tracing leaves carefully gathered from our outdoor environment onto beautiful rice printmaking paper with a black oil crayon,
and painting their leaves with liquid water color.
Other students are creating three-dimensional, mixed media pieces with the various recycled materials in the studio. 
The puppet shelf is proving a big success. Many students have branched out and are making stick puppets. These are simply made using a dowel, a square of light muslin, newspaper or tissue and a tie. These are then decorated by the children to fit their vision and fancy. 
The children have enjoyed making them immensely. I have written the name and story that accompanies each puppet, however this student is the only one to have made the leap from making a puppet to using the puppet as a dramatic tool.
Many of the students seem to have had very little direct experience with puppets and puppetry as a tool for dramatic expression. As another provocation, I am presently transforming a large box into a simple puppet theater and a few teachers and I are planning a simple puppet show during the next all school assembly.
I look forward to watching how these provocations may affect the children's investigations.
Perhaps it will be interesting to many of you if I share a birds-eye view of the studio and our celebration of fall. I consider every aspect of the studio as an invitation to discover, explore and investigate. In Denver the leaves are falling in a colorful carpet and the temperature is flirting with the cold. The studio has been transformed, bringing the outdoors inside and reminding all of us to slow down long enough to appreciate the majesty of the seasons, both in broad scope and in miniature. We pause to notice the array of colors in a single leaf, the sounds and smells, a supple leaf become brittle in a few short days and the other changes happening all around us. Children are naturally enthralled by their ever changing world and through their eyes and art, I am reminded just how magical this world of ours really is.
Pictured below is an example of the central supply area. As you can see there are containers filled with raffia, corn silks, fabric strips, buttons, wood slats, poms, ribbons, popcicle sticks, pipe cleaners, stickers, corn husks, paper bags and more. I always ensure that the set up is organized and beautiful, in keeping with both Montessori and Reggio values.
In addition to the autumn inquiries, we have a number of students interested in puppets. As an extenstion of our preliminary paper bag puppets, I set prepared a shelf complete with several potential puppet making materials. 
Now, I get to observe the children in the coming weeks to determine interests, questions and thematic explorations
To initiate a week long celebration of autumn, we decorated the school with pumpkins of many shapes and varieties and tied several corn stalk bundles to the arbors and gates. We then began an investigation of many fall related things, including corn. 
The students shucked the corn, many of them had never done so, carefully removing the husks and the silks and saving them for future use in the studio.
Then, of course, we had the great reward of EATING the corn right off the cob.
Corn has many uses. The husks alone can be used for tamales, decorations and corn husk dolls. Once the corn was shucked and eaten, the green husks were carefully tied into several small dolls. The children were interested. So, I purchased several bags of dried corn husks (the kind you use for tamales) at a local mexican market, soaked them in warm water and used these to make more corn husk dolls. As I made the dolls, the children and I talked about other kids who lived here hundreds of years ago. In a time when they didn't go to a store to purchase a toy, but instead looked around at the things in their own home and yards, and used these supplies to craft their toys. All the while I carefully tied the husks into a doll body. When the doll was finished, I explained that the doll could now be dressed and decorated in any way they wanted, pointing to a variety of containers filled with interesting fabric, buttons, yarn, feathers, raffia, etc.
The toddler classes were invited to paint their corn husk dolls and then bring them home.
In closing this post, I'd like to extend a heartfelt wish. I hope that each of you escape into the crisp fall air and feast your senses on the magesty of the season with at least a smidgen of the wonder and awe that we each possessed in the heart of childhood.
The past week in the studio was spent balancing parent projects for the upcoming auction, open ended activities with the students and time spent in the classrooms. 
I will post photos of all the beautiful class projects soon, but until then I will be skimping on the studio blog. To tide you over, here are a few photos of the children from the week.
The leaves are swaying toward a colorful farewell. Trees are donning golden dresses and the mornings are far cooler than they were just a few weeks ago. Autumn has arrived. In the studio we have been busy exploring and experimenting with a variety of materials.
The effects are beautiful and 
Meanwhile, puppets continue to emerge in the studio, with several new ones born daily. I introduced a book of puppets made by Paul Klee called 
The school is preparing for our annual fund raising auction and the studio is also being used to complete parent led art auction items with each class.
Occasionally, some of our older students and/or siblings will join us, modeling a different way of using a material. The toddlers love to emulate and soon they are attempting something similar.
It is such a joy to be among the children while they encounter the newness of their world and such a gift to be included in their circle of trusted adults serving them.
WELCOME BACK! School is in full swing again and the beautifully prepared environments are a hum of activity. The studio itself, didn't officially open until last week and students eagerly entered the space with a desire to explore. I decided to make a few changes. First, I am subtly introducing grace and courtesy lessons, with a tone and presence which supports what the teachers are already doing and builds on what the children learned last year. The returning students have been an enormous help in reminding the new children to put an apron on, tuck in a stool or put materials away. Second, I decided to begin the year with free exploration of the 
Each child then has the 
An interesting study emerged in the first few days. The children began making puppets, one right after another, with interest and 
The studio will take on a new role for a few weeks as we prepare for our annual auction. The studio will participate in creating class gifts in partnership with the parents. 
I look forward to another fun year with the children. Keep checking back to see how the days and months evolve.