I am not finished yet because I want to make it so so so beautiful! - Adaline
                    From earlier in the week... Seon - There're a lot of twins! I am using twins, twin acorns. No one wants the feathers. Ellie - I want feathers. Brigitte can I have the big mosquito? Brigitte - Yes of course you can use it. Ellie - But can you bring it for me? Fay- Do you want me to give it to you? And it's not a mosquito, it's a cicada! Ellie - My bug is so silly! Fay - I found so many cicadas, I had to borrow a cage from my neighbor so I could put the live ones in a cage and the dead ones too. Ava - Green paper! my favorite and tiny pinecones. I found a beautiful stick to glue on my collage. Seon - Twin buttons! So many twins. Eliza - Oooh... ginkgo leaves, I am going to put glue on it. Gracie - I found an itty bitty acorn and sticks. Jack- A big piece of bark, I want to put crystals on the bark. I made a rock family, that is me, that is my grandpa, and that all the rest of my family. I want to fill the whole thing. Zari - Green rocks, green is my favorite color because it's the color of my daddy's favorite Eagles. When they won my mommy yelled "Eagles!" My mommy gave my daddy an eagle shirt. I am putting seashells too, it looks like the beach. I love the beach, we went to the beach for my Daddy's birthday, and I saw eagles there. Will- For the pinecones, I probably need to put the glue on the base. Adeline- These are shiny. Pierce - (holding up a piece of bark) Do you know if I found this! Adaline - If you want to make it beautiful - you put on this (referring to items on her collage) Will - I bet this glue is pretty strong. Eliza - I want to glue while working. I want some leaves, ginkgo leaves are hard to stick. Jack - There's some new materials! Charlton - I know where this feather come from: a robin ! Ford - (Attaching bark to his wooden base) It won't stick! Adaline - It has to dry. When it's dried it will stick. From today... Rawls - I like (the materials) because they're so awesome. Because they're nature. Because they're from outside, from a tree. The rocks are from land. But not that paper. Paper is from inside Pierce - Paper comes from trees. Rawls - No, it's made out of trees. From any type of part. It falls down and then you can smooth it and then it turns like paper. Like this part of the tree (pointing to the bark). Pierce - Strong paper. It comes from CVS. When you chainsaw it, then you get strong paper. When it's died. When it's Halloween. You cut the log. Sewing a new skirt for the bathroom sink
    Return of the Haunted HouseWe can probably expect to see a lot of Halloween-inspired construction for the next month! Who would live in a house like this? Whit - All the bad guys! Ford - And the only thing they eat is blood. Whit - (Adding more small pieces) These are the bad guy traps. The children were delighted when they learned the structure could remain in construction until Monday! Table SettingThis week our table setters were Bailee, Eliza, Isabelle, Whit, Zari, Seon, Fay, and Rawls.  The CW Bulletin Board
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We made a change to our hallway documentation as well. We added to the attendance calendar, so that children can "read' who will be the table setters each day! Collages from our Collections"I'm going to glue my last thingamabob!" Jack Children continued to work on collages with natural materials. They also began larger collages in the atelier. We'll share more about that work on Friday. Construction
This and that.....
 A Quick Look at our WeekLast week as we examined and sorted the materials we found on our walk, we notice children making connections to the various items. This week, we will continue to sort and talk about our many materials. From there, we will draw them and use them in big and small collages.
Last Friday afternoon, Emma and Karen changed the Tucker room arrangement. The light table is more prominent and will be easier to access. We're excited to see how children respond to these changes. We are also looking forward to the new scenarios that develop in small world and construction. Collecting, Sorting , and Collaging Natural Materials Sorting is an important pre-number cognitive skill that students develop throughout preschool. It teaches students how to identify simple similarities and differences between a group of objects, such as their color or shape, even if they cannot verbalize what these similarities and differences are. The CW children have continue to collect materials for the past couple of days and we have accumulated a fair amount of beautiful materials. We asked the children how we should categorized and sort all this beautiful materials. We have also added none-natural materials to notice if the children would use them in addition to the natural materials. We observed that the children loved to add metal pieces, buttons, and paper to their collages. Jack - We collected nature! Gracie - Lots of ginkgos! Zari - Some ginkgos leaves are brown. Charlton - Don't forget the St John's symbol is a ginkgo. Zari - I would put all the bark in one place and all the leaves in one place. Big leaves together. Green leaves together, etc.     The children used their sorted materials to create collages. We continued to offer natural materials on the construction table for the children to create a " woodsy " inspired building. Whit found a penguin in the animal basket and decided to build "Antartica" for his penguin which gave the idea to Charlton to gather all the Arctic animals to live in Whit's cold place. A different kind of natural place! Small World have continue to capture the attention of some of our CW friends where magical and interactive places have been created for our tiny creatures. We love to transition from our morning program to CW by spending some quality time in the outdoor classroom where children draw, figure out mazes, play in the sand, and enjoy playing - What time is it Mr. Fox ?       Table setting, always an exciting task!          Another Successful Neighborhood Walk to Volta Park Thank you Cece for walking with us. Please enjoy the slide show. Nature in the NeighborhoodWhen we had our home visit with Seon and her mom, we asked how she would spend the rest of her day. She said, "I'm going to hop around in nature."
Small World Scenarios
A little bit of everything else...
 This week we will lean into discussing what the children choose to collect when we went on our neighbood walk, and reflect on the materials' identity. This will lead to conversation about sorting materials and collages.
Our Identity in CWProfessor Carla Rinaldi (President at the Foundation Reggio Children Centro Loris Malaguzzi, Reggio Emilia) said - " Children are born searching for and, therefore, researching the meaning of life, the meaning of the self in relation to others and to the world is part of their existence." With this in mind, we have been getting to know each other in CW. Children are sharing their stories with us, and we are documenting the process on our board in the hallway where everyone can read our "bios" and see our illustrations of some of our favorite things. The process started with our name cards. The children received their name cards wrapped because it is gifts that their family gave them as their name is something unique that their family picked for them, and the children are so eager to have a special name card from their loved one. Ava said- " I watched my Daddy make my name card all night long!" How wonderful is the child recognizing their parent's effort in creating their name card! So that is why it is presented as a precious gift. We use the name cards every CW day as children enjoy table setting. The children love to look at their card during lunch time and share with their table mats special "things" about their name card. Ellie - " Look Brigitte I have a daisy like you on my name card. " Charlton - " It's all my favorite things on my name card. " Thank you, we all appreciate your efforts. Today our table setters matched the children's name card with their placemats! Will - I put name cards and placemats! It was hard because some people didn't have have pictures. Hallway Documentation We periodically take a small group of CW children to look at our documentation and color-coded attendance chart. Charlton - I want to come on purple day. Ford - Well, we have one more space for you.
Our First Neighborhood WalkIn CW we love to go on neighborhood walks, today we went to pay a visit to our beloved Georgetown transformers. Some of our friends have seen the transformers, and some have not. Will - I have never seen them before, but I did see the pictures of them. Whit - The blue one and the one on the roof are the bad guys. Cal - I thought they were really cool. Pierce - The yellow one had cannons. On our way to the Transformers, we also enjoy collecting natural materials such as leaves, pinecone, acorns, and small rocks. Have a wonderful weekend!
Construction CollaborationInspired by the small monster figures that are used in table setting, children decided that they wanted to build a haunted house. The Rainey Room children were also eager as that group is all about spooky things and Halloween.
This was a great start. However, collaborating on a big group endeavor requires communication. Several children were adding pieces to the structure without sharing their ideas. Some children stayed for awhile, but weren't sure where the building was headed and left. We wondered, how could we support children in making the process more collaborative?
This haunted house featured stable construction and enough space for all the children to play with it when it was completed. The group was delighted when Emma and Karen said it could remain in Tucker Room for the morning program to play with and possibly enhance!
Introducing the Environment
A quick look at our week!
Placecards and Placemats
Placemat Conversations and CreationThank you to the families who have brought in placemats. We have been having interesting lengthy conversations about why we use placemats.  Placemat Conversation: Charlton - What are these things? Several children - Placemats. Children begin to talk about the placemats they brought in. Ellie - This is from my house. It’s from Nana … my mom’s mom. Ford - Maren made it at her school. It’s a piece of paper. The things you have inside (inside the plate shape), those are the things you’re supposed to have, like protein, vegetables. Zari - I have animals (on my placemat). Sometimes when we go to a restaurant, we bring this for Freddy, because he’s a messy eater. Ellie - My brother is a messy eater. Ford - Drew is a super messy eater. Adaline - It doesn’t matter if I’m a messy eater. My nice dog Bridget will just lick me off. Will - I was confused, “Why is that placemat in my cubby bag? I’m not a baby. I’m not a messy eater. This one (a laminated paper mat) was Palmer’s. That’s why it has a P on it. Mom and dad made for him when we was at St. John’s. (Noticing the pocket on his placemat) We never use the pocket! Cal - Mine has dinsoaurs on it. I use it at home. Susan has a placemat that’s like a bib and she can eat off it. Ava and Jack brought in placemats to add to our collection. Jill - We have a lot of different placemats now. How are they the same or different? Ava - Mine has red and the flowered one has red on it. Jack - Mine is red, too. Ava - I don’t use this placemat. I usually use a tablecloth. Ellie - Mine is a circle. Gracie - And some are squares. Jack - Like mine is a square. Eliza - When we go to Bertie and Potter’s house, we use flower placemats. Jill - Why do we use placemats? Whit - So you don’t get food on the table. To protect the table.         We decided to create our own placemats to use in CW. The children used pictures of their favorite foods to create collages. Ava - Pizza! (Finding a picture of a pizza) I like pizza! this one is not my favorite. Mama likes this (asparagus) I love croissants and blueberries. Adaline - Wilder loves that kind of chicken (roasted chicken), I am going to make it for Wilder. Charlton - It's a turkey! (talking to Adaline) I love chocolate cake, I am going to have two pictures of chocolate cake, a dark one and a light one. I love cherry blossoms for my flowers. Gracie - I love pizza, pastas, cheese, and strawberries, my favorite flowers are purple. Ford - I love pizza, pasta, chicken, strawberries, salmon, apples, and strawberries. I need this on my placemat (green leaves) and I need a chocolate cupcake too. Seon - I love these (roasted potatoes) and pasta, bread, apples, strawberries, tomatoes, fried chicken, olives. Ooh I need this doughnut too. Isabelle - Can you cut me a piece of this lasagna Brigitte, I love lasagna! and pasta, popcorn, olives, peaches, bananas, chocolate cake and chocolate chips cookies. Bailee- This drink looks so good! I love apples, cherries, pizza pasta, doughnuts, strawberries, chicken nuggets, chelate chips cookies and chocolate cake. I have a lot of favorite foods! Pierce - I love hamburgers, eggs, pasta, apples, doughnuts, strawberries, and vanilla ice-cream. Rawls - I love pink fish, spaghettis white mushrooms, and eggs. Do you pictures of shrimps? because I love shrimps too. Will - I love pizza, brownies, my mom loves mushrooms but not me so I won't put it on my placemat because I am only choosing food I love to eat. I love tacos, pasta cookies, strawberries, apples, muffins, and chocolate cupcakes. Whit - I love hamburgers, ooh wine I want to put that on my placemat, chicken, chocolate cake, and doughnut. The pumpkin is funny, I want to put it on too. I put the knife here because I am cutting the cinnamon roll. Cal - Ooh look at that drink! it looks like coffee i want it, and chocolate cake. Why the cinnamon rolls have dirt on them? It's chocolate cinnamon roll (Brigitte)I eat hamburger, pasta, and chocolate cupcakes.
Happy Birthday Pierce! This and That.... We played with water outside to cool off and also water the plants. The new CW children discovered Small World.      What a wonderful first week in CW ! Have a wonderful weekend.
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