Symbols for our New Rainey Room Friends

Ford and Charlton Explain Symbols at Morning Meeting

At Morning Meeting on Friday last week, Karen and Emma brought a surprise to the circle. There was an object hidden under a cloth and Karen asked the children to make a guess about what might be hidden underneath the "mystery blanket." The children had a variety of ideas:  
Ford - A carriage. 
Isabelle - A dog.
Charlton - The symbol box! 

Karen asked the children, "What are symbols and how do we use them?"
Charlton - They’re stamps! You press them on the ink and put them on the paper. 
Ford - So the people we send it to know it’s us. ​

---

Ava, Whit and Zari Choose Their Symbols

Ava, Whit and Zari joined Karen in the studio to begin the process of choosing their symbols. Karen displayed the St. John’s symbol stamp, the ginkgo leaf, for the children and explained, "This is the symbol of St. John’s, our school. Now, today you are going to get a chance to choose your symbols. We have lots of different symbols and a lot of different colors of ink that we can try out." Karen placed a box of symbols on the studio table for the children to examine: "So friends, you can choose any of these symbols and try them out on your paper. You can try out different ones as much as you like." The children set about exploring the symbols. 

---

Ava picked up a symbol: Look at this one!
Karen: Do you want to try it out?
Whit: Look at this one! 
Karen: Here, press your stamp here (on the ink pad) once and then press it on your paper.
Ava: It’s supposed to be black. 
Karen: Press it on your paper and see if it is.
Ava: It is black. She held up a stamp of an envelope: I tried the message!
Karen: Oh, a message. Did you stamp it on here and see what it looks like?
Whit placed a stamp on the ink pad and then stamped it onto his paper: I made it!
Karen: Let’s keep working on them friends!
Ava: Can I try again?
Whit: This one (the St. John’s symbol) doesn’t work pretty good. Whit tried another symbol: That one worked out well!
Karen: It did work well, didn’t it? What is that one Whit?
Whit: It’s footprints.
Karen: Zari, which one are you trying now?
Zari: I’m trying the footprints. Um, this one.
Karen: Look at it and tell me about it.
Zari: The people (child symbol). Zari tried another stamp and explained: Fishies. When they swim. People pick the fish up when they’re dead at the supermarket and eat them.
Karen: Zari, have you ever gone fishing? Maybe with mommy or daddy?
Zari: I need to be bigger to go to fish like my daddy. 
Karen: Well, where do the people pick the fish up from? 
Zari: At the supermarket, they pick up the fish. Zari pointed to her paper: I tried out that one. 
Karen: Which one did you try, Zari?
Zari: Um, a turtle now. She tried another symbol stamp: A fish!
Whit picked up another stamp to test: Um, seaweed! He then used the “seaweed” stamp two more times before picking up another stamp: I like this one. The magnifying glass for seeing stuff. I see through it. Whit continued trying other stamps: I like the bubbles. The butterfly. He looked closer at the stamp he was holding, which he had called “the butterfly” at first: No, the lightning bug.
Ava picked up the bubbles stamp: Because, I have bubbles at home. 
Whit tried the lightning bug stamp: Because I see them at Gibson Island and we catch them.

After a time exploring the selection of symbols, final decisions were made by all three children.  Zari chose the fish. Whit chose the lightning. bug. Ava chose the bubbles. After choosing their symbols, the children placed them in the symbol box in the message center.  During snack,  they shared the symbols that they chose with their friends and gave their reasons.
Whit: Lightning (bug) because I catch them at Gibson Island.
Zari: Fishie. Because I like them.
Ava: Bubbles. At home.