Our first Mystery Reader

We got mail from Elyse

Today we received the most beautiful message from one of our St. John's teachers - Elyse. We saw that the message got send via the post office because it has the Brown Room's address on it and a return address. We also found two stamps on the envelope. We noticed the message Elyse made us looks like fall and a few friends shared about pumpkins they have at home. In her message Elyse tells us that she loves to send and receive messages and she asks us:
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"If you respond to my message,
​how will you send it to me?"

​Finlay: The mailbox. And then she can send on back to us.
Hugh: We bring it. Out. Outside. In the mail truck and then we send it.
Sam: How do we find the mail truck?
Hugh: I don't know.

Hugh wondered if we could go and look for it outside because we had never seen someone deliver mail inside St. John's. And then he decided that he would like to check his own mailbox in the hallway first. Finlay and Bea shared that interest and joined him.

Finlay expected mail from his mom and was surprised to find even more mail in his mailbox. He had received messages from Grace, Lily's sister, and Aida who are both in the Tucker Room. He especially loved the feather that was attached to one of the messages Lily had created for him.

Finlay: The feather! Look at this. The feather coming out. (when he opened and closed the message)

Finlay remembered that Grace is Lily's sister and looked for her on the mailboxes. When asked if he wanted to go to the Tucker Room to thank her he responded:
Let's make her a message back.

He remembered that Grace's symbol is a penguin and he delivered his response. 

It is so wonderful to witness these personal and thoughtful relationships growing every day. Having a stronger awareness of and connection with their room and the school as a whole, children in the Brown Room are starting to more and more make messages for friends in the Brown Room and outside of it. ​

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This is Lucy. - Frances

On her second day at St. John's, Frannie deepened her explorations of the Brown Room and especially the message center and some of our art materials. She noticed Daniel making a message and joined him. She started using a glue stick and added different pieces of blue cellophane paper. Once her piece was covered she decided against it and started to peel the sticky pieces back off the paper. She had found a golden paper and kept it next to her collage until all the blue pieces were removed. She then added it, got  up and brought over gems from the light table. She proceeded to glue those on one by one and finished with a strip of orange tape. While she added the round gems she said "This is Lucy." What a beautiful first collage!

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Our first Mystery Reader

For snack we had Almond Nut-Thins and cantaloupe, which is one of our Brown Room favorites. After we learned that Frannie didn't know what it tastes like, Daniel encouraged her to try it.

They are sweet. You will like it. - Daniel

​Hugh found a seed on his cantaloupe piece....
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Sam: What are you going to do with it?
Bea: Grow it! In your back yard.
Hugh: Yeah, because seeds grow watermelon trees.
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And we had our very first Mystery Reader join us during snack today! Yay! To solve the "mystery" of who would read to us we gave the children  the clue "It's the mom of a boy in the Brown Room."  

​Who could it be?
Hugh: Saul!  ---  Finlay: Me.  ---  Wilder: Me.

Willoughby, Wilder's mom, joined us via Zoom to read the book "The Circus Ship" by Chris Van Dusen. Everyone loved listening to the story while finishing up snack. Thank you so much for reading to us today, Willoughby!

I liked it. I liked it because it was silly. - Lucas

Wilder's mom read this. - Daniel,
​picking out a book about animals to read while waiting in from of the bathroom.

​When you sign up to be one of our Mystery readers in the future please make sure to sign up on a day that is still available. Please keep in mind that we can only accommodate one Mystery Reader per day. But we are already looking forward to you joining us soon!

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Natural Material Collection

We noticed that some children are bringing in natural materials, such as berries, apples, pine cones, and sticks, to school in the morning and love to look for them when we are outside. We wanted to expand on this interest and started our natural materials collection tray. We are excited to see where it takes us and the interesting items we will find. If you are finding special natural materials on your way to school, in the park or in your backyard, feel free to bring them in.