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March 12th, 2020

3/12/2020

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Updates on "The Golden Strawberry" Game

Today, new groups of children brought additional ideas to the game we are inventing.  First, they added large golden knobs to be our "golden strawberries"!  Then it was time to add to the complexity of the game, including new obstacles and rules.

Palmer: (examining the dreidel) If you get this symbol, you get burned. (picks up the sand timer)  You get five seconds to play the game!
Grace: First, you eat the golden strawberry.  Next...  (she places a sticker down with the letter C printed several times) Travel to the C's.  There's lava this whole way.
Palmer:  You get five turns.  This is the lava, right Grace? 
(Together, they are arranging dominoes as the "lava")
Grace: They all have to be in the same spot...
Palmer:  We have to put them in order.
(More game pieces are being attached, including orange  and green collage materials)
​Palmer: (examining dice)  If you get 6, you go to the orange peach, and the tiger eats you up!

Next...
  • Maren and Grace form a new rule that the glass beads are the "water" where the alligator lives, and if you land on those spaces, the alligator eats you up! 
  • Soon, there is an idea to try using the large animals as game pieces.  The teacher points out they might be too big to fit on the bottlecaps.  In order to solve the problem, Maren and Palmer put tape on the feet of the cats.  Maren says it's "to make the feet smaller".  Palmer says, "It's going pretty well."  But when they test it out, the tape hasn't helped.  They agree to try something else.
  • Maren has the idea to begin making "cards" because she has seen use of them in Candyland.  She colors a small patch on each index card, and assigns it to different game tiles. 
  • Oliver, Palmer, Cannon, and Wolf are the next group. They briefly visit the Tucker closet, where they find corks and a fake candle.  Oliver puts the candle on the house for Baby Ena.  "We have to glue this on so the night doesn't scare her," he says.  He places her in the house.  "Baby Ena hides through here, and makes a BIG jump."  Oliver's next idea is to add more game tiles.  "These can be the hopscotch" he says as he tapes down a series of round silver pieces.
"We Love This Long, Long, Long Thing." -Olivia
In construction, we've still been using our chart to make sure that a larger variety of people are getting a turn in construction.  Olivia and Evelyn worked together creating a long bridge that went from their small village ALL the way across to the wall.
Olivia: "We can do it all the way to that house, right?  It's a bridge and a road.  People can walk on it.  Animals can walk on it."

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DIY Rainbow Scratch Art! ...continued
With that friends, we'd like to wish you a very HAPPY spring break.  We'll miss you, and we hope you stay healthy and safe during the next couple weeks. 
For Parents: We had some ideas of ways to keep your children engaged if you're having a stay-cation.  (Feel free to try these out, but they're not homework, so don't feel obligated)
  • Write and mail a letter to Alexandra in Germany
  • Practice playing board games like Candyland that have cards, game pieces, and instructions.  We might need this knowledge to further our "Golden Strawberry" game.
  • Make a fairy house for your yard outside
  • ​Springtime is almost here... Perhaps do some indoor/outdoor gardening
  • Have some photography fun by documenting the blooming of the trees
  • Create a hopscotch with sidewalk chalk (perhaps with a new type of pattern? 1 square, 2 square, 2 squares??)
  • DIY Rainbow Scratch Art can be done at home too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ6urjoVZkY
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March 11th, 2020

3/11/2020

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Just a few small stories from our time outside for Backwards Day:
Cannon and Lane played eagles. They built a nest, added eggs and then fed the babies as good parents do.


Cannon: Guys you need to come to the nest! (trying to encourage other friends to join the play)
Lane: Oh! I found some food.
Cannon: That's a string. You need to put that in the nest.

Cannon: Our nest is overflowed! Our babies hatch into water.
Lane: Someone gave us the string so the nest and our eggs could float away.

Lane: Let's go to the pizza place. (they leave for materials and arrive with a bag of balls)
Cannon: I brought some pizza!
Lane: For the babies to eat.
Cannon: No! For the babies to peck on.
Lane: Put a lot in our nest because our babies love pizza.
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Olivia led friends in an Elsa (from Frozen!) game. There was dramatic singing, running and lots of fun! Many friends were involved and her excitement sparked enthusiasm from her peers.
The swing is always fun too!

Later in the classroom.... A Hopscotch How-To Guide

Ellie, Maren, Grace and Palmer went to the atelier to work on the instructions for the hopscotch game that is going to be gifted to the  Hyde Addison children. In addition to adding details to how to play, they created instructional illustrations of hopping on the squares.

Here are the original instructions that the group was revising today:
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  • You have to hop like one, both, one, both.  You have to hop on both feet, one, both feet, one.  (Maren)
  • And then you can go backwards if you want.  (Palmer)
  • You throw the beanbag and you have to pick it up and hop all the way to the finish line.  (Maren)
  • Wherever the beanbag goes, you have to jump to it.  (Lane)
  • You just have to follow the numbers. (Palmer
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Today's instructions had more detail:
"You have to throw the bean bag on one number on the board. 
Then you jump to it: one foot, two foot, one foot, two foot. 
You have to go to the finish line, turn around, then when it's your number you pick it (the bean bag) up.
If the bean bag lands somewhere that's not the finish line you still have to jump to the finish line."



Maren drew two illustrations: the first showed how to hop on one foot. First she drew the hopscotch but then she realized that the start of her hopscotch was at the end of the paper. She asked, "Where's there space?" To solve this problem she added a paper overlapping with her first and drew the person. 
Maren described her hopscotch illustration: "I drew a person and I drew the hopscotch. She's hopping. You hop on one leg." 
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...She also illustrated how to throw the bean bag:
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Ellie illustrated how to land on two hopscotch squares, one foot on each square. She used a photograph of herself doing this as a reference. It turned out that she wasn't satisfied with her illustration because she didn't draw the feet connecting to the hopscotch squares.  (We always emphasize that it's okay to do a second draft if the first one doesn't turn out quite right... maybe we'll come back to it tomorrow)
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Grace drew a bird's eye view of how feet land on the squares. It was important to her that the feet were in shoes (because you play the game outside) and that she shoes were the same, or else "It would be mismatched and be confusing.  And someone will forget if it's the same person".  She used a thumb to help her draw.  "I need someone's thumb.  So I can make it look like a foot."
Palmer's illustration features Maren jumping on a square, along with 3 additional squares.  He took great care to put the squares in the right pattern (two, one).
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He also demonstrated his knowledge of jumping/standing on one foot.
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And finally, some info about a brand NEW area in the classroom... Creating a Board Game
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At meeting, we suggested to the class a new project we'd like to try.  Since we have been so invested in the game of hopscotch, we were sure that some Rainey Roomers would want to help us create our very own board game with our own rules.   We showed them all the materials we had prepared.

Wolf: We have to use a tiger.
Palmer: Are we making games for ourselves because we're giving hopscotch to Hyde Addison?
Emilia:  Or maybe we could make hopscotch 'cause these look a bit like stones.
(Teachers cite Candyland as an example of a game... how is that played?)
Palmer:  You don't just cheat (he smiles)
Melanie: Nope, you don't.  You have to follow the..?
(all) Rules!
(We keep discussing Candyland, including the colorful tiled pathway. Could we use that as inspiration?)
​Emilia:  That would be great! I could cut out shapes!
Emilia and Wolf M began, and Lane and Oliver joined later.  Read the dialogue to find out how we brainstormed.

Emilia:  We could play "Gnomes at Night".  (She explains that it has a timer and cards)  We need a board just like this.
Wolf:  We have to make it even bigger.
(Wolf positions one board at a diagonal, and soon gets a car to ride down the ramp.  Then he gets the tiger.)
Emilia: We could make a trap for the tiger so he falls off the sidewalk and into the water.
(The two of them attach a second board, to catch the tiger)
Wolf: We did it! We're making it more easy.  I'm making it more stable, into a bridge.  The tiger can be in the forest under here.  (indicates area under chair)
Lane:  When the ball rolls down, the people have to run away.  (She experiments with rolling a wooden ball down the ramp and into our cardboard people)
Oliver: (has a dreidel in hand) We need this to show which direction.  
Lane: The next thing is lava.  And they have to jump over the lava.
Wolf: Look, they can walk around,
Oliver:  The next thing is water.
Lane: Next, it's the golden strawberry.  (She has placed a silver metal circle on the game board)
Oliver: This can be the house, with windows.  That's where they go at night.  So they don't get covered in rain.
(Lane and Oliver work as a team to create a house with cardboard and glue)
(Soon after, we place a series of bottlecaps down as a Candyland-esque pathway and practice rolling the dice to determine how far the player moves)
Wolf: (has tiger in hand) One, two, three, four, five... He got to five.  Haha!  


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March 10th, 2020

3/10/2020

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The Hopscotch Painting is Coming Along! 
We are testing out different strategies to complete each square.  There has been lots of progress, but some problems have appeared.  Some squares are filled in with a solid color, while some have numbers.  Some numbers face different directions, and some are very small.  With each obstacle, we keep finding creative solutions.  More to come later in the week.
Testing Out a New Classroom Procedure: Construction "Magic List"
The Rainey Roomers (both children and teachers) have been noticing that some people get lots of turns in construction, while other people don't get as many turns. 

In an effort to make everyone's plans a little more well-rounded, teachers have introduced a "magic list" for the construction area.  We explained at morning meeting that we'll use a check mark to indicate who has already had a turn that day. 
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Grace offered her opinion: "Today, all girls in construction, because boys have been going every day all the time."  Then she added, "I have a question.  Does it go check, check, check, until it's all filled up?"
Yes, it does! Children are already using this new tool to find out who still needs a turn in that area, and who has already had one.  So far, they seem delighted to have this visual aide.  Emilia liked it so much, she said at second meeting, "Maybe we could have a board that tells us what we should do.  Like we should do kitchen on Sundays, we could do dress-up playing on Tuesdays or Wednesday, or reading on Friday... It could be like that."
Other great moments from our day,
including areas like the restaurant, the Wire/beads table, and a special "Rainbow Scratch Art" station...
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March 05th, 2020

3/5/2020

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Crowns for the Royal Banquet 
Children created these beautiful crowns for us to wear while we are pretending to be kings, queen, princesses, and knights at the restaurant area in dramatic play.
Day 1 of Painting the Hopscotch
Some quotes from today:
​Emilia: On the squares outside they can be rainbow, and inside they can be striped rainbow.
Palmer:  But we’ll have to paint straight lines.  Do you wanna paint faces on the hopscotch?
(From a nearby shelf he gets out some googly eyes)
Emilia: YEAH! That’s a good idea Palmer.

​
(Delegating painting jobs)
Emilia:  I’ll do on the outline.
Palmer: I’ll do the in-line.

(Delegating paint mixing jobs)
Emilia: I’ll be pink.
Palmer: I’ll be blue.
Gigi: I’ll be green.


​Brooke: Let’s make sure not to fill up the jars with too much paint, because it might spill out.
Emilia:  Yeah... If people were doing colors there, there, there, there (pointing all around the room)… And it was all the way up to the top, and then they were twirling, then putting it onto the ground, it would make a BIG MESS!


Brooke: What color should we start with?
Grace: Green.  Because I think it looks beautiful.
Evelyn:  Pink. Because it’s my favorite color.
Fletcher:  Maybe white?
Ellie: Purple.
Fletcher: (looking at the thick paint texture) This looks like icing.
Ellie: Mine too.


(Evelyn begins with pink on square #1... the other three are watching)
Ellie: We can’t see it.  Spread it a little more.
Brooke: Hmm, what do you guys think?
Grace: Bad.  You can’t see it.  Wipe it off.
(Brooke reassures them we can paint over it if there are any errors)
Brooke: If it's too small, what will we do next time?
Fletcher: Make it bigger.
Grace: I have a great, great idea.  We can try to make that line, and then it can be a bigger number.
(Evelyn paints a horizontal line at the bottom of number 1.  Then she slowly, carefully follows the pen line to make the surrounding square pink, too. The group watches.)
Fletcher: It looks FANTASTIC!


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Wednesday!

3/4/2020

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With the lovely weather, the Rainey Room couldn't help but enjoy a long backwards day! It started off with a discussion at morning meeting about taking a break from the magic wands and being careful about things we say and do during play. Following that, Granny J, Gigi's grandma, read a story entitled Vincent Comes Home. Thanks Granny J! Safe travels as you head back home to the west coast! 
There was TONS of fun play outside this morning: building, animals, swinging, taking care of an orangutan, and much more.

​During one play sequence Palmer, Oliver and Wolf B pretended to be firefighters:
Palmer: The fence fell down and the bricks fell down and the fire came out of the hole.
Oliver: The fire was in the tree and all the way up to the bell tower.
Wolf B: There was A LOT of fire.
Palmer: See that house there?....it was on fire too.
Oliver: There's fire! Get on the hoses!
Palmer: There's a fire at the warehouse.
There was also hopscotch work! The original hopscotch idea formed outside one day when the children were drawing with sidewalk chalk. Today the work continued outside. Melanie and Jen worked with various children to trace the carpet hopscotch squares onto the canvas. It was a BIG project and took about an hour.

Wolf M: "Everyone can do it, even the dinosaurs."
Grace: "It's a tricky game... you can try to hop over without stepping in the hot lava."
Hammer and Nails
This week the children are having their first experiences working with hammers and nails. It's been fantastic to try something new! They are learning about techniques: holding the nail until it's firm in the wood, gripping  the hammer higher up as a way to have more control, and also concepts about force.  Teachers have noticed that despite using lighter weight hammers, the children get physically tired doing this work. While some children seem to have a clearly established dominant hand, others  use the hammer in both.
Earlier in the week Ellie noted: When  I see someone building outside of my house they use hammers and they use nails."
As Gigi tested her nail she commented: I'm checking if it wiggles.
Later she shared: It's ok if you miss. (don't hit the nail)

As different groups of children tried this experience we talked about how, like most things, using a hammer is something that improves with practice and time. At first it might seem challenging but it's important to keep trying.
Today Wolf M said to Emilia: My hammer makes a different noise than yours.
Emilia replied: Let me hear. (She walked to his end of the table to get a good listen.) Then she said: Mine makes the same noise. Listen. 
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March 03rd, 2020

3/3/2020

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Next Phase of Hopscotch: Transposing it onto Canvas
 The teachers have been doing some tinkering behind-the-scenes of the hopscotch project!  We have realized that in order to realistically give this gift, it has to be easily portable.  At meeting today, we proposed a solution to the children: a large canvas onto which we can re-create the hopscotch game with paint.
When we used the word "neighbors" in discussing Hyde-Addison, Grace was confused, insisting that they're not our actual neighbor since they're not next door (to our left or right).  Gigi gave her perspective: "Some neighbors are next to our house, and some are across the street."
​In the studio, we took Palmer's suggestion from last week: "Un-tape it."  Then we moved every single number onto the canvas.  It took one hour and six minutes to get every single number in the right order and correct pattern!  But we DID IT!

Melanie: How are we going to remember where the numbers go?
Palmer: We'll go in order! One, two, three...
Olivia:  We have numbers here to protect us.  And we could draw it on there.

Melanie: It’s starting to get confusing, isn’t it?  Lots of numbers over there.
Palmer: And they’re not putting it in the right order.  They’re putting three on one??
(He looks at the jumbled numbers)
Palmer: One, two... twelve, four, seven?? HAH!! 

Grace: (revisiting morning meeting) Now I understand why.  Gigi's plan is my plan.
Melanie: That they're our neighbors?
Grace: (nodding) But we don't know them.
Melanie: Right, we have to introduce ourselves.
Maren: They are still our neighbors but we do not know them.
Grace: (looking down at the numbers, still jumbled) That's not how hopscotch goes.

Grace and Maren repeatedly jump on the hopscotch game while counting 1,2,3, etc.  It becomes apparent putting numbers 11 through 19 is way harder than the single digit numbers.  This is completely age-appropriate, but it does put an obstacle in our way.  We'll have to get resourceful in order to complete sequence - we begin using a number line.

Melanie: Does 13 really come after 8?
Gigi: I think it comes after 14.
Grace: Eleven comes after nine.
Maren: But we have no more room!  (She independently shifts all numbers down to create more room)  What about this?
Melanie: (Reading it) One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve ... fourteen?
Lane: ..... THIRTEEN.
Maren: Thirteen is a 2 and a 3.
Lane: It's a 1 and a 2. 
Emilia: It's this one.  (She picks up number 15)
Ellie:  It's a one and a five.
(We look at the number line)
Melanie: (pointing at phone screen while reading) Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.
Emilia: The 3 and 1? 
​
(They leap into action)
​Maren: FOUND IT.
(We move onto 14, looking carefully at the number line)
Lane: FOUR AND A ONE, I FOUND IT.

(As we progress, new group members are continually joining while others leave for a new plan.  Fletcher and Evelyn arrive and help diagnose the problems in our numbers)
Fletcher: One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen.... SIXTEEN!
(He's able to put the numbers in order without any problem, but forgets the pattern of two squares, one square.  Gigi notices the problem as she hops across three squares in a single column.)
Gigi: There's one, one, one.  I hopped for one, one, one.  One foot.
(Fletcher notices a similar problem as he hops)
Fletcher:  WAIT A MINUTE!  It's supposed to do 1, 2, 1, 2.  
Evelyn: WAIT A SECOND!  Uh ohhhhh.  Where is that silly number?
(Evelyn tries putting 13, 14, and 15 in a horizontal row.)
Gigi: There's one in the middle. 
Evelyn: I see the problem.  We need more numbers.
(We rearrange the pattern so that it's back to normal, but 15 still winds up in the wrong spot)
Fletcher:  No, that's not supposed to be it. 
He quickly rearranges the numbers into the correct order, maintaining the pattern!  It's finally finished.
ALSO: We have officially let Hyde-Addison know we want to meet up with them.  Children helped write the email!  (Ellie also helped but isn't pictured here!)
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Hammers and Nails!
More on this to come soon.
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