Book Fair Small Groups Cont.

"Light is...you know where light comes from? It comes from the sun." - Adaline, 4.0 years

Events like the Book Fair are an important part of our life here at St. John's. Each year, the children are invited into the process of decorating Blake Hall. This school year, the Book Fair aligns with our projections for Rainey Room based on some work that was happening at the end of our Brown Room year. 

​All of the children have had the opportunity to explore the space, windows, light, and potential for shadows in Blake Hall. 

**Photographs are limited as we primarily documented through video**

Group #2 - George, Caroline, Will, Win, and Christopher

It sounds like we're thinking about a lot of light sources. - Elyse
"The rope light." - George, 4.1 years
"Or like the lights we have in our classroom."
​- Caroline, 3.4 years 
"The sunlight!" - George and Will 
"Or like spotlights." - Will, 4.0 years
"Maybe just in the sun." - Christopher, 3.8 years

"The sun is always outside, but it moves in Blake Hall like a person moves like feet. I see shadows!" - George, 4.1 years
​"I can see shadows on top of ourselves and there's shadows on the floor." - Caroline, 3.4 years
What's creating the shadows? - Elyse
"Light and darkness. You know why I think that because there's no light, but there's darkness, and real darkness...and over there is darkness and over here is light and darkness and if it's only darkness we can't see our shadows. If there's light and darkness you can see our shadows." - George
"But if there's light, we can! I have my shadow already right in my arms." - Caroline 

How will we use our observations to decorate the windows?

"The only way to decorate the window is by putting our bodies very close to the window and then you can see our shadow. We can stick pretend people to the window." - George
Which materials or tools would we use to create them?
"Sticks, wire, metal, straw, and wood. You know how to stick it to the window? With very strong glue. And we can hang them. Then it will stay onto the window." - George
"Paper." - Win
If we use Win's idea of paper or George's idea of wire, how would we know it's a shadow? - Elyse
"Bend it [wire and paper]" - Caroline
"I know! You could shape it like a shadow." - George

Drawing as a tool for reflection on our small groups

"This is a shadow. All Shadows. In Blake Hall." - Christopher, 3.8 years

"You could try to pick them off the floor and put tape on the back. Or we could draw it. There could be a special tool [to pick it up]. [the drawing] This moves itself and picks up the shadow. You hold it up and tip it down. It's made out of metal." - Will, 4.0 years

"I made my hand." - Win, 4.3 years

Group #3 - Adaline, Georgia, Zoe, and Eliza 

"I know. If we had the lights on there, we could use it."
- Georgia, 3.10 years [pointing to the chandeliers in Blake Hall]
"We could climb the ladder up there." - Eliza, 3.11 years 
"So, we could hang our thing on there. Then we could turn the light on. The thing that we made could hang up there ." - Adaline, 4.0 years
[they all begin spinning in circles]
"It's [the gound] spinning around in circles. My whole body is spinning around. Your [Zoe] shadow is spinning around." - Adaline  
Can we use this? How can we create spinning shadows for decoration?
"Yes! We make a person all by ourself and think how we're going to make it. We have to put on one foot and then we have to do a thing to make it spin around and do music." - Adaline
"I know! We could use light. How about we use spinning lights?" - Eliza
"Maybe we have that light in our classroom." - Georgia

​Drawing as a tool for reflection on our small groups

[pencil marks ] "The Shadow spinning." 
[black pastel] "Shadows everywhere." 
Zoe, 3.8 years

"[my shadow] is wearing a shirt and these are her legs. So, I'm going to make her pants after." - Adaline  [about the dark, solid pastel shape on the left]
​
"I'm spinning around on the other side of it. I'm spinning next to it [shadow]. I'm making a bunch of shadows next to it." - Adaline

"These are the spinning circles. My shadow's getting darker [rubbing the pastel around]."
​- Eliza, 3.11 years

We cannot wait to get started on our ideas for the book fair decor - we will certainly share more about this during Classroom Stories Night, on the blog after Classroom Stories Night, and know that you are always welcome to look around at the materials set up during drop-off. 

Classroom Stories Night and the Blog

In anticipation of Classroom Stories Night, we will be dedicating our afternoon teacher work time to preparing the presentation and materials for this evening to share with all of you. 
​Therefore, we will not be posting our typical blogs over the course of the next week.
We thank you for your understanding and cannot wait to share more of the classroom work with all of you very soon!