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The end of the school year is nearing and as you know it is an extra busy time at St. John's for the teachers and the children. We know that your families are busy too, with many upcoming events to attend as the end of the year nears. For the next few weeks, teachers will use their afternoon work time preparing for Classroom Stories events, writing children's narratives, organizing portfolios and hosting afternoon portfolio conferences, all while wrapping project work with the children before the end of the year. While our afternoons will be dedicated to this work, we appreciate your understanding that blog posts will less frequent. We will continue to do our best to post photo updates of exciting happenings in Rainey Room when possible! Mark Your CalendarsFriday, April 28th @ 9:30 am: Neighborhood Walk to the Post Office (sign up to join us!)
Monday, May 8th: No School- Staff Development Day Thursday, May 11th @ 6:30pm: New Parent Reception Friday, May 12th @ 9:15 am: Sing-Along Tuesday-Friday, May 16th-19th & May 23rd-26th, Sign-up Coming Soon Thursday, May 18th @ 6 PM: Rainey Room Classroom Stories Night
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The InvitationThe children have had a lot of questions about weather phenomena. To get more information, we decided that we needed to bring in an expert. During a morning meeting before Spring Break, we captured the children's questions on video and reached out to a local meteorologist in an effort to further the children's research. The Visit
How do hurricanes go away and come back? Charlton What about the animals (where the hurricane is)? Whit How do hurricanes come in the house? Bailee How does wind go in houses? Isabelle How does rain come and go away? Fay We're sure the children will be eager to share some of the new weather knowledge with you, including the answer to one of our our earliest wonderings about weather, "Where does wind come from?" Message for Matthew Cappucci
He (Matthew Cappucci) has a mailbox? Ford Is he making a message back to us too? Whit We are planning to walk to the neighborhood post office to mail our messages one day soon. If you're available to join us during the morning of Friday, April 28th, please let us know please let us know by filling out the Google form. Looking Forward... Ava's Birthday Committee convened in the outdoor studio to interview her on a sunny spring morning. As soon as the group sat down, the conversation began. Karen asked the group, "What should we ask Ava about? What do we need to learn about Ava first, before we begin?" Cal, Seon, and Zari thought about their questions for her, but Ava already had a plan in mind. The discussion continued and Zari suggested an alternative.  Ava: Cal can help make a rocket ship! Seon: I have a rocketship toy. Karen: What else do we need to ask her? We know that she loves rocket ships. Ava: I also love planets. And the moon! Seon: What’s your favorite color? Ava: Orange. Cal: We could make an orange rocketship. Zari: I like to cook with her (Ava). Ava: (You could cook) Mac n' Cheese! Karen: Ava said her favorite color is orange. She also said that she likes rocket ships and planets. What materials do you think we could use to make Ava’s gift? Seon: I could make a paper rocket ship. Maybe glue! We could use the marker to draw the edge line and colored pencils. Ava: Maybe wire for making something...I like that they fly up to the moon! Cal: She likes outer space. You (Ava) like the moon and the planets. Making The Mold for Ava's Moon The next day, the birthday committee entered the atelier and found clay slabs and a variety of materials for making prints Cal: A moon! We’re going to make a moon out of clay. Seon looked at the table and noticed a glove It’s a half of the Earth. We could make wholes out of it. Karen: So we are going to use the half globe and clay to make a mold. Seon: It (the materials) can make a print (in the clay). Karen: After we've put our prints in the clay, we'll put the slabs in the globe to make the mold. Then we'll pour plaster in to make the moon. Seon and Cal set about making prints in the clay slabs to replicate the peaks and the valleys on the moon’s surface. As they worked, they examined the materials available for printing and hypothesized about the types of print each would make. They were both eager to share their knowledge about the moon. What if we roll these (golf ball) in here? We can make prints! Oh, little dots here. Bumpy texture here. Seon I used this tool to make bump, bump, bump, bump, bump. Cal
Mixing the Plaster for the Moon's Surface
The Surface of the MoonAs the sprinkled the plaster into the water, Seon and Cal made some observations: I think it’s changing to the other thing (pointing at some dried plaster that was displayed in the atelier). It’s getting glumpy. Cal It’s getting sticky. Ooohhh….(looking at her hands). Seon It’s sticky, ooey gooey! Cal
Cal and Seon worked together to pour the plaster into the mold. They tipped the mold back and forth to spread the plaster. After the initial layer of plaster was poured and the entire mold was covered, they began to reinforce the plaster using plaster tape. The dipped each strip into a shallow tray of water and then spread the strips over the plaster they had poured. The Big RevealWhat do we see underneath the clay when we peel it away? Prints! I see a circle print! Zari Prints! Seon
How does the plaster feel when we touch it? I can feel it without breaking it. Seon Like glass. If you crush the glass it will break. Cal What do we notice when we looked at the plaster? This reminds me of a street. Zari A maze and steps. Seon Looks like a puffer fish because it blows up into a ball. Cal
Drawing RocketshipsWe talked about drawing rockets for Ava’s gift as well. Karen It’s a little hard. Zari Don’t worry, I can draw a rocket. Seon Zari and Seon looked at photographs and illustrations of rockets before beginning their drawings. I need a triangle. It (the rocket) needs a point. Zari I need to do some thick color. Seon  Seon demonstrated her drawing technique for Zari. Then I draw a rectangle like this. And the windows. And then the blast. Seon That’s the blast off. I can add some orange. Zari Rectangle line. Down. Then a curve here (horizontally). And then back up (vertically). Seon Zari followed along with Seon to draw her second rocket ship for Ava’s gift. I made my rocket ship. Zari Great! Seon As they were working on their rocketship drawings Seon sang a rocketship and Zari learned the lyrics.
Celebrating Ava's Birthday with her FamilyAva's mom and Dad, Amba and Dan joined us for a special birthday treat before the celebration, sugar cookies that Ava had baked and frosted herself! After the treat, Dan and Amba shared two of Ava's favorite stories.     Ava walked around the birthday candle four times to celebrate her four turns around the sun. Ava and Amba blew out her candle together and then the birthday committee presented Ava with her gift.
Cherry Blossoms by Ellie Blue stuff (sky). This is a sunrise and this is the water. Ellie There are trees and sky. Isabelle (I see) the sun. Ford (I see) the moon. Fay No. Because that’s the morning. Ellie It’s white and a circle. Sometimes the moon looks like a half. Fay
Bailee's Sunset In Florida. It was night time. The dog went outside. The dog has to go outside before the sun goes down. Bailee Why? Charlton Because of the alligators. Bailee Alligators hunt for food at night. Charlton  The Sky at The Road by Isabelle The sky is at the road (by my house) I took it at the sky. And there's a little bit (of sky). I thought it was going to be pretty. It (the cloud) was pretty to me. Isabelle What is imagination? Emma It's (imagination) what you can see (pointing to her head ). Ellie When you pretend. Charlton What do you see when you use imagination when you look at the cloud in Isabelle's photograph? Emma (I imagine) birds. Ellie Steps. Looks like steps. Mimi Animals. Louisa Sun at the Beach by Ava The sun was at the beach. Ava Why are they all the same? Charlton The sun is smaller in that one. Mimi Ava, did you take the pictures at the same time? Karen Not at the same time. We went back. Ava Not on this page, the sun is higher (in the sky) here. Mimi When the sun goes down, down it gets smaller. Ford And it disappears here (pointing to the horizon). Then the moon comes up. Charlton As the children shared their photographs and conversed with their friends, learning opportunities were plentiful. During conversations, we observed the children engaged in:
Please keep sending your children's photographs so that they have a chance to share! Coming Up Next Week The InterviewIsabelle’s birthday committee began with an interview conversation. Bailee, Seon, and Louisa were the initial friends on her birthday committee, but later, because of different spring break vacations, Mimi supported the committee’s work of creating the birthday gift. March 31st is my birthday. I like to play dodgeball. Isabelle
With the interview fresh in their minds, Louisa and Seon were eager to begin thinking about what they could make for Isabelle’s birthday gift.
The MaterialsThe birthday committee had many ideas for materials for the gift and collected some possibilities from the fabric area and Tucker closet. Even with the abundance of materials, one material continued to be brought up by Louisa: Paper.
The ProcessThe materials and techniques that have been used for the birthday gifts this year have included clay, wire, fabric, wood, paint, sewing, and paper mâché. Yet, paper and drawing have not been as prevalent. With the children’s ideas in mind and inspired by how much the teachers in Reggio Emilia invite their children to draw from life, Emma set up a drawing provocation in the Atelier with images of kittens.
So much kitty cats! Mimi The white one is so cute. Seon They’re all so cute. Louisa Inside kitty ears are pink. I forgot to draw the whiskers! Seon There are lots of colors of kitty cats not only one color. Seon Isabelle likes white kitty cats. Lousia I’m gonna draw lines here for the fur. Mimi Kitty cats eat dead fish. Seon I’m gonna draw a fish. A fat fish. Mimi I’m looking very carefully so I don’t make a mistake. We need to plan what we are making. Seon It’s hard work we’re working all night. Seon My kitty has stripes. Seon Kitty paws are different than bunny paws. Seon My kitty’s ears look like bunny ears. Louisa Louisa, Seon, and Mimi's initial drawings of kittens.
While the birthday committee was drawing, they were also telling stories about Isabelle and the Kitty Cats. What if Isabelle could tell her own stories about the kitty cats? The idea of a storyboard emerged. The children’s work was brought to life.
A connection that has emerged between many of the birthday gifts this year has been that they are mostly three-dimensional. Although drawings on paper are usually 2-D, the story board allows Isabelle's gift to be both interactive and beautiful. The Gift
The CelebrationFor almost the whole month of March, Isabelle had been talking about her birthday committee. For Isabelle, the concept of the birthday committee included not only the gift the committee was working on, but also the celebration. Her excitement only increased as the day of the celebration arrived, which also happened to be the day of her actual birthday. Isabelle's mom, Jessie, her dad, Louis, and sisters, Reed and Leigh, joined us in the Rainey Room. Even Isabelle's sister Prater got to FaceTime with Isabelle during the birthday snack since she wasn't able to be at the celebration in person. For her birthday snack, Isabelle chose a homemade ice cream sandwich recipe from her cookbook at home. Her and her sisters put a lot of love into the snack and it could be tasted in each delicious bite. After the birthday snack, we went over to the birthday blanket to read one of Isabelle's favorite books: Memoirs of a Hamster by Devin Scillian.
We sang Isabelle the Rainey Room birthday song, lit the birthday candle and celebrated as Isabelle walked around it four times. Isabelle then blew out the candle and the birthday committee presented their gift. The birthday committee's story of Isabelle and the Kitties was on the top of the gift and Isabelle's sister, Leigh, read it for everyone. We hope you had a meow-velous birthday, Isabelle! |
