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                                      TUCKER ROOM

November 24th, 2020

11/24/2020

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Rainey A

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you to all who joined our Zoom feast! Please enjoy the pictures below of us prepping for and enjoying the feast!
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Stay safe and well! We will see you back next week :) 
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Thanksgiving Feast!

11/24/2020

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"I'm thankful for T-Rex." -Cedar
"For mommy." -Audrey

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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What do you want to share about our Thanksgiving Feast and soup?
SYLVIE:  It was hard work. I liked being helpful.
SYLVIE and GIACOMO: We mixed it.
MAXON: I loved the soup. I liked the carrots the most.
What was your favorite part?
JANIE: Smelling the soup.
GIACOMO: I liked the books.
What are we grateful for?
LUCIA: Thumbs up is to be grateful.
In preparation for making the soup and chopping vegetables:

What food comes from the ground:

Giacomo: mushrooms
Janie: broccoli
Sylvie: lettuce
Lucia: carrots 
Jane: cucumbers
Maxon: celery
Sylvie: onions
Cedar: spinach
Jordan: shallots
Melanie: squash and kale
Sylvie: When I was little I loved spinach so much.
Janie: I still like spinach.
Cedar: I like carrots.
Giacomo: You have to like spinach, it makes you stronger. 
Giacomo: Earthworms eat things in the ground and turn them into dirt. One plant that doesn’t live in a pot and is big is a tree. These have roots.
Cedar: I don’t like soup or vegetables. I only like chocolate.
Sylvie: I love chocolate! 
Maxon: I love chocolate too!
Cedar: I like beans.
Giacomo: The most thing I hate is soup.
Janie: I like soup.
Maxon: I like soup.
Everyone else says they do not like soup.

CLOUD RESEARCH

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November 19th, 2020

11/19/2020

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Rainey Room B

This week we have been building our understanding of clouds and rainbows through a deeper dive into opacity, transparency and translucency.  We have been using the light table and a variety of different materials to understand how light travels through various materials. Rainey Room B noticed certain materials worked better than others and used that information to create opacity/translucency collages.
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"You can't see through this, It's soft wood." - Giacomo
"I can't see the light through that." -Jane


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"Bluish white" - Giacomo
​"Can you see through that?" - Maxon
​"I can through it. Kind of. Like a little." - Sylvie

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"You can see through a little bit." - Janie
"This is lighter and this is darker." - Giacomo


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"This is clear."  - Lucia
"This one has more light. It works better." - Janie


We loved experimenting with the different properties of the papers and see what we could create! Jane was excited to show the Rainey Room her collage house.
Some of today's completed work, courtesy of Jane, Janie and Sylvie
Jane "My House"
Janie "Flower Builder"
Sylvie "Tearing is better"
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November 19th, 2020

11/19/2020

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Rainey A

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On Monday, Lochie brought in some painted rocks he had worked on over the weekend. As he explained it, “first I painted it, then then I added the beads. I did the arch with hot glue. It was hard because it kept falling”. Well Lochie’s creative effort was certainly worth it, because the painted rocks were a huge hit! All of the children, and particularly George, were transfixed by the project. When we brainstormed how to make our Thanksgiving centerpiece George suggested “we could paint rocks!”. To this idea, Violet recommended “and add leaves”. 

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​Earlier in the week we collected leaves from the trees around school and today we began the process of constructing our centerpiece. Following Lochie’s guidance, we started first with the painting. Mixing and stirring to get just the perfect color!



Look this one is turning purple - Marley
Elena! I figured out this color and yellow makes light green! - Lochie 
I need the orange- Jack 
My favorite color is not green anymore, it's white- Elle


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We set our rocks aside to dry with the intention of adding to them tomorrow using natural materials such as our collected leaves, pine cones and sticks from the playground. The sculptures will be a beautiful compliment to our tablecloth! 

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Today, we also had a chance to enjoy time with CC! We practiced some of our songs for the singalong, read Dragons Love Tacos 2 and chatted with her about our paints as we mixed them.
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Wednesday

11/18/2020

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As part of our morning meeting today we read A Rainbow of My Own, courtesy of Lucia and her family. It was undoubtedly on point with our ongoing interest and investigation into rainbows, colors, light, clouds, and even a recent introduction of  flowers. Thank you so very much, Kim and Lucia for sharing this book with us!
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If you were a rainbow, where would you hide?

SYLVIE: Under  the clouds.
JANE: I'll hide in a box.
JANIE: I will hide under a tall box.
GIACOMO: I will hide in my house.
MAXON: I'll hide in a dragon's mouth. 
LUCIA: I will hide in a cheetah's mouth.
CEDAR: Under a bush.
JANIE: I'm going to hide in a lion's mouth.

Where do you think the rainbow in our room hides?

LUCIA; Behind that big screen (shadow screen).
CEDAR; Up there (points at window), the rainbows under there (the shade).
SYLVIE: The rainbow is  the book.
GIACOMO: The rainbows are in...are on the books. 
MAXON; I wish I could be an astronaut and I could  fly to capture our rainbow (it hides in space?).
JANE: The castle.
GIACOMO: It's not a castle, it's a tree stump.

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Creating wire flowers for our birthday gift:

On more than one occasion, the children have been heard chanting "we are flowers," while belly down on the green rug or what we are calling "the grass." So,  we proposed the idea of making a bouquet of flowers for our Rainey Room B birthday gifts. The children were pleased with the idea and so it begins. Jane and Gicacomo's birthdays are not far off in early December. Jane (and Jordan) are on December 3rd and Giacomo's birthday is the following day, on December 4th. For these bouquets we are using the language of wire to wrap (and thread) around other materials such as paper, cloth, beads, and buttons.  
"Is there a garden for this?" -Maxon
"Do we have a garden?" -Janie
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Continuing our investigation of the qualities of light in materials: What is material density, opacity, translucency, and transparency

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November 18th, 2020

11/18/2020

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Rainey A: A Gingerbread Kind of Day

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​Last week, while thumbing through
The Children's Step by Step Cookbook, Lochie and George suggested that “we should make gingerbread men in class!” because “we’re bored of not baking”. After checking to make sure we had all the right ingredients yesterday, today we set out to bake.
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We mixed the molasses, ginger, flour, eggs and baking soda together with helpful suggestions from CC who joined us on Zoom. ​
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​It’s getting so hard to stir!
- Lochie
I know you’re strong, you can do it- Jack 
Yeah, look at my muscles. I’m strong!- George

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After we stirred it as much as we could, we let it set in the refrigerator while we were on the playground. When we came back to it, it was perfect for flattening and shaping with our hands! We chose not to use cookie cutters, but instead build with it since, as Marley pointed out, “it’s like clay”.
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I want to make a circle - Marley

I wanna make a snake- Lochie
I wanna make a house- Elle
I’ll make a snake, a mommy snake and a daddy snake - Violet

Look, I made the head - George
This is going to be a lot of cookies- Lochie
I hope our gingerbread man doesn’t run away.  - George

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Yeah, I’m trying to copy the gingerbread man.I want to do some eyes… wait! What about the chocolate sprinkles!  - Jack
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We thoroughly enjoyed our cookie creations out on the steps before pick up. Its certainly something we will have to do again! Especially “because CC didn’t get to do it with us” as George pointed out. Check below for some pictures from our time outside. We’re looking forward to all kinds of future baking projects!

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November 17th, 2020

11/17/2020

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Rainey A


After a long weekend away, we were eager to jump back into our Thanksgiving prep! On Wednesday we laid out our favorite fabrics for the tablecloth and on Monday we took the time to cut them, pair them and begin sewing them.  

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We attached two that are connected blocks to these two! We connected another part to make six! - Lochie
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Along the way we’re taking  the time to add smaller ribbons and pieces of fabric from home. If you have anything you’d like to send in, we’d love to have it!



​It’s hard to sew, can you help me?
- Elle
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We’ve also spent time this week finding ways to include our friend CC in our class experience! Both yesterday and today she joined us on zoom, and we’ve carried her around the classroom showing her the changes to our light table, building materials, and tablecloth. We especially enjoyed her company during our snack, where, serendipitously, she was snacking on carrots too!
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​CC, what do you think? - Marley
Make it bigger! So big to cover the table, the building area and the carpet!- CC

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For the remainder of the week we will  continue to work on our Thanksgiving feast decorations, a gingerbread baking project and preparing for our singalong on Friday! 
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November 17th, 2020

11/17/2020

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Rainey Room B

Opacity - It Means You Can see a Little Bit (Janie)

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 Today, as we continued our work on clouds, light and shadow, we went to the light table to learn about opacity. There we found different types of paper in different shapes. Our work, as we explored, was to see what types of shapes and colors we could create with the different materials. While we worked, we thought about what materials worked best at the light table and why. Could any of these materials be used to make our own clouds?
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It's much darker than it was before. This is lighter and this is darker - Giacomo. 


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This one has more light. It works better  - Lucia
They feel different. This one is better. It's more crumbly. - Janie
But you can't see through this one. Its' soft wood. - Giacomo

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This is clear. I see you
We also spent time exploring our new flashlights and how we could change the light the came out of them. What happens we the source of light changes distance? Can we change what the light looks? What happens to the light when opaque and color materials are introduced?
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When you get far away, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger - Giacomo
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November 11th, 2020

11/11/2020

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Rainey A

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and so is our feast! Although it won’t be in Blake hall this year, we’re decorating just all the same. This morning we read Strega Nona’s Harvest and discussed what we needed to do in preparation for the feast. 

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What do we do to prepare for the feast?

​Cook- George 
Make, mmmm make vegetables - Lochie
Plates on the table- George
Yummy, yummy! - Elle

What can we put on the table to decorate it?
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Apple seeds? Just apples!- Lochie
Muffins… cupcakes…- Marley 
Sewings?- Lochie 
Yeah, sewing! - Elle

From this sewing idea, we eventually stumbled on the idea of a table cloth. We found a box of fabric in the hall and set to work laying out our tablecloth design. The goal was to cover the whole table. ​
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Feel this one-Violet
I want this one- Marley
You can put that one on the table too- Elle
Here comes the green- George 
George over there! You can see the table!- Lochie
Look at those stars- Violet
I’m putting it right here- Marley

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After we planned our tablecloth design, we spent time playing games in Blake Hall, making messages, and painting.
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Counting our apple sprouts. 
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Look, I made an  A! - Elle 
Next week we will continue to work on our tablecloth and the rest of our Thanksgiving prep. Just a reminder that we have conferences scheduled for tomorrow, November 12 and Friday, November 13 so there is no school. See you all back on Monday! 
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November 10th, 2020

11/10/2020

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Rainey A 


Brigadeiro, a popular Brazilian  fudgy sweet, found its way into our classroom today. Last Monday, Jack and Elle were “baking” in the sandbox and Jack suggested we give this recipe a try. It’s something that he and his Brazilian au pair, Stefani, have made together on several occasions. As he describes it:

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So it’s really tasty because sometimes you just eat it plain and that way it makes it pretty tasty and then the next time we do it plain but with sprinkles on it. Well she (Stefani) just said we were gonna make it and then she showed us how and we made it with her.
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While we didn’t have a chance to try it last week over zoom, we gave it a shot today. First we mixed the condensed milk, coco powder and butter and then kept it over a low heat on the stove. When it was thick enough, we took it off the stove and let it cool to later roll into sprinkled balls. Unfortunately, we may have let it cool a little toooo long because it resembled more of a lava rock than a sprinkled fudge ball in the end, but nevertheless we persisted, trying to roll them into balls.
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“I’m really strong” - George
“When mine went flat, I squeezed it so tight.”- Lochie
“It feels like clay!” - Elle 
“Mine is flat now!”- Marley
“I tried one piece, it tastes even better with the sprinkles!”- Elle 
“I can’t roll mine, can you help me Ms. Brigitte?”- Marley 
“I made it flat as a rock!” - Violet

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We also took some time today to notice the fall leaves in and around the school. We enjoyed a leaf walk where we saw not only the ginkgo leaves on Potomac street, but also the browns, greens and reds of the leaves on O street and the playground.

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Those are spotted ones up there. These look like the sun and the rain- Lochie
Looks like a sun and the plant - Jack

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This one is awesome!- Violate
What is this one?- Elle
Eek, don't squish it!- Violet
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