Party Planners: Final Details and Chalk

On March 7, the Party Planners met to discuss some final details for their party. They decided that the last few things they needed to do were:
1. Go shopping for cookies, candles, and brown paper bags. The girls used their own, or inventive (beginning), spelling to write their shopping list.
2. Finish our games.
3. Bake our cake.
4. Order pizza.

The group’s discussion also considered details for the games and the type of music they will play.
RB: “We’re just playing games for fun.”
EC: “There’s no prizes, and whoever wants to go first can go first.”
RB: “I think the birthday girl should go first.”
EC: “I think Ms. Leigh should go first.”
Ms. Leigh: “Which games do we still need to get ready?”
KO: “Checkers. We need to go to the toy store.”
BW: “No, I’ll bring one, but I have to bring it home after.”
Ms. Leigh: “I have one at home, too. I can bring it in for the party. Are two checkers games enough?”
KO: “We could take turns and pass it to the next person.”
EC: “We can play it with the next person, then pass it to the other person.”
Ms. Leigh: “What about our other games?”
RB: “Ms. Leigh, remember, you’re going to bring in the unicorn doll to pass around for the game.”
Ms. Leigh: “That’s right. I said that I will bring in the small unicorn to pass around until the music stops.”
BW: “What about our music?”
RB: “Over there on top of the mailbox.” (In our classroom there is a selection of CDs above our mailboxes.)
Ms. Leigh: “Which one should we play?”
KO: “We should use our naptime music.”
Ms. Leigh: “Which one is that?”
KO: “Curious George.”
The rest of the group agreed that Curious George would be a great CD to play at the party.
Ms. Leigh: “I think we had one more game to plan for.”
EC: “The unicorn and the ball. We have to throw the ball in the unicorn’s mouth.”
BW: “Yah, we have to make a big unicorn.”
Ms. Leigh: “I think that is a great plan for the day. We can work on our big unicorn picture for our last game.”

After getting some clear acetate paper, the girls began to trace their black-and-white picture of the unicorn. Once they were done, they headed to the overhead projector, where they traced their projected image on a bigger piece of paper.

When their big unicorn picture was done, the group needed to decide how they were going to color it in. The teachers thought that paint would probably be the best choice, but the girls decided on something different. In the past few weeks, the class has been exploring chalk in the atelier with Ms. Jordan. They have been discovering new techniques and testing theories about this new material. The girls decided to extend their interest by using chalk to color in their unicorn picture.

As they started to use “rainbow” colors to fill in their unicorn, they realized it was time to clean up. The group planned to meet again next week to finish their unicorn picture.

On March 15, the Party Planners met again to finish their big unicorn picture. The girls started by using different colors to fill in the unicorn. Being very careful to stay within the lines, the girls made small slow movements with the chalks. They rubbed, smashed, and scratched the different colors together to create a single color for their unicorn. It was very obvious that these girls were extending their earlier exploration of chalk.

Once the unicorn was completely filled in, the girls decided to use pink as a background color. The girls rubbed the pink chalk all over the background space, then used their hands to blend it into the paper, creating a smooth and complete look.

The girls were so excited about their picture that they searched for Ms. Jordan and told her that she must see their work. As Ms. Jordan marveled over the group’s picture, she reminded them about their earlier works with chalk. She told the girls that sometimes people use backgrounds and outlines to make their pictures “pop.” BW remembered the picture of the tree she made with chalk and how the outline she did around the tree made it stand out.
BW: “We need black chalk.”
RB: “A skinny one, cause we need to make skinny lines.”
The girls each grabbed a skinny piece of chalk and outlined their unicorn.

After standing back and reflecting on all their work, the girls decided to rethink their game. In their earlier plans, the girls planned to cut a hole in the unicorn’s mouth, so that the children can try to throw a ball in it. They now decided to cut holes on the side of the unicorn, so that their unicorn will be “safe.” After spring break, the Party Planners are planning to attach their unicorn picture to cardboard and cut out holes. They also will be planning for their upcoming trip to Safeway.

Posted on March 17, 2007 11:54 AM | Permalink