Building BIG!It had been some time since we had an all-out building day in KW. Today the carts of blocks rolled into the room and children built BIG! As always with the construction area, This gave us opportunities to think about size, shape, height, stability, balance, and part-whole relationships. Children also communicated, collaborated, negotiated, and used their problem solving abilities to create some amazing structures! A quick look at everything else...Yesterday and today also featured time for outdoor fun, conversations about the schools birthday, cozy book reading, message making, and an enthusiastic game of "High Card." Have a great weekend!
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Tucker Room BakesOf course, eating the cake was the best part! The cake received rave reviews from all. We saw a lot of "thumbs up," and heard that it was the best cake ever. Tucker friends suggested a side hustle... C.C. - Brigitte should be a chef. Sylvie - We should have a bakery and make these cakes and sell them. Lochie - Maybe lots and lots of people would come! See you tonight! Please join us this evening at 6:30 for our discussion with Erica Thompson. This 90 minute parent workshop will empower parents to create a culture of having critical conversations with young children around topics of race, difference, and equity. Erica is the Assistant Head of School for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School. We relooking forward to this engaging conversation! The link for this Zoom event can be found in Molly's email!
Watercolors and Weavings We had not done weavings with the Rainey Room KW yet this year. We started yesterday, and continued today. Our weavings were quite small, and initially presented challenges. However, children soon became adept at creating them, using a wide variety of materials. This afternoon, we put several of our small weavings together to create a belated birthday gift for Jen. Just before dismissal, we gave Jen her gift. She loved it and appreciated all the work that went into it! Watercolors have been popular all year, and children especially love the vibrant colors of the liquid watercolors. Some children worked one images of the school or the blue door, while others made cool designs. Many, many messages!Yesterday children were very interested in making messages. Today we set up message work at a larger table and included trays of new materials. The children went to town, making messages that were unique and stunning!
Also coming up tomorrow.... Please join us tomorrow evening at 6:30 for our discussion with Erica Thompson. This 90 minute parent workshop will empower parents to create a culture of having critical conversations with young children around topics of race, difference, and equity. Erica is the Assistant Head of School for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School. We relooking forward to this engaging conversation! The link for this Zoom event can be found in last Friday's Five Things email!
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A Quick Look at our Week One of Brigitte's many talents is that she is an amazing cook. She informed us that January 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day. We will celebrate by making Brigitte's special recipe with both groups. Weaving, group games, more work related to the school's birthday, and some big buildings will round out our week! Please remember... ...to join us this Thursday, January 27 from 6:30 - 8 for an evening with Erica Thompson! Despite their young age, children are noticing differences all the time. This 90 minute parent workshop will empower parents to create a culture of having critical conversations with young children around topics of race, difference, and equity. Erica Thompson is the Assistant Head of School for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School. She has over 25 years experience in various capacities at independent schools. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and received her MA in teaching and curriculum from Loyola of Maryland. She has presented workshops around areas of Diversity and Inclusion locally and nationally. Additionally she is a parent to two teenagers (who have informed her work). She is passionate about helping students on their identity journeys and working with teachers to help facilitate that journey.
Children and families also sent in messages and gifts. Thanks to all who made Elyse's celebration special!More Mosaics!We've been working for a long time on mosaics and the end is in sight! As the Tucker children filled the remaining sections with grout, we noted how adept and independent children have become with this experience. For example, Giacomo coached Jill on how thick to mix the grout. As children worked to fill in space with grout, Giacomo also repeated his advice, "Use the spoon for bigger spaces, and the knife for smaller spaces." As children continued their work, C.C. and Lochie took on the task of cleaning the grout off of the tile pieces. The results are stunning and we hope to have them hanging for all to appreciate next week!
Last week in the morning program, Tucker children made clay creations. This afternoon, children finished glazing them and they will be fired first thing Monday morning! We can't wait to see these treasures come out of the kiln. Drawing PortraitsAs we have noted before, representational drawing is difficult. This week, both groups drew portraits of teachers. Since the beginning of the year, we have noticed children including more details and sense of proportion in their drawings. As we review the children's work, we had the following observations and questions.
Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!This Week's GameWe have begun introducing our group games to Brigitte. This week, we started with an old favorite, "Clean Your Room." Children work to get the "mess" (balls and bean bags) out of their room and over to the other side.
Today we also played "Museum Guard" and "People to People."Working with WatercolorsChildren and teachers always enjoy working with watercolors! On Tuesday, we used watercolor paper that was divided into geometric shapes with tape. Children carefully worked to fill in the spaces. Some children chose a different color for each shape, while others put similar colors together. Lily said, "This would be easy to do the whole thing ourselves. Just put tape on and get a brush and paint." Today, children started to remove the tape pieces, leaving white stripes where the tape had been. As they peeled the tape, they noted the negative space that was created. Bea - It leaves a space. A white space. Finlay - It looks like a prison cell. (Apparently the stripes look like bars on a cell.) Wilder - (Looking at his piece without the tape) It's cool. It's beautiful. A Nice Day for a Neighborhood Walk"This was the funnest day ever." CateWhat a great day! We had a small group and the temperatures were mild, so we went for a long walk. We had originally planned to go as far as the canal, but ended up going all the way to the river. Before we left, children talked about what we might encounter: Cape - I think we will see sea turtles there. Lucas - Maybe dinosaurs! Wilder - Or dragons. Maybe a witch. Finlay - Or pirates. Well, the answer proved to be none of the above. However, we did see and feed a lot of birds. We attracted quite a variety as we had brought along Chex cereal to feed them. Wilder - This (the cereal) makes good bait. Lucas - We saw pigeons. Wilder - And ducks and seagulls. I was wishing we would see an eagle because eagles are big and beautiful. Some children documented their experience with drawing. All children agreed that feeding the birds and running in the labyrinth were the best parts of this lovely afternoon. This and that...Here's some of the other experiences that filled yesterday afternoon. Children took care of babies, while remembering that Jordan is also taking care of his son. The light table featured rainbow papers and gems, inspiring children to create designs and mazes. Message Center is always popular and yesterday was no exception. Children made messages for friends and family alike! A Quick Look at Our Week We hope you had a wonderful long weekend!
We will work with a variety of materials in Kids' Workshop this week. The grouting, weaving, glazing, and watercolors are just the beginning! Tomorrow is the warmest day this week, so we plan to head to the Canal! Be sure to bundle up with mittens, gloves, and hats. We will also help to celebrate Elyse's birthday, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow! A Birthday Committee for Elyse!
The work continued today as children transformed their watercolors into something special for the birthday gift. We won't give too much away, but part of the process involved making accordion folds. This was new and somewhat challenging for children. They persisted until the were able to master this technique. As Nora explained, "I folded it back and forth, back and forth." We also wondered whether the school was older than Elyse, or if it was the other way around. Maxon - The school's older. Several others agreed with this. Jill - Do you remember how old the school is? Do remember the last number of the clay number line? George - 24! Brigitte - What will come next? Lochie - 25! Brigitte - So who is older? Lochie, George, Giacomo, and Maxon - The school! C.C. - Well, how old is Elyse right now? Reed - I don't know. I have no idea. Mosaic WorkChildren filled in the final clay tiles for our mosaic. It was almost like a puzzle, because children had to find which pieces would work in various spaces. This process became more difficult as we went along... the spaces got smaller. Through trial and order, Reed and Maxon developed the strategy of checking to see if the piece fit first, before gluing it down. Next week, we will be ready to add the grout! A little bit of everything else...
Today, our Tucker children learned Jordan's news and had the following responses: Reed - So, where's Jordan? Audrey - He's with his baby. Nora - I wonder what the little boy's name is? Jill - (At the time of this conversation, we did not have the name yet). Do you have any suggestions? Reed - It's a boy. I don't have nay boy names. Max? Or Sam? I was going to say Isabelle, but that's a girls name. Marley - Alex. Wait, did Jordan have a baby? Jill - Yes! He had a baby boy yesterday! Marley - Did he have a baby in his tummy? Jill - No, but his wife did? Reed - Yeah, we saw he had a (wedding) ring. Audrey - My daddy thinks I was a baby in his tummy, but I was really a baby in my mommy's tummy. Lochie - When Betsy was new, she would cry if we tried to hold her. Nora - I'll tell you what they mostly do. Eat, sleep, poop, and cry. Reed - Well, they're not trained at first. Nora - My baby smiles a lot. A little later, some children looked at a photo of the new baby. Giacomo - He looks like I looked when I was a baby. Welcome to our World, Tristan Vincent Price-Smith!
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