Mosaics

Our story begins with a small group walking to the hillside to visit the snail. Prior to going to the snail we had a meeting to discuss our purpose for visiting and afterwards we would go to the tinkering room to explore more with mosaics.  When we got to the entrance of the hillside you can imagine the excitement of the children.  I watched excitedly as they ran down the hill to the snail. AC and SS quickly got together and began studying the snail as they rubbed their fingers across the tiles.  I patiently waited and listened as they begin to converse about their noticings. 

AC - I see a snail inside a shell!

SS - What is this? 

 SS - I see myself!  It's a reflection!

EK - Look Ms. Stephanie! I see the trees! They're reflecting from the shadow of the sun.

 

 SS - Look at that face!  It's shiny and it is so hard.

The friends moved around to the other side of the snail to view the mosaics.  

 AG-P  - they look like marshmallows.

SS - No they don't.

AG-P - Yes they do because they're white.

SS - Marshmallows are round.

Before going to the tinkering room we switched out a couple of friends with a couple of new friends who wanted to go see the snail too.  So, off we went back to the hillside with the new friends.  I was eager to know why they wanted to go to the snail first instead of going to the tinkering room.  I didn't know what to expect from these new friends.  My first thought was that they’d stop to observe and examine the tiles on the snail but instead, CS and EK ran right through the opening of the snail! I wondered if they were going to play some kind of game and enjoy the snail before taking time to examine the tiles.  Before I could ask what their intentions were CS shouted : "We're running through it's belly to get to the other side to find mosaics!"  It didn't take long before they noticed some of the images on the snail. 

EK - Look! There's a big eye!

HB - They're made out of metal.

 CS - Here's another eye right here!

We explored the snail a little longer and decided it was time to visit the tinkering room.  We thought we would walk around to the front entrance from the hillside so as to see if we would notice any mosaics in front of our school.  On our way we stopped to rest a bit before entering the building.  We entered through the main entrance and immediately the friends noticed the mirrors in the lobby.

 SS - The mirrors are ovals.

CS - Look at all the little fishes!  Well they're not really fish, they're mirrors but they look like fish.

We continued on our journey to the tinkering room.  As we turned down the hallway towards the tinkering room I said to the group "I notice something!"  "A mosaic! A mosaic!" ZW exclaimed.  So, we paused outside of the Magnolia room and took a closer look at the mosaics.  We took our time to focus on the materials used to make this beautiful mosaic.

 ZW - These are really pretty.

 SS - They are made on a table.

CS - Yeah!  And, look at all of these at the bottom.  They are really pretty.

We enjoyed looking at the mosaic and it was time to move on.  We finally made our way down, yet another hallway and into the tinkering room.  We opened the door, went inside and the first thing I noticed and heard was this:

 CS - Let's look at this to inspire making a mosaic.  Like for inspiration!
EK and SS - That's a great idea!

 SS - I made myself.  Look everybody!  I made myself!  It looks like I have work glasses on my face.

 CS - Did you know you could use a ribbon to make mosaics?  I'm using this one on my face. 

 ZW - I really like this.  It's really pretty.  It feels kind of bumpy.

Well, it was time to end our wonderful exploration in the tinkering room.  However, our wonderful friends decided that they wanted leave something for others to enjoy.  

.

                      HB - We can set up an invitation for another group.

SC - We're leaving notes.
EK - We left an invitation for other classrooms to see our beautiful thing we set up.
HB - Because it's beautiful.
CS - Because I think it's just Love to leave things for other people to look at.
HB - And, not to break.  Instead of breaking our work they can just move the pieces around and make something else.