Wade in the water
The Anacostia River, a Kindergarten Project.
The idea hatched from Kindergarten teacher Alysia Scofield’s relationship with it, crossing it daily, venturing near it, on it, learning to love it. This major body of water running through DC is part taken for granted part wasteland and part beauty.
As the classroom teachers explore and document what the children know, their theories, the river and it’s history, water and it’s scientific properties, what lives in it, what grows in it and around it and above it, Shad harvesting and releasing, experimenting, ecology, pollution, their river collectons, geography and more, there is a different study also going on in the studio.
The sensory, the wonder, and the poetic languages of water and of the river.
Just like the children, my primary relationship with the Anacostia River was from above.
The first encounter on Friday February 17th was enchanting, exhilarating and multi-sensory.
There was a cacophony of sound, texture, smells, sight, touch, sensation and feelings.
WATER By Luke, Jasper, Stephen, Maya, Ra’kyia
When I was feeling the water it felt like it was soft
The river water, you could hardly feel it at all, like no texture
It sounded
Like a splash
Like a couple of little splashes
The water was going slowly. Tiny waves everywhere
The water was going this way
NO it was going that way
NO it was going North
NO that way
It was going both ways
I ran across it
Ripples
Like a tornado
When you step in it, small circles
Then bigger and then bigger
Slowly
There are so many circles
By Luke (The lower front shows a child putting his foot in the water and creating ripples)
MUD By Sylvie, Dominic, Alexander, Katie, Sophia
The ripples were like an upside down V
Blue green brown
My boots squooshed in the mud
It felt like squishy jello
I felt like I was walking in the middle of a mud monster’s home.
I was an ant walking in jello
It was so big
I was so small
I was stuck in the mud
Every footstep was hard
Deep sand
Like quick sand
My foot stuck like glue
Really the mud monsters were sucking my feet down.
SAND By Robert, Gabriel, Amira, Jai and Brooke
I went in the deep sand
It felt like you were sinking
You could sink in to the passageway
To an imaginary castle made of sticks and mud
To a zombie house
To a magical fairy house
Or the the North Pole
Santa would ask,
Where are you from?
From DC
From the Anacostia River!
There is always the unexpected on trips like these. What we were not expecting was to witness Anacostia High School on fire. It proved to be huge part of this river trip.
By Eli
THE FIRE By Lena, Bridget, Charlie, Emma, Patrick, Han
It was dark in the sky
It was foggy below
I saw the smoke
It looked like clouds that were
About to begin a thunderstorm
The air was black and misty
It looked soft but it’s not
It’s black
Like Smoke
Hhhuuuuh SCARED!
Some people were scared
Some people were not
And the fire?
What is the fire and smoke?
Red
Fire
Black
Smoke
Sirens
It sounded like a flashing sound
100 persons blowing a whistle
Like Han ringing the bells
By Stephen
FIRE By Luke, Jasper, Stephen, Maya, Ra’kyia
We saw a fire
So blazing hot
We could kinda feel the warmness
It had blackish grey smoke
Like the color of a sperm whale
The smoke was big
Like a giant
Like a planet
The very real was tempered by the very magical. Everyone encountered “The Castle” and a few “The Treasure Chest.”
By Joseph
CASTLE By Sylvie, Dominic, Alexander, Katie, Sophia
It had little rocks on the top
Like Squares
They felt rough and pointy
Like a porcupine
Like a cactus
Like thorny plants
Flowers were growing on the little rock squares
We stood on the top
Like a bird
Like a queen
Like being on a creature’s house
Like a guard fighting off people who were going to steal the gold and diamonds and copper coins and chocolate coins.
I saw seagulls trying to fly above us
I saw the stream leading to the Anacostia River
THE TREASURE CHEST By Josie, Natalie, Sophie, Bailee, Carrington
It was in the water
In the dirty water
The Anacostia River water
It was gold
It was brown
It was brass
It had golden beads
We knew it was a treasure chest because it had a curve
It was stuck in the mud
Water was coming around it and making squares or rectangles
Inside it we imagine
A Key
A Crown
Diamonds
Earrings
Jewelry
Necklaces
Bracelets
Gold pieces
Rubies
Pearls
Carrington saw it first
Stephen thought it was just a piece of metal
By Jai
By Natalie
MUSSELS AND MUD By Josie, Natalie, Sophie, Bailee, Carrington
A little baby mussel
Like 50 of them
I put them in Ra’Kyia’s cup
They are not clams
They have food in them
You can eat from them
They live in the mud
It was really squishy
It was making a noise like sucking–your-tongue-noise
Squish squoosh squash
It got in my sneaker
When you picked it up it felt like
Soft and hard mixed together
Soft as a blanket
Soft like a cookie
Soft like a cushion
Soft like a pillow
Soft like a bed
You’re making me sleepy
By Emma
STUFF WE FOUND By Robert, Gabriel, Amira, Jai and Brooke
You can find stuff
Like treasures!
Seashells
Rocks,
Phones,
River glass
Sticks
I think I saw an alligator
Motors
Mud
Water
Turn it into a machine
Turn it into a special sculpture
Turn it into materials for the Art Studio
RIVER STUFF By By Robert, Gabriel, Amira, Jai and Brooke
The river has stuff in it that’s nasty
People throw it out
They throw their bottles in the river
They sit on a bench and drink and just throw it
I think they don’t have trashcans in the Anacostia River
The people were being careless
The birds and the animals feel sad
The ducks can’t live in the river,
They can’t go home
IN THE WATERBy Luke, Jasper, Stephen, Maya, Ra’kyia
There was a lot of trash in the water
Brownish
Mushy stinky
There was even a skittle wrapper in the water
Maybe they didn’t know they dropped it
Maybe their parents didn’t teach them
Seeing was so nuanced on this trip. Watching the children “look” was like watching a dance performance.
By Sylvie (in the lower left side you can see how Sylvie represented a friend bent over and collecting)
The birds were as much a part of the river as the river itself.
BIRDS By Luke, Jasper, Stephen, Maya, Ra’kyia
They were making a sound
K-K-K-K-K-K
Flapping their wings
Like a door slamming
Up in the air like a plane
Like a phoenix
By Kiran
By Zaire
THE TRAIN By Robert, Gabriel, Amira, Jai and Brooke
The train was on the track
HONK-HONK
When it went past it was going DING-DING-DING-DING
It was as loud as
A police car
A motorcycle
The fire bell in School
It sounded like a building crashing down
By Dominic
By Bridget
By Emma
THE BRIDGE Robert, Gabriel, Amira, Jai and Brooke
The water
It moved like an ocean
Under the bridge
The river looked crazier then the bridge
Because it moved like a crazy person under the bridge
The bridge was calm
But it looked like it was moving
Immersed in this project, I find myself singing water and river songs. Funny how so many are about letting go, forgetting, sailing off, rebirthing, and becoming new.
So I leave this post with songs in mind but within a context of discovery and joy, of memory and feeling, of hearing and seeing, of smelling and touching, of the very real Anacostia River mixed with the intangible sense of magic.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
So Wade in the water
Wade in the water children!