a store for monster food- a construction & journal

This summer our campus has been under a lot of construction. One day on the way into work I saw some electricians sitting on empty spools of wire. I convinced my coworker Taryn to ask them if they were going to throw them away and if we could please have them if so (I'm too chicken to talk to strangers- I desperately want to ask the laborers for some tidbits as well but I'm too scared!). 

Anyway, the next day the following showed up on our doorstep:

Recently we added them to our atrium. The children stacked them and added empty raisin, cottage cheese and other empty containers to the ledges. This is the result:

T had this to say about her structure:

Mine is big. A monster built it for another monster. It's a store for monster food. It costs 60 or 70 or 80 dollars. Monsters like to eat bugs. Monster bugs. 

C said this is what the monsters look like:

To be continued! 

storytelling with three dimensional illustrations

For this activity, I asked the children to begin by drawing a picture with a black marker.

We looked at their drawings and discussed the shapes they made. Then we checked our "Beautiful Stuff" collection for objects that were similar in shape and glued them on poster board remnants (another shout out to my coworker Heather and her dad who procured these superbly sturdy cast offs from his work). 


Meanwhile, I asked them to tell me a story about their drawing. I purposefully asked them to tell me a story at the end instead of first because sometimes the children find it difficult to illustrate their ideas after the story because the image in their minds is so complex they shut down. I feel I will have plenty of time to challenge them again later. 


Here are several examples of the children's work:


V's illustration and story:

"It's a house. Claire lives there, in Manteno. It's my cousin. Claire's my best friend and she plays with me the most."


H's illustration and story:

"It's a robot monster. Once the monster was going to blast off into space. Then the monster took a girl that was in space and took her to jail."
- 
Some new children to the program did not grasp many of the concepts I was asking them for but they worked diligently and described their picture to me, which is fine, too


T's work and description:

"Mine had a flower on it and buttons on it."


C's work and description:

"I'm making a beach party. I decorate it."


E's work and description: 

"My Mommy."


The end!