Yesterday was our first official Forest Four Day. Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten spent about two hours exploring our Northbound Trail. The undergrowth sprouted up beyond our knees over the summer, leading to a lovely, wild excursion.
We made collections:
Tried some problem solving and teamwork:
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Repaired forts:
Took on some challenges:
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And searched for wildlife:
Last night we shared our movie with family and friends. We rolled out the red carpet, enjoyed pizza and salad, and smiled for the paparazzi. This project couldn’t have been possible without the children’s creative ideas and the help of Mrs. Haluszczak. Filming in the past, we discovered that attempting to film the story straight through was a painfully long process. This year, we tried arranging filming day a bit differently. While Weird Eric and I worked with current scene actors, Mrs. Haluszczak took the remainder outside. They spent the morning exploring Spring as it presented itself that day.
For those that are intersted, our final draft follows. I’ve also attached some of our shot notes and the storyboard if you are curious to see how we organized ourselves for this process.
Scene I: Pigeons’ House, exterior
Narrator: Once upon a time there was a little pigeon playing basketball. A Big Bad Spider came along.
BBS: “What are you doing?”
Pigeon: “I’m playing basketball”
Narrator: Then the pigeon ran into his house. The BBS was very hungry and now he was grumpy and lonely. He knocked on the door.
BBS Knocks
BBS: Pretty please, can I come in and get some food?
Pigeon: Not by the feathers of our feathers, feathers, feathers!
Narrator: The BBS tries to wrap the house in a web.
BBS tries to throw a web on the house
Narrator: The police officers came.
Four police officers and two police dogs enter the scene.
Officer X: Halt in the name of the stars!
Officer R: Halt in the name of the star loft!
Officer N: You’re going to prison.
Officer F: I’m going to capture the Big Bad Spider
The BBS is hiding from the police.
Officer N: The police dogs can sniff out the Big Bad Spider.
PD V: We’ll find him, sir.
Police dogs run back and forth sniffing for the spider. Eventually, they find him and go get the police officers.
PD Kate: Woof Woof! We found him!
PD Victor: We found him! Can we have lunch now?
Officer R: Yes, you may.
Officer X: Good job, doggies!
Officers F & N: Good job today!
Police give the PDs dog bones.
PD K: Woof, woof! Thank you!
Narrator: They captured the BBS and took him to the police car.
Police take BBS to car and drive away.
Scene II: Pigeons’ house, interior
Narrator: The pigeon decides to watch tv.
Pigeon W: (turning on the tv using remote) I’m going to watch, “The Unicorn Drives the Bus” show.
Scene III: On the TV, Unicorn driving a bus
Narrator: The Sparkly Unicorn decides to drive somewhere.
Sparkly Unicorn: I’m going to have some mac and cheese and some Brussels sprouts.
Narrator: Then the Sparkly Unicorn gets dressed in pink stuff. Then she puts on some make-up. She begins to drive.
Sparkly Unicorn: I have to pick up White Cat on the way.
Pick up White Cat on the bus.
Sparkly Unicorn: Come on, let’s go to our meeting.
White Cat: I hope we have fun at our meeting.
Sparkly Unicorn: Sparkle Butterfly and Rainbow Butterfly are going to be there.
White Cat: Ok. Well, that sounds fun.
Narrator: They drive to the meeting.
Scene IV: An office or meeting place
Narrator: Rainbow Butterfly and Sparkle Butterfly are at the meeting. They are all talking about work.
Improv “work talk”, Sparkly Unicorn, White Cat, Rainbow B, and Sparkle B.
Narrator: Rainbow Butterfly and Sparkle Butterfly accidentally end the meeting by being too silly.
Rainbow Butterfly and Strawberry leave scene.
Sparkly Unicorn & White Cat: What in the world!!!!
Scene V: The bus
Narrator: White Cat and Sparkly Unicorn get back on the bus and leave. After they drive for a while, they stop and go to sleep.
Scene VI: Pigeons’ House, exterior
Narrator: The pigeon goes back out to play basketball again.
Everyone that isn’t BBS or police slowly comes over and says, “Can we play, too?” All play basketball for a bit.
Order: Rainbow G, Sparkly B, Sparkly Unicorn, White Cat
Narrator: Then they all get tired and fall asleep in a heap.
Scene VII: Police Headquarters, interior
Narrator: The police officers drive the BBS to jail.
Police taking BBS through the headquarters.
BBS: “I just wanted some food!”
Officer X: We have some spider webs in the closet.
PD V: They are really yummy.
PD K: They are super good for spiders.
Officer N: They are very healthy!
Officer F: “We have a web cage that can help you with that!”
Officer R: You have to keep eating it all day because we have lots.
Narrator: The cage is made out of webs.
BBS: This cage is GREAT!
The BBS eats the web jail.
Officer R: “We’ll drive you back if you say please.”
BBS: “Please drive me back. I want to make new friends.”
Narrator: The police drive everyone back to the pigeons’ home.
Scene VIII: Pigeons’ House, exterior
Narrator: Everyone was inside when they arrived.
Officer F: Go knock on the door, spider.
The BBS knocks on the pigeons’ door.
Pigeon: “Who’s there?”
BBS: “The Big Bad Spider, can I please have some webs to eat?”
Pigeon: “Sure! Here’s a web.”
Pigeon hands BBS some web.
Pigeon: “You can have as much as you want.”
Rainbow B: Let’s make a cake for the spider.
Officer X: We’ll make it banana flavor
Sparkle B: Let’s have a party.
Narrator: Everyone has a party at the pigeon house.
Dancing and partying ensues.
If you are curious about organizing an amateur shooting schedule here is how I did it:
An unusual box arrived today. Curiosity and excitement are bubbling out the door and down the hall. What could be inside?
We tried listening to the box for clues. Unfortunately, we didn’t hear anything that might give us clues.
Everyone wrote down their ideas using one of our Feely Box Friday forms. The top says, “I think it is a________.” We use the bottom to write about what we actually find.
Finally, we opened the box. Its contents were not what we expected. Inside we found bugs! In fact, there were four containers of them. The bugs are very small and a few of the children were a bit nervous that they might be poisonous. I quickly assured them that I would never invite a dangerous bug into our school. The package also contained some white fuzzy things, two little Petri dishes with what appear to be seeds, and some sort of crispy, hard thing that reminded the children of a butterfly “cocoon.” I’ve set up all of these items in an observable space so we can keep an eye on them. Our little scientists are looking forward to watching this drama unfold.
Big discussion this morning in the forest: What made this hole? The first discovers were sure it was a snake. Laughing, screaming, and yelling warnings while running through the woods followed. This brought the rest of us in for closer inspection. Many assured us that it was definitely a snake hole. That is until we were presented with another idea.
MF: It is not a snake hole. It is a mole hole.
Mrs. F: Oh, how can you tell?
MF: Mole holes have the dirt pushed up around the edge like this. Moles are bad. My grandpa has them all over his yard. We put little yellow worms in that the moles don’t like and they go away.
VJ: Snakes don’t dig holes. They slither and there are no slithers here.
FD: Moles aren’t bad. They are cute. I held one once and they are cute.
GS: Yeah, moles are good for the world. They help trees and plants grow.
AZ: No, it’s definitely a snake hole. RUN!!!!
After this discussion, some of the children remained to contemplate the origins of the hole. The rest ran off to run from the attacking moles and snakes. It appears it doesn’t matter what is attacking, it’s just fun to run around hiding from the imaginary threat.
We had the most perfect snow for our Forest 4s this past week!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=murFkEkVrC8&w=560&h=315]
Oh my! I can’t believe it’s this time of year already. We began creating stories for our script early in January and have now come down to what I think will be our final direction. This in no way ensures that changes won’t be made. In fact, if history has taught us anything in Pre-K, the characters are sure to change in these last two weeks of writing. Remember, this story is written by the Pre-K students. You’ll find all sorts of silliness and that is just the way we like it. Here is a copy of our draft thus far. We’ll figure out a title, change the format to look more like a play, and begin planning costumes and sets once we return from Spring Break.
Once upon a time, there were 2 little pigeons playing basketball. Two Big Baby Ducklings came along and said, “What are you doing?” Then the 2 pigeons ran into their house. The BBDs were very hungry and now they were grumpy. They tried to blow down the house.
2 police officers came. “Halt!” They captured the 2 BBDs and took them to the police car.
The 2 pigeons decide to watch tv. They were watching The Pigeon on the bus.
(On the tv.)
Pigeon decides to drive somewhere and get some mac and cheese. Then pigeon gets dressed in blue stuff. Then she puts on some make-up. She has to go to an important meeting with her friend Red Panda. They drive to the meeting.Penguin, Rainbow Spring, and Grape are at the meeting. They are talking about work. (work talk). Rainbow Spring and Grape accidentally end the meeting by being too silly. Penguin, Red Panda, and Pigeon get back on the bus and leave. After they drive for a while, they stop and go to sleep.
(Back at the pigeon house)
The 2 pigeons go back out to play basketball again. Everyone that isn’t BBDs or police slowly comes over and says, “Can we play, too?”Then they all get tired and fall asleep in a heap.
—–
The police officers drive the BBDs to jail. The BBDs say, “We just wanted some food!” “O.K.,” says the police, “we have a cage that can help you with that!” The cage is made out of bananas, so the BBDs eat the banana jail. The police say, “We’ll drive you back if you say please.” The BBDs say, “Please drive us back.” The police drive them back to the pigeons’ home.
Everyone was inside when they arrived. The BBDs knock on the pigeons’ door. “Who’s there?” says the pigeons. “The BBDs, can we please have some food?” replied the ducklings. “Sure!” said the pigeons, “Here’s an apple.” “Come in guys, we have some yummy food in here.” “You can have as much as you want.”
Everyone has a party at the pigeon house.
Our car is coming along. In fact today it was suggested that it should be a camper instead since we are “making” such a long trip. Since I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to stay awake for the whole drive to Florida, I thought it would be good to train some fellow navigators. This atlas we’ve been looking over is way too complicated. We decided to start with something a bit simpler.
We began with Map My Neighboorhood by Jennifer Boothroyd. In this book, we learn how to draw our own maps. We begin with a list of the places we would like to include and work from there.
Our first attempt was made out on the Northbound Trail. The children used a large notebook, scissors, paper scraps, and glue sticks to create the areas they felt were important. This map was made together.
The most difficult parts were deciding what to include and choosing a size for each piece. Scale might be a bit beyond us at this point, but the practice with position in space was valuable.
Our next mapmaking enterprise took place in the classroom. Each child created their own map. I set up the paper first with the locations of the doors and windows marked. When placing the paper in front of the children, I made sure that their paper was oriented so that the doors and windows were aligned with the room. The children had many different takes on what was important to include on their classroom map. None of you will be surprised to hear that the loft was almost always the first furniture added.
Two of our dear friends moved back to Florida last week. We are already missing their smiles. Sigh….
No worries! The children have a plan….
We’re going on a road trip to Florida! Yippee! Oh, fine, it is only imaginary, but we can still make our plans. To assist in the planning, I photocopied all of the pertinent states from my trusty road atlas and stitched them together with old-fashioned scotch tape. The class was quite surprised to find such a spaghetti mess of roads between here and there. Yet undaunted, they began to take action.
First, the children decided we needed a car to get there. Enter our trusty stand-by, a nice empty box.
Here are a few bits demonstrating the process and explaining some of the technical details:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YA9XSOPMVs]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwehzMJmp0A&w=560&h=315]
I think we’ll need to attack the map next….
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RbXTCVqFmc?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]
Two children were having a heated discussion regarding the distribution of toy cars. We decided that the problem could best be solved by visiting the Peace Table. In case you missed the introduction before, the Peace Table is a special place where two or more friends can work together to solve a problem.
Both children amicably sat down and I began my usual spiel. To each child I asked, “What do you want?” Both stated that they wanted to make a football game with the cars. One child had been previously playing in the area before moving to make a ramp for a separate game. The other child, inspired by the first, moved over to create their own football game. Once we figured out that the “problem” was that both wanted to use the cars to play football, we spent five minutes trying to find a solution. One child suggested that he should get all of the cars and the other child could play something else. When I questioned whether it would solve the problem if the other child, instead, got all the cars, the first child said emphatically, “Mrs. Forst, why don’t you go inside [the classroom] and we’ll figure this out.”
Turns out they didn’t really need my help at all. It seems that my presence simply prolonged the argument. Two minutes later, they returned to the classroom. They had solved their problem and decided to play the game together. Again, I am reminded that children are a lot more capable than we give them credit for. Luckily, they knew they could handle it.