A new addition to our classroom is the birthday calendar, which shows each child's birthday in a linear style. Ellie notices her own face on the calendar!

Maren looks at the materials and tells her friends that she would like "purple and pink".

Our birthday gifts this year in the Brown Room will be made out of plaster.  We showed an example of a plaster collage today at meeting, and explained that the first birthday of the year will be Maren (whose birthday was the first of the school year).  Then, we went through each picture, discovering in which month each of the children were born and explaining that everyone will eventually get a gift of their own.

Three volunteers (Palmer, Ada, and Evelyn) came to the studio to help make a birthday gift for Maren.  First they assisted in mixing the plaster. Then, they sprinkled materials into the goop while it was still wet.  Over the next couple of days it will dry, and when it's ready, we'll give it to Maren at her school birthday celebration.

Outside, Ada tells us about a dragon she has behind her castle.  Gigi sends her lovey, Howie, down the slide.  Wolf and Cannon explore our outdoor building materials, such as the tires and large hollow blocks.  Olivia and Evelyn make "lunch" and invite teachers and friends to participate in eating the food.  More and more, children are playing alongside new friends.  Sometimes they use language and other times it's just about laughter.

As we waited to get our pictures taken, some children invested time in some independent play.  Maren is continuing her work with the small manipulatives.  In this video, she places rocks in four long cardboard boxes, and is careful to add just enough to fill the space in the box without the rocks overflowing. 

Evelyn and Olivia talk on the way down the hall:

"Are you my friend?
Are you my best friend?
We're holding our hands."

Emilia offers to push Fletcher on this swing (he's delighted!)

Relationships
Little by little, children are introducing themselves to one another, helping each other, and beginning to play together.
(Left) At meeting, Wolf shows us his Rhino shirt, which he wore in celebration of National Rhino Day.  Cannon jumps up and runs over to Wolf to take a closer look!
(Below) Olivia helps Evelyn put her shoes on while outside.

(Immediate Right) Ada and Palmer put the trains and cars into the tubes and see if they can come out the other side.

(Far Right)   Olivia shows Oliver her Rapunzel toy.

Kitchen Play

Yesterday, teachers introduced new materials to our drawers full of "loose parts and manipulatives".  This includes the bottle caps and egg shells that have been such a big hit recently.  New additions today were these small white cylinders.  Many children were curious about them, like Maren who was cooking with them, pouring them, and scooping them.

Studio exploration...

Over the last two days, many children have participated in testing out techniques such as collage, tempera paint, and watercolor.  See captions for some of their reactions to these materials.

​It was Maren's real birthday today, so we sang her happy birthday at meeting.  Her school birthday is still coming up, so stay tuned!  That's when we will present her with a gift made by her classmates.  For now, we met her pet unicorn "Corny" and learned that at her party over the weekend, Nana brought a very tasty cake.