April 20th, 2021

Pod A

SNAKE WATERCOLORS
Wolf has been telling his friends about the Puff Adder snake in Kenya.  Likewise,  Fletcher told us his Kindergarten has a snake named Noodles.  The children used watercolors to create their own snakes.
Palmer:  My snake is King Cobra.  My snake is spitting poisonous venom.
Cannon:  I'm adding as baby snake.  And a rat.  The baby snake is actually a monster.  They're all monster snakes.

CLAY BUILDING - 3 Stories from Today and Yesterday

1. Gigi and Lane make human figures

Gigi:  Lane, can you help me make the body?  His head fell off!  His legs are hard to put on.
Lane:  What you need to do is make it so these lines go away.  (pressing and smoothing creases)
Gigi:  I just keep finding so many lines.  ....The arms are repaired!
Lane:  You are a master!  You are a genius, Gigi!  I knew you would be good at this.

2.  Wolf and Grace build a "castle"

Grace:  I love clay.  Almost like play dough except you can keep it that way.
Wolf:  We're going to make the biggest castle.
Grace:  Ever!
Wolf:  That will be the bridge.
Grace:  Making the castle walls are hard.  Clump it 'til it's big.
Wolf:  I'm making this nice and flat.
Grace:  This can be a castle for my doll, right?  This can be where her throne sits.
Wolf:  How big is your doll?
Grace:  Probably yeigh big.  (uses hands to demonstrate)
(They both use rolling pins to flatten the castle floor)
Wolf:  Want to try this one?  It's faster.  (he offers to switch rolling pins and she accepts)
Grace:  Because I'm littler, and you're older.
Wolf:  We need a bridge to get to each other.

3. Fletcher makes a tunnel

"It's kind of like a jump rope."  (Using wire tool to cut clay in half)
"This is like a mountain in Alaska.  I saw a movie where Bigfoot went to Alaska to stop the bad oil company.  I'm going to make a huge boulder, because there's boulders in Alaska."
(He uses a wide, flat tool with a twisting motion to take out clay from the hole)
"If only we had a huge drill!"
(He uses the accumulation of scrap clay from the hole to create a "boulder")
"The boulder's getting really huge."

Miscellaneous Fun Outside and In Construction!

Pod B

Sing Along
It was fun to lead sing along day! We chose a number of songs with motion since they are so much fun!

Kurt’s Gift: A Baby Yoda Book
We are so excited to be tasked with making an End of Year gift for Kurt. Because of Covid, the children haven’t seen Kurt/interacted with him as much this school compared to previous years. However, at dismissal the children have noticed a little Yoda figurine that he put in his office window. We decided to make a book about Yoda’s adventures at preschool. 
First the children brainstormed their ideas of what Yoda might do. Each child created at least 2 drawings for the storyboard. Afterward, we discussed the sequence of events and put the ideas in an order that would make sense based on our school day. Each child also had an authentic opportunity to try and sound out words to label their drawings. 

Tomorrow we are going to “borrow Yoda” under the guise of joining us for snack. But really the plan is to photograph Yoda having adventures at preschool. We think Kurt is going to love this End of Year gift when we give it to him next month.
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More Messages for Incoming Brown Room
Since we are Tucker Room, and "can do hard things," we are going to make at least one message for each incoming Brown Room child. We’ve been slowly working our way through the list. The paper sculpture messages take time but they are beautiful and the new Brown Room friends will love them.

Watercolor Fun
Yesterday we used watercolors to paint some lovely spring blossoms. Today we continued our work with watercolor and used spray bottles and droppers in addition to brushes

Outside
Today’s spring weather was AMAZING! The children played in the sandbox for the entire hour. Nora and Aida’s narrative was based around animals. Maren and Andy spent their time cooking.