The InterviewAs the children have gotten to know one another of the past several years, the birthday interview has become more of conversation. The children know their friend Bailee very well and it showed in their comments and questions.
Working on Bailee's GiftOver the course of several drafts, the birthday committee looked at the shape of Bailee's facial features.
I did 7’s for TJ Oshie. TJ Oshie, he’s lifting his trophy and it says Capitals. Ellie I’m doing circles. She loves dominoes too. And I love dominoes, too and I practice them at home. Whit     The children used a combination of watercolor pencils and paints to add color to their drawings.
The Celebration
We are excited to host visiting educators tomorrow for the final ECES of the 2023-2024 School Year. Look for our next full blog post later this week.  Earlier this school year, Fay's family generously donated a sprout growing kit to the Tucker Room. Recently, the children have been very interested in digging for worms in the outdoor classroom and discussing their connection to soil and growing plants. Although this kit doesn't require soil to grow, it felt like an appropriate time to test out growing something of our own.  Monday, April 8th, 2024 Whit: This box is to put the seeds in. Where’s the dirt? Bailee: I think the dirt is here (the mesh silicone mat). Whit: Yes, it’s the dirt. Ford: So what are those? Charlton: They’re seeds. 
The children each drew their observations on an envelope and then attached the drawings together to make an envelope book for Day 1 of growing sprouts.
What are they gonna grow into? Ava  Friday, April 12th, 2024 Zari: I don’t know what those little white things are. Isabelle: Can we touch it? They feel weird. They feel like squishy beans. Jack: Somebody put the seeds in here. The children began using magnifying glasses to look closer at the seeds. Zari: It’s pretty blurry Isabelle: I see seeds. It smells like grass. Zari: Everything is way more bigger when I get closer. It’s really really big. Rawls: It feels a little sticky. How do they grow? Ellie: Why are they stuck? Ford: They growed. Charlton: Wait, they actually growed? Ava: It smells like peas. Charlton: It smells salty. Bailee: What are those red things? Bean sprouts? Ellie: I can’t pull it out, it’s stuck. Bailee: Because it’s still growing. Fay: What is this? Sprouts? Ellie: I think some of them need more time to grow Zari: Maybe it’s the one that already started growing.
The children will have the opportunity to further apply their observation and research skills as they tend to our growing sprouts in the weeks ahead! A look at next week... Since Winter Break, the children have deeply invested in the Bell Investigation. As the children researched bells through various experiences including visits to the bell tower, observing bells in our community on field trips, and "testing" bells in the atelier, they shared their ideas about how the bell worked and how it could be fixed. As mentioned in a previous blog post, many of the children hypothesized that the problem with the bell was electrical in nature. The children worked in small groups to build their snap circuits to explore electricity further. The Joy of Exploration and DiscoveryThe children showed great joy when their snap circuits were successful!  We’re making electricity! -Jack It (the switch/the electricity) makes it (the propeller) spin. -Whit Whoa! Whoa! -Rawls
They showed great persistence when something went awry.
I got this Whit. I got this, Whit. -Charlton It’s tricky. -Rawls Critical Thinking
We need to organize them. We need to do them like this. We need to put the 3s on the 3s, the 4s on the 4s. I’m stacking the 3s. -Charlton
Communication and Collaboration
Thank you Sara Love! Our mystery reader this week was Whit's mom, Sara Love. The Tucker Room enjoyed hearing a couple of Whit's favorite books read aloud, including Moses the Kitten from James Herriot's Treasury for Children as well as Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman. Thank you so much, Sara Love, for sharing such heartfelt stories with us! A look at next week... We'll see you all on Monday! After completing a collaborative drawing, the children began the work of building the Bell Model. This took place over the course of several days. As the children worked, we documented their processes using written notes, photographs and videos beginning with choosing the materials. To the Tucker Closet! -Whit Whit, you know the round things in construction? We could put them together. -Ford We need to make the stairs. Paper! I know how to do that. -Ford As the children worked with the materials that they had chosen, they reflected upon their work. They realized that some of them didn't lend very well to three dimensional creations.  The children decided that paper would be a more suitable material for their model. Thus the group needed some help from friends who they considered especially skillful with the material. Rawls joined in to share his knowledge.
Jack and Whit read the documentation from their first day of work on the "power flower" and the "storm cloud." While Whit focused on building the "power flower," Jack spent his time working on the "storm cloud."
The black makes darkness. The purple makes water. The yellow make lightness. -Whit 
After a discussion at morning meeting about 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional objects, and having seen a model of The Liberty Bell that Zari shared from a recent trip to Philadelphia, Ford had a new perspective on his construction. 
The children have been working together to assemble the model, including Whit's flower, Ford's bell, Jack's cloud and the steps which had been a collaborative effort with assistance from Rawls. Look for the completed model in the Tucker Room soon.
Learning More about Ava
Isabelle: She likes Seon. Zari: I only know what her loves is me. Isabelle: Ava loves dogs. Ava: I also like cats but my mom’s allergic so I can’t have them. Zari: She likes blue, purple, and green. They’re her favorite colors. Jack: She plays freeze tag with me. Isabelle: What’s your favorite food? Ava: Strawberries, kiwis, bananas, and peaches and cherries and that’s it. Jack: Ava are you afraid of snakes? Ava: I’ve never quite seen a snake, but they’re scary. Jack: But if you attack them they won’t be scary. Isabelle: What’s your favorite thing Ava so we can draw for you? Ava: Ice cream. Vanilla ice cream. Zari: I know you like vanilla ice cream because one time we went to a restaurant and you ate the entire thing. Isabelle: What’s your favorite animal except dog, zebra, and panda? Jack: If we can only draw one? Ava: Koala is my favorite. Zari: What’s your favorite color? Ava: Purple, green and blue. Isabelle: What’s your favorite type of pasta? Ava: 100 pastas. I love pasta. The ones shaped like this. Making a shape with her fingers Ava confirmed it was the elbow macaroni pasta shape. I like it plain without sauce. Emma: What’s your favorite thing to learn about? Ava: Scientists. Because I have a scientist set. And I also want to learn about volcanoes. Because I have a volcano at my house and I haven’t erupted it yet. Isabelle: What do you do with your stuffies? Ava: Mostly I leave them in my room and hug them. I have a big big big big teddy bear. You’ve seen it Zari.  Photos of Ava taken by her Birthday Committee to support with drawing her portrait. Drawing Ava's Portrait
 Ava's Birthday Portrait in Black and White. Adding Color
 The Birthday Committee's Finished Portrait of Ava. Ava's Favorite Things
Ice Cream for Ava
Celebrating AvaOn the day of her Tucker Room birthday celebration, Ava was joined by her mom, dad, grandmother, and her grandmother's friend, Suhasini. For her special birthday treat, Ava and her family brought delicious homemade banana chocolate chip muffins. They were devoured in seconds. After, we ventured to the birthday blanket to read a couple of Ava's favorite books. Ava's dad, Dan, read There is a Tiger in the Garden by Lizzy Stewart and then her mom, Amba, read The Last Rainbow Bird by Nora Brech. Ava then walked five times around the birthday candle, blew it out and we sang her our birthday song. Finally, the birthday committee presented Ava their drawings of her favorite things and her birthday portrait. I love it, I love it, I love it! Ava    We hope you had a fantastic fifth birthday, Ava! Since our last field trip to Georgetown Presbyterian Church's Bell in January, the research and work surrounding fixing the St. John's broken bell has been ongoing. In one conversation following, Fay suggested that all of the children in Tucker Room go up to the bell tower to further understand what could be wrong with the bell. Shortly after, we returned to the bell tower. The children continued to notice that the "clapper" was stuck to the side of the bell and also electrical wires connected to a box inside.
Whit, Charlton, and Rawls notice the electrical wires and box inside of the bell. Bringing Electricity to the Bell The visit to the bell tower motivated further discussion and the development of the children's theories for fixing the bell. Many of these theories included electricity and how to bring electricity to the bell.
Using Individual Drawings as Inspiration for Collaborative Work
After looking at each other's drawings, a small group of children including Charlton, Jack, Ford, Isabelle, and Whit, worked together to combine their ideas for fixing the bell into one large drawing. The following conversation provides an insight into their process:
 The finished collaborative drawing of how to bring electricity to the bell. Field trip to Christ ChurchAfter collectively theorizing solutions for the malfunctioning St. John's bell, we were informed about another church's bell to research. Thanks to Ford's mom, Jess, who facilitated the connection, we embarked on a field trip to Christ Church Georgetown to observe another bell, this time operated by a push-button mechanism. There we met with Dwayne who provided thorough information about the CCG bell and their stained glass! Thank you again, Jess, for facilitating the connection and to all those families who joined us on the trip! The Bell Project continues as does our interest in stained glass... Mystery Reader On Wednesday, Cal's mom, Kate Kegan, was our Mystery Reader! The Tucker children voted on two books to read, but they just couldn't get enough and ended up reading all three of the books Kate brought including: The Adventures of Max the Minnow by William Boniface, Find Fergus by Mike Boldt, and Pete the Cat's Groovy Imagination by James and Kimberly Dean. Thanks so much, Kate!! A Look at Next Week.. Have a wonderful weekend, we'll see you all on Monday! |
