A School Birthday Celebration

Celebrating a birthday at St. John's is an intimate, intentional, and highly collaborative experience.
Today, we would like to share with you the process that goes into planning, preparing, and partaking in a birthday celebration in the Rainey Room.
​Specifically, we will highlight the meaningful work of a Birthday Committee.

What is a birthday?

Cape: It’s a party.
Finlay: Birthday is when you get presents. 
Bea: Is like a celebration for kids' birthdays. It’s like they get presents. And it’s fun. 
Hugh: Did you know grown-ups can have birthdays too?
Daniel: Presents. 
Ines: Who gives us presents?
Frannie: Our friends. And our nannies

Ines:  What do you celebrate on a birthday?
Finlay:  You turn a different age. Like 60 or 17. You can turn 16 or 19.

The Rainey Room Birthday Calendar

​The gift of a custom portrait

Stemming from our interest in photography that began at the end of our Brown Room year, continued through summer research work, and has expanded into our photo booth area in Rainey Room, we have decided that each child will be gifted a custom portrait for their birthday. 

​What is a portrait?
Lily: It’s a painting of a person.
Sam: Does it have to be a painting?
Lily: No. It can be a drawing.
Finlay: It could be a picture of a lego.
Remy: (a picture of) Your legs. Your face. 
Finlay: Your hair?

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​Our friend, Finlay. 

Finlay's birthday was yesterday, September 15th. This year in Rainey Room, we have decided that Fridays will be best to have our school birthday celebrations! We have been working all week to plan and prepare for his birthday celebration tomorrow. 

A big part in preparing for a birthday celebration is to gather information about the child who is being celebrated. Some things we may already know about our friends. Such as, what are some of their favorite things? Other things we learn through intentional dialogue.

​On Monday, Finlay shared some information with his classmates that gave everyone insight into types of things that he likes. 

​Finlay: Lego lollipops is my treat. Everyone gets them. You can eat the legos. And they are hard.
Ines: Why did you pick legos for your treat? (for his special celebration snack)
Finlay: I don’t know. I just wanted to.
Daniel: Do you like legos?
Finlay: Yes, I do! 
Bea: Finlay also has legos in his hands right now. My brother really likes legos.
Sam: Do you think legos are a favorite toy of yours?
Finlay: It’s my favorite favorite.
Sam: Does anyone else like to play with legos?
Remy: Me! I have giant legos. 
Luke: I got little legos.
Jade: I got little legos, too.
Wilder: My legos are very very very very very very special.
Luke: And mine are very tiny.
Sam: Do you have a favorite lego set?
Finlay: Yeah, uhm it’s the one with the one that comes with the ultimate chain. 
Sam: What is the ultimate chain?
Finlay: It’s like, it’s a chain. Like going again and again.
Ines: Is that from Ninjago?
Finlay: Yes! And the ultimate chain is my favorite piece. Anything Ninjago.
Ines: Can you tell us what Ninjago is?
Finlay: It’s basically legos that is ninjas.
Sam: What are ninjas?
Bea: I know what ninjas are. 
Finlay: So like ninjas fight serpentines. They fight like bad guys. They try like save people. Like if one of them get captures they try to save him. And the serpentines want to rule the world. 
Sam: It sounds like we learned a lot about Finlay. He likes legos, he likes ninjago. Does anyone else know something about Finlay?
Remy: I know about Finlay, legos.
Finlay: I got legos yesterday.
Sam: Does anyone remember what Finlay said his favorite color was?
Finlay: RED!
Wilder: And you have a red lego!
Finlay: And green is my favorite color. And golden and golden.
Wilder: I love all kinds of color.
Finlay: You know the green ninja turns into the golden ninja.

A Birthday Committee 

Lily, Lucas, and Wilder

For each celebration, a birthday committee is selected.
​The birthday committee collaborates to create a personalized meaningful gift for the birthday child.

During the committee's first meeting, we began our discussion by thinking about how we would create a portrait of Finlay. 

We can draw one. - Wilder
We can paint one. - Lily
What if I suggested that we use a camera to take a photo? - Sam
That would be great, but how do we put the camera on the portrait? - Wilder
Well, if we use a camera we can take a type of photo that’s called a portrait. - Sam


​We then reflected on a previous large group discussion when we first introduced the word "portrait". 

Portrait Photography (portraiture): aimed toward capturing the personality, expression, and mood of a person by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. ​

​a portrait is special 

When discussing the meaning of a portrait photo, the idea of it being a "special" photograph was understood and communicated. 

If we want to make this photo special for Finlay, what things could we include that he told us he likes? - Sam
Green and red. - Wilder 
And golden. - Lily
So how do we make red and green and golden? Do we have any gold markers? How do we make it special? - Wilder
Oooo! We could hide the camera and still take a picture, but he can not see what we’re doing? - Wilder
Oh. Like a surprise? - Sam
Maybe we can put a camera behind a paper but the camera can shine through the paper and still take a picture. - Wilder

Wilder thoughtfully wanted to keep the photograph a surprise in order to make it special for Finlay. After further discussion with the committee, we agreed that if we wanted to capture a special portrait of Finlay then we would not be able to hide the camera. 

conventions of portraiture - background

Has any one ever heard of a background? Do you know what that is? - Sam
It’s like a color on the back! - Lily
Do you think we could create a special background for Finlay’s portrait? We know his favorite colors. Do we know anything else that he likes? - Sam
Legos!- Lily
Hmm how could we get legos on the background of our photo booth when we take Finlay’s photo? - Sam
I think we could take a picture of the legos and put it on the background. - Lucas
I have a great idea! I could not be in the picture but my arm could be in the picture reaching out with the legos! Oooo ooooo oooo. We could use that crane! (Pointing to crane in middle room) To hold the legos! - Wilder
Maybe we could stick them? - Lily
Maybe we connect them together with glue. - Wilder
Have you ever used legos? Do you need glue to connect them together? - Sam
Umm you need a extra lego… - Lily (stacking her hands to represent her idea of connecting them)
Like something on the bottom? Do you know what that’s called? - Sam
A base!- Lily
We do have lego bases - Sam (gets lego bin out of closet)
We can connect them together like this. - Wider (uses flat lego pieces to connect the bases together)

choosing which lego pieces to include 

This one! - Wilder
I see you chose a red lego. Does Finlay like red? - Sam
Red and green! - Wilder (starts sorting the legos to find red and green)
I found a golden! - Lucas​

​Knowing that Finlay named red, green, and golden as his favorite colors, the committee naturally began sorting the legos to choose pieces that matched Finlay's favorite colors. There was some debate regarding if shades of colors (ie. shades of green and "gold") should be included or not.
​There was also some questioning about whether or not some "cool" pieces should be included in the selection if perhaps they didn't fit the color palette.
​Ultimately the committee decided that Finlay could be consulted on the final decisions about what to include in his portrait. 

​That counts. - Wilder (finding a darker green piece that’s different than other shades)
Does Finlay like brown? - Lucas
I remember Finlay saying that he likes red, green, and golden. - Sam 
That’s kind of golden? - Wilder
No, that’s pink. - Lucas
Oh this one! - Lucas (finds spider web)
That will scare him… - Wilder
Maybe we could save some pieces that we think Finlay might like and we can ask him about them. - Sam 
Ooooo this is special! - Lucas (finding pieces to show Finlay) 
We can ask him (Finlay) if he thinks its so special. - Wilder 
Whoa. This is so cool. Want to ask him about this?- Wilder (seeks validation from Lily and Lucas about his findings)
We HAVE to ask him him about that. - Lucas
Yeah. We HAVE TO! - Lily 
​

collecting fabric 

When the committee finished choosing their lego selection, there was continued discussion about background. It was agreed that Finlay's favorite things (colors and lego) should be included in the portrait, potentially as a background, but there was uncertainty about how to effectively display the lego pieces in the background of the photo. Sam suggested that some backdrops are made of fabric.
​
​Where could we find a selection of fabric at school? The committee made a trip to our sewing table where there is a large collection of fabric pieces. They began to find items that they agreed were both "beautiful" and fit Finlay's color palette. 

The "birthday hat"
It has two of his favorite colors!
​We should definitely use this! - Lily 

selection of fabric to use as potential background color or attire for Finlay to wear

​Committee Meeting #2: An Interview with Finlay 

A time to revisit and receive feedback on the materials the committee selected to include in the portrait. 

Lego Selection
I like all the colors. - Finlay 
This spiderweb? - Lucas
I like any pieces. - Finlay 
Do you like this lego boat? - Wilder
Um. Yeah. Anything. Everything. - Finlay 
If we included legos in your birthday photo, how would you feel about that? - Sam
Good! - Finlay


Fabric/ Attire/ Backdrop
Finlay, do you like this birthday hat? - Wilder
No thanks. - Finlay
Your friends chose this because it has green and golden colors, so they thought you might like it. - Sam
But it has to have red too… - Finlay
I had to tell Finlay something. Sam thought that we could make the purple on the back of your head so you don’t see the purple side (in the photo). - Lucas
(demonstrates how to wear it to hide the purple) 
I can still see it... no thanks. - Finlay 

When providing feedback and his own personal input about the selection of materials, Finlay had two requests for the committee. 
1. He wanted the legos to be in front of him so that you could see them in the photo. 
2. He wanted the background to look like he was inside of a tent.
(he chose the red and gold fabric to be the fabric for constructing the tent.) 

We wanted a fort. - Wilder
Like a tent. - Finlay
And legos. He (Finlay) wanted them in front of him.
- Wilder

Lego will be used as props in the foreground of the photo (per Finlay's request).
Though the mini scenes were each built by individual committee members, they were connected through a story told by Wilder. 

Wilder: Do you know what these are? they light up at night so motor boats and sail boats know where the really deep parts for motor boats and the shallow parts for sail boats are. When it’s morning these lights go off. They’re only used for nighttime.

Lily: It has trees and a boat and it’s a outside scenery. 

Finlay: It’s an attack. Somebody’s attacking the scenery. 

Wilder to Lily: Your boat right there can get out into the darkness so my lights show the way! 

Wilder to Finlay and Lily (connecting all scenes): his (Finlay’s) person can walk into lily’s boat and go out into sea when it’s dark.
The lights can show the way and they can be safe from the attack!

​Committee Meeting #3: Preparing the Photo Shoot

During the photo shoot the committee explored how to use the tripod and features on the iPod camera such as focus and zoom. 

We just can’t see the bottom. - Lily (looking into screen)
Maybe we have to lower it. - Wilder (trying to reposition camera)
I can see everything I need. - Lucas

​You put it in the favorites so you have it on the phone. - Lucas (demonstrating how to favorite an image)
I got a good Finlay picture! - Lucas
I see everything I need. - Wilder (using digital camera)
  1,2,3, Cheese. - Wilder
Finlay! Look over here! - Lucas

Committee Meeting #4: Selecting a Birthday Portrait 

When selecting an image to be framed for Finlay's birthday portrait, the committee discussed what they liked and disliked about each image and narrowed it down to the top 3 to then be edited as the final step. 

Here is some feedback during the selection process: 

Not my fave. He looks too mad. Too grumpy. - Lily
A little too crowded. I can't see Finlay and the legos and I can't see Finlay's other arm! - Wilder 

I can see perfectly! - Wilder 
It's plain... too plain. - Lily 
We have (can see) his ninja shirt. That ones good. - Wilder

Let me see closer detail. - Lily 
No. We can't see his legs. He's hiding his body. - Lily

He looks like strong. - Lily
And he wanted to look beautiful and that (one) is pretty beautiful so I like that one. - Wilder

I can see my finger. - Lucas
It gets so blurry. - Wilder

​After narrowing the selection down to the top 3 choices, the committee used simple editing features (saturation, tint, temperature, sharpness, crop, border) to play with color and size of the photo. 

It looks so pretty! I really love when it's like that. I think he (Finlay) would like that. - Wilder

Make it really dark. It looks like a real ninja. - Lucas

It was challenging to not choose all three, but the favorite was decided! 

It looks dark and beautiful. Like a ballet stage. - Lily
I like the border. - Wilder
It keeps it in it. Like a box. - Lily