Welcome to my Blog!

Greetings and welcome to my page. My name is Rebbecca, I am a mom of two and a preschool teacher in southwestern Virginia. I have had the blessing of working in a Reggio Emilia inspired center for nearly 10 years, with the Greenies (my students) for 7 of the last 10 years. Our emergent curriculum and play based learning approach has changed the way I think about working with children. I am looking forward to sharing my inspirations, reflections and stories with you. So glad you're here!

“If you are a dreamer,come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!” Shel Silverstein


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Painting With Power Tools!

(I do not remember where I saw this first, probably Teacher Tom....)

Feeling powerful, taking risks, being empowered... that's how we roll in the Green Room! Painting with a drill has been something I have wanted the Greenies to experience for a long time, I was just waiting for the right moment. Those who know me know how impatient I can be so I decided this week was it, we're going to just go for it!


We started in our classroom. The Greenies and I donned smocks and goggles. I asked each Greenie if they knew how to use a drill and everyone of them, without a pause, gave me a big YES!!!


While most took to this experience with great enthusiasm, there were a few who approached it with a responsible amount of caution, meet my friend Olivia-



"Olivia is cautious as she begins working with the drill. She uses it at a slow speed and focuses on the center of her paper. She is encouraged to make the drill go faster if she feels comfortable, she pulls the trigger harder, "oh, that's fast!" As her confidence with the drill builds she begins to manipulate it across the paper. She continues to use the drill at high speed and creates lines extending from the center."

Another friend takes a very serious and calculated approach to the art. This young man studies his art with great importance, just look at his posture in this series:





Take risks, be brave, learn much!

2 comments:

  1. Think what you could do with an circular sanding attachment? Although you'd probably have to cover the kids head to toe, and the easel, ceiling, floor. However it would be a great introducing to centrifugal force and great fun, great post.

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  2. Oh, that would be neat! Definitely an outdoor experience!

    I did explore centrifugal force with the Greenies last year, we placed some black construction paper on a lazy susan and gave them oil pastels (earlier in the week we were using these materials on a table to see if we could draw on black paper, that's why the materials carried over to this experience.) The results were very beautiful as the kids used lots of colors and their art looked like psychedelic records when finished. We had lots of great conversations while they worked and has lots of questions- why does my pastel want to move to the edge of the paper? Why is it hard to hold near the middle of the paper as it moves? The final display of this art was beautiful and captured the attention of lots of passersbys. I think I need to dig up some pictures now to post! Thanks!

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