Diamond Band Experts
Being part of the larger community means asking questions of experts both inside and outside of the Brightworks community to help students gain perspective, knowledge, and awareness of the world around them. They learn how to ask good questions, listen with intention, and reflect on their experiences.
In the last week, Diamond (6 and 7 year olds) has gotten an amazing chance to learn from so many experts! It's been so cool to see them engage with creativity and thoughtfulness, asking questions and deepening their knowledge.
Author Meera Sriniam taught us about dumplings around the world and helped us think about foods that were special to our families and cultures
Justin and Peter at the Greater Farallones Visitor Center were both so incredible. We scooped plankton and then were able to ID them and look at our samples in a microscope! We also got to learn about crab body parts and how sea otters eat abalone. It deepened our understanding of the water we see every day!
Naomi and Gever taught us about boxbots, a new Brightworks invention that allows kids to be in charge of their own robots and use programming tools and processes. We first practiced embodying robots and then got to work with partners to explore these new robots! Diamond banders invented their own challenges and were so ready to try new possibilities.
Sara, Elia's mom, came in to teach us about Ramadan and how she celebrates the holiday! She and Trent, Elia's dad, helped us make delicious baqlawa (baklava) using Elia's grandmother's recipe and we marveled at how phyllo dough was even thinner and more delicate than paper! Layering each individual sheet with butter was hard work, but we kept going and loved trying the nut mixture. Then we got to eat the results of our hard work!
Nathan guided us to choose and design our first two projects for our stuffie playground. He had us think of how we would complete our goals, come up with answers to questions we had, and think through every single part that would be involved in designs like rollercoasters or merry go rounds. We are now working in the shop to build a stuffie zipline and seesaw! It's taking teamwork, compromise, and follow-through, but it's an amazing adventure to begin.
