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Friday, April 30, 2021

4/30/2021

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Thanks to all the parents who joined us for classroom stories last night!  We loved sharing the work with you!

This is the final Friday of the month, which is a no-blog day.  Please enjoy the slideshow of our trip to Volta and other classroom highlights.  It was great to see so many siblings at Volta today!
​
Thank you, Nan, for being the Pod B mystery reader. 

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Thursday, April 29, 2021

4/29/2021

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Here's some slideshows of the wonderful day we had. 
We can't wait to see you tonight at 6:30 for Classroom Stories Night!
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April 28th, 2021

4/28/2021

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Pod B

Clay Work Continued
Today the children continued work on their clay pieces. Aida added a door and windows on her rocket ship.
Nora worked to assemble her various deer body parts into a complete animal. She worked meticulously to score and slip her clay pieces to properly attach them. Eventually she attached all 4 legs but she encountered a problem: one leg was way too short! She solved that problem by making a new leg and cutting off bits and checking the size until it was correct. Later, when she looked at an image from the internet to see the shape of the tail, she realized she had forgotten ears!

Nora: Silly me I forgot ears. I’ll make some.
Nora also used a pin tool to add spots to her deer body and draw on eyes and a mouth. 
When Maren came to clay she discovered the some of the rays she had attached to her sun had broken off. But, it was no problem - Maren knows clay as a material and understands that sometimes you have to fix parts as a piece dries. She created new rays and attached them. We’re hopeful that these rays, which are a bit thicker, will not break as the sun dries. 
Maren also worked on a new piece: an ice cream cone. After shaping the cone, she used a pin tool to add detail. Afterward she made the ice cream scoop and attached it. We talked about how, because of its shape, the ice cream cone won’t stand up, but instead will have to be displayed on its side.
Andy made a house today. First he had to figure out how many sides the base would need. Initially he thought it was 4, so we talked about how many sides are on a die. He named the numbers on a die and realized he needed 6 sides…he hadn’t been counting the top and bottom. He made a triangular prism for the top and then attached the pieces. Afterward he added a door and window details with a pin tool.
Exploring the Light Table
Jen set up a new provocation at the light table in the greeting hallway. There were lucite trays with colorful sand. The children explored drawing as well as writing. They wrote their names, numbers and explored different “challenges.” Rachel challenged the children to draw something using circles, squares and triangles. The children then created challenges for each other:
Maren: My challenge is to make a memory box with the stuff inside. 
The children quickly realized they didn’t have enough space to draw such detailed images but they compromised and found aspects of their memory boxes that they could draw:
Aida: I only made planets because I didn’t have room.
Maren: I made the map on top of mine.

Andy and Aida also created challenges the group:
Andy: My challenge is to draw a basket with a line.
Aida: My challenge is to make all the people in your house. A house with people in it, with clouds and trees.
Sewing Fix
Aida showed us a little hole on the seam of her cubby bag. Today she picked out some thread and sewed it closed!
Outside
The pump had soapy water in it today and the group enjoyed splashing about and using the pump. It brought such joy!

Pod A

Balmy Backwards Day
It was a great day to be backwards!  The gadget board became a system for ordering pizzas and children prepared a birthday cake in the sand area.   Children played with squishies and shells in the small wooden house.  Of course the swing and the water pump were popular.  The enthusiasm for the pump led Lane to remark, “This pumping energy is too high!  It’s over the speed limit!”
Messages for Dakota
Dakota’s family has sent the class some great giraffe resources, as well as the fun cookies we had for snack yesterday.  Several children worked to create thank you notes for Dakota today.  The children carefully drew and wrote on the messages.  It’s sure to make Dakota’s day!
Everything Else
  • We worked with clay in the studio today.  We would love to tell you more, but for now it’s a secret project.  No further details can be given at this time!
  • In construction, children employed patterns to create a new type of stable building.
  • We had a few energetic rounds of Candyland toward the end of the day.
  • We showed the children the layout of the pajamas with each classroom’s designs.  They approved to the overall pattern and the color that were used.
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April 27th, 2021

4/27/2021

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SMILEY COOKIES FROM DAKOTA!!
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We were so pleasantly surprised and very grateful to receive a big box of smiley face cookies from Dakota's family!  We ate them for snack.

Lane:  "Only if the cookies had sad faces.  That would show that the Tucker Room children are sad that Dakota is gone."

Nora: "Whenever I have a playdate with Dakota I'll have to say thank you for these delicious cookies!"

​

Pod A

Outside Time:  The Gadget Board and the Pump!
​(stories from yesterday and today)

We want to say a sincere thank you to the families who came and worked to make our playground so beautiful this past weekend.  The new features like the pump and the gadget board were a BIG hit!
Conversation at the Gadget Board (Monday) ....
(Look closely to see how the children are able to blend separate plans into one by combining "pizza" and "gardening" themes that can relate to the need for a vehicle)

Oliver: I want to use the controls to drive.  Alright, time to go.  Here we come!
Palmer:  Get the lock control.
Oliver:  Wolfie, spin it, quick.  Anybody wanna get the bad guy?  Go get him.  Lane… get the gas on.
Lane:  There’s security cameras all over the place where we’re planting.
Wolf:  This means we don’t have so much gas!
Oliver:  We have electricity, we will not give up.
Wolf:  There’s some bad people on the camera.
Oliver:  Beep beep…. I gotta fly it fast.  Wifi is risking through it faster and faster.  The jet is going so South, the security system is not going where it’s supposed to go!
Lane:  We need as much gas as this container.  It’s plant gas.  It’s like how cars do it.  If one plant dies but it’s not finished, we pour one cup on it, and it keeps going.  
Cannon:  Roooooaaar!  Give me all your pizza.
Lane: We need to Zoom and call everyone who is gardening.  There’s microphones all over, so they’ll hear me.
Olivia:  Ready to drive the car?  Come on, get on, we’re leaving.
Cannon:  I don’t wanna miss the pizza car.
Lane:  It’s mostly our gardening truck but it could also be a pizza truck.  It does sound delicious.  And we could use a snack.
Cannon: Oh great!  I can be Rafael.  (He begins making pizza)
Palmer:  It’s looking good, just so you know.
Lane:  The chain reaction stopped.  We need more coal.
Cannon:  This is how we make whopper pizza.  It takes 100 minutes.
Palmer:  And it’s only 7 o’clock.
Cannon:  That’s the fire alarm!
Lane:  When the kids plant peppers, the spicy makes flames.
Palmer:  We’re going to deliver the pizza to the gardeners. 
The Science of Spring!   Digital Microscope, Nature Drawing, Flower Watercolors, and Hammering Pansy Petals...
DIGITAL MICROSCOPE 

​(Flower with soft fuzz on its stem)
Oliver:   I think that’s the skin.  Different flowers have different skins.  Just like I have little hairs on my skin.

(Surveying tray of natural materials)
Palmer:  We could do a flower and a piece of bark.
Lane: I’m gonna focus it.
Palmer: (Huge leaf without many veins) It looks pretty plain.
Lane:  Now let's do the stem one.  It’s big so it looks like bamboo.

(Tree bark)
Fletcher:  It looks like a giant cliff. Avalanche!!
Palmer:  I see a lot of cracks.  It’s a pollen!
(Smaller leaf)
Wolf:  Why does it have so many lines?  Thats probably where the water goes.  That’s what we learned last time.  I learned it with Brooke.  Wait a second… I know what poison ivy looks like.

(Leaf with large bulbous growths)
Palmer:  It looks like a Hershey Kiss!
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It has been so great having Olivia back this week!  Her friends wrote her many, many messages and filled up her mailbox.  She was so delighted when she looked through all the lovely notes.  The best part was that in true Olivia fashion, she had brought in 9 messages she pre-made at home to deliver to her friends at school!

Pod B

Cookie time! 
Clay Work
Recently the children expressed a desire to work with clay again. Today we jumped into that work. Maren’s first creation is a sun but she has other ideas that she wants to make as well. Andy made a heart and plans to build a house out of clay tomorrow. Aida is currently working on a rocket ship and Nora is making a deer. We will continue the clay work the rest of this week.
Outside!

Our pod was outside for an hour today. The children spent a lot of time at the pump working on a “water festival.” The focus of the festival was filling containers with water and carefully placing them on the bench - trying not to spill.
There was also some play at the new gadget board. The children love it!
Aida said, “I can’t believe they built this.”
Nora responded, “Me too.”
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April 23rd, 2021

4/23/2021

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VOLTA PARK FRIDAY FUNDAY!
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The children found a few mysterious small holes in the sandy dirt area.
Aida:  How do you make holes like that?
​Maren:  We didn't make these.
​Cannon:  Yeah we just dig and dig and dig until we find a gigantic hole.
Nora: A sparkly rock!
Melanie:  Who could've made these little holes?
Aida: A chipmunk!  There's chipmunk holes in our yard.
Palmer: It could be a home to a grub!  Don't put anything else in... A grub could bite you.
​Cannon:  It's a mole hole.

Pod B

Origami & Collage
Today the children practiced precise paper folding/creasing to create origami fish to use as part of a collage project. The collage base was painted with watercolor, the fish are paper and the children are also incorporating natural materials, drawings and magazine photos to create dynamic underwater collage scenes. They aren’t complete yet, but Andy and Maren got quite the start on theirs today. We’ll finish up next week.
Watercolor & Fabric
The children used eyedroppers to apply watercolor paint to textured white fabric today. It was interesting to see the how the colors spread due to the texture. The eyedroppers are fun to use! Of the process Maren said, “I’m scientisting.”
Mystery Reader
Jennie Lopez was subbing in the Brown Room today. We were so lucky to have her come for mystery reader in the classroom at the end of the day. Thanks Jennie!
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Pod A

The rest of our day in Pod A was a flurry of activity in both construction and the studio! In our building work, we were heavily inspired by a book about exploring an Egyptian tomb to find a Pharaoh and a special ruby.  Palmer built an obstacle course and "challenges" to get to the mummy.  Arrows also helped the giraffes know where to go.

 We finished up gelatin printing with Grace and Fletcher today (see their work towards the end of the slideshow).  This type of printing allows children to explore possibilities with negative space, backwards/forwards, and cause/effect.
Grace made a smiley face on her print and brought her friends over to see it.  Lane said, "It's adorable!  It looks like a pig!"  When Fletcher was printing, he saw the orange hearts showing through the thin paper and said, "Look, they glow!  Looks spooky."  Then he said, "I have planets that glow in my sister's bedroom, with no lightbulb."
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April 22, 2021

4/22/2021

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Pod A

Next Steps with Gelatin Printing

This morning, we introduced new materials  to our gelatin printing work.  There were new colors, papers, stencils, and shapes incorporate into the process.  At meeting, we also talked about things we learned yesterday, especially that the prints turn ut better if you work slowly and carefully.   Here's the observations and reflections of the children who printed today:
    Oliver - (While working)  See?  That's why the more you be careful, the more it will work well.  Wow, it's  getting as green as grass!
     Palmer - (While mixing colors)  This is turning cool.  (Later) I  did three.  I just liked the way it turned out.
     Lane - I loved it!  The pink was so light, so we tried washing off the gelatin, and then it was too wet, 
so we added some orange to make it darker and that worked.
     Palmer - I guess that ink wasn't too useful.
     Wolf - I did seaweed and a "W" with hearts.

    
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Construction Crew

Earlier this week, Grace was interested in building with small materials.  Today we divide the construction area into two spaces: one for smaller materials and one for big building.  While both Cannon and Wolf did some work on small buildings, eventually children were drawn to the bigger endeavors.  Each of the children spent time building this morning.  Initially, the buildings were rather separate, one or two children focused on their own ideas.   With time, there were connections formed between the structures, requiring collaboration and communication.  Here's a bit of some of the ideas shared while  building:
    Grace - We're making a lookout.  This is a telescope.
     Oliver - It's called a rescue tower.
     Grace - It's not even falling.
     Wolf - I'm very good at stable building.
     Fletcher - I'm working on a garage for my ice cream truck.
    Palmer - This is where my cars live with two gas pumps.  They have mechanics in case they break down.  My shop can also fix robots.
     Cannon - I'm adding a lookout tower to Gigi's building.
     Palmer - And I'll come, too.
     Gigi - I'm glad I have so many friends!
     Cannon - Did you know that Oliver built a secret tunnel?
     Palmer - The secret tunnel goes to the doll house.

Mystery Reader

Marguerite came for mystery reader today and shared several stories.  She read "The Night Gardener,"  "The Big Bed," "Are  You Ready to Play Outside,"  and a couple of Lane's favorite mermaid stories.   Thank you, Marguerite!

Pod B

Backward's Day

It was chilly outside today but we had lots of fun playing in the sand, observing  a lady bug, running races and playing hide-and-seek. 
Aida and Nora played with 2 foxes in the sand area. Here’s some of the dialogue:
Aida: Look at the food for the animals, it’s extra crunchy. I’m the animal restaurant.
Nora: Dinner and breakfast and breakfast are very good.
Aida: I want to rest, let’s go to our den. 
Nora: Ok, I’m gonna build my den.
Aida: I’ll build mine next to you.
Later…
Aida: Let’s pretend it’s their birthdays.
Nora: Ok.
Aida: It’s my birthday!
Nora: It’s my birthday too! Let’s make them a leaf cake.
Maren and Andy spent their time exploring rocks and sticks. Here’s some of the dialogue:
Maren: I need to see what it (a large rock) is. I need to see if it’s like a robot egg. A trick or something. 
Andy: It’s not a dinosaur egg. Because that would be so silly. If you want to see if it’s a dinosaur egg, you have to break it.
Maren: If this was a dinosaur egg… It’s really heavy like a T-Rex. 
Andy: It’s definitely not a dinosaur egg
Maren: Yeah, not a dinosaur egg. 
Andy: This looks like me and Maren are doing an experiment. And I love experiments!​

Maren found a ladybug in the sand. Observing it was lots of fun. The children had theories about her wellbeing:
Nora: Let’s put the ladybug on this leaf.
Maren: I can’t move the ladybug because I can’t touch her. That’s not how nature works.
Later…
Maren: The ladybug’s not moving. We should probably put her in the sun. She might be frozen.
Nora: We don’t want her to die.



Kurt's Gift

After snack the group worked together to chose the photos for Kurt’s book. Then, each child dictated what their pages would say. The next step will be for a teacher to format the book and print it for the children to review.

Studio Work

Recently two areas of focus have been paper and watercolors. Tomorrow we are going to begin a collage project that incorporates these two materials as well as some others. Today, the children painted their bases in preparation for doing the collage work tomorrow. The collages will incorporate origami paper folding as well as other materials.
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April 21st, 2021

4/21/2021

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POD B


This morning at meeting we showed the children a gift that had arrived in the mail for us. When we asked them who it might be from, they immediately guessed Dakota. They were right! The group worked together to complete the giraffe puzzle. During snack we read one of the nonfiction books that was sent. We learned a lot:
Maren: I learned that they bump heads to play.
Aida: Babies fall (5 ft to the ground at birth) but don't get hurt.
Nora: They have to spread their legs to drink water because they can't reach.
Andy: They only live in some parts of Africa.
We also talked about how giraffe tongues are up to 21 inches long and are purple in color so that they don't get sunburnt. Giraffes spend 16-20 hours per day eating so their tongues are exposed to the sun a lot! We then measured our own tongues for comparison.
THANK YOU TO THE LEE FAMILY FOR THESE AWESOME GIFTS!!

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Our Pod had a VERY busy day working on our end of year gift for Kurt. Yesterday we had planned the ideas for the book, but today the children had to problem solve in real time to make the photographs look real. It was so fun creating the scenes for each page of the book. We think Kurt is going to LOVE his gift! 
We went to fetch Yoda from Kurt's office. That gave the children an opportunity to connect with Kurt in person. 
We realized that Yoda needed a mask so we made him one. There were 3 fabric colors to choose from. Here's the dialogue around that decision:
Nora: Maybe red?
Maren: I think we should use red because if we use green it might blend in.
Aida: Yeah,  and because it's Kurt's favorite color.
The first photo for the book was Yoda painting at the easel, but the children quickly encountered a problem - he couldn't reach! Eventually they realized that when they need to reach high things they use the ladder and so Yoda could too.
Aida suggested: Maybe we can stack some blocks on the ladder?
Maren: That's not the problem. The problem is that Yoda can't reach. 
Using team work, the children got some items out of the way and moved the ladder as close the easel as possible. But Yoda still couldn't reach! 
Nora suggested: Maybe we could Yoda and extra long paint brush?
Andy looked around and spotted the games nearby.
Andy: A game! (as a plank)
As the children worked to get the game in place and support it using blocks:
Nora: We have amazing ideas!
​Andy: I wonder what Kurt will say?!
After diligently working to set the perfect scene, Andy was able to snap the photo for the book.
Aida got some blocks set up for the message center page. She also created a mini message for Yoda to be working on. Aida and Nora worked together to sound out how to spell Yoda:
Maren: /Y/ /Y/ /Y/ It's the same as yoyo!
Nora: It sounds like there's an O.
Nora sounded out the next two sounds:
Nora: /D/ /D/ /D/- D! Yod- /A/ /A/ /A/ - A!

The other pages required some set-up and staging and then the children simply had to snap the photo. Yoda had a very full day!

Pod A

Big Ideas on a Beautiful Backwards Day
We thoroughly enjoyed our time outside on this lovely day.  Children were digging for fossils, creating dangerous traps and secret passages, building a lion and eagle fortress, and hosting a dog birthday party.  By the end of our outside time, the playground was full of fierce lions.
Gelatin Prints
We introduced a new printing experience today…… gelatin printing.  At meeting we brought out unflavored gelatin.  Children had these reactions to this new material:
Lane - Ewwww.
Fletcher - It’s kind of smushy.
Grace - It’s freezing.
Lane - It’s so cold.  It’s jiggly.
Children used this gelatin printing plate to make mono prints using natural materials, found materials, and string. As they worked, the made the following observations:
Wolf - It’s really sticky.
Oliver - I’m doing it really gently so I don’t hurt the gelatin.  Just like when a mama chicken sits on her egg to keep it warm.
 Grace - Do you think my mom will love this?
 Lane - My mom is gonna have to love it.  You can call this “nature.”  Softly and carefully.
Fletcher - Look, Melanie! A pyramid! (Referring to a pyramid shape he made with circles.)  (He counts the circles.)  Ten!  Four plus three plus two plus one equals TEN!   
“Now this is what I call science!”      Fletcher.
We used the digital microscope to examine pollen, small branches, flowers, leaves and a geode that Cannon brought in.  Here’s some of the observations that we made:
Looking at a small stem:
    Palmer - There’s a lot of stems.
    Grace - It’s thorny.
Looking at Cannon’s Geode:
    Fletcher - It looks so pretty on the inside of the rock.  It looks like a diamond.
    Grace - It looks like a big boulder.
    Cannon - It looks like a crystal.
    Fletcher - It looks like a gem.
    Palmer - It looks like ice.
    Oliver - Sparkles!  It looks like jewels.  
    Fletcher - (Putting the stem on top of the geode)  It’s like a crystal tree branch island.  
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April 20th, 2021

4/20/2021

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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!
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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.
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April 16th, 2021

4/16/2021

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VOLTA FRIDAY FUNDAY!
(Afterward, at snack, we asked the children if they enjoyed the park today)

Cannon: It's the best.
Palmer:  I like playing with Oliver and Dakota, and the brownies.
Grace:   I liked playing with Lane, Gigi, Nora, and Maren.  And when Lane told us to, "Skip".
Lane:  Our show?
Grace. Yes.  And playing mighty pups.  And the brownies.  
Fletcher:  It was the best, amazingest day ever.
Palmer: Me and Wolf spinning so fast... We got dizzy.
Oliver:  Playing was the best time ever at Volta Park.  
Cannon: You know the worst thing ever?  That Dakota is leaving tomorrow.
Dakota's Last Day :(
We are so sad to have to say farewell to our good friend Dakota, who is going to switch schools starting Monday.  While it's hard to say goodbye, we know she'll be really happy being at school close to home, and alongside her brothers.
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Dakota:  I'm a little bit sad I'm leaving my school.  But a little bit excited to go to the boys' school.
Aida:  I'm gonna miss you Dakota.
Dakota:  But my mom and dad are still trying to schedule a playdate!

 
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To commemorate the occasion we snacked on some delicious brownies that Pod A baked.  We will miss you so much Dakota!  Please come back and visit us sometime! ​​
International Mystery Reader!
First was a visit from Nora's cousin, Tala (age 7), all the way from JAPAN!
Pod A
Other events from our day:  Huge towers in construction, and testing out a new style of printmaking!
Pod B
After snack, Dakota chose the game Pesky Pirates. We ran out of time to completely finish the game, but she and Maren were the winners with 12 gold coins.
Later in the day, Aida's mom Negar read books for Pod B.
After finishing Elephants Can't Dance we played a fun round of freeze dance.
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Thursday, April 15, 2021

4/15/2021

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Pod A

Printing Prep

Inspired by the pajama project, Tucker Room has explored screen printing.  Today we moved on to another kind of printing by using yarn and cardboard to make a simple printing block.   We can't wait for the glue to dry and try them out!  Oliver identified his design as Maui's fish hook!

Embellishing the Birdhouse

After adding paint yesterday, The birdhouse needed just a few finishing touches.  Lane and Fletcher were up up for the job.
    Fletcher - How 'bout if we put a bird shape?  Or a bird symbol?
    Lane - We could make furniture.  We could attract them with food.
    Fletcher - (While drawing)  There we go.  Here's the beak.  Here's the body.  A really short beak.
     Lane - (While Fletcher and Melanie are trying to spy on her work)  Easy there people, it's a surprise.
    Fletcher - I'm just so excited.  How 'bout a welcome sign?  My head can almost fit in here,
     Lane - At the top of the tree is a little nest.  There's six little children (eggs).

Brownie Math?!?

Each of our kindergarten experts has mentioned that math is a big part of kindergarten.  The Tucker children are beginning to realize that they have done a lot of math without even realizing it.  Today we made dairy-free brownies to serve for Dakota's last day (tomorrow).  We talked about how measuring ingredients is a form of math.
    Fletcher - Like measuring people.
    Palmer - Cannon, I noticed that you are taller than Lane.
    Cannon - Yeah.
    Palmer - And me and Wolfie are the same.
    Grace - You measure water. Sometimes we measure blocks.
The group takes a moment to note how unit blocks can be used to measure other blocks.
 Jill - Did you know that you were doing math when you were building?
 Fletcher - I knew that I was using math when I was building.
 
Grace - Now let's do brownie math!

"Wolf in Kenya"

Instead of a mystery reader, both pods watched a presentation of Wolf in Kenya shared by the Baillie family.   The children were so impressed with the slides that they asked to watch it a second time!  We saw images of many animals and many cousins, friends, and relatives.  We were thrilled to see that Santa arrived on a camel and that the children were able to paint the toenails of a hyrax.  Seeing early images of Wolf's head injury also made an impression on the children.  Thanks so much to the Baillie family for sharing this with us!  Lane probably spoke for the entire group when she said, "I wish I was there!"

Pod B

Backwards Day

It was all sand play this morning outside! Nora and Aida played with trucks first and later switched to animals. Maren, Dakota and Andy prepared and baked food for the animals. Here’s some snippets of the dialogue:

Aida: These dump trucks can be friends and a team, right Nora?
Nora: Let’s build a big pile.

Nora: Look, mine makes tracks.
Aida: Oh yeah, mine does too.​

Maren: Guys when it gets out of the oven can you please put it right here so I can cut it and feed it to the animals?
Dakota:  (To the animals) Are you guys eating? (To Maren) They sure look hungry.
Andy: I already put one in the oven.

Messages for Incoming Brown Room

Nora finished a message she started yesterday. 
Andy made a new message today. He was very thoughtful in his color choice noting: I’m going to choose yellow because it’s bright.​

Here’s some of his commentary about the process as he finishes an accordion fold: I’m going to done like this (continually folding the paper forward, instead of forward and backwards) because I’m experimenting with paper.

Portfolio Sort

Maren helped Dakota sort her portfolio items. Dakota really enjoyed seeing her work from throughout the school year. Since tomorrow is her last day at St. John’s Dakota will be taking all her work home with her to share with her family.

A  New Game

Today Pod B played a new game that we borrowed from Palmer. It’s called Obstacles and is a game about creative problem solving. The children came up with many interesting solutions to overcome the obstacles in the game. We enjoyed learning a new game!
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