Tuesday, 2.22.22

St. John's 25th Birthday work continues

Do we need more drawings? Where do we go from here? What are our next steps? 
“Maybe you could give it some color?” - Nora, 5.4 years 
What would you do differently? Could you draw a different part of the school? 
“The side of the school.” - CC, 5.4 years
Which side? 
“This side…” - CC [points to side of drawing where Potomac would be]
Oh, the side by the gingko trees? 
“Yeah.” - CC

Each time we've gone out to draw a portion of the school, we get at least one small audience.  Consistently, they comment on how fantastic the children's drawings are or how they didn't know preschool was "like this".   They always seem to be amazed at the children's attention to detail and focus.  It's so wonderful for the community to see children doing the work that we know they are capable of doing (and they themselves know they are capable of doing as well), and we're so happy that they stop to comment and converse (albeit briefly) with us! 

CC's Drawing

Lucia's Drawing

Last week, we spent some time at morning meeting to review our collection of drawings (this lead to the work above). During this conversation, the children also began to notice things in the drawings that are inconsistent with the actual facade of the school. 

I’m wondering, how did you know that it was the school?
“Because I know this is the door, and I know this is the cross on the school.” - Elle, 5.2 years
“Bell tower.” - Lochie, 5.4 years
“Because of the bell tower.” - Janie, 4.11 years 
“Because it looks like the school.” - CC, 5.4 years
“Lochie, is this the fence?” - Elle
“Yes.” - Lochie
“There’s the blue door.” - Nora, 5.4 years
“That looks like a mustache.” - Janie 
“That’s the door handle.” - Nora
“Door knob.” - Janie

“Something is wrong with it. Again, the blue door is on the bell tower.” - Maxon, 4.11 years

After this conversation, we decided to ask the children to revisit this observational drawing. This time, they worked in teams. Lochie and Audrey were paired up, while Reed and CC worked as a team on the other side of the easel.  Unfortunately, our work was cut short by the rain this morning, but here are some photos of their work (2.22.22). 

Audrey and Lochie's First Draft

Audrey and Lochie's Second Draft

CC and Reed's Drawing

The Clay 25!

It is Tucker Room's responsibility  to make the new clay number for our number line along the steps. They've been excited to know that we get to do this. Jen came in a few weeks ago to share her work with colorful porcelain clay.  At St. John's, we typically have red and white clay, and we can add color with our fabulous stock of glazes. Jen, however, uses mason stains to add color to porcelain clay, and the children were thrilled to learn that we could do something a little different and special for the 25!

​So, after Jen shared this with us, we asked the children to design our 25. 

​Elle's design [in progress]

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Sylvie's design for stripes

Lochie's ideas

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Sylvie's stripe numbers

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Marley's number line

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Janie's design for yellow and orange numbers

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Today, Jen worked with a few children in the atelier. They colored the porcelain clay body with mason stains. On the scale, they had to weigh out exactly 200 grams of porcelain clay. Yellow was the color of the day, but Jen is bringing other colors for the children to work with as well. 

Elle and Lucia worked with Jen, and Maxon joined towards the end of the process. 

The clay is dried and then pulverized (the pulverizing can be seen above). The clay must be dry or it can't absorb additional water and will not dissolve.  When it is added to water with the colorant, a process called slaking, it absorbs the water like a sponge and breaks apart. It will dissolve into slip, and we will mix it up. Then, we'll dry it out to a regular clay consistency. 

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You color the clay body so the color is integral to the clay, not added on. You can build with color, unlike when we glaze afterwards. 

A reminder from the 5 things about March 4th: 

St. John's 25th Birthday celebration is less than two weeks! Friday, March 4 is a normal school day for the children, but with an extra dose of joy included. By now, we hope you have received your Paperless Post invitation to join your child(ren) in Blake Hall at their class's designated time. We will have an embroidery hoop for every child (and their family members) to sew transparent and translucent materials onto in different colors of the rainbow. Each class will be responsible for a couple of colors. For example, Brown room children will sew all things red and orange onto their hoops. We also hope that each family can bring something yellow or green to weave into the oversized chicken-wire-gingko-leaf for a beautiful community collaborative project. 

Our Tucker Room time is 10:15 - 11:00.  Please know that all parents, grandparents, and caregivers (nannies, etc.) are welcome! This will be a wonderful time to celebrate together! 

Don't forget to RSVP via the paperless post flyer!