At the end of each class, we spend around 10 minutes looking at each other's work. It can be  hard to transition from finishing up projects to talking about them, and often the projects are being frantically completed while the review begins. Once we settle in, the kids always seem really proud when they show their work to each other, and respond to compliments and comments thoughtfully. 

We've been talking about animal habitats for the past couple of weeks. This week, we decided to try building a dwelling for Hoook, our class mascot that we made the first day. We first tried sketching some ideas, and then jumped right into trying different element placements and formations. The kids were timid about using the tools and raising the walls, but by the end they were taking turns with the drill, holding pieces in place for each other, and haggling out design decisions.

We introduced casting as a method that could make quick sculptural iterations. The kids used plaster of paris, and made molds from model magic. They embedded pipe cleaners to serve as a sort of rebar that they could then build upon. Of course, they also had a lot of fun making little critters out of model magic and pipe cleaners.