the 100 languages of paper

Somehow time has escaped me in the last two weeks and so much has happened. The Wonderplay conference at 92Y was an inspiration. The keynote speaker, Dr. JoAnne Deak spoke abut brain development. She has a book coming out soon, which I will be purchasing right away, her work is of such importance to parents and educators.  One of the workshops I attended focused on paper construction. The facilitator introduced us to the book Collage and Construction in School by Lois Lord, which is now on my soon-to-buy list. This corresponded with the gift of richly-colored paint chips our class received. Inspired by all things paper, we offered to the children the paint chips, presented in wooden trays and sorted by color. It was interesting to watch children interract with the material.

Though scissors were readily available - most chose to glue the 'chips' as is onto their paper.

From abstract to more concrete, children gave meaning to their representations as seen here with "me, my sister, and my mom."

Through speaking with children about their work, they were often able to add details after verbalizing their thoughts. Here, my friend told me he created "me and robot." At that point his paper only filled by the robot and himself so I asked where he and the robot were. He responded "at the park." With this he reached for green and white paper, adding his park.

When we engaged in deeper conversation with children, their representations grew and they were able to add more details.

The building with all the people and the windows,