Suspense In The Light Studio

Solace, Luna and Augusta found a pipe and a golf ball in the light studio. The light table and overhead projector were on and Solace balanced the ball on the pipe while talking into her "mike".  She stood on a stool looking into the light of the overhead and began,

                                 
                                          "There was a bear in the wild all by himself!"

                                                                     

                                           "You could see... but when the wind came
                                       you could hear a sound from the door.  The 
                                       sound went "shoo, shoo, shoo." The wolves
                                       came. Whispering came."

                                            "And then the wolf came and shut the door.
                                        and the dog came and the owl went " woo, 
                                        woo, woo."'

                                      



                             Luna: "A special cloud came down and then the lightning
                                        and there was a storm coming. Then, in the sky, there
                                        was OOH, OOHHH.

The girls waited for each friend to tell their idea and then the understood expectation was that the "mike" would  be past on to the next friend. They listened to each other with intensity and there was a feeling of shared suspense as they added on each part of the story. They seemed to be aware of the elements they were contributing but also were thrilled by the effect of their collective story. They were intent as they were listening to the suspenseful tone, the spooky sounds and characters.  I was  surprised that the ghost and the butterfly saved the day. The attention they gave to rhyming words and sounds also indicates the children growing in their understanding of language. The trust they have for each other to wait, listen and create stories is steeped in hours of play in our classroom, light studio and in the garden.