Thursday 1 October 2009

Shere Infant School church visit

What a lovely day we had. The sun was with us and everyone was full of energy (even the mums who came along to help). Out half hour walk from school to church turned into 1 and a half as we made many stops to explore...a gnarly tree for fairies, a secret tunnel, pheasant darting about. Amazingly no one complained, even though some carried lunch boxes all the way. It all went quiet for a few moments as we entered the massive wooden door. How wonderful to see this ancient place full of curious children! We started by talking about the senses and tested each one (well, except for smell) in a different area. Dull & bright colours, rough & smooth surfaces, listening for sounds. The tower provided an area to test our sense of distance by measuring how many children it would take to stand on shoulders to the top. First we tethered a helium balloon to the cross beam and then my able assistant Amy became our measuring stick. As we pulled down the balloon string, we measures only 11 Amys, a surprise as someone guessed 60. We looked at clues of hidden stories like the brass of Sir John Weston on the floor and the faded painting on the wall above it. There was great excitement as shoes came off to go into the chapel that we had gained special access to. The shards of light scattered on the floor from the Pugin stained glass windows seemed magical to everyone. They had a chance to go up on the small alter and several asked about the piscina openings in the wall (where sacred chalices were washed). In fact the chapel stimulated the most questions. After an idyllic lunch on the grass we went back inside to take photos, do rubbings and talk about the space. That was a week ago, tomorrow I'll go to the school so we can explore ideas about what we want to make/do there for November 20 (International Children's Day). We'll start some scrap books, do some collages and get our imaginations moving.

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