The InterviewWe began preparing for Mimi's birthday by convening a birthday committee for an interview. Mimi shared a bit about herself and the committee inquired about her likes and dislikes. Mimi: Princesses. Snow White is my favorite princess... Louisa: Mimi likes unicorns, too. Mimi: They have magic! Whit: Her favorite color might be pink. Mimi: Not only pink. Louisa: Rainbow colors? Mimi: Green is a rainbow color. Isabelle: We play together. I play mermaids with Mimi. The Committee Makes a Decision During the Rainey Room year, we have seen not only the children's friendships grow deeper, but we have also seen their capacity for empathy grow. This is evident in their conversations during our birthday committee meetings. As Isabelle, Louisa and Whit, revisited the initial interview with Mimi and they also talked about the possibilities for a gift, sharing what they have learned about their friend over time. Whit: A princess crown. Or a dress. Isabelle: I saying that we make a unicorn. Louisa: A unicorn horn. Mimi likes unicorns. Isabelle: A unicorn horn for Mimi. Whit: Pink paint. A strap over her head. And sparkles and magic. Louisa: I have a pink and sparkly headband at home. And it has a horn for Mimi.  And so it was settled, a unicorn horn would be created as Mimi's gift. Louisa offered to bring two different unicorn horns from home as models as well. Building A Unicorn Horn with Papier Mache Making papier mâché required following a recipe. While reading the recipe, the children recognized letters and numerals, important early literacy and math skills. They also measured the quantities of each ingredient.  Karen: Now we need to read the recipe for making papier mâché. Louisa: I can't read! Karen: Let’s look and see what we do know. Whit pointed to the recipe and the numeral one: That's the recipe there. One! Karen: ...part flour. Louisa recognized the numeral: Two! Karen: ...parts water. Isabelle read the numeral: One! Karen: ...tablespoon salt. Whit added one cup of flour and Isabelle added the first part of water. Whit: Can I whisk it? It’s white. It’s bubbly. Isabelle and Louisa looked on and made suggestions as to how to proceed. Isabelle: I think we need a little bit more water. Louisa warned: Not too much (water)! Isabelle picked up the measuring cup and poured: A little bit more water. Louisa: It’s too watery. Too much water. It looks like soap because it’s wet and bubbly. It looks like glue, too! Whit: Glue! After the children mixed the papier mâché paste, they began to cover the chicken wire frame, dragging newspaper strips through paste and placing each strip on the "unicorn horn." They carefully examined the “unicorn horn," evaluating their progress as they went. Louisa: A little bitty piece here (tearing a very small piece of newspaper). The tiniest piece in the whole world. Whit: A bigger piece here. Isabelle: The little piece goes here. Gooey, gluey, gooey. Louisa: Gooey stuff! Paint and Other MaterialsThe children entered the middle room for the next day of work and noticed the papier mâchéd unicorn horn on the table. They shared their observations and then prepared for their next steps. Louisa: It's all dried. Whit: It's cracking. Louisa: It feels normal. Karen: What do you think we need to do next? Whit: Paint it, then wait. Karen: We’re going to use acrylic paint, which stains, so we need to put on smocks. Whit: (The paint) it's going to stay on your hands. Isabelle: When you wash your hands, it's going to come off.  As she painted, Isabelle sang to herself: It's Mimi's birthday committee, it's Mimi's birthday committee, it's Mimi's birthday committee. Whit: We don't need to paint the chicken wire thingy. The frame. The frame. Whit: Why does it look so shiny? The unicorn horn. Isabelle: The paint is so shiny, not the papier mâché. I'm working on the top. Louisa: I need more paint. After painting the unicorn horn, the children ventured into the Tucker Closet to search for more materials. Choosing materials was a painstaking process for the birthday committee. As they searched through the materials, they discussed and assessed each item in their collection: Were the materials the right colors? Did they provide sparkle? Did they shine enough? Louisa: Yeah, the sparkly paint, the sparkly material. Whit: You would think you would need a rainbow! Louisa: Pink sparkly pompoms. Whit: Rainbow sparkles. We only need a little bit, so we need a tiny jar. Isabelle: I’m getting a tiny jar. We need this (tile). No, because it's not sparkly. Adding the Sparkle!Now it was time to add "the sparkle" to the papier máchêd and painted unicorn horn. Using two different types of adhesives (liquid glue and hot glue) the children took inspiration from the model's provided by Louisa to add more detail to Mimi's gift. On display during the addition of "the sparkle," was the children's understanding of tools and materials, as well as the cohesiveness of their teamwork.  Louisa: Make sure you don't get it (the hot glue) on you. Isabelle: You could burn yourself. Whit: You can just pinch it (the hot glue) off your skin. Isabelle: I really like it, the hot pink. I need some glue. Whit: We need the rainbow (foil). He tore the rainbow foil into small pieces: It's going to be the tiniest pieces. Louisa: Teeny tiny pieces I kinda see the rainbow. Pink ribbon now because it's sparkly. Louisa cut small pieces of pink ribbon and Whit glued it onto the “unicorn horn.” Louisa: Now the other side. There’s not that much glue. That’s a lot of sequins. Whit: I actually did that. I want more wire on it now. The wire holds things together when it’s tight! Louisa: Tiny, shiny. Isabelle: Tiny, shiny. I'm going to add some sparkly things...I first need this here. This kind of glue is not hot glue. Louisa agreed: No, it's not. Isabelle: It's pretty for Mimi. Louisa: She will love it because she loves unicorns. Everyone loves unicorns. Isabelle: I don’t love unicorns. I love mermaids, not unicorns. I love kitties…and doggies…and I guess unicorns too. Louisa: Unicorns are magic. Isabelle: Magic means you can turn something into a frog. Louisa reminded the birthday committee about the time sensitive nature of their work: Quick. Go quick, ‘cause it’s (Mimi’s birthday celebration) tomorrow! One minute! Go quick! Celebrating Mimi!
   The Rainey Room sang our class birthday to Mimi and then she walked around the birthday candle four times to signify her four turns around the sun. The celebration concluded when the birthday committee presented Mimi with her gift.
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Interviewing CalFollowing St. John's tradition, Cal’s birthday committee, which included Charlton, Fay and Ford, asked thoughtful questions to get to know Cal better and ultimately to help them create a beautiful birthday gift for Cal. Ford: What’s your favorite color? Cal: Black. And orange and blue. Fay: What’s your favorite food? Cal: I like apples, but not tomatoes. “Can I ask Cal a question? Cal, what’s your favorite thing?” - Charlton
Deciding on the Gift"What are we gonna make him? A squishy snake?” - Ford The next day, with Cal’s birthday interview fresh in their minds, the children conversed about Cal’s birthday gift. From this conversation, it is evident that the children truly listened to Cal’s interests and demonstrated the empathy that is at the heart of the birthday committee.
They also connected recent work we have been doing in the classroom with clouds. The varied material experiences the children have in the classroom allow them to express their knowledge and apply these “languages” in new contexts. Fay: We could use wire because it’s squishy. Ford: Clouds are squishy. How did we make the squishy clouds? Fay: We were sewing them. Ford: We could sew a snake. Fay: We need a needle. Ford: Stuffy. Fabric. Fay: We put a zipper on it like this pillow. Charlton: We need colors. Ford: Black, blue and orange, 'cause that’s his favorite colors. We put fake poison in it. What if we put a light bulb in it so it could be a light snake? Charlton: That would be the venom. Choosing MaterialsThe previous day’s decision to “sew a squishy snake,” meant that the next step would be to gather materials. The birthday committee ventured to the sewing area with Emma to see what kind of fabric and materials they could find. The children were very intentional about their choices.
Sewing the Snake Together
Charlton picking up one of the pieces of fabric: This is so soft. Ford: What if it’s a snake dinosaur? Ford: I just put it (the needle) through here and now it’s stuck. Ford: Pull it right there like that. Charlton: It’s already in. Charlton: What about the head? Ford: It goes over here. Charlton: We need eyes. Ford: We could use google eyes!
"It’s squishy and there’s two eyes and a tongue." - Fay The Finished Gift
Cal's Birthday CelebrationOn Thursday, February 16th, we celebrated Cal’s birthday in the Rainey Room. Cal’s mom, Kate, brought in glazed donuts that she intricately decorated with Cal’s favorite animal: snakes. Following the birthday snack, Cal’s mom and his dad, Henry, read one of Cal’s favorite books: Snakes Have No Legs by Kelly Tills.
We sang the Rainey Room birthday song. Then, Cal walked around the birthday candle four times and blew it out to celebrate his fourth year of life and four rotations around the sun. And finally, the birthday committee presented their gift for Cal.
We hope you had a serpentdous birthday, Cal! Dear Families, Please find next week's projection below. We wanted to remind you that there will be no school on Monday, February 20th for the President's Day holiday! Also, Thursday's blog will be postponed until Tuesday due to the ECES event this past week. We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday and hope you enjoy the long weekend. Warmly, Emma and Karen  Relationships in the Rainey RoomParamount to the Reggio philosophy is the concept of relationships. One way that we foster relationships at St. John's is through the process of making, delivering, and receiving messages for our friends. For a few days in February, we intentionally focus on the concept of friendship with conversations during morning meeting and studio experiences, by making special mailbags and by celebrating Valentine's Day with a special snack. What is Valentine’s Day? Charlton: Love, love. It's about BIG love! Ellie: Kisses! What is a friend? Cal: I’m going to tell you who my best friend is. Remy is my best friend because I like her. Seon: A friend is someone you play with. A friend is …you love each other. Mimi: A friend is somebody that you play with and you like because they play games with you. Whit: A friend is someone that you really like and someone who you really want to play with. Ava: I play with my friends. A friend is good at playing games. Bailee: I like to go outside with my friends Louisa: I like to play hospital (in dramatic play) with my friends. How do we show our friends that we care? Ellie: To make them happy I can help make them safe. Zari: A friend is somebody you like to play with and you like to be playing with them alot. Using Collage to Personalize our Mailbags Seon: What are the bags for? Bailee: Cards. Seon: I will make my cards soon. Bailee: I did already make my cards for my friends. (My cards) look like gumballs. Seon: I will make all my favorite friends...I love them so much. The children worked on their collages over several days, taking care to think about each material that they added. Just as they thought carefully about their designs, which were intricate and deliberate, they often thought of and shared about their friends and families as they created. As they talked and worked side by side, the children talked with one another easily, often offering help or making an encouraging comment; evidence of the friendships that have developed. Bailee began by lining up different materials parallel to each other at an angle: I doing this one. Ellie: I put this sparkly on, I need these. I want this. The hearts. The hearts are my favorite shape. Whit: I chose it because I like the color pink. Mimi looked at her bag: I have some space here. Something teeny. It looks beautiful Seon: Mine are squares and hearts...I layer and layer. I put paper then fabric then paper again! Rawls: I want to make it tiny. Those are 2 triangles too!   Zari lined up materials horizontally from the bottom to the top of her bag. After she was satisfied with the layout, she began to add materials perpendicular to the first layer. Mimi: Is there more of these (red and white striped ribbon)? She cut the ribbon in half and then lined the two pieces up end to end. Ellie: I want to tell you about it. And the stripes are like bacon. Those stripes and me and my dad always get bacon. My dad takes me to the donut place and my sister and me go there all the time to get bacon. Fay: These aren’t sticking together. I need some hot glue! Mimi: What do you have that (a hot glue gun) for? Fay: Because the big circle wasn't sticking (with the liquid glue). Isabelle: More glue up there (adding glue under a ribbon). Umm, this (picking up a hot pink ribbon). I told you about my design. It’s really really, gluey, gluey. Mimi: Can I reach that? (reaching towards the end of the table). Seon: I can spin it for you. Whit: Teamwork makes the dream work. My sister made valentines for her classmates.   The Rainey Room's Valentine's Day Mailbags Seon: We need to let them dry. Beautiful means something beautiful and gorgeous. The Valentine's Day CelebrationThe celebration in the Rainey Room stretched throughout the morning. Children visited the classroom in small groups during Backwards Day to deliver their special messages. During snack, the children decorated heart-shaped cookies with colored frosting and sprinkles. During our indoor classroom time, the children enjoyed also two stories about friendship: A Crankenstein Valentine and Strictly No Elephants.    Mimi’s mom, Nan, reached out to us at the beginning of January inquiring about organizing a Chinese New Year, also called Lunar New Year, celebration with the children. She thought about how Seon’s mother, Jinmyung, might like to be involved since Korea celebrates Seollal or Lunar New Year. We were thrilled to welcome them into the classroom to share these special cultural traditions with the children. Here is an article that shares more information regarding the specifics of the different holidays. Chinese New Year
She brought in fans and we set out various shades of red, yellow, and gold liquid watercolor for them to paint.
Nan prepared a presentation with images of the different aspects of the Chinese New Year Celebration.
Seollal - Korean Lunar New Year
She brought in one of Seon’s traditional New Year dresses from a past celebration as well as beautiful table runners and decorations.  She prepared paper lucky bags for the children to assemble and decorate. And cards for the children to create with cutouts of the Rainey Room children’s faces and traditional Korean clothing and other beautiful papers and embellishments.
Jinmyung also shared a presentation for the children and a few grownups about Seollal. The children learned about the similarities and differences between the Chinese traditions and the Korean traditions. One of the main differences were the colors. While the Chinese tradition typically has red and gold/yellow, the Korean tradition uses a rainbow of colors in their clothing, lucky bags, and decor.
Finally, the children enjoyed a special snack that was inside of a fabric, Bokjumoni or Lucky Bag. A sweet and salty rice cracker called Ttokguk and a fried cookie called Yakgwa.  Thank you, Nan and JinmyungDuring a recent Morning Meeting we asked the children to share what they remembered about the celebration. Here were a few of their responses: Zari: Chinese New Year. Whit: Happy Lunar New Year! Ellie: The dresses. Rawls: Thank you Seon’s mommy for the bags and treats. Bailee: Thank you Mimi's mommy for the chocolate coin. Thank you so much to Nan and Jinmyung for the time, preparation, and thought that went into making the Lunar New Year celebration in the Rainey Room such a memorable experience for the children. We feel so grateful to have such diverse cultural backgrounds in our class and know how important it is to honor and share them with the children.  Projections as ProvocationsWeather and its various components continue to be a hot topic in the Rainey Room. While at Montrose Park, the children saw mud and hypothesized that it must have rained. After our exploration of the park, we held a class meeting, during which the children felt a strong gust of wind and shared their ideas about its directionality. Inspired by the many changes in the weather during our time at Montrose Park, we used projections of different types of weather as provocations in different venues back at St. John's, including a BIG experience in Blake Hall and weather projections as provocations in the Construction Area. In Blake Hall, the children observed and interacted with the various projections. Returning to the Rainey Room, the weather projections inspired imaginative play and building in the construction area. Talking About CloudsThese provocations led to some lively conversations amongst the children, during which we noticed their attention had turned to the clouds in the sky. In a small group conversation, Emma asked, "What are clouds made of?" Whit: Wind. Fay: Clouds are made of clouds. Clouds have clouds inside them. Ava looked at the sky: There’s no clouds now. Fay: When the blue is in the sky that means the clouds are asleep. Ava: I only see white. Not too much blue. It means that nothing’s going to happen right now like rain. In the outdoor classroom, the children talked with Karen about how they thought clouds might feel and how they might make clouds. Bailee: They feel soft. Whit: They are fluffy like my dog. Seon: They (the cotton balls) remind me of clouds. They looks like clouds and they feel like clouds. Clouds can only be white. Hmmm. They look dark in a thunderstorm. Bailee: They look black and they have lighting in a thunderstorm. Karen: Do you think we could make clouds? What materials could we use? Bailee: We could use clay! Clouds of Clay?So we set to the work of making clouds out of clay on a damp and rainy day in the outdoor classroom. While the children worked, they discussed the properties of clay and they came to the conclusion that it might not be the best material to use. Whit: Clouds feel fluffy like a fluff ball, like a cute puppy. Bailee: Fluffy like a blanket or a dog. Seon: The clouds feel soft, but clay is cold. Bailee: We could use blankets. Seon: Pompoms and pipe cleaners to make the clouds. Whit: A fluff ball. Something that’s fluffy to make clouds. Clouds at the Light TableFollowing some of the suggestions from the outdoor classroom, the children made "clouds" at the light table using liquid watercolors, pipettes and cotton balls. Charlton: A storm cloud. Rawls: A sunny cloud. Seon: It’s called a storm cloud. It makes so much thunder. Charlton: It gets drippy, drippy like it rains. Ford: Cause it’s a rainy day. Cal: This is the Rainbow cloud. It’s just a rainbow. It’s after the sun. Seon: The rainbow comes after the rain. Fay: The rainbow only comes out after the rain and only when it’s sunny. Seon: The cloud is dripping rain.
Seon: This came from a towel. It reminds me of a towel. It’s fluffy. I’m going to keep adding materials. Ford: It looks puffy...This is the palm tree cloud. It’s a pillow cloud. Pillow clouds are in your dreams. Ellie: It feels like a cottontail, like bunny. Ford: Like cotton candy. The Science of Clouds As the children shared their hypotheses, we got a glimpse of their understanding of the weather phenomenon of clouds. Zari: I used a lot of purple...Sometimes clouds get really soft and wind comes down it (the cloud), then they get white. Ellie - It’s a rainy morning cloud. It’s big. The rain is coming up. It’s a snow cloud. Seon held up her cloud: That’s the clouds and it’s rain falling down. A rainy morning cloud. That’s the rest of the rain. I’m filling up the top of the cloud with rain. Fay - It’s a snow cloud. That’s the snow coming down. Rain is coming down. Can You Tell Me A Story About Your Cloud? (Literacy)When each child was satisfied with their sewing, we asked them to use their imaginations to tell us a story about the cloud they had created. The children wove elaborate tales. Isabelle: There was a cloud named Sarah. It rained. She lived in the forest and she had a feather. Louisa - A rain cloud. It’s plain. It’s a fishy cloud. It’s an underwater cloud. There’s fishies inside. The fishies are swimming with their friends. They’re playing, making music. Now he lost his friends because he was in a trap. Then they ate the trap. Ava: A rainbow with a fish on it and one cloud. A rainbow fish. It’s like this is to go up and open it then the people go inside and each lunch and play on the field. And the rainbow fish is a pillow cloud with all the fluff. Whit: It’s an angel cloud. It makes sound. (has paper inside). It’s pillowland. You can only bring pillows and squishmellow and stuffies. There’s only allowed necklaces and jewelry and dresses. You sleep and watch shows. You have to make crafts and stuff. You have to bring materials for messages. Feel it (his cloud). It feels like a land. Some that is serious. Charlton: Once upon a time, a little dog, a little snake, and a little lizard. Their names were blue, the snake and the dog, and white, the lizard. They saw the angel cloud and then they run away because they were scared. Rawls: There’s an angel cloud and a puppy. There’s a purple string.       Look for the remainder of the children's cloud stories in classroom documentation coming soon.
Montrose in the FallThis fall, we took our first trip to Montrose Park. We initially had gone for an “acorn hunt.” While there weren’t many acorns to find, the children were inspired by the trees, leaves and nature around them. One tree we came across was not standing like the others. The children hypothesized how it might have fallen down. We noticed how most of their ideas were connected to the weather.  Weather conversations have persisted since then. In their winter research. Discussions during morning meetings. The stories they share while drawing and painting. During their play in the outdoor classroom. Weather is a large part of a three and four year old's life! With these observations in mind, we thought the children might be interested in returning to Montrose Park in the winter. We asked them, what might be different about Montrose Park in the winter?: Ford: The leaves go away. Plain trees. The wind blew the leaves away. If the leaves are all gone, then the trees will be naked. Charlton: Naked trees. The clothes are the leaves. Rawls: They (the trees) would look like sad trees (without leaves). Seon: (There are) no leaves on the tree, because they be so cold they might shiver and disappear. Zari: Leaves don’t shiver, they are not like the wind. The wind shakes the leaves. Seon: The wind blows the leaves away. Zari: There will not be leaves anymore. Ava: It would be nice if there was more sun. Seon: I think it would feel like cold. It would because it is winter. The wind might make it cold. Ford: Cold, but nice because if the sun is out. Seon: It will be really cold because it is winter. Wind and snow make it cold. When it’s hot, it just be rain. Zari: Cold, because if we go in the winter, winter is cold and summer is hot. They shared why they would want to return: Ford: I want to go back so I can see if I’m right about the leaves…if they blow away. Seon: We want to see if our ideas about the trees and the places are right. Mimi: I want to see if the weather will be snow there, because it is cold so it might snow. Charlton: (I want to see) if the trees are naked by the wind. Ford: We want to see the weather! How the cold comes in. Montrose in the WinterThe children invited their families and together we returned to Montrose Park. Three months later, there were many differences from the first excursion and the children were once again able to explore and test their hypotheses. "Why do you think the trees are moving?" - Jessie, Isabelle's Mom "Because the wind is blowing them." - Mimi
We asked the children and their grownups to take pictures of the weather and anything else they noticed while walking around.
"It's so watery. It makes you jump." - Zari
 Mimi, Ava, Rawls, Cal and Charlton carry a long branch along the trail.
After a long walk, snack and joyful playtime... ...we gathered in a circle to share what we noticed during our time at Montrose.  Emma : Did you see anything special on our walk? Ellie: A boy Emma: There were some children that weren’t part of our group. What have we been talking about? What were we going to look for at Montrose Park? No answer. Joci: We saw and we heard wind. Where do you think the wind comes from? Seon: Inside the clouds. Charlton: In real life it comes from trees. Emma: Why do you say it comes from trees? How do you see the wind in the trees? Ford: (in response to Charlton) The trees doesn’t have the wind. The wind blows the trees. How can that happen? It doesn't keep the wind. In real life. Emma: Charlton says the wind comes from the trees. Whit is pointing at something in the distance. (Perhaps wind?) Ford: It doesn’t. Wind is from leaves (looks confused). Joci: Who was it that said the wind comes from the clouds? Seon? (Ellie wants to talk) Do you agree with that, Ellie? A giant wind gust comes. Charlton: (excitedly) Oh, yeah right there! (He and Whit point in the direction of the wind.) Emma: Do you feel it now? Listen. Ford: (shouting) It comes from water. Joci: That’s a gust of wind. A gust is a short, strong wind that comes suddenly. Where do you think it's coming from? Ford points to the direction of where it's coming from. (really it is coming this way!) Seon stands up to “show us something.” Seon: First you stretch out your arms and spin around and you feel the air. With your hands. It’s really easy. I got a wind book at home. Emma: Seon says you can move your body to feel the wind. Can you try it? Do you feel the wind? Whit gets up and spins.
The children have been doing such in-depth thinking about the weather, and in particular about the wind. They have such insightful ideas and explanations for the invisible phenomenon. We await the conversations and experiences in the coming weeks that will surely be inspired by our return to Montrose.
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