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Last day before break!...

3/19/2019

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Another busy day in the Brown Room! There was a birthday committee, sewing, kitchen play, painting and message center creations, silly faces/words and a new hide-and-seek game outside!
Ellie's birthday committee: Grace, Alexandra and Olivia were hard at work creating a beautiful plaster gift 

​Sewing: Fletcher, Cannon and Emilia worked on sewing creations using beads and colorful fabric and thread

Lollipops were being made in the kitchen today!
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Painting and message center work:
During snack we invented silly words and made silly faces.

What silly word can you make up?
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Alexandra: byebop
Olivia: weedabell
Cannon: aam
Evelyn: wawawawa
Grace: babla
Melanie: squeedlebop
Brooke: peshdoop
A new version of hide-and-seek outside!
When the last few friends were finishing up snack, Cannon was asking Emilia about the egg she had brought to school. She began explaining how she and her brother play a game at home where one of them hides the egg and the other one tries to find it. Once outside, Cannon asked Emilia if they could play with her egg and a new version of hide-and-seek was born.
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March 15th, 2019

3/15/2019

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Obstacle Course!!
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Today we brought the obstacle course equipment out to make our Backwards Day more exciting and challenging (in a fun way).  We got our bodies moving as we jumped across the hula hoops, stepped on carpet squares, crawled through the red tunnel, balanced on the balance beam, rock climbing, and playing catch with the dodgeballs.  Among these activities were several rounds of hide-and-seek!
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Hide and week - the bush is a great hiding spot
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Ellie and Cannon find a bug in the sink
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In this video, Palmer asks Ada to hold his hand while he walks across the balance beam.  They take turns helping one another across.
Sewing! (Slideshow)
Today we ventured into sewing, something we have only tried once only briefly earlier in the year.  Coming back to this skill in the second half of the year, we talked for a while about how to use the needle to go in and out, how to apply beads to the thread, and how to make sure you pull all the way through the fabric until you reach the end of the thread.  When Palmer heard about the beads, he said, "I'll go get some beads just in case anybody needs some."  He brought the jar over to the table and we began looking through them.  Evelyn quickly found that not all beads have holes, and not all the holes are large enough for the needle to pass through.  We only spent a little time on it today and we'll plan to come back to it next week before spring break!
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Tidbit from Thursday: Magnetic Chalkboard
The magnetic chalkboard is often an area that we walk past while going to the bathroom, so we don't often get to spend quality time there.  We had some time to explore these materials on Thursday in small groups.  Watch as different children approach this area with different curiosities and strategies.  It reminds teachers of the values we have at St. Johns...

JOY... (Olivia finding delight in the magnets falling down; Cannon smiling after a ball successfully flies off the ramp)

CREATIVITY... (Ada making the "longest ever" row of letters and numbers; Wolf's idea to shift the tube vertically )

EXPLORATION... (Wolf finding the string and making a plan to wrap it around something; Palmer looking inside some of the stretchy tubes; Evelyn throwing the orange balls in the basketball hoop)
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RELATIONSHIPS... (Evelyn and Cannon picking up the tube that had fallen down together; Olivia helping Ada with her row of letters and numbers; Cannon saying "You can play too!")
Have a great weekend!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY PALMER!!!!

3/14/2019

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Today we celebrated Palmer's school birthday! His actual birthday is this Sunday. Even though there were only 6 friends at school, we enjoyed the celebration.  Palmer's parents joined us too. Cristian read the first half of "Stanley the Mailman" and Jennie read the second half. Palmer loves Stanley books and even read some of the pages himself! After the book, we looked at photos from when Palmer was younger. In one photo he's a newborn and is wearing a Terps sweatshirt that had belonged to his mom. There was also a photo from his 1st birthday when he got a trash truck from his grandma. Anyone who knows Palmer knows how much he LOVES vehicles. There was also a photo from his second birthday (see below) and one from the beach. Palmer will celebrate his birthday this weekend at the beach with his family. 
Ada gave Palmer his gift. It was created by Emilia, Lane and Fletcher. They thought a lot about what they know about Palmer and added 4 knobs to represent the 4 wheels of a truck, circular pieces to represent cookies as well as eggshells,  sparkles and some party beads. Palmer walked around the candle and we sang to him. Later at snack we enjoyed brownies. And we all fit around one table because the group was so small! But even with a small group, it was a special day! 
HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY PALMER! 
We are so happy that you are a part of the Brown Room.
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March 13th, 2019

3/13/2019

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Smell Test
Lately the most popular area of the kitchen is the collection of spice jars from home.  Often, we observe children smelling the insides of the jars, especially the jar that used to have cumin.  Today after clean-up, the class sat down and had a discussion about three spices: cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. 

Palmer: What’s in this one?
Grace: What’s in that one?
Melanie: I was wondering - do you have any ideas about what might be in here?
(Palmer picks one up and shakes it, making a sound… Wolf and Grace follow suit, so we begin passing them around.)
Melanie:  What happens when we shake them?
Alexandra: It’s not gonna make noise… (Has cinnamon sticks that aren’t as loud)
Emilia: It rattles!
Alexandra: Mine’s not going to rattle.
Melanie: (Collects jars) What do you think is inside?
Grace: We don’t know.
Melanie: What if you could guess?
Grace: Peanut butter.
Palmer: Pumpkins.
Wolf: Spice.
Melanie: Who agrees that spice could be in here?
Alexandra: Me.
Melanie: Does anyone know the name of any spices?
Emilia: Spicy pepper.
Melanie: What else?  Any other guess of what goes inside the jar?
Fletcher: Marshmallows.
Ellie: Beans.
(We begin the smell test! Fletcher gets the first container, then he passes it to his neighbor, and so on… they each react to it)
Fletcher: Cinnamon.
Grace: Cinnamon.
Ellie: Cinnamon.
Emilia: Cinnamon.
Alexandra: Cinnamon.
Wolf: Not for us to eat?
Melanie: No, this cinnamon would be too crunchy for us to eat right now.  It has to be ground into powder before we can eat it.
Wolf: Want to cook it?
Melanie:  We can cook it.  How should we cook it?
Fletcher: In the oven!
Emilia: No, toast!
Melanie: Is there anything that cinnamon is making you think of?
Grace: Bread.

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(We move onto the next spice, Allspice, starting with Alexandra, then passing it.)
Melanie: What’s that smell?
Alexandra:  Chocolate.
Emilia: Chocolate.
Ellie: Chocolate.
Grace: (makes a gross-ed out face, shakes head no)
Fletcher: Beans.
Palmer: It smells like chocolate.
Wolf: Bread.
(We move on to the last spice, cloves… Brooke starts, then passes it)
Brooke: It’s not really my favorite.
Grace: Yum.
Alexandra: I don’t like it.
Wolf: Good. (He takes one single clove out and smells it)
Melanie: That one has a funny shape, too.
Palmer: Chocolate.
Fletcher: Sticks! (seeing the shape)
Grace: Chocolate.
Melanie: Do you guys think it’s reminding you of chocolate because it’s brown?
Grace: Yeah.
Melanie: (Asking the group) do we think “yum” or “yuck”?
Emilia: (Shows thumbs up sign but sideways)  This is maybe.


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Picnic
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Grace announced that she was having a picnic!  When her friends heard, they hurried over to help spread the picnic blanket.  Then, they began to prepare different kinds of food and bring it over to this blanket.  Palmer brought chicken nuggets, Wolf made pudding, Grace prepared pancakes and lettuce, and Emilia provided coffee, tea, and cookies.
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Strategies with Magnet Tiles
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Emilia puts people inside a house
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Fletcher builds a pyramid then puts one person inside
Ellie connects the tiles flat on the floor in an effort to duplicate the hexagon she had previously constructed.
Alexandra makes a person out of tiles (the purple and red character) who then goes inside her house (the tent shaped structure)
Other stories from today
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Emilia: My idea is to put the seashells over here.  I'm putting a LOT of seashells 'cause I'm making the beach.  But how are we gonna make a boardwalk?  We need some wood.  (She gets one curved wooden piece) I'm just gonna put a rainbow.
Melanie: Have you seen a rainbow at the beach?
Emilia: Eh, I don't know about that... But I did see fireworks!

(After this, she builds a boardwalk with hollow blocks)

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(left) Palmer began carefully painting shiny glaze on top of his clay piece.  It's a process that can take a lot of patience!

(Below) Alexandra carefully fills in shapes at the easel as part of our recent painting challenge.
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Tuesday!

3/12/2019

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There were many things happening in the Brown Room today: glazing, painting, building, light table arrangements, and photography. 

In the studio:

The children are honing their painting skills through a new painting challenge. The idea is to fill large shapes by using intentional brush strokes and trying the technique of starting around the edge. 
The recent clay creations were fired in the kiln after the children painted them with colorful underglaze. Today, most opted to add shiny glaze on top. The pieces will then be fired again.

In the classroom:

There was building!
There was photography!
A sampling of photos the children took. (They like close-ups and are still learning how to hold the camera's steady.)
There was light table arranging!

Snack Time:

The children are practicing serving themselves snack. It takes patience and precision.

Outside:

Children enjoyed walking across bridges built by yesterday's alumni visitors.
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Thursday's Tasks

3/7/2019

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The were a number of tasks at hand for the Brown Room today: taking our Thank You book to Christophe's, making a birthday cake for the school's upcoming birthday celebration and researching how many of pieces of cake we would actually need for the birthday. There were other wonderings and observations too....

The New Crane....

During morning meeting Wolf noticed a new crane out the window. We had some discussion about it:
Wolf: The crane's bigger. How they make it big?
Ada: They just build and build and build...
Wolf: Why it's new now?

So before embarking to Christophe's the group stopped to watch the crane lift a large metal box onto the building's 2nd floor. We waved to the driver, even though it wasn't  Ronnie.
Wolf: Why isn't Ronnie driving it?
Gigi: That's the biggest crane I ever saw!

It took a long time to place the item....
Wolf: Why they not dropping it? Maybe they don't want somebody to be hitted? How they can drop it?
Cannon: Uh oh! It's gonna hit somebody!
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The Thank You book....

Cannon, Ellie, Wolf and Gigi were the friends who took the thank you book to Christophe's. Unfortunately, Ben, our favorite French baker, was not working today. However, the staff were delighted by the gift and said they would pass it along on our behalf. 

Baking the cake...

All the friends had an opportunity to help prepare the birthday cake. It was a big responsibility and there were many steps in the recipe. It was extra fun because Jack was able to help out.

Counting: How many pieces of cake do we need?

During morning meeting we asked the Brown Room friends how many pieces of cake we would need to have at the school's birthday celebration next week. When asked about the number of friends at St. John's, there were a variety of answers:
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Maren: One hundred.
Ada: There's ten.
Wolf: One.
Olivia: Three.
Cannon: No, five.
Ada: (counting) Eight.
In reference to this discussion, Olivia used a strategy: she looked through the Brown Room's birthday calendar (photos along the wall). Olivia  named each friend and if they were or were not at school:
Olivia: Evelyn is not here. Lane is not here. Maren is here. Grace is not here. (keeps going and concludes...) But all the friends are not here. We're missing friends. 


Having a strategy - something to reference - would come in handy later as a few friends tried to answer the very difficult question about the number of pieces of birthday cake. Watch the video below to see how Ada, Maren and Olivia attempt to count the Tucker Room friends.
* The goal of this challenge was not to necessarily to answer the question accurately but more to think about how to approach it and practice numeracy skills like counting and one-to-one correspondence.* 
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March 06th, 2019

3/6/2019

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Today was Wolf's first day back at school after 6 weeks of adventuring in Kenya!  We are so happy to have him back with us.  To welcome him, the Brown Room children made him several gifts.  One gift was a box of watercolors we made yesterday...
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Another gift was our set of constructions that we left up overnight.  Grace introduced the "street" she made, saying, "I put patterns."
We also showed the assemblage of rocks made by Maren, the "bunny rabbits" by Lane, and the "zoo" by Grace, Maren, and Emilia.
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Then Wolf brought out his gifts for us!  First brought out a paper bag with lots of multicolored bead keychains, and he handed them out one by one.  Many of the keychains were elephants and giraffes!

Next, he introduced a special snack that he brought all the way from Kenya.  "They can get stuck in your teeth", he told us.  Below you can see photos of us trying them at snack.  alexandra said, "They taste like pop tarts!"
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Thank you for our lovely gifts, Wolf and family!  It's wonderful to have you back with us again!!
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This evolved into something new when Fletcher realized he could build a very tall tower with two stacks of blocks.  When Ada saw this, she began building one very skinny tower with cylindrical blocks.  It fell many times, but she persevered.  ​​When it fell, Ada would smile and say, "My tower's going down!"  Eventually, Fletcher saw what she was doing and joined her.
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After meeting, everybody began their plans.  One plan was to build more within the construction area like we had yesterday, with the intention of adding to Wolf's gift.  Lane began adding "sparkles" to the bunny rabbit from the day before.  Emilia helped Fletcher gather long blocks for a tower he wanted to build.  Emilia looked at the rocks and blocks available and said, "We could make a woods."
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Under-Glazing
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With every new skill the children learn in the studio, there is almost always the element of perseverance.   When children paint their clay with underglaze, it can be tempting to just paint a little and then be done.  Teachers have been encouraging children who began glazing last week to come back and add to the same work, maybe more than once, so their work can really feel finished.  At the end of the year, when it's time to look through portfolios with their parents, children will feel so proud of all the hard work they accomplished.
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Chocolate & Coconut Juice....
Wolf made plans in the kitchen.  He said, "I got some tea.  It's hot.  I'm making some pine cakes.  And I will cut them."

"It's food time.  Here's some food.  You gotta come to a kitchen to make food.  I'm making chocolate.  I put a little bit short.  I'm putting a little bit honey."
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Oliver filled a spice jar with gems and said, "It's all done.  It's full of coconut juice." He opens the lid.  "I did it with my thumb!"

He carefully arranges seven plates with blue tiles. 

​"Dinner's hot.  It's cooking.  It's all done, Melanie.  I worked so hard on it.  It's called breakfast... for everyone!"

"Can we make macaroni and cheese?  It's not done - not today, tomorrow."
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Tuesday Happenings

3/5/2019

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A surprise during morning meeting....

The Rainey Room friends shared a bit of their family tradition learning with us today. Charlie's family celebrates Mardi Gras so the Rainey Room brought in beads to share with us. It was a fun way to start our Tuesday!

In the classroom....

We were busy thinking about how to welcome back Wolf, who will return to school tomorrow after 6 weeks in Kenya. The children made watercolor paintings and created arrangements with blocks and natural materials which we will show Wolf tomorrow. We are looking forward to having him back and sharing stories.
Maren worked hard to make a beautiful arrangement which she then covered with fabric so that it would be a surprise.  Lane made 2 bunnies out of blocks and was sure to add fur and eyes. Grace, Emilia and Maren also created a zoo.

In the studio....

We continued glazing our pottery.  First we are painting with colorful underglaze.
Next, we will add shiny overglaze.  Then the pieces will be ready to be fired in the kiln. 

More fun with intern Jack....

Seventh grade student, Jack Lapham, from The Field School, has been completing a 2 week internship at St. John's.  Last week he spent Tuesday and Friday with the Brown Room and he was back again today. The children loved playing with him! Today in class he helped with watercolor painting and also read a book. Outside he pushed friends on the swing and make hide-and-seek extra exciting! Thanks for spending time with us Jack!
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