Tucker Room |
Throughout the fall, the children noticed changes happening in a tree in the outdoor classroom. They watched the leaves change colors and then fall to the ground. They observed the tree from different vantage points. They have seen the tree from below, looking up into the leaves from the sandpit and they have seen the leaves and fruit high in the tree as they stood on ladders and looked out the window of the Rainey Room. The changing view out the window provided ample opportunities for observational drawing. Observational DrawingLike all young children, our friends in the Rainey Room have active imaginations which often manifest in their drawings. However, observational drawing provides an opportunity for them to focus on their environment and helps them to organize their thoughts and understandings of the world around them when they begin to represent what they see with detail and accuracy. Through this process they develop new ideas that are more scientifically sound, thus constructing their own knowledge of the world. Mimi: I’m drawing the whole playground. The teacher, the kids, the houses! That’s a pumpkin on top of the houses. Some kids are wearing dresses. After drawing four leaves, Whit looked at each one of them carefully, made an assessment of its accuracy, and then made an addition to his drawing: Leaves with stems. Oh, that one needs a stem. Once the leaves had fallen, the children noticed fruit on the tree and began to draw from their observations. Cal: I see the persimmons and the birds. I only draw one persimmon. I draw a big circle. Why do all the things inside the persimmons go on the ground? There’s nothing on the big tree. I think the wind blow them away. Isabelle: Persimmons on the tree outside. I saw like a bird eating the persimmons. Zari: I made the persimmons and the birds were eating the persimmons, because they were really hungry. In the outdoor classroom, the children shared their observations as well. Charlton: They’re (the birds) are eating the persimmons. Persimmons are yucky. Seon: Persimmons are actually good. They taste sweet. Bailee: They (the birds) have almost finished all of them (persimmons on the tree). Isabelle: The persimmons. Seon: I will sit and watch the birds. Whit: (The birds) are eating the persimmons. Seon: Persimmons are sweet and juicy and good for you. Ford: They look like pumpkins. Whit: Persimmons are everywhere (on the ground). I think the birds chopped them off! Mimi: They (the birds) ate them. Seon: The birds are almost eating all of the persimmons. They are going to eat all of them. Ellie: They will eat the bird feeders (next). Seon: They are some hungry birds!
The Persimmon CatcherAs more and more leaves fell, the children had a better view of the persimmons. They watched the birds each day and saw how they were able to reach the persimmons. One day, Cal decided that he needed to collect some persimmons and wondered how he could reach them. He and Ava talked about the challenge of reaching the persimmons. Soon after, they began to solve the problem of reaching the persimmons by building a "persimmon catcher." Charlton, Ford and Rawls were quick to join the construction. Cal: We’re building this to getting the oranges (persimmons). To put in this red. bucket to take them to my house, so mommy can try them because I think she will like them Ava: Persimmons. Cal: So we need all the wood. Karen: That sounds like a really big project! Cal: Yes, So we need everyone to help. It’s kinda like a ladder so we need all those blocks. Ava: Cal, go back up there. Try that one over there. The red one (hollow block) and the white one (hollow block). Charlton: We’re building this to get to the persimmons. Cal: It’s a kind of ladder. Rawls: It's a persimmon pole knocker-offer. Ford: It's gonna be good for to reach the persimmons. Cal: It’s a persimmon catcher. Persimmon-Inspired CollagesInspired by the children's noticing of colors of the persimmons, we developed a collage provocation with a palette of brown, orange and yellow hues. Before beginning the studio experience, Karen asked Louisa and Ava, "What do you notice in these photographs?" Louisa: Because they (persimmons) are orange. Ava: So orange! Our intention was to inspire not only creativity, but also conversation between the children by setting up a collaborative studio experience. Louisa: Next to…right here. Yes. Ava: There are so many choices. Louisa: It’s not sticking, I could wrap ribbon. Ava: I put more (glue) on because it does not stick. Lousia picked up a paper square and folded it: That’s a triangle. I put glue on it. Inside (to hold the triangle in shape). Ava: It’s not sticky. I need more glue. Louisa picked up a piece of gold foil ribbon: This is not a persimmon color because it is golden. Ava: These are yellow (picking up ribbon). Louisa: I know we can tie it around the paper. I need to cut this because I cut this because it was too long. The materials inspired conversations as the children made connections to their own lives and shared with one another as they created. Ellie: I going to use the poppy ones (bubble wrap) because I love to pop them on the floor. Mimi: Like when you step on the and they pop like when I’m with my brother. Ellie: I have one brother and one sister. Louisa: I have one sister. No, two sisters. Ava: I don’t have a sister or a brother. Mimi: Louisa you have two Ellies. One at school and one at home. Ellie to Mimi: You want a big one or a small one (material)? Mimi: I don’t want more poppies. Too many poppies. Ellie: Funny. Those triangles. I need help, Louisa. Louisa: You have to cut it. Ellie: It’s too long. We need to cut it here. We need to cut it together. Here you go Louisa. Whit: I'm going to put this (ribbon) here. I'm going to stick it. Charlton: I like it because it's orange paper. This feels like cloth. This feels like paper. Cloth. Paper. Plastic.
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The Birthday CommitteeEach day we see evidence of the strong relationships that the children have been building in the Rainey Room. We see cooperative play as the children "work" in the restaurant they have imagined in Dramatic Play. We see collaboration as they build elaborate structures in the Construction Area. Recently, we have seen collaboration on tempera paintings at the easel as well. Children are making messages for their friends to show that they care. All of these interactions are spurred by the trust that they have in one another. While these instances of collaboration, cooperation, and caring are a daily occurrence, the additional work of participating on a birthday committee provides an even greater window into how deep these friendships have become. The birthday committee also gives children a chance to think like an engineer and work through the engineering design process at an early age.
The InterviewThe story of Charlton's birthday gift starts in the outdoor classroom with his love of dramatic play involving science fiction (Star Wars, Boba-Fett and The Mandalorian), and superheroes (Spiderman and the Black Panther). Thus it was fitting that we conducted the birthday committee's interview during Backwards Day. Karen asked, "What do you think we could make for a gift for Charlton for his birthday?" Bailee: I know. A Stars Wars Cake. Ford: I want to give him a skateboard because when he is at my house, he asks for a skateboard scooter. Charlton: I lost my skateboard. I have a scooter and a Kylo Ren. Ford: Charlton, what’s your favorite thing to do? Charlton: Hmmmm. Can you make a Boba-fett costume? Whit: I was wondering about that. If we could make you a costume. Ford: I was going to say that, that we could make a Boba-fett. Whit: We could have flat clay and the shape of it and then we could color it. Ford: When it was my last birthday, you guys did an awesome job on my present. Bailee: A skateboard. Charlton: Black Panther colors. Just follow the colors. Follow black and gray for Black Panther and blue, silver and yellow. Choosing MaterialsThe birthday committee set to work making Charlton a costume as he requested. They had to imagine how they would make the costume and plan what materials they would use. The children had to think creatively and critically, considering which materials would be appropriate for fashioning a wearable costume. Charlton also requested that the costume "follow the colors of Black Panther." Mimi: I knew it was Charlton’s birthday because I saw this Batman (photo of the Black Panther). Bailee: Maybe a Spiderman. Mimi: We can’t eat cake at school birthdays. We have to eat cupcakes because they don’t have a knife (at school). Bailee: No, we can sew so for Charlton. Karen, Bailee and Mimi revisited the birthday interview in which the children discussed making a costume for Charlton and suggested different materials that could be used to make the costume. Mimi: Charlton would get dirty with clay (to make his costume). No, because it gets hard and it would be so hot! Bailee: Maybe we could make something soft. Mimi: Maybe something soft, because he (Charlton) could wear it... Black and black and black. Karen: Charlton also said “Black Panther colors. Just follow the colors. Follow black and gray for Black Panther and blue, silver and yellow.” Bailee: Wire. Blue and yellow and silver wire. We can make them (the black panther costume) with wire. Wire is inside. Bailee and Mimi searched the atelier for the wire that the birthday committee would need to make Charlton’s Black Panther Costume. Mimi and Bailee asked to draw Black Panther before moving on to their next plans for the day. Mimi clearly depicted the that the Black Panther’s Claw Necklace in her drawing. We now had a plan to follow for the creation of Charlton's birthday gift. Making the Gift and Problem SolvingNow that we had a plan, we began creating Charlton's gift. Creating the gift in the image of the Black Panther's Claw Necklace asked children to think critically and solve problems. As the children fashioned the claws, they tested their ideas while making the "inside" of the claws. Some of the children created two dimensional "triangles" from the wire pieces, while others created three dimensional "insides" as Bailee called them. Once the "insides" were made, the children began wrapping iridescent foils around them. The final touch was to add "the colors of Black Panther" by intricately wrapping, blue, yellow, black and silver wire around the foil . Bailee: This is so hard. I wrap it around. Wrap the foil. Wow, this is kinda weird. It’s (the wire) is poking out here. It’s kinda rainbow-y. Whit looked at his “claw.” That’s not a claw because it’s flat on top. It’s a triangle. Bailee: Look at mine. I need more blue or black or silver wire. Whit: Wire. I wrapped it. Ford: How can we make the wire stay? Bailee: Put more wire on top of it. Whit: We could make a hole and put this (the string) through. Mimi wrapped wire around the wooden triangle: Easy peasy, lemon squeezey. Ford looked at the photograph of the Claw Necklace and counted the claws. Then he looked back at the "claws" the birthday committee had created and began to count them. Mimi joined him in counting and declared, "Eleven!" showing an understanding of counting and cardinality. Mimi: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Eleven. Ford pointed to the last "claw" that he and Mimi had touched as they counted and then made a decision based on his understanding of mathematical operations. Ford: No. We have to get that one off the team because we already have ten. The Final Design of the Claw NecklaceIt was now time to finalize the design of the necklace. Bailee and Ford worked through a few different ideas for its design. As they worked through their ideas, they explored sorting objects by the attribute of size, sorting the "claws" into three distinct piles. Once sorted, they began to discuss the pattern they wanted to make, taking design and aesthetics into account. Ford: Little, big, little, big, little, big… Bailee: Big, big, big, big, big… Ford: This one is the medium size. That is small one, then a medium one. Bailee: This big one I did. Ford: Big is before small. If this one is the biggest it should be in the middle. Once they settled on the design, Ford and Bailee had to decide how to construct the necklace Ford: We could use glue. We could use wire. Bailee: Now it's time to tie it to the rope. Ford: We need to break the teeth apart. We need a little wire. Bailee pointed to one end of the rope and then the other end: We need to connect it to the other side. Ford showed Bailee how he connected a claw to the rope: You wrap it (the wire) around the claw. See I’m doing it Bailee. Celebrating Charlton with his Friends and FamilyFor Charlton's special birthday treat, the Rainey Room children enjoy pretzel thins, plantain chips and "brookies," a magical combination of chocolate chip cookies and brownies. After our snack, Addison and Eliza shared two of Charlton's favorite storybooks: Circus Ship and We're Going on a Goon Hunt. The Rainey Room Children sang our class birthday song to Charlton and then he walked around the birthday candle four times to signify his four turns around the sun before blowing the candle out. When the candle was extinguished the members of the birthday committee presented Charlton with his gift which they had painstakingly made themselves, a Black Panther Claw Necklace.
Good afternoon, Rainey Room families! Due to the Early Childhood Educator Series today, we will have just one blog this week posted on Thursday. In the meantime, we encourage you to revisit recent blogs with your children and listen for new observations they may have about their learning. Have a wonderful evening!
What are we grateful for?Leading up to the Thanksgiving Feast we had been reading stories centering Native American voices and traditions. Indigenous voices are not always heard during this time of the year even though their history is very much intertwined with Thanksgiving. One book we read was titled We are Grateful: Otsaliheliga written by Traci Sorell who is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The book centers the Cherokee community and the blessings they are grateful for and the challenges that each season brings. While reading the book, the children were inspired to share some of the things they are grateful for. "The wind because wind does not blow everytime. It makes air." - Seon
Chopping VegetablesFor each part of the Thanksgiving Feast the children were involved. To prepare for the feast, the Rainey Room families and children had the task of chopping zucchini and celery. Meredith, Amba, and Paige joined us in the classroom and supported the children with the chopping. Children thought about what we would be doing with the vegetables and shared their observations as the vegetables changed shape. "The vegetables are for the thanksgiving feast." - Mimi Setting the Table With Centerpieces
Stirring the SoupThe vegetables chopped in the morning were brought downstairs to be added to the big soup. The soup was a vegetarian winter minestrone recipe from Ina Garten. The children were again involved in the making of the soup. Each child had the opportunity to stir and smell the soup. The soup truly embodies the love that connects our St. John’s community. ChapelBefore it was time to feast, St. John’s children and families joined together in the Sanctuary. The Rainey Room children rang bells and invited everyone to take a moment of silence. The Tucker Room children lit the candles. We began singing our chapel songs and then we were joined by a special guest of the St. John’s church, Rev. Gini Gerbasi, who read The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague. With our hearts and souls full, we headed to Blake Hall to fill our stomachs with the Thanksgiving Feast. The FeastThe children were so excited to share their centerpieces and place settings with their families. We were joined by moms, dads, siblings, and even grandparents. A bowl of the soup we had all worked so hard to make was waiting for us at the table. Louisa’s dad, Greg co-organized the making of the soup and also brought in delicious muffins. The sound of conversation and laughter filled the hall. We are grateful for all of the help and support to make the Thanksgiving Feast such a wonderful day and memory for the Rainey Room children! |
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