Finding our terrain

To give students a sense of the built environment around them and how it works, we did a quick design study of building techniques using recycled milk cartons.  I rustled up four garbage bags full of milk cartons, a preponderance of them chocolate milk cartons, and borrowed a second hot glue gun from Ms. Speer. Thanks to Sophia's mom, Erica, Billy's mom, Sue, and Airamay's dad, Jahny, we were able to assemble some remarkable structures.

As ever the best element was the critical dialogue that happened between students who'd decided to collaborate.  There was a lot of putting together and taking apart, question asking and argument making. This quick immersion in architectural thinking will return later as we add urban infrastructure to our Portland map.

We also took a moment this past week to take stock of our class library.  There are a lot of books and a lot of books that no one is choosing to read anymore.  Table groups chose tubs to tidy and remove books that could either be retired or donated to another purpose.  I realized a beautiful Robert McCloskey book that had been read beyond salvation - loose pages and torn corners - would serve as good mentor art for water color landscapes later in the year and so I saved some of the beautiful illustrations.

Airamay's chicken coop, which has been the source of a lot of news recently, finally got a full presentation.  We learned all about different breeds of chickens, how to check their health, and what goes in to maintaining a healthy brood.