Party Planners: The Final Touches to the Pinata

On January 17, the Party Planners met to decorate their painted pinata and to cut a hole which would allow them to put their cookies inside it. After negotiating the perfect spot, Ms. Leigh asked the girls whether or not the balloons inside were popped. Ms. Leigh, RB, and EC thought that the balloons would be popped, while KO and BW believed that they would still be inflated.

The group made a written survey.

When the hole was finally made, the girls peered into their pinata to see a popped, deflated balloon.

BW shoved her hand deeper into the pinata and realized that there were also balloons that hadn't popped. The group then took turns popping and ripping out the balloons.

The group then began to gather their decorating materials, which included colorful tissue, ribbons, and glue.

As the Party Planners carefully attached pieces of tissue and ribbons to the pinata, Ms. Leigh noticed some of their deliberate techniques. They were the same techniques of twisting and crumpling that the girls used in the atelier while exploring paper. The girls had taken the knowledge gained from their experience with paper and transferred it as they worked with different materials.

As the girls continued to decorate or accessorize their pinata, Ms. Jordan came into the room to let them know that she might have other materials that they'd be interested in using on their pinata. Ms. Jordan invited the Party Planners into her atelier and asked them to look around and then make a list of things they may want to use. After a few minutes of checking out Ms. Jordan's materials, the girls returned to the classroom with Ms. Leigh to make their list.

Each group member then wrote a list which included feathers, beads, eyeballs, and fancy ribbons. They then took their list to Ms. Jordan, who agreed to allow them the use of these materials. The Party Planners took what they needed as they thanked Ms. Jordan.

When the group got back to the classroom, they realized that it was time to clean up. They gathered their new materials and placed them in a bag, and agreed to decorate again at their next meeting.

On February 5, the Party Planners met again to finish their pinata. At this meeting, the girls used their materials from the atelier to accent their unicorn pinata. Ms. Leigh used a hot glue gun to help the children secure their beads in place. Ms. Leigh wanted to document this process with a picture, but couldn't because of the hot glue. She asked BW to take a few pictures of the girls and Ms. Leigh as they decorated with beads. BW gladly accepted her task and took over as documenter.

When the group finally finished decorating, they all sat down to talk about their next meeting. EC and RB were very excited about going shopping and were talking about it as they decorated. Ms. Leigh thought that this would be a good time to discuss what else needs to be done for the party and when we could go shopping. RB reminded the girls that they still needed to make games, while BW reminded the group about their unicorn goodie bags. The group decided that they would finish making the games and bags before going shopping. At our next meeting, the group plans to find a picture of a unicorn on the computer to paste onto the goodie bags. At the party, the other children will color in the unicorn as one of their activities.

Posted on February 6, 2007 12:48 PM | Permalink