Family Tree Town Meeting

On Friday, December 21, Tomáš, Nikita, Sofia, Asha and some other kids were singing at a Town Meeting, and one of the songs they sang was Family Tree. The song is below, so look below and you'll see the whole thing first hand. It was great. Hehehe. [Tomáš]

Our Poetry Celebration

On 12/19/07 we had our poetry celebration! Our parents came in to read our poems and wrote comments in our comment books (made by Leila and Nikita). We (Abby and Andrew's class) had to pick three, four or five poems for a book of poems. Plus the kids also got to read each other's poems and write comments too. We felt very very proud to have our poems read in public. We got to bring in food and drinks. We had the publishing celebration first thing in the morning. [Nikita and Isabel R.]

Our Trip to the Wyckoff Farmhouse

Yesterday we had a trip to the Wyckoff Farmhouse, and we learned how people lived in the olden days. We learned that you had to sit around all day and do things like make butter and turn wool into clothes. And - believe it or not - 13 people lived in one small room about the size of your kitchen. And you know how I said about making butter? That's one of the chores the kid's would do. [Isabel R.]

Building Without Columns

So... we found out that architects can support weight (like a highway) by using columns, and we found out that two columns, placed side-by-side, are stronger than columns placed in single file. But what happens when the columns are too narrow? That's been our challenge this week. We've worked with some of the narrowest materials we could find - toothpicks. We've been looking for the strongest shapes and supports. [Andrew]

Movement

Each week, on Wednesdays, we've been having a movement class with Rachel from the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. We've learned to move through self-space and group-space, to contract and expand, to create positive and negative spaces with our bodies, and a whole lot more. Take a look at today's action! [Andrew]

Publishing Our Poems

This week we have been adding things to our poems for the publishing party. It's been really interesting adding comparisons to our poems and repetition in our poems. First we picked out three poems to publish then we started adding things to our poems. It was really hard to pick out three poems because sometimes we had more then three poems and sometimes we had less than three poems. Now we're in the position where I am not sure what we're doing so don't ask. We have been working a lot a lot on line breaks! [Isabel R]

Theo "Life Lake"

Elijah "Angels Drinking Cofee"

The Highway in our Back Yard

On our way to the Kentler Gallery last week, we walked over (and under) the BQE. We noticed that it was constructed with beams and columns, like the ones we used in a paper and block experiment earlier in the week. We made models of the highway with classroom materials, and then we went back to the footbridge to draw. [Andrew with photos by Layla]