January 26th, 2021

Daniel's birthday celebration

​Lily has been asking about it every day since she finished up Daniel's birthday present as part of the birthday committee:
"Do we celebrate Daniel's birthday today?"
​And yesterday the answer we could give her was finally YES!

During Morning Meeting Daniel shared photos ​of his 1st, 2nd and 3rd birthday celebrations with the class. 

Daniel sharing photos from his birthdays with some of his friends. "I can see three Daniels."

Daniel about a photo from his 3. birthday: "Candy. All the jelly beans came out. I laughed at that."

Hugh's question about this photo was: "Does Daniel still eat cake like that?"

Daniel's mom and dad joined us for the birthday snack and celebration. We enjoyed cantaloupe and mini cupcakes together before starting our Brown Room traditions. We sang our birthday song for each year since Daniel's birth and he got to walk around the birthday table three times before blowing out his candle.

​Earlier that morning Daniel smelled our birthday candle and noticed "It smells like banana soup! I looove banana soup." (the label on the candle says "Sun Shower" but we guess that smell is up for interpretation). Hugh overheard his comment and said "I know why he likes bananas, because we were monkeys." to which Jade added "I was a tiger."

We had a wonderful celebration and
the birthday committee was happy to see
Daniel being so amazed by their present. 

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​"It's really big. Like the top of the sky."
​- Daniel

Introducing the large loom to the classroom...

After we have been practicing weaving on our spider looms at home and on wooden looms in the classroom we decided to bring in the school's large loom. This new format and size requires the adaption of a previously learned concept - weaving on a smaller loom which is laying down on a flat surface. On the smaller looms a few children enjoyed repeating the mantra "over under over under" to guide themselves through the process of weaving in their pieces. Now the paper pieces/strips are not only larger and longer (and therefore heavier and more difficult to manage), but also have to be woven vertically instead of horizontal since the loom is standing upright. The weaving concept then changes slightly from over/under or up/down to front/back. The transferring and adapting of concepts like this requires great critical thinking and problem solving skills.

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 But our work also continues on the smaller looms. Here we are also working on patterns and sequencing, which are important mathematical concepts.

Remy did an incredible job weaving in silver strips of ribbon. Whenever she noticed that she had missed or skipped strings on her loom she made sure to pull the ribbon back out and start over again until it was perfect for her. In the end she called her finished project "Beyonce".

Cate worked on an impressive and complex abcd-pattern that she repeated on her loom using different colored paper strips and golden ribbon.

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​Music and singing are one of the Brown Room children's favorite ways to start the day. We had a blast playing our instruments and dancing at today's Sing Along, which was lead but the Rainey Rooms.

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We also loved exploring and investigating the new snow/slush/sleek/ice we found outside today!

​It was snowing! - Lily

It's slushy. - Daniel

It's kinda hard. And dry. - Bea

It can be slippery. But I'm wearing boots. - Hugh (going down the stairs outside)

Please remember to dress your child in weather appropriate clothing. This will help to support the children in their daily excursions outside.

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