Welcome Back! Snow! Birthdays!

Snow!!

What a great way to come back to school! It was our backwards day, which meant that we were the lucky ones to have fresh snow in the outdoor classroom! We threw MANY snow balls, made snow cones and snow cakes, and just generally enjoyed being together.  I always think of snow as magical (as long as you aren't having to drive or in danger of course), and it was a magical way to start our day! 

Being together...

Yesterday was mostly about being together. We enjoyed a longer morning meeting where we heard about everyone's holiday travels, gifts, and more.  Violet's family brought in a fantastic book that's related to our home research on shadows at night, which we've read it both days now; thank you for sharing this with us! In the classroom, we had wire, message making, and the low table had a large piece of paper for drawing together (in addition to our other staples).  Truly, we spent so much time just talking to each other and reconnecting that there aren't many photographs! In a way, it's beautiful because everyone was so engaged in the moment! 

St. John's is turning 25!

As a community, we are starting to discuss the school's birthday! The Tucker children discussed this back in September as well, and the children are invested in this celebration! We will blog about this process as it happens! In our initial conversations they have brought up the age (perhaps 100 million years old), the concept of buildings being alive, what kind of sweets should be served, and more. 

One of our starting points is to explore the age of the school. Some children remembered that, according to our clay number line, the school is 24. Today, a small group went to the entry way to revisit this. Then, they began to create our own number line and explore the one-to-one correspondence of counting.  It was a beautifully collaborative conversation and work. 

There is so much more to come in terms of St. John's turning 25 (including some more dialogue soon)! We can't wait to share this journey with you! 

Also, please remember to send in any thoughts, drawings, paintings, photographs, etc. that your child has about shadows at night!