When We Return We hope you all have a joy-filled and beautiful spring break! We'll see you Monday, April 1st 🌸
0 Comments
Jack's Favorite ThingsJack's birthday committee, Ford, Ava, and Cal, gathered in the outdoor classroom to ask Jack about his favorite things and take his birthday portrait photos.
 Drawing Jack's PortraitHis head should be an oval. Ford
He has a point on his nose. Ford
Jack's Birthday Portrait in Black and White Drawing Jack's Favorite Things
Adding Color to Jack's PortraitWe need that color for his skin. We don’t have the exact color. Ford
Cal: Jack is definitely gonna love this. Do not get the eyes. I almost got paint in the eyes. Ford: What about the nose? Cal: How about we do blue red blue red? (For the background)
We worked very hard on it. Ava  Jack's Finished Birthday Portrait Adding Color to Jack's Favorite Things 
Ford: I need a lot of water. I’m going to Jack’s birthday party this weekend. Ava: You can also sharpen colored pencils with a knife. My daddy’s done it before. Ford: You scrape it and it makes fire. Ava: Only grownups can do that. Ford: Look what I’m doing. I’m doing the outside first. I need brown and green. Ava: I’ll add a little bit of red here. Blue shorts, blue shorts, blue shorts (referring to the hockey player). Ava notices the letters on the hockey player’s jersey Ava: I don’t know my letters yet, I’m learning in a book with games in it that’s fun.
Jack's Birthday CelebrationThe eagerly awaited day of Jack's birthday celebration arrived. His mom, dad, and sister Nadia, affectionately known as "Tita," were all there to join in the festivities. Jack shared his birthday treat: delicious brownies. As we savored the tasty snack, the room was filled with the sounds of one of Jack's favorite songs from Hawaii, "Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai" by Hapa, which is about collecting seaweed from the ocean. Then we all gathered around the birthday blanket and listened as Jack's mom read a favorite book from Jack's collection, The Shark Man of Hana by U'i Goldsberry. Finally, it was time to light the birthday candle. The Tucker children counted as Jack walked six laps around, symbolizing his six years of life and orbits around the sun, cheering as he blew out the flame. With smiles and laughter, we sang our special Tucker Room birthday song for Jack, followed by the presentation of his birthday gift from the birthday committee. What do you love about Jack? Isabelle: He has a pretty shirt. Cal: I like his bowtie. Ford: I like his shoes. Ava: I like when he plays freeze tag. Bailee: I like to build with Jack. We hope you had the happiest of birthdays, Jack! Mystery Reader This week's mystery reader was Jack's Dad, Vlad! The Tucker Children enjoyed playing "Guess The Mystery Reader" during snack – a few of them even predicted correctly after narrowing down the different options! Vlad read Punky Aloha by Shar Tuiasoa and Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. Jack shared that he has banana trees growing in his backyard in Hawaii, just like in Punky Aloha. Thank you, Vlad! Next Week's Projections Hope you all enjoy the blossoms this weekend, we'll see you Monday! The children have been very interested in making compositions using different shapes. Based on this, we added some stencils and tangrams to the light table, as well acrylic markers. Tangrams: Objects Composed of Different Shapes
Using Stencils at the Light TableSome of the children used the stencils to create their visions of the sky and space, while others explored and discussed attributes of the different shapes.
 I’m making planets. This is the grass planet (green), the ocean planet, star planet, hilly planter, bad planet and good planet. -Ellie  Whit and Charlton worked collaboratively make a “starry sky” with stencils and freehand shapes.  Fay experimented with different stencils.
Ava and Jack both used the "Pattern Block Template" stencil to create layered compositions using many different overlapping shapes.
Combining Tangrams and Stencils to Compose IllustrationsAfter gaining experience with tangrams and stencils, the children began to use the tools in combination.
Due to the shortened week and the time that we are dedicating to finalizing narratives for each child, this will be our only full length blog.
Celebrating 27 Years of St. John's PreschoolIf you could give a gift to St. John's, what would it be? Whit: A ginkgo leaf Charlton: A new bell Fay: A new symbol Ford: I’ll give it a joke book Rawls: A video game Bailee: We could give photos of us to St. John’s Ava: We could give ice cream or a birthday cake to St. John’s Cal: A new water bottle Ellie: New clothes Charlton: A new paint color Jack: I would give a bear stuffy
Enjoying mini cupcakes for St. John's Birthday! A Successful Alumni Bookmaking Event Alumni, siblings, teachers and families all came together for a joy filled, creative afternoon using various techniques to bind books! Mystery Reader! This week's mystery reader was Bailee's dad, Matt Gugino! Matt read three stories to the children including Bailee and the Tucker children's favorite: The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak. Then he read Duck and Cover by Jackie Urbanovic, which was a perfect springtime story! Finally, Bailee chose her favorite classroom book for her dad to read: The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems. A look at next week... A reminder that there is no school on Monday for our staff professional development day! We hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you Tuesday! Searching for Signs of Spring in the Outdoor ClassroomBecause there's so much flowers! Ava They don't like the rain, they like the sun. Bailee But they need water! Zari They look like a torpedo when they are closed up. Charlton They look like orchids! Ellie Inspiration from Daffodils and Crocuses
Mystery ReadersThis week we were lucky enough to have not one, but TWO mystery readers!  On Monday, Ford's grandmother, Cindy, or as he fondly calls her, Gigi, read two books for the Tucker children. The first book was Spike the Spunky Hedgehog by Shabi Najafov. The second was My First Book of Hockey: A Rookie Book by Sports Illustrated Kids. Both books were chosen with Ford's love of hedgehogs and hockey in mind. She will soon be having surgery, but wish her a speedy recovery to be able to come back and read with the Tucker Room again!  On Wednesday, our Mystery Reader was Fay's mom, Paige! Paige was prepared with a few books for the Tucker children to choose from. The children chose The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett. Both books captivated the children's attention, especially The Gruffalo as it was a favorite from their Brown Room year. Next Week's Projections Have a great weekend, we'll see you Monday! |
