You could have sunshine and shadows that are the light. Charlton When the candle is lit, it reflects back on the window. Seon, referring to the chandelier lights in Blake Hall When you look in the window you see the light. Ford No you see yourself. Charlton I know reflecting can work on a window or a mirror. Seon  Charlton, Cal, Ava and Zari investigate the light as it shines through the windows of Blake Hall. What materials could we use to make something beautiful for the book fair windows?
 Cal hangs his translucent green material.  Ava connects translucent pieces.  Isabelle checks to see if her piece will fit the way she likes into the materials that have already been hung. As they worked, the conversations that the children had showed their growing understanding of materials and their expanding vocabularies. We should call the book fair project: Hanging. Because it’s hanging. Ellie It’s about light and shadow for the book fair. Ford We could call it light light. Seon
While creating their book fair project, the children's capacity for critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration grew. I’m just going to fix this one knot. I'm making it curvier so the beads don’t fall off. I have a good idea! Fay Put it in and twist. Bailee We need a cutter. I want to get this much wire. Fay First you make can circle out of the thing. Now you put the other side in and then you tighten it up. Charlton Maybe the one that I used. It’s smaller, so it might fit through the holes. Fay Visit us at the Book Fair on Saturday from 10-2 to see the children's work up close!  The materials shine with the light. Seon
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 Mystery Readers We have been thrilled to have our mystery readers join us in the Tucker Room! This week, we had the privilege of having two special family members read books to the Tucker children. On Wednesday, Ava's grandmother read Katie in London by James Mayhew and Secret Pizza Party by Adam Rubin. On Friday, Cal's grandmother gave each child a beautiful fall leaf she had collected to hold while reading The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming. The Tucker children then requested she read The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey.
We hope you all get to enjoy the gorgeous weather and have a fantastic weekend!
Parents researching sounds that can be made by the found materials. Chosen materials to create sounds.
Many of these photographs are posted on the documentation board above the library. Additionally, we would love to post your thoughts and ideas about the children’s work with music and song on this board! If you have a moment, please send an email to Karen and Emma with your reflections of the evening. First interactions with the family soundsDuring a morning meeting earlier this week, we shared with the children the family sounds. They were so excited to hear the different rhythms and sounds made especially for them, so we thought we'd dive a little deeper into the listening experience. A small group gathered in the atelier with paper and pens to listen closely.
While we listened, the children were interested in figuring out what materials their parents might have used to make the sounds and wanted to draw the sounds they heard.
The next day, another small group of children went to the atelier. Zari, Charlton, and Whit similarly listened to the sound recordings first and then wanted to draw the sounds.
Charlton drew what (and who) made the sounds:
While Zari drew more abstractly about the sound:
With Halloween fast approaching, the children's conversations naturally tend to incorporate something related to the holiday. Zari used the word "Boo" to play with sound and explored the different ways to write and say the sound. Whit also thought that was an interesting idea:
These small groups listening to, playing with, and drawing the family sounds have provided some insight into further investigations with sound, song, and music. The children are intrigued by which materials make the sounds and have begun designing and inventing their own sound makers. They are noticing the properties of sound and music such as tempo, duration, and volume. And they are even creating symbols for the sounds, much like the score and notes musicians use to read music. We're excited to see where these family sound recordings will take us!  Before interviewing Rawls, the birthday committee visited the CW Bulletin Board to learn a bit more about him. This helped them to formulate questions for the interview. While reading the CW board, they learned that Rawls' favorite things include: Food: Shrimps and salmon Sport: Football Colors: Gold, purple and blue We moved onto the birthday committee interview and learned a bit more about Rawls: What’s your favorite color Rawls? Zari Blue. Rawls What’s your favorite sport, you know like skiing, football, or basketball? Charlton Maybe skiing. Rawls What’s your favorite animal? Zari Megaladon. No, a sea monster. Rawls Rawls, what is your favorite food? Zari That’s a good question. Ummm, ice cream cake. Rawls You mean an ice cream sandwiches? Zari No, cake! Rawls I heard one day that you like chocolate. Cal The children were excited for the next part of creating a birthday portrait for Rawls' birthday; the photo shoot! Let’s do it outside. Charlton Let’s do it now. Cal Say Alabama! Charlton Go Alabama! Rawls The Gift
A circle. two circles for his eyes. Zari I need to do the two dots in his eyes. Cal (His mouth) is down and over. So lower. Zari I’m going the nose right here. I’m going to do his nostrils. Charlton I know what we do first. His gums and then his teeth. Cal There’s another circle in his ear. It (his hair) it’s short and a little bit right here in the front. Zari Drawing Rawls' Favorite Things
I can draw a sea monster. Rawls is in the pool, riding a sea monster. I need to add his scuba suit. Cal I need to do big Al. His jersey needs to be red! Charlton
It matches a little bit. That one is too gold. I do it (gold) only on his face and then darker under his eyes. Zari  I’m trying to mix all the blues, because that makes the perfect water of all the oceans. Charlton The CelebrationA Special Surprise Rawl's grandfather, Dr. G., whom he calls "Momo," was visiting the week of his celebration and read "Little Blue Truck Makes A Friend" as our mystery reader. Classroom Stories Night and the Blog We invite you to join us for Classroom Stories Night on Thursday, October 19th at 6pm. In order to prepare for the presentation, our afternoons over the next week will be dedicated to Classroom Stories. This means that we will resume posting our regular blogs the week of October 23rd. We look forward to seeing you all at Classroom Stories Night and sharing about the children's year in Tucker Room so far!  "Playing games with rules," according to Piaget is the "highest form of play." To be successful in complex play of this type, children need be able to understand and remember the rules and be able to self-regulate, controlling their own wants and needs in order to follow the rules. The children have been finding great joy in playing games with rules and we've observed many natural learning opportunities in the different games they have been playing. Board GamesWhen the children play board games they are developing their social-emotional skills; taking turns and communicating with one another, as well as their fine motor skills when they manipulate small pieces and roll dice.
Counting GamesCounting games give children an opportunity to develop number sense as they play. When a child is "it" in "Hide and Seek," they practice rote counting. While playing, "What Time Is It, Mr Fox?" the children practice counting with one-to-one correspondence while they march towards Mr. Fox. Guys, you gotta hide. I don’t see you hiding. I’m going to count again to 5. -Jack I love that game (hide and seek). I play it at home with my mommy after. At school, I play with Ava and Zari. - Seon
Running GamesGames like "Freeze Tag" and "Sharks and Minnows" provide children an opportunity to hone their gross motor skills as they run and jump. Shark and minnows. There is a group of minnows and one shark and when the minnows start on the side and when you get tagged, you’re the shark. -Charlton Wanna play freeze tag guys? -Isabelle Actually I want to play freeze tag. -Rawls I’m going to explain the rules. If someone tags you, you freeze. If they tag you again. Then you unfreeze. -Isabelle Organized Sports GamesThe children's participation in organized sports informs their play as well. It's not uncommon for a game of soccer, hockey or catch to spontaneously begin in the outdoor classroom. In addition to fostering teamwork, these games, help children develop object-control skills like throwing, catching, dribbling, and kicking. Wanna play soccer? Bailee I can be the scorer. No, I can be the coach! -Isabelle  Zari, Bailee and Isabelle play catch.
The Gift of Collaborative PortraitureEllie’s 5th birthday celebration was the first of our Tucker Room year! The Tucker Room is a special year. The children’s language and physical capabilities are more developed and they are showing a stronger sense of self and of one another. During our elaborate birthday committees last year, we noticed the children’s deep understanding of the unique qualities and interests of their friends. For this year’s birthday gifts, we wondered: How could we demonstrate this understanding of each other in a new way? How could we reimagine the idea of the birthday gift in Tucker Room?
A Unique Birthday InterviewWith these developments, observations, and questions in mind, the idea of a collaborative portrait emerged. Similarly to self-portraits, creating a portrait invites children to look closely at the details of their friend's face. For self-portraits we took selfies to have images to look at while drawing. For the birthday portraits, and as part of the birthday interview, the birthday committee took pictures of Ellie. Ford, Bailee, and Isabelle took on a photographer's role, asking Ellie to pose in different ways.
Drawing Ellie's Portrait
The birthday committee also wanted to draw some of her favorite things. I want to draw a cheetah, it’s Ellie’s favorite animal. Ford
Put watermelons! Because her favorite food is watermelons. Isabelle
Painting Ellie's PortraitAfter their initial drawings in black and white, the birthday committee added color to Ellie's portrait and favorite things using water color pencils and a special pallet of complexion watercolors.
Ellie's favorite things. We made it with everyone. Bailee
Ellie's Birthday CelebrationThe day of Ellie’s birthday celebration arrived. Just like in the Rainey Room, Ellie shared her favorite birthday treat with the Tucker Room children. Then, her family read a couple of her favorite books. After, we counted as Ellie walked around her birthday candle five times, to signify her rotations around the sun, and then Ellie blew out her birthday candle. Finally, the birthday committee presented Ellie with her birthday gift: A Portrait of Ellie. 🐘🍉🐆 Happy 5th birthday, Ellie! A Small Group Discussion About SongsOne morning, a small group of children joined Karen and Jen in the atelier for a conversation. They asked, "What is a song?" Something that you hear. -Cal It’s a music song. -Jack It’s something you listen to. I like Mary Poppins because it’s so nice...The sound of her voice. -Ava It’s something you can dance to. -Isabelle  Tools That We Can Use to Explore SongsWhen the children returned to the Music Atelier in the classroom a few days after the conversation, they had an opportunity to explore their own songs, as well as those of their friends using technology. Using the technology of QR Codes, the children explore one another's songs and they did indeed listen, sing and dance!
In the classroom, the children have shared their desire to create a song. One day, while cleaning up before snack, Charlton declared, "We can write a new cleanup song!" With this in mind, we asked the children in the small group, "How can we make a song?" Sing it. We have music in Tucker Room. We can play piano. And sing. And drum and maracas. -Cal And guitars. Oh we have a thing, that's at my house, and my sisters play and it's called guitar. -Isabelle A pen and paper. You would draw on the paper. -Cal We asked a follow up question, "Do all songs have instruments?" Some do, but some don’t. Some of them just use voices. -Ava My song doesn't have any instruments...Just somebody singing. -Jack Reflecting upon the small group conversation and the children's desire to create songs, we thought about additional tools that the children could use in the music atelier. The children were surprised to see an addition to the environment on Monday morning: a desktop computer with the Garage Band App. During the first few days of exploration, the children practiced using the mouse to navigate and record their special songs. Create means to create your our song. You use a microphone to create you song. -Ellie We’re connecting our songs. We can make one big song! -Jack  "(I see) how it gets longer and longer" as it plays." -Charlton We look forward to hearing the children's compositions as they gain more experience with the technology. Also, we are happy to share the eagerly awaited Tucker Room Playlist.
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