Preparing for The FeastThank you to all the families that donated carrots and butternut squash to help make soup for our Thanksgiving Feast. The minestrone wouldn't have been that same without it! We also want to say a big "thank you" to the moms that were able to join us for chopping vegetables in the Tucker Room this year: Jess B., Jessie S., Meredith H., and Paige J. The children were excited to visit the kitchen to help stir the soup. Many thanks to Charlton's mom, Eliza, who was one of the cooks! The children also created a beautifully illuminated table scape for the feast with decor they had created using a variety of tools to make pinholes in paper and metal.         ChapelThanksgiving Chapel began as friends from the Rainey Room rang the bells. Then, Ellie and Fay served as candle lighters. Gini, the Rector of the Church read one of our favorite stories, Thank You, Omu by Oge Mora. With our families, we sang familiar songs, including "Peace Like A River."
Families Sharing in Our Thanksgiving Feast
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 Mystery Reader This week's mystery reader was Jack's mom, Roxane! Roxane read The General by Jane Charters and The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin to the Tucker Room. Thank you so much, Roxane!
"The image of a child sees the child as rich in potential, strong, powerful, competent, and connected to adults and other children." -Loris Malaguzzi (1994) After doing "pinhole creations" on paper, the children were eager to get to work with new materials to create our Thanksgiving Feast Centerpieces. While there was excitement, there was also a bit of trepidation about working with metal, awls and hammers to create metal lanterns. How are we going to push it in? Because it’s going to be metal! -Bailee We’re doing the metal!!!! -Ford I only use hammers with grownups, because one time I did it by myself and I smashed my finger. -Fay
It looks like a smiley face. I was planning that! Look at that! Isabelle Fay, are you using the hammer? -Ford No. I can poke the one through with no hammer. You have to use all of your muscles.-Fay Good, because I figured out it’s easier to just poke it through. -Ford I was using the hammer and it was easy! -Charlton
The process of making pinholes was easily transferred to other materials. For our paper lanterns, we challenged the children to draw patterns before beginning to make their pinholes.
 A sun and a pretend flower. -Ava You can do a circle and some lines. I taught Ava how to draw a flower. I like everybody's design. I like all the shapes (referring to Ava’s designs). Zari’s (flowers) are so beautiful. Seon
 Look, I’m connecting the lines. Big, tiny, big tiny. -Ellie Ellie connected the edges of her circle with a horizontal lines. She then alternated using large and small thumbtacks to make pinholes in her design and finally filled in each circle with holes of varying sizes.
This is easy, Karen. Hard things are easy. - Bailee
Writing Musical ScoreSince the beginning of the school year, the children’s excitement and intrigue for writing songs has grown. To support their composition process, we added musical score paper to the music atelier.
It's name is "The Best Song Ever!” Zari
Seon's music notes.
In the music area I could make my song with rhythm. Ford
After writing his song, Cal decided he wanted to play his music.
Writing a Clean Up SongIn addition to the ongoing compositions happening in the music atelier, we had been intending to gather a small group of children to write a clean up song. The idea of a new clean up song came from Charlton earlier in the school year and other children had also mentioned changing our clean up song. While Charlton’s interest in the clean up song was not as strong anymore, we thought of children who might be interested in writing it. We invited Fay, Ellie, and Whit to come together to write The Clean Up Song.
The children began thinking of lyrics for their song that would inspire the Tucker Room to clean up. While they were thinking of the lyrics they naturally were singing the words to a tune, though we haven't officially decided on how the tune and rhythm will go. Musicians use different methods for composing music. Some think of a tune or rhythm first and then add lyrics, others have words in their mind and then add the music. Of course, there is no 'right' way to compose a song. The children chose to start with the lyrics. The Clean Up Song By: Fay, Ellie, and Whit One two three One two three Hello it’s me It’s clean up time It’s clean up time Pick up the toys and blocks on the floor Put them away today Then we go outside Ellie repeatedly mentioned that she wanted to add color to our song. Jen found a paper scroll and we invited the children to write and illustrate their song.  The first collaborative illustration of The Clean Up Song by Fay, Ellie, and Whit.
 The second collaborative illustration of The Clean Up Song by Fay, Whit, and Seon.
During our Team Meeting last week with Molly and Jen, we were reflecting on the children's compositions. We noted some challenges we were noticing with composing the Clean Up Song. While they ultimately created a song together, it was somewhat challenging because we realized this small group of children weren't truly inspired by the idea of a Clean Up Song. We have decided to take a pause on this song, but will continue composing songs in general that the children are more interested in. Our team and staff meetings are so important in our progettazione or the planning for the possibilities of the children's work. Our reflections often include research and one article we recently read as a staff is particularly connected to our work with music and composition. We invite you to read it and let us know your thoughts!
The Children's Work
 There’s all different colors. -Rawls
 I’m just making stars with lots of dots, dots, dots, dots. - Whit
Seon shares her observations... To prepare for the Thanksgiving Feast, the children will continue to explore the interaction of light and materials as they design and create our centerpieces in the upcoming weeks. A look at next week... This week's mystery reader was Isabelle's dad, Louis Sterchi. Louis read Pizza!: A slice of History by Greg Pizzoli to the Tucker Room. The children really enjoyed reading about the history of pizza and conversed with eachother about their favorite pizza toppings. Thank you, Louis! Mystery Reader We also wanted to express our gratitude to you all for taking the time to meet with us for Parent Teacher Conferences the past couple of days. We truly value your collaboration and the unique insights you provide about your children. We will continue to reflect on our conversations over the next weeks, and know they will enrich the children's experiences at home and in the classroom.
We hope you all have a cozy weekend, see you on Monday!  Connecting With Other Classrooms on HalloweenBefore the week comes to a close, we wanted to share some photos from our school-wide Halloween experience. Considering the children's consistent discussion and interest in all things Halloween, the teachers wanted to think of a way to make it a special day – the St. John's way. It's not often that all of the children from The Brown, Rainey, and Tucker Rooms are able to come together to play and learn from one another. The atelier, Rainey Room, and Tucker Room had different experiences. In Rainey Room, children explored "spooky" light and halloween messages & puzzles. In the atelier, the children designed, carved and investigated a pumpkin. In Tucker room, the children built a haunted house and created magical potions using color mixing techniques and experimenting with baking soda and vinegar. The day went so well that we are already planning for more connection and collaboration with the other classrooms! Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully see you at all the Book Fair festivities!  When I was a child, my mother introduced me to knitting and the fiber arts. I spent hours following patterns knitting bags, scarves, and hats. One pattern I made over and over again, showed the process of needle felting to create designs on the bags I had knit. I remember fondly the freedom and joy I felt using this material to transform my creations into unique, and beautiful works of art. You might remember last year for Whit’s birthday, his birthday committee used needle felting to add detail to his Lemming Lovey.
  We wanted to bring needle felting back this year to share with all of the children in the Tucker Room. Much like painting, drawing and working with clay, needle felting is a versatile language that invites imagination and dexterity. It requires careful concentration and can be very relaxing and even therapeutic for the artist.
There are various techniques for needle felting including wet felting, flat felting, and sculpture felting. For this experience, the children explored flat felting. The children chose the colors of roving they would like to use and began to arrange their design on a piece of felt-fabric.
Then, with their initial designs in place, the children used the felting needles to attach the roving to the fabric. The needle felting needles are not quite the same as sewing needles. They have tiny barbs on the ends of them that cause the wool fibers to interlock and be pulled through the felt fabric. This holds the roving in place, and prevents it from being pulled out. A felting pad is necessary for the needle to land during the felting process. While the needles are sharp, the children were capable of using them cautiously and with intention. They discovered how the repetition of poking caused the felt to “stick”. I can touch the pointy part of the needle without getting hurt. Fay
Needle felting is very forgiving. Although the roving is held in place using the needles, it can also be moved, adjusted, or added to. Many of their designs began linear, but soon the children discovered they could also mould the wool into different shapes and sizes.
Their initial experiences with needle felting already show the children's competence and interest in this new material. We see needle felting as another language for expression and will continue to have more opportunities for further practice and exploration throughout the year.
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