Bell ResearchI don't know how it (the bell) works. How am I going to know how to fix it? Bailee We can figure out what the bell does, how it does work. Fay We need to see a bell that works. Whit The children's conversations following our visit to the St. John's (broken) bell made it obvious that we needed to research other bells to help us understand what is wrong with our own bell. We remembered that the current Rainey Room class visited the bell at Georgetown Presbyterian Church (GPC) last year. We were able to connect with Pastor Camille, a former St. John's parent, and she invited us to visit their bell!
A special thank you to Paige Janes, Jaslyn Bryant, Jessie Sterchi, and Jess Bieligk for joining us for our field trip!
We need their bell because we need to fix our bell. Charlton Looking for the BellWhere’s the real bell? Where’s the actual real bell? Bailee
Pastor Camille: Close your eyes. Pastor Camille leaves the room. The bell rings. Cal: I hear that! I hear that! Charlton: It came from that way! (Pointing and then running towards the sound of the bell). The remainder of the children follow Charlton. Ringing the Bell
Let’s ring it together. Cal It looks like the swinging rope at school. Seon
Listening to the Bell OutsideAfter ringing the bell inside of the church, Pastor Camille led the Tucker Children outside to hear the bell. Ellie: Why does the bell ring? Pastor Camille: It’s not run by a machine like other churches. Pastor Megan: Bells have been around for 1500 years to call people to worship. They also used to play trumpets, but that sound doesn’t travel very far. Sometimes they would even hit pieces of wood together.
At the end of the trip, the children each received a small bell of their own to take home. Reflecting on our VisitUpon returning from their visit to the GPC bell, the children had many interesting reflections, both through drawing and conversation.
What are you thinking about after our visit to the Georgetown Presbyterian Bell? Fay: The whole class can go to the (St. John's) bell tower so the friends that did not see it can go. Ford: It’s dangerous if we all go. Three people can go, then three people, then three people. Fay: We need to split into groups. We need to take turns. You have to go one at a time if you want to go backwards. Why should we go see the St. John's bell tower? Fay: Because of the different things we may see. Ava: We can make stuff up there. Like tools. Bailee: We could just make a new bell so we don’t have to fix the bell. Ava: We can’t make a bell because we’ll have to do it every single day of the year. That’s because it’s so big. Bailee: Victor can fix the bell because he can fix everything. Cal: It would take a whole night to fix a bell. We don’t know how to fix bells. How could we learn to fix it? Where could we learn how? Fay: Victor. Although Victor may not be able to fix our bell, perhaps our next step will be to interview him to find out more information about repairing our bell!
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 Mystery Readers!This week's mystery readers were Zari's parents, Jaslyn and Von Bryant! Jaslyn read an exciting book called The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell. The children exclaimed they wanted them to read more and chose a book for Von to read as well: Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems. Zari's family stayed after to play games; Freddie especially enjoyed playing with the Tucker Children.
Hope you all get to enjoy the warm weather today and have a fantastic weekend! We'll see you Monday.During a morning meeting before winter break, the children decided that they should write a "bell song." While they were discussing the bell, it was noted that the bell was broken. It can’t ring. Charlton We need to fix the bell. Whit We continued the discussion with a small group, asking first, "What do you know about the bell?"  While the children shared their thoughts about the bell, Karen took notes of the conversation and recorded it on video. She then viewed video of the conversation to fill in details that she didn't capture in the moment due to the fast moving nature of the discussion. The chart is shaded to show exchanges in relation to each question asked. Bailee, Ford and Whit determined that a visit to the bell tower was the next step in their investigation.
Before they visited the bell tower, the children made some predictions about what might be wrong with the bell. The bell could’ve fell down. Whit I think the bell could have rang too hard and the piece fell. Ford The side of the bell or the middle (is broken). Bailee In the bell tower, the children recorded their observations digitally and shared their ideas about the bell.
I thought the ball was going to real small. Because bells are supposed to be small. Bailee I was expecting to see a tiny bell. Whit I was expecting to see light everywhere. Ford The Children's Research
The idea that Molly or CeCe might have something to do with ringing the bell came up, but after some discussion, they dismissed that possibility. Molly can’t do it and CeCe can’t do it. So somebody else has to do it because Molly and CeCe can’t do it because they have to be at the front door. So somebody else has to know how to get up there and ring the bell. Ford Coming to this conclusion gave them the opportunity to develop alternative ideas about how the bell works. A button. Bailee A rope with wires in it and a secret button. Ford It rings all by itself. Bailee A ball falls down and hits the button. Maybe there’s a secret thing, like a ping pong thing. And a ball drops down and hits a button. Ford Maybe a ball hits a button and then a ping pong ball drops and hits another button and then it goes up and rings the bell. Whit After visiting the bell tower and reflecting with one another, we asked the children to share their thoughts through the language of drawing as they answered the question, "How does the bell make sound?"
The small group shared their reflections on their visit to the bell tower and their drawings of their hypotheses at morning meeting. Prior to sharing his drawing, Ford paused, I'm bringing back my thoughts. Whit began to share and then stopped, I need to add something.
Maybe we should go see a bell that works! Whit Please remember to sign up or an Interim Phone Call Appointment. Reminder: There will be no blog posts during the week of Interim Phone Calls.   Mystery Reader This week’s mystery reader was Ellie’s mom, Meredith! Meredith shared a few stories from The Complete Collection of Frog and Toad by Arnold Nobel. It was extra special to have her read in the outdoor classroom. Thanks so much, Meredith! Interviewing KarenKaren's birthday committee, Ford, Isabelle, and Rawls interviewed Karen in the outdoor classroom.
Drawing a Portrait of Karen
Drawing Karen's Favorite ThingsCharlton, Ellie, and Bailee wanted to support the Birthday Committee by drawing Karen's favorite things. Each chose something they know to be special to Karen.
Adding Color to the PortraitFord and Isabelle use watercolor pencils and artist quality watercolors to paint Karen’s Portrait.
Isabelle: I’m doing purple for the background. It’s Karen’s favorite color. Okay I did the background. Ford: Wait a minute. Spread it around (referring to the watercolor pencil). Fay noticing from the message center near by: I like that.  A Portrait of Karen
I like her necklace. Isabelle I like when Karen helps me. Ford I want to say Happy Birthday to Karen. Ellie Happy Birthday, Karen. Bailee
Adding Color to Karen's Favorite ThingsCharlton, Ellie, and Bailee use watercolor pencils and paints to add color to her favorite things.
Karen's Birthday Celebration
A week later, we celebrated her birthday in St. John's tradition. Karen shared her birthday treat: coconut chocolate macaroons. Then we went to the birthday blanket where Karen read her favorite book with the Tucker Room: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. She walked around the birthday candle, the children sang her the birthday song, and finally the birthday committee presented their gift for her. Happy Birthday, Karen! 🐕 🐢🦅 When the children returned from the winter break, they were excited to share about their adventures near and far. The opportunity to reflect on their adventures was a springboard for work in the studio using tempera paints that they mixed themselves and clay. Isabelle and Zari Mixed "Beach Blue"
A swimming pool. Blue, but lighter. Add yellow, makes green. It's not turning lighter. -Isabelle Maybe add white. I’ll do the 1st color (blue). -Zari Then I’ll add the next color. And then we’ll keep doing it. Now I did the last. And so you do the next one, Zari. - Isabelle It’s turning more and more paint of the same color. -Zari Whit thought about his time at his grandparent's house as he mixed colors.
Mom and Pop’s house, the pool was blackish, the deep was darkish blue, blue yellow and black. I think I added too much black because it’s turning all black. Now I need this (white). It’s going to change to lighter blue. I need to add white. -Whit
 Reflections with Clay I’m making a palm tree, since I went to the beach . That’s my palm tree (she added details to the palm fronds using a clay tool). -Seon I’m making a snowman that’s skiing. -Fay For winter break I went to Florida with my cousins. I’m making a coil and a wave. There was a river in Florida. A wave have clay on them to make sure they do go apart. In the water at Florida I saw a lot of waves. -Ellie
You can roll it and squish it. I’m making me playing video games. This is my rug. The dots are the pattern on the rug. I made a hole in my face for my stitches. -Charlton  A volcano. An ocean. A wave of lava. The volcano sets a timer for 10 minutes. Then there's an explosion. -Rawls
We'll be firing the clay for the first time in a few days. Look for our glazed and re-fired pieces in the Tucker Room soon.
Welcome back! Hoping everyone had joyful and relaxing holidays. We have been enjoying hearing about the children's experiences from the winter break. Here is a little look at the first (full) week back to school.  |
