birds live in trees.     -Charlie M.

Trees help us breathe.  Trees help us survive.  I have trees that are changing colors and there are trees that make maple syrup.  I have a pine tree that is really, really big in my front yard.  I look at it...I want to know how long trees live and how tall they grow.  I want to know when mushrooms grow on trees and branches and where else do they grow on trees?  What do mushrooms do for trees?  

What if we made mushroom soup?!!!! And we could have fruit to eat too!  Maybe we could have a special day for our parents and we could tell them what we know about trees and serve them mushroom soup!!!!     -Henry L.

Will had this to say of our Studio tree:

This is a tree that we made but it can’t communicate to the other trees cuz it’s a fake tree but it’s a real LOVE tree.  It feels like a real tree but its actually not.  Real trees communicate with like a smell or something through its roots or leaves.  Like a chemical, yeah there’s some kind of chemical that helps it communicate.  Maybe we could add real live roots so it could talk to other trees.

I just love this tree.  It is a hard and rough tree.  We could make some leaves on it.

As the winter break approaches consider observing the trees in your neighborhood and listening to your child's wisdom and wonder. about our wooded world  And as always I'd love to hear anything you'd like to share!

Cloud Study

 Michelle led a wonderful assembly on clouds.

 As a demonstration she used water, shaving cream and food coloring to demonstrate how a cloud fills with moisture, resulting in rain.

 Next, she did an awesome experiment using hot water, a match and ice to create a cloud in a jar!

 The children were enthralled as were all the teachers!

The children communicated their observations in the studio and classroom with creative materials.

And the silver lining of every rainy day is the possibility of a rainbow!

For the LOVE of Trees

On Thursday of last week, I gave a presentation to the whole school entitled, For the Love of Trees.  I introduced the children to some of my very best friends in Denver... the TREES.  I shared the wonderful discovery that trees communicate!! But not like we do.  They communicate via chemicals and fungi networks in and around their root systems. WHOA! (If you want to learn more about the Wood Wide Web, you can watch this video here  or this informative ted talk. For a deeper dive pick up Perter Wohlleben's wonderful book The Hidden Life of Trees. )

The children were surprised.  Trees can talk?  Yep.  And you can talk to them.  Really?  Well I do!  I shared how I learned to talk to plants and trees as a little girl by listening with my heart.  Yep.  Sound hokey?  To adults maybe it does, but children often know what I'm talking about.  The heart feels love.  Love is a kind of chemical in the body and our heart is a big ole magnet. 

As a child of hippies, I was taught to "listen" to trees with my heart and senses.  I learned to discern if a plant needed water or nutrients by sight and touch and yes... feeling.  I learned to ask before picking a leaf and then listening with my heart to hear the reply.  If my heart grew warm with love I took that as a yes and if not, I didn't pick the leaf or fruit or flower.  

Many of the children were eager to give it a try.

After our presentation the children were invited into the studio to share their wonderings and ideas about trees.

I also introduced a large "tree" made of paper, cardboard and tape.  We will be adding papier mache' to it's surface in the weeks ahead.  In the Spring our little tree will be on display in the corner window of the Artisan Center along with your children's thoughts and creativity.  Stay tuned to watch this project unfold in the year ahead AND if you are inspired to learn or share more feel free to contact me!  I love to collaborate!

I hope you have  a beautiful and tree-filled weekend.  And if you are walking with your child, be sure to listen for a while to the song of the trees in your neck of the woods!

BONUS:Here is a video clip to my dear friend, a ponderosa pine along Apex hiking trail in Golden, CO.

Nature in Clay

Amy picked some leaves this morning as the snow began to fall and brought them into the studio to share with the children. 

We then offered the children a few ceramic underglazes to highlight the leaf impressions in clay.  We have used under-glazing on wet clay before.... another step into the unknown.  We look forward to firing the clay to see how the clay accepts the glaze. 

Collaborative Research: Redefining Public

The phone rings.  I answer.  My colleague Vida replies enthusiastically, "Angelina I have this question and I want to talk to you about it before I forget!"  
As educators working and learning alongside young children we regularly contemplate questions, interests and concerns any time, day or night.  I welcomed her call!
Vida continued, "Could a broader understanding of community compel us toward more sustainable practice and public policy?" 
Our conversation quickly became animated, fanned by our commitment toward sustainability in practice and education. We didn't have any tidy answers but we were committed to the questions so we decided to collaborate in a year of research to find out more. We discussed thoughts and ideas over several days before settling on a few questions to guide our inquiry.

1. What responsibility do we have to the public (community we have not seen)? 
2. What do we mean by "public"? (Keeping in mind that animals... including humans... make up a very small percentage of the biomass on our planet.)
3. How might we create a shared understanding of public that includes our global biomass and all things that support life?
4. How do these questions inform our classroom environments, lessons and explorations alongside children.

Formulating queries was the easy part.  Now, how to investigate them?  After some consideration we decided to simply keep doing what we do while paying close attention to how we do it.  We both agreed to track the children's responses and share our observations over the year.

And so it began:
The classrooms are investigating plants this year.  Today, Vida did a beautiful presentation during line time on the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals.  In simplest terms, she demonstrated that when we breathe, we inhale oxygen made by plants as a byproduct of photosynthesis and when we exhale those same plants can uptake the carbon in our carbon dioxide to make the sugars they need to grow. (Of course the process is a tad more complex).  Inhale, exhale. Symbiosis.  This simple lesson communicates interconnection.  Plants and animals need each other for MANY reasons and breathing is not the least among them.  Are they part of our community?

This lesson has support in a variety of classrooms materials, from various plant puzzles, books, classification cards to the various types of plants living and "breathing" in the room (so to speak).

The studio offers other opportunities to explore these concepts.  We can express these ideas in sculpture:

 photography:

 paint:

and more.  Keep checking the blog to follow our year of inquiry.  And feel free to let us know if you have any thoughts, ideas or suggestions.  You can post a comment here, send an email or schedule a time to chat.  Your input is most welcome.