The Pajama Project
Earlier this week, the children saw some  examples of LouLou Baker's designs for her pajama line. That day, each child individually created a design concept. The work included a wide range of ideas. Today, in an effort to think of design in a more collaborative setting, groups set out to create "St. John's pajamas" by drawing on large human figures. Though, they mostly drew individually, there were clear moments of collaboration. 
The first group consisted of: Aida, Grace, Olivia and Dakota. Each had ideas and got started right away. After some initial drawing, Grace articulated a collaborative concept when she decided to draw an idea that she knew Maren liked. During meeting Maren had mentioned that she thought that rainbows, stars and moons would be a good design.
With that in mind, Grace drew a moon and said, "Like Maren asked for. Now I'll draw a rainbow."
Later Grace asked Olivia for her opinion about the rainbow she had drawn, "Is that the whole rainbow, Olivia?"
Olivia responded, "The rainbow starts with red." 
Grace, "I have red, just not at the start."
Olivia, "I think so." (responding to the initial question)
Dakota then counted the colors and said, "That's only 1, 2, 3, 4 colors."
Grace, "Yeah, I think you're right Dakota."
Dakota, "What if you try some brown?"
Grace took the suggestion and added brown to her drawing.
At another point Aida was voicing uncertainty of what to draw next, "I can't really decide what to draw next."
Dakota then suggested, "You could draw a smiley face over there." (pointing to some open space on the paper)

The second group was Oliver, Fletcher, Andy and Maren. Like the first group, they worked mostly independently, but shared some ideas along way. 
For example, at one point Oliver said, "Mine is just gonna to be blue blue. What is yours gonna to be?"
Andy replied, "Mine's gonna be blue, green, blue, pink, yellow, brown, red. Because that is all the rainbow."
Oliver, "Uh, that is not the rainbow."
Maren, "Want me to tell you the real rainbow colors?"
Andy, "Yeah."
Maren, "It's is uh..."
Andy, "Red, orange, yellow, green..."
Maren, "Blue, purple."

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Today Cannon, Lane , and Palmer created unique mythological creatures.  They made practice drawing on scratch paper before bringing their ideas to life with watercolor.

Lane 
"This monster, for its hair it has spikes,  It has itches all over it and three fingers and three toes.  And on one foot has two toes.  (Referring to her other creature)  This is my cat.  It can fly.  It has a triangle.... it's big.  Bigger than a tree.It doesn't have toes.  I take back the triangle.  Its body is bigger than a redwood tree.  Its head is bigger than a planet.  It has tow antennae and at the end are gumballs.  It has one eye.  It has a curly tail."

• The icy snow was still around this morning, so we looked at it under the digital microscope.  Nora noted that "It's like an x-ray of the snow."  
  
• Children had fun with building again today.  Gigi and Lane returned to "Happy Land."

              Lane - Let's make happy land happier.
              Gigi -And more playful.

• We thoroughly enjoyed the warm sunshine outside.  Once again, animal narratives were popular.

The Pajama Project:  Patterns and Planning
Pod B started the day by thinking about the pajama project.  We looked at the pajama and fabric samples that are on display in our hallway.  This group has become pattern experts and soon recognized patterns in the fabric.
    Palmer - I notice cement mixer, backhoe loader,  crane truck, dump truck, cement mixer (repeats pattern).
   Lane - I’m going to do a pattern of purple and blue.
   Nora - I’m going to do pink, purple, blue, pink, purple, blue.  Pink unicorn, purple unicorn, blue unicorn.
   Palmer - I’m doing trucks, trains, blue, yellow, green.
   Gigi - I’m sticking with cheetahs.
Children went on to draw their pajama ideas.  Cannon’s pajamas were being worn by a Medusa with a tail.  Currently the children are thinking of individual ideas.  We will move on to more collaboration in the coming weeks.

FOMO-Based Experience
Every now and then, Pod B will look into Pod A and declare, “No fair!”  Sometimes it can be as simple as the fact that the snack looks better through the glass.  About two weeks ago, Pod B was very intrigued by a light table monster environment that they saw through the glass doors.  We decided to try it ourselves.  The work began on Monday when Nora began to create “Dino-land” on two light tables.  She connected the two areas with a bridge.  One area was dedicated to eating and sleeping.
    Nora - They love eating crystals.  They’re their favorite.  We need two water bottles.  They love the leaves.  They (the leaves) are their beds.  If any animal comes, they can lie on the bed.  There’s hot beds and light beds.  
   Cannon - (Joining Nora and bringing along his ninja turtle)  Is there a bed for Ninja turtle?  
    Nora - Yes, of course. (Palmer joins with some larger dinosaurs.) We’ll need bigger beds for bigger dinos.  (She gets one fabric for the beds.)
    Palmer - (With a piece of blue fabric)  That’s how I make a waterfall.
    Nora - The red gems are the pizza gems.  
    Cannon - For my ninja turtle.
    Palmer - And for my dinosaurs.
    Cannon - Can I have some pizza gems?
    Nora - Sure!
    Palmer - This Dino-land is the coolest.  
    Nora - I just built it because you guys love dinosaurs.  
    Palmer - We’re using cool materials.

There was building throughout the classroom.  Lane and Gigi worked on an oval mirror to create “Reflection Land.”  This led Lane to observe, “Reflection has more color than shadow.  Shadow is just black.”  The Reflection Land later became “Happy Land.”  Before joining Nora in Dino-land, Palmer and Cannon built tall to make “New York Skyscraper World."   After snack today, children returned to their various construction projects.

Here Comes the Sun!
Pod B had a great time outside today.  Animal enclosures were popular there as well.  Some of the animals even went skating.   We can’t wait for it to be 60 degrees tomorrow.

Brainstorming about Pajamas 
Children looked at Lou Lou Baker's pajama designs on display in the hallway.  Then they began to draw initial ideas of what  could included on St. John's pajamas.  We are still working with children to understand that the pajamas will be a school-wide collaboration.

Children have been working in pairs to try and deduce the functions of a compass.  Some have guessed that it works like a clock, while others have some familiarity of directions like "North" and "South".  We're planning to delve deeper into this compass work in the coming days.

Here's some highlights from our day:

• We started with chapel.  Gigi and Cannon were expert candle lighters!
• Our enthusiasm for the clay number line representing the school's birthday continues.  Nora had previously noted that there was not enough room for more clay numbers.  Today we took steps to remedy that situation.  At arrival, children painted a new board for clay numerals.  Later in the day, children assisted Jen as she took down the old number line.  It's new home will be along the steps leading to the greeting hallway.
• Yesterday we made more clay coils than we needed for the numerals.  Today Cannon, Palmer, and Nora "drew" with those clay coils.
• Of course, we had time for painting, messages, and construction.
• Jennie Lopez was our mystery reader.  She read "Jabari Tries," "When's My Birthday,"  and "Extra Yarn,"  all of which were thoroughly enjoyed.  Thanks to Jennie for reading again!  We still have mystery reader slots available, so please feel free to sign up again!

Making our Classroom Beautiful: The New Mobile
At morning meeting, teachers revealed some supplies they ordered for our new mobile.  Based on the drawings children made in our planning sessions, teachers deduced that children were most leaning towards an idea with rainbow colors and gold elements.  Our new supplies include clear ornament bulbs and gold thread.  Today, we began to gather materials of every color of the rainbow as preparation for decorating the bulbs.  Children searched the Tucker Closet, sorted materials, tore tissue paper strips, and assigned each color to a bag for safe keeping.

​Then, with help from a teacher, children put worked together to create a list of all the colors we have assembled for the decoration of the bulbs.  Andy started us off by writing "Red" and "Orange" and placing a check mark next to it.  Aida, Olivia, and Oliver followed by writing the rest of this list, sounding out each word carefully and assigning the sounds to letters.  As children get more confident with literacy, they make important associations with letters and sounds.  Today when Olivia wrote the letter R, she said, "It looks like a camera", presumably thinking about a camera set up on a tripod.  When we were sounding out the second P in "Purple", Aida said, "It sounds like Burp!"  Aida also noticed that W is like a "backwards M".  

Map of the USA
Today, we had conversations with children about the places in the United States that are the most meaningful to them.  We want to continue studying the map to research other countries, but decided it would be relevant to focus on our own country at first and find out some of the most personally special locations.  As we talked, we put our symbols on the map with tape to indicate the important places.
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Olivia: I used to go to Florida 'cause my grandpa and grandma used to live there.  (What other places are important to you?) Where Aunt Deena lives. 

(Aida wasn't sure at first, so we asked about important people in her life, such as her grandparents)
Aida: They live in Virginia.

Andy: I have two places: Texas and New Jersey. (Why is New Jersey important to you?) Because there my grandparents live. (Why is Texas important to you?) Because I want to go there.

Oliver: Washington DC.   Virginia is where my swimming class is.

Fletcher: Ocean Grove.

Dakota: Washington DC, my dad took me skiing on mountains and that’s my favorite part. I like California because I used to live there and I have SO many friends there and I’ve been making friends here. We went to Pittsburgh a couple times because that’s where my mom’s mom and dad lives.

Maren: Texas, because my cousins live there. Florida. Jackson Hole because I’m gonna go to a super fun camp. (Where does your family go to the beach?) Bethany Beach.

Grace: Florida. My grandparents live there, my dad’s mom and daddy. (Where does your cousin Ford live?) I know where they live, Nashville.

Clay Numbers for the school birthday
   Gigi and Nora returned to the number line representing the school birthday today.  We’ve had two thorough discussions about what numbers need to be repaired and added.  We’ve made a several new clay numbers, but we still were not sure if we had all the numbers needed.  In our last conversation, Gigi suggested forming a line of numbers and using that to determine what we still needed to make.  She returned to this idea today:
   Gigi - Yeah, you write all the numbers and put checks if we have it and “x” if we don’t.
Nora began by writing the numbers in order.  Working together, the two realized that there are only a few broken and missing numbers.  After identifying that they had new clay numbers for those, they moved on to the new numbers needed to extend the number line to 24.  By using the exiting number line, the new clay numbers, and the chart Gigi developed, the children determined that the only number they were missing was a four!
   Meanwhile, in the classroom, Cannon, Lane, and Palmer were rolling clay coils in anticipation of needing to make more numerals.  Gigi and Nora returned to the classroom and worked on creating the number four.  We are thrilled to know that we can finish the required numbers before the school’s birthday on March 4th!

Outside Time
Pod B started our outside time with one of our favorite activities: races.   Cannon and Palmer added to the experience by becoming Ninja Turtles and setting up a variety of traps to be avoided (or not) while racing.  The traps were constructed from hollow blocks, wood, and hula hoops.
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   Palmer - If you get caught in a wooden trap, you get splinters.
   Cannon - (While building with hollow blocks) This is a jail dungeon and lots of vampires are in there. But we’re Ninja Turtles and we have special shoes so we don’t get stuck in the traps.
   While waiting for the traps to get set, Gigi, Lane, and Nora were making pancakes and other treats.  They invited the Ninja Turtles to try some of their goodies.
    Cannon -We just need pizzas.
    Lane - Then that’s what they’ll get.
    Cannon - (putting sand into a bucket)  This is for pizza dough. I’m just making a pizza.
    Palmer - (Joining Cannon) Yeah!  A pizza dough trap!

This and That  (slideshow)
   More than anything else, it was great to be back together after the long weekend.  Children explored pattern, counting, and measurement with cuisenaire rods.  Children painted both at the easel and at the table today.  The light table was also popular.  Lane set up a valentine party design.  Later in the morning, Cannon and Palmer made an “upside down cycle” and noticed how the light affected the color of the materials they were using.
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Our day was filled with celebrations.  We enjoyed sing-along, delivering valentines, and pajama day!  We took some socially distant, maskless, pajama portraits, and noticed that Lane and Nora were both wearing pink and white stripes.  Cannon finished his self-portrait while his friends worked on other watercolors.  We looked at patterns and sequence in our cuisenaire rod work.  Of course, there was also time for messages, construction, and running around outside.

Today in Pod A, we had a ton of fun delivering Valentines to all of our friends in both pods.  All the children were so excited about what they had received in their bag.  Andy said, "I cannot wait.  This is a special Valentine's Day."

We also had an exciting experiment in the studio featuring some plaster and a collection of hundreds of little tiny beads!  Some of the children remembered using this material back in the Brown Room when we made birthday presents for each other out of plaster.  This time we used liquid watercolors to change the color of the plaster.  We hope to make more again next week. 

Outside, Aida and Olivia worked together making a house for Hop Hop.  Olivia said, "Here's her lettuce.  She guards her lettuce."  Aida said, "It's almost wake up time for her, and it's almost her birthday.  Should we wake her up? I think she likes it."

Wishing a very happy birthday to our friend Cannon!  Have a nice long weekend, everyone!

Children added clear glaze to their personal clay pieces and the clay numbers that they have made.   While working, the children talked about the upcoming pajama day:
   Which are your favorite pajamas?
   Nora - You know what my pajamas ?  Pink and white stripes.  You're going to love my pajamas when Lane sees them.  she has the same ones.
    Why do you love your pajamas?
    Gigi - 'Cause they're cozy.
    Nora - I love wearing my pajamas everyday because they're so beautiful.
    Cannon - I'm getting minotaur pajamas for my birthday.
    What kind of pajamas can you imagine?
     Nora - I can imagine unicorn pajamas!
     Cannon - I can imagine minotaur pajamas!  With horns!
     Gigi - Cheetah pajamas, because they're my favorite animal.
     Lane - Cat pajamas.  A cat nightgown.  And it has to be cozy.
     What would "St, John's" pajamas look like?  What kind of designs would they have?
     Lane - It could have the same symbol as on our St. John's bags, and the same writing.   Or it could have a picture of the school.
       Nora - The symbol is stars.  That's what my dad told me.  That stars are the symbol of Georgetown.

Lane went through the items in her portfolio drawer this morning.  As a veteran to this process, she quickly categorized her work.  One of her first categories was "watercolors."  She then came across a multi-media pieces that included watercolors.  Carefully considering it, she said, "These are my favorites.  I'm going to put them in a different pile."  Other extra-special creations also made it into the "favorite" category.   This pile became the first pocket in her Tucker portfolio.
Lane also recalled the influence of her classroom community in her work.  As she viewed a ballerina drawing she said, "These are my ballerinas -- Gigi inspired me."

Last week Lane and Palmer visited the number line representing the school’s twentieth birthday and helped identify what numbers were needed to repair and extend it.  The children then made several numbers from the notes they took at the time.  However, how could we be sure that there were enough new clay numbers?  On Monday Cannon, Gigi, and Nora returned to the existing clay Number line.  What strategy would they implement to determine if we had the correct numbers?  After some trial and error, the trio focused on lining up new numbers where they saw numbers that should be replaced.   Along the way, they discovered that it was also important to make clay numerals that could be read by other people.  For example, Nora and Cannon thought that one clay number could either be a one or a seven.  Gigi added,  “Some people make stick ‘ones.’  Just straight up and down."  Before returning to the classroom children began to write lists of numbers.  Nora commented, “We only have to write down the ones that we still have to make."  

Our recent work with watercolors inspired us to start more challenging work with this medium.   Today four children worked on their self-portrait.  It started with careful looking and careful drawing.  While some children worked silently, others made observations while working.
    Lane - (While looking in the mirror)  It’s a copy of me.  I always look at myself every morning to check my hair.  Because my hair is my favorite part of my body.
   Palmer - I made my eye look a whale.
   Nora - (While painting)  We forgot the most important part.  My earrings.  (She took a break from painting to draw her earrings before finishing her painting.)  My hair is a mix of my mom’s hair and my dad’s hair, and my brother’s hair. 

Outside 
Pod B had an hour outside on this beautiful day. Children played several familiar and invented games together, including hide-and-seek, sardines, animal tag, as well as games with balls and bean bags.

There's a mobile that's been hanging in our classroom that we created last February, and teachers noticed it's a good time to update it.  Children met in small groups to disassemble the old mobile, and discuss ideas for what materials and themes we could consider for this new version of our mobile.

Dakota: We could paint these sticks, and then we could use them like this. (Taps them together) And then when you pull it, and then it make noises.  Sticks make good wood sounds.
Andy:  I will just draw a drum, like an instrument.  We need to build it.  One small drum.  
​Dakota:  Could we hang a giraffe up there?
Andy: Now I got another plan.  A Chinese decoration.
Melanie: What do you think your friends would like to see on this mobile?
​Andy:  Oliver likes dinosaurs....  
Dakota:  And he likes blue, so we can put some blue on it too.
Andy:  It can be a blue dinosaur ......Aida loves bunnies.
​Dakota:  That gives me an idea.  I can draw a bunny for her.
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Aida: How about a rainbow?​ And a bunny?
Olivia:  We could bend out a heart with wire.  And we could make a heart so we could hang it up.
Aida: We could do a spaceship.  I need all the colors of the rainbow.
Olivia:  Some buttons for the nose.   This heart nose.  And buttons for the eyes, and wire for the nose.  Some little buttons again for the chin. There!  It kinda looks like Aida's stamp.
Melanie: How will we hang these things?
Aida: I think string will be the best.  Regular string, like the string I used for my memory box.
Melanie:  Maybe the light could hit the rainbow and make it glow.
Aida:  Remember that thingy in our classroom when there's rainbows all on the ceiling?  (referring to rainbow generator)
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We excitedly prepared some paper bags to collect our Valentines this Friday!  Each child wrote their name somewhere on their bag, and added their picture.

Maren and Grace asked Cannon what he wanted on his plant pot, and he responded with "Ninja Turtles".  They suggested gorillas and he said "yes".  The girls did some research on the computer and first tried to draw the turtles. However, they were unsatisfied with their work and compromised by tracing the outline and drawing the details to the best of their ability. Later Olivia and Aida also worked on drawings. 

​During Morning Meeting we investigated a new world map. The children spent time noticing similarities and differences from the world map we talked about yesterday and the new one we presented today.  Some children came to the studio to explore different maps and draw their own.  This new learning thread is VERY exciting and emerged because of our conversation yesterday about Chinese New Year. Most children were unfamiliar with the holiday and though they often hear Andy talk about China, Melanie brought out a map to help deepen their understanding. Melanie's fast thinking coupled with the children's interest has potentially opened up a new learning thread for the pod.

Olivia, "We were making the whole city. We were drawing the places where people live. I looked at some maps when I was drawing."

Yesterday Andy talked to the class about the Chinese New Year decorations. Today he worked with Oliver and Melanie to hang some.  Later, Grace and Aida also had a turn helping decorate the classroom. Andy is VERY excited about the holiday and his enthusiasm is sparking interest amongst the group. Nan will join us on Zoom to explain more  next week. 

Olivia, "We were putting on New Year's decorations. Andy brought us the decorations. His family celebrates Chinese New Year. The decorations are really pretty. I like that they have little tags on them and fluffy bits and sparkly."