Today’s parent teacher was Aviva’s dad, Edson, and what a treat it was to have him in the classroom!  We all know from playing with Aviva that she is an expert at Dramatic Play.  She has endless ideas about different restaurants we can start, ways to raise our classroom baby dolls, and many other imaginary worlds into which we can enter with her.  Edson is just as creative as Aviva at pretending!  For almost all of free play this morning, he had an entire gaggle of children surrounding him, pulling more and more imaginary details from his brain.  They had such a great time and got so much wonderful inspiration from playing with Aviva and Edson together!

Project time, however, was when the real creative sparks flew.  As many of you know, Edson is a very talented photographer.  He graciously took our school photos for us in October (email carissa at harbor city kids dot org for information on how to access these photos!) and amazingly captured the sweetest details in each of their personalities.  Today, he put the children behind the camera!  Edson brought his camera and tripod to the classroom and taught the kiddos about still life photography.  He explained that still life involves arranging and taking photos of objects that are not alive.  From there, he set up the tripod and used floor tape to section off the frame of the photos.  As a group, the children collected 3 of their favorite toys from around the classroom and then individually took turns arranging and photographing their toys.  What a hit!  Edson volunteered to print each child’s photo so they can keep their first professional photo forever!

During our photography project, I was so impressed with how well the children cooperated with one another.  We collected our favorite toys as a group, and I anticipated some squabbling over favorites, but there was none!  They shared the materials so nicely together.  They safely moved around the classroom, never running or shoving, and patiently waited for their turns to take their photos.  As they waited, they attentively and quietly observed their peers as they took their turns.  We’ve seen the children function very effectively as a group before, but I am always impressed and proud of them when I see reminders of it.  They really take their classroom community seriously.  Apparently, they also take creative expression seriously as well!