Tucker Room |
A Small Group ConversationEllie, Ford and Zari met in the middle room to talk about next year. They all have an idea of where they are going when they leave St. John's. St. Patrick’s, we're going to do math and mom and dad signed us up. Ford There’s already food there (at St. Patrick's) . You don’t get to bring your lunch. Ellie I’m going to my school in my neighborhood, near my house. Zari
Sharing at Morning MeetingAfter the small group met, they shared their ideas about making "stuffies" or "lovies" for the incoming Brown Room children at a morning meeting. We could make stuffies for them. For Dru. Ford For Jake and Iris. Ellie For my sister, Susan. Cal Karen and Emma asked, "Why would we want to make stuffies for them?" Making them not feel worried. Fay Maybe a dog stuffie, because Susan likes dogs. Cal Jake likes puppies. I’m going to make a puppy dog stuffie. Ellie I would make Dru a watermelon, because she like a TV show. Ford There’s that one show that has a watermelon. Cocomelon. Rawls Yeah, that's the one! Ford Working Together We could make a ginormous stuffie and we could work together. Fay We could all work on different parts and put it together. Ellie The stuffie would be so big that it could take over the whole school! Seon We could make a big, giant whole school stuffie. Bailee And the next day, the work on a pattern for a "ginormous" stuffie began. Now that we have our pattern, we will move onto sewing the stuffie!
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Mystery ReaderFay's grandmother "Mimi" was our mystery reader on Friday. She read Big Truck, Little Island by Chris Van Dusen and Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems. A Look Ahead...Seon's Goodbye PartyPlease join us in wishing Seon and her family well as they move to South Korea. Seon's last day will be Thursday, February 22nd and we will celebrate her time with us at 12 pm in the Tucker Room. We need your help!
Preparing for Valentine's DayThe children collaged and personalized paper bags to exchange their greetings with one another.
I’m making mine all pink because my mom will love it if it’s all pink. Rawls Valentine's ChapelBailee and Jack were our candle lighters and Molly read Secret Valentine by Catherine Stock. Delivering our ValentinesValentine's Day AtelierIn the atelier, Jen prepared a beautiful materials experience for Valentine's Day. Together with the Brown and Rainey rooms, the children created fabric collages. How Do We Show Love?Valentine's Day reminds us to reflect on how we show the people we love that we care about them. We were curious about the children's perspectives and invited them to draw. A Valentine's Mystery Reader!To wrap up all the love, we had Charlton's Mom, Eliza Holladay, as our Mystery Reader! Eliza shared three books with the Tucker Room: The Night Gardener by Terry and Eric Fan, Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating and Little Blue Truck's Valentine by Alice Schertle. The children loved the stories, thank you, Eliza! Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️ Due to our Early Childhood Educators Series (ECES) tomorrow, February 15th, this will be our one blog for the week. We will still post projections on Friday for the week ahead. We hope everyone has a love-filled rest of the week! When the children participate in studio experiences, there are multiple layers of learning taking place. In a recent studio experience, the children created designs using stencils and then painted their designs at the easel. In the last step of the process, they added details to their designs. As the children worked through this process, they were experimenting with multiple learning concepts. The layering and interconnection of learning concepts in a single experience is an example of complexity in the classroom. Identifying and Describing ShapesThe children identified and described familiar shapes while they worked with the stencils to create designs. Composition and Decomposition of ShapesThe children combined shapes to make new shapes to complete their visions for their studio work. Composing and decomposing shapes is a foundational skill helps children understand part-whole relationships and eventually fractions.
One To One CorrespondenceExperience with Real ToolsIn addition to mark-making and painting implements the children utilized other tools during this studio experience. They will be able to transfer their knowledge of these tools to other areas in their lives. That one looks like the "Eiffel Tower." - Rawls, describing the circle wedge tool, which can be used by designers to make circles
A look at next week...Lovie ConstructionWe’re gonna play with them and make a whole house! Rawls
As they stack, arrange, and engineer for their cherished plush friends, the children exercise problem-solving and spatial reasoning, delving into the realms of engineering, architecture, and design, all while nurturing a deep sense of empathy and attachment.
This playful engagement with their stuffed animals cultivates a practice of cooperation, communication, and collaboration. The children work together to create miniature worlds where their lovies not only have their own space but also develop distinct identities. We've observed a profound sense of ownership and responsibility as the children embrace the role of caretaker for lovies. Moreover, it serves as a platform for exploring essential concepts such as shelter, comfort, and safety, prompting the children to empathize with their stuffed companions as they cater to their needs and preferences. We’re making a river all around Mitch. Charlton Ava, Whit and Charlton made a plan to build a river and home for Charlton’s otter, Mitch, and Whit's lovie, Peter Rabbit.
Can you spot the lovies? Blueberry (the hedgehog lovie) is in here and nobody can touch him. Ford A Conversation about our LoviesWhit, Rawls, Ford, Cal, Charlton and Bailee construct a home for all the children's lovies. Extending Our Connection with LoviesWe couldn't overlook the children's fascination of playing with and constructing for their lovies. When children express their interests in the classroom, it's our responsibility to listen. It is evident that the lovies hold significant importance for the children. Recently, they have expressed a desire to create their own sewn lovies. This week we will begin the planning process for a lovie sewing project!
Critical ThinkingCreativityPerseveranceSelf-Confidence Bell ResearchI don't know how it (the bell) works. How am I going to know how to fix it? Bailee We can figure out what the bell does, how it does work. Fay We need to see a bell that works. Whit The children's conversations following our visit to the St. John's (broken) bell made it obvious that we needed to research other bells to help us understand what is wrong with our own bell. We remembered that the current Rainey Room class visited the bell at Georgetown Presbyterian Church (GPC) last year. We were able to connect with Pastor Camille, a former St. John's parent, and she invited us to visit their bell! A special thank you to Paige Janes, Jaslyn Bryant, Jessie Sterchi, and Jess Bieligk for joining us for our field trip!
We need their bell because we need to fix our bell. Charlton Looking for the BellWhere’s the real bell? Where’s the actual real bell? Bailee Pastor Camille: Close your eyes. Pastor Camille leaves the room. The bell rings. Cal: I hear that! I hear that! Charlton: It came from that way! (Pointing and then running towards the sound of the bell). The remainder of the children follow Charlton. Ringing the Bell
Let’s ring it together. Cal It looks like the swinging rope at school. Seon Listening to the Bell OutsideAfter ringing the bell inside of the church, Pastor Camille led the Tucker Children outside to hear the bell. Ellie: Why does the bell ring? Pastor Camille: It’s not run by a machine like other churches. Pastor Megan: Bells have been around for 1500 years to call people to worship. They also used to play trumpets, but that sound doesn’t travel very far. Sometimes they would even hit pieces of wood together. At the end of the trip, the children each received a small bell of their own to take home. Reflecting on our VisitUpon returning from their visit to the GPC bell, the children had many interesting reflections, both through drawing and conversation. What are you thinking about after our visit to the Georgetown Presbyterian Bell? Fay: The whole class can go to the (St. John's) bell tower so the friends that did not see it can go. Ford: It’s dangerous if we all go. Three people can go, then three people, then three people. Fay: We need to split into groups. We need to take turns. You have to go one at a time if you want to go backwards. Why should we go see the St. John's bell tower? Fay: Because of the different things we may see. Ava: We can make stuff up there. Like tools. Bailee: We could just make a new bell so we don’t have to fix the bell. Ava: We can’t make a bell because we’ll have to do it every single day of the year. That’s because it’s so big. Bailee: Victor can fix the bell because he can fix everything. Cal: It would take a whole night to fix a bell. We don’t know how to fix bells. How could we learn to fix it? Where could we learn how? Fay: Victor. Although Victor may not be able to fix our bell, perhaps our next step will be to interview him to find out more information about repairing our bell! Mystery Readers!This week's mystery readers were Zari's parents, Jaslyn and Von Bryant! Jaslyn read an exciting book called The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell. The children exclaimed they wanted them to read more and chose a book for Von to read as well: Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems. Zari's family stayed after to play games; Freddie especially enjoyed playing with the Tucker Children. Hope you all get to enjoy the warm weather today and have a fantastic weekend! We'll see you Monday.During a morning meeting before winter break, the children decided that they should write a "bell song." While they were discussing the bell, it was noted that the bell was broken. It can’t ring. Charlton We need to fix the bell. Whit We continued the discussion with a small group, asking first, "What do you know about the bell?" Bailee, Ford and Whit determined that a visit to the bell tower was the next step in their investigation.
Before they visited the bell tower, the children made some predictions about what might be wrong with the bell. The bell could’ve fell down. Whit I think the bell could have rang too hard and the piece fell. Ford The side of the bell or the middle (is broken). Bailee In the bell tower, the children recorded their observations digitally and shared their ideas about the bell. I thought the ball was going to real small. Because bells are supposed to be small. Bailee I was expecting to see a tiny bell. Whit I was expecting to see light everywhere. Ford The Children's Research
The idea that Molly or CeCe might have something to do with ringing the bell came up, but after some discussion, they dismissed that possibility. Molly can’t do it and CeCe can’t do it. So somebody else has to do it because Molly and CeCe can’t do it because they have to be at the front door. So somebody else has to know how to get up there and ring the bell. Ford Coming to this conclusion gave them the opportunity to develop alternative ideas about how the bell works. A button. Bailee A rope with wires in it and a secret button. Ford It rings all by itself. Bailee A ball falls down and hits the button. Maybe there’s a secret thing, like a ping pong thing. And a ball drops down and hits a button. Ford Maybe a ball hits a button and then a ping pong ball drops and hits another button and then it goes up and rings the bell. Whit After visiting the bell tower and reflecting with one another, we asked the children to share their thoughts through the language of drawing as they answered the question, "How does the bell make sound?" The small group shared their reflections on their visit to the bell tower and their drawings of their hypotheses at morning meeting. Prior to sharing his drawing, Ford paused, I'm bringing back my thoughts. Whit began to share and then stopped, I need to add something. Maybe we should go see a bell that works! Whit Please remember to sign up or an Interim Phone Call Appointment.
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