Tigerlily Preschool

Daily Documentation from Tigerlily Preschool

March 8, 2023

Lulu writes:

Children begin working on a community collage. The center image comes from a beautifully designed bag of soil that Marie caught before it went to the landfill.

O: I love this!

T: Me next!

P, to M: Do you want one of these (long pieces of lace)? They’re beautiful.

Outside, P takes a tumble and gets a tiny scrape on his knee. He knows that in our First Aid kit there is a pink liquid cleaning soap for helping to get the dirt out, and I pretend that it’s potion sometimes. It can be any kind of potion a kid wants!

P (as I squeeze some potion onto a cotton ball): Thank you for helping me Lulu.

Lulu: Of course, that’s why I’m here!

Then, just making conversation as we get P fixed up – 

What do you think my jobs are here at Tigerlily?

P, thinking: Well, you help with cleaning…and kids that are reading…

Then, after watching me put the bandaid on his knee, he says decisively: You help kids that are reading and bleeding. Heh! That rhymes!

Haha P, yes it does rhyme.

Marie writes: 

Word has definitely spread that some clay items aren’t getting balled back up as usual- but saved. P wants to make a snowman and rolls some balls, stacking them quickly. 

S (moving to the chalkboard): Oh, I think I know about what you’ve done. 

S thoughtfully sketches out a drawing of his friend’s work

Then he draws about his own work, comparing the two, and explaining about having added arms and eyeglasses to his. 

S (noting the arms and eyeglasses): Here’s some things I also added to mine. 

Back at the table, I encourage the children to think about working bigger- tiny tiny bits of clay will be tricky to attach securely (scoring joints will be a skill to add in, soon I think, but for now I’m so pleased with the big leap we have made into the concept of attaching pieces together, with intention) 

P adds pieces to his snowman that make S think of wings. 

P: It’s a bird-snowman. 

Marie: What’s so great about clay is that you can use it to make pretty much anything you can think of. 

L (happily rolling a fat coil): I am making a snake! 

S: I’m going to make a duck. No one’s made a duck yet. 

Marie: Oh fun! Before you get started, can I show you something that might be useful in your work? 

I pull out the ballpoint pen I had in mind from yesterday, showing S how it can be a handy tool when you are working with clay and want to be able to, basically, draw on the clay. 

Marie (making some tiny marks in my own bit of clay): It’s really good at adding details to your work. 

P: What are details? 

Marie: Hmmm. Details… are small things, so interesting to notice. Details show more about your idea. Adding details can make a good idea even better. 

We admire how clearly the duck’s eye came out. 

P: It looks a little bit like a snowman. 

Marie (excited to highlight this use of variation on a known structure because…possibilities!): What I think we’ve figured out is that you can stack circle shapes to make different kinds of bodies.