April 04th, 2022

We were more than excited to finally open the Blue Door on Monday morning and to welcome you all into the school again (or for some, for the first time!). It was a true joy to see the children share their space with pride and enthusiasm and to guide you through our morning routine of hanging up our belongings, washing hands and getting ready for Morning Meeting. We would like to share some of the children's thoughts and reflections on this very special change in their time at St. John's:
​

I want to show Cully Brown Room. - Cape
​

When they come to Morning Meeting it's not gonna go so fast. - Hugh
But they will come inside. - Lily
Even tomorrow? (on Tuesday, our Backwards Day) - Cate
And then they can see the outdoor classroom. They got to see the inside today and tomorrow they get to see the outside. - Hugh

​​

I think my dad is come tomorrow because we take turns. - Daniel
​This time we showed them the pictures on the wall. - Wilder

We had a fantastic and fun first Sing Along with everyone together in Blake Hall this morning. Thank you to everyone for being a part of it!
​We already can't wait for our next Sing Along!


​It was pretty cool! - Hugh
She (his little sister Adeline) was sleeping and doing the same thing that I did. - Wilder

​Daddy said he likes the sleeping bunnies song. - Frannie
​And mom said she liked the unicorn one, just like me. - Cate

I sit next to Jade because I like Jade. - Saul

---

​"We're gonna be the illustrators" - Bea

​This week in the classroom we are exploring different illustration styles. Have you ever wondered how the pictures inside your books are made? "Illustrators" (Lily, the person drawing the pictures) create images with various materials and techniques to help us understand the context and content of the story and to support visual thinking. To begin our exploration, we worked with various watercolor techniques, digital drawing, pencil and colored pencil sketching and collage.

What are illustrations? 
Pictures - Bea

We’re gonna be the illustrators and making the book and you guys are the ones who write the words. - Bea
I can’t write words, I can only write names - Remy
But you can imagine words and tell them to us. - Sam
We don’t even know how to spell that. - Bea
But we know how to say it. - Lily
Like when you say “I want to play with you” and we don’t know how to spell it. - Bea
Actually, some kids might know how to spell it. - Lily

What could we use to make an illustration? 
Well, we could use fabric, paint, markers, paper, pencil, wire. - Bea
Pastel. - Lily
Tissue paper. - Hugh

​
What illustration styles can you find in your books at home? 

​Pencil and Colored Pencil 

​I think you can only erase pencil.
- Lily, observing Frannie trying to erase a mark she made with colored pencil

In her drawing, lily combined two illustration styles - pencil and color pencil.
​She first observed the black and white palm trees in the book to her left, when designing her own. She then combined the technique of colored pencil and sketching, which she observed in "The Book of Mistakes" on her right. 

"I wanted to do trees like this, but then I thought maybe like this ... (adding color)" - Lily

---

Digital Drawing

We used the app "Sketches" on our iPads and stylus pens to create digital drawings.

It's called a silly willy park. - Remy

This is the nugget (cozy area in the classroom). I'm drawing the nugget. This is a butterfly pillow. - Frannie

Watercolor

In addition to regular watercolors, we explored some materials for the first time:
​water soluble crayons and water soluble colored pencils!

Ooh, those can go in water? - Frannie
You dip them in water and then you just draw on paper and then they work. - Lucas
They're not crayons. They're like light up crayons. - Cape

I made it very colorful. I use red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white for all the colors. - Michael

I made space. I added some outside and some inside. - Lucas
Outer space is outside and inside? - Jade
It's the roof of the sky. It's the roof of the world. It's the roof of the outside. This is a mouth (orange circle) in outer space trying to eat a star. - Lucas

These are two different rainbows. I made them for the background. - Saul

Multi Media - Collage, pencil drawing, water color

Jade combined a variety of materials and techniques to create her illustration of "Daniel as a Superhero". First, she used watercolors and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper to create the background, then she drew Daniel on a separate piece of white copy paper using a pencil. Her plan is to "shrink" Daniel by using the copy machine in order to add her drawing to her watercolor background by glueing it on.

That's Daniel is a superhero and that's the water (blue water color). It's a sink outside. He is grabbing a raccoon down by the sink in the drain. He's going in the drain with a big big big crane and to pick up the raccoon. But then a skunk got stuck. But he didn't get the skunk. - Jade