Dear Brown Room Families,
We are busy preparing for our upcoming Classroom Stories event this Thursday, May 18th. Please see our last blog/email for information about the conversation portion of our evening. Our last blog also contains the video from Fall Classroom Stories, which will help refresh your memory from where we left off. Starting on Friday, May 19th, we will also start with portfolio conferences. Please check the sign up for your date and time. We want to emphasize that these conferences are lead by your child, so they will need to come with you that day. On Monday, May 22nd, all families are invited to join us for a special, surprise event in the Brown Room. We will ask that Brown Room families gather at the Chapel of the Carpenter door (dismissal door) at 8:45 am. Melanie and I will be there to greet the children with a smile and a "sply glass". Please, please, please do your best to keep this secret for us! This event is open to all 15 children and families. We do ask that you keep in mind how crowded the Brown Room will be, so the studio will be open for parents to observe. There is undoubtedly going to be A LOT of excitement around this surprise! One final note as we approach the end of the year. Images in the blog do get swapped with other classrooms - this is due to photo names, etc. It is a technical glitch that we can rarely control. This being said, please take time to screenshot or save any images now if you would like them. The blog is eventually archived at the end of Tucker Room and you will not be able to access it. Sincerely, Elyse and Melanie
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Happy 3rd Birthday, Caroline!Caroline Walks Around the Candle Three Times One... Two... Three...But wait, the candle. You need to blow out the candle, Caroline. Caroline Blows Out Her Birthday CandleThen, away she goes! The Gift is GivenIn Preparation for Classroom Stories Night (5/18)Classroom Stories is next week, Thursday, May 18th at 6:30-7:45pm. On this night, we are looking forward to sharing work, ideas, and hands on fun with all (or many) of you! In preparation for the evening, we are attaching a video that was previously shown at our fall classroom stories. This video (see below) “Where is Toad” documents our preliminary interest and exploration of our missing toad friend, which dates back to the end of September (beginning of school!). This is a “must see” iMovie — it’s entertaining and informing! Watching will also give you greater insight and understanding into the work that we will be presenting next Thursday. Immediately following our presentation, we will open up the space for dialogue. In preparation for this conversation portion of our evening (as outlined in Monday's email) we are again sharing our questions for your consideration, here. We recognize that we will not have time on this evening for responses to all of these questions. We also acknowledge that not everyone will want to share aloud. So, we are inviting responses via three methods: in-person at Classroom Stories, sticky notes available on this evening, and emailing at any time. We really value your thoughtful answers to each of these questions as part of our partnership. Thank you for your energy and attention given to this!
Taking a closer look...
[above]: Georgia and Adaline compare the actual material to its microscopic image. [below]: The collection of materials they found to look at under the microscope. “We need sply glasses!” - Gracie (September 27, 2022)Why would Toad hide in the outdoor classroom? “There’s brown.” - Gracie “Because Toad is Brown. If I see him with my special eyes [I can find him]. You need glasses because glasses help you see better.” - Adaline “We’re making special eye glasses to look for Toad.” - Caroline “It’s my own Toad spy glass.” - Lou Lou As we began to approach our projected "walk to look for Toad", we asked ourselves, "What do we need?" We thought about all of the things that the children have said that they would need to find Toad: "spy glasses", footprints, special glasses, a fire truck, etc. It felt like it was time to find a creative way to make "spy glasses". Inspired by our gift to the school on it's 25th birthday (the beautiful hoops you see every day as you come up the "Rainbow Steps"), we decided to sew translucent/transparent Toad colored materials onto clear vinyl. **Later, as we took our spy glasses out for our walk, Henri looked up at the gifts and said, "Hey! Look! Those are spy glasses!" We had not told them from where we drew our inspiration. This full circle moment is a beautiful and exciting example of why we document. We were able to draw from Gracie's original idea that she had all the way back in September, a mere 5-6 days after Toad's disappearance, to use "sply glasses". Additionally, the Monday before we made our spy glasses, Adaline suggested that we might need "special eyes". The timing really presented itself, and we believe that it added depth and meaning to the experience of making the spy glasses. The vinyl was fragile and the needles were sharp, but all of the Brown Room children persevered and created a beautiful spy glass to assist us in our search for Toad. Lou Lou, George, Gracie, Will, Adaline, Cully, and Pierce working on their spy glasses. Testing them outCamouflage: White on White with light
In this book they describe camouflage as an idea that "plays in the space of the possible: something that is there, but is also hidden and never disappears completely. Chromatic correspondence, such as black on black and white one white, creates a sort of camouflage of the marks that children love to explore with interest, fun, and humor, challenging the invisibility" (pg. 83-84, ed. Vecchi and Ruozzi). "I can't see it. It's disappearing." : Drawing, painting, and Experimenting What if you add light?"Yes! We can see!" - Cully "The drawings come back when the light is on." - Will "My shadow keeps getting in my way." - Gracie, 3.6 years Reflecting on our work at morning meeting:Camouflage? What does the word camouflage mean? “Geckos use camouflage to go underground.” - Gacie [uses her body to show us going underground] What does the Gecko's skin do? “Camouflage!” - George It does! What does that mean? How does their skin change? “Goes by water.” - George “Maybe they turn blue when they go in water. Or they turn into blue or into ice.” - Henri Why would they turn blue in water? “Because the water is blue.” - Henri If the water is blue, adnd their skin turns blue, what does that mean? “That means camouflage.” - Henri What it sounds like you’re saying Henri is that the geckos skin matches the color of the water. [Grass is mentioned by multiple children.] What color is he going to turn if he goes on the grass? “Green!” - George Why would he turn green? “Because the grass is green.” - Lou Lou What if the gecko was hiding in some sand? “It’s yellow!” - Cully “Or brown.” - Henri “If he hides in pink grass, he would turn pink.” - Adaline My next question is, ‘If the gecko matches the grass, or the water, or the sand, how would we find him? “We would look with our eyes. A magnifying glass.” - George An update on messages for the new children"These will make them happy. Hmm...what can I do? I'm going to put a flower to make them happy. They can't stay in here [Brown Room] by themselves. We have to help them. They can't be by themselves because they are part of the whole Brown Room." - Caroline, 2.11 years
"She's gonna love this message!" - Gracie, 3.6 years Introducing the sewing machine with BrigitteSome joyful moments from the past few weeks
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