We enjoyed delicious mini cupcakes together, chatted with Lucas's entire family, and finished with our classic Brown Room birthday traditions. 

We think it's safe to say that Cape has been a trendsetter in the classroom lately. His enthusiasm and knowledge about barns, farm animals and farm machinery has sparked interest in many other Brown Room friends.
​Many of us have even been to a farm before.

Remy has been to a "flower farm", which had "flowers and a playground. And I played and played and I saw a kid and then I was hiking somewhere." She also shared with us, that she "went to a mermaid farm". 

Cape told everyone that he has been to two farms. "A Christmas tree farm. I'll tell you how I got my Christmas tree home. We got a trailer in the back of the car and put it on the trailer." About the other one he reported: "It was all about chickens at that farm".

The farm that Wilder went to also had chickens and he even met someone who works on the farm. He told us about a trip to "Papi's farm". "There were only two horses and a lot of chickens and a tractor. And Allen. He gives the chicken's water."

"I went to a cow farm." said Jade. The cows there were "eating hay. They were inside. Someone feeded them."

​What did you learn from the story?

Even Farmers go to sleep. And they go shopping. And decorate their house.
And the queen is the biggest bumble bee.
- Finlay

They live in a bee hive and they are black and white striped.
- Lucas

The tractor equipment. I learned about back tractor attachments.
- Cape

I learned about bees. They're making wax.
- Bea

Before each birthday celebration, Brown Room children have become accustomed to asking the question - what's your favorite color? This question kick starts the birthday excitement and informs the birthday committee's work and planning process. 

We have been working hard in the classroom this week concentrating on our weaving skills.
There are different types of looms of different sizes available throughout the environment as well as a variety of pliable materials to use for weaving. 
We are also continuing to discover that there are examples of weaving throughout our school as well! 

While using the bathroom this week, children's eyes were directed towards the ceiling where this beautiful piece of art is hung on display ... 

If we are going to make Lucas a birthday gift based on our new found interest in weaving, we need a loom to work on. Yesterday, the birthday committee was tasked with creating a loom that represented Lucas.
​Therefore, it needed to be RED.

Throughout the mixing process, Daniel narrated his findings to his friend Luke... 

Ohhh! That's a pretty color! It's like brown red. 
We need a tiny more white and more redder. 
Let's see what happens!

Ahhh! When you mix it on the black it's mixing purple!
Like purple! - Luke

Let's see the book.
(Daniel is referring to "Artist's Color Manual", a book used to research different colors and shades.)
Ok. I'll do the light red. So let's get more white. 
And now more red. 
And ... Ohh! This looks like a dinosaur red!
 - Daniel 

Today, additional members of the birthday committee were asked to collect items that would be suitable for weaving (pliable, flexible, bendable materials).
Keeping in mind Lucas's favorite color, committee members took a trip to the Tucker closet and were really successful in our findings! 

Here! Here! I see some red here! - Michael 

After returning to the classroom with our findings, Cape, Michael, and Luke worked on cutting the different materials into smaller sizes pieces to fit onto the loom. 

Then they got to work weaving the materials and the birthday gift started to come to life. 

A story began to evolve throughout the weaving process ... what was being created with the materials as they were added onto the loom?

We will save that story for our celebration for Lucas on Friday!

Daniel's mom and dad joined us for the birthday snack and celebration. We enjoyed cantaloupe and mini cupcakes together before starting our Brown Room traditions. We sang our birthday song for each year since Daniel's birth and he got to walk around the birthday table three times before blowing out his candle.

​Earlier that morning Daniel smelled our birthday candle and noticed "It smells like banana soup! I looove banana soup." (the label on the candle says "Sun Shower" but we guess that smell is up for interpretation). Hugh overheard his comment and said "I know why he likes bananas, because we were monkeys." to which Jade added "I was a tiger."

After we have been practicing weaving on our spider looms at home and on wooden looms in the classroom we decided to bring in the school's large loom. This new format and size requires the adaption of a previously learned concept - weaving on a smaller loom which is laying down on a flat surface. On the smaller looms a few children enjoyed repeating the mantra "over under over under" to guide themselves through the process of weaving in their pieces. Now the paper pieces/strips are not only larger and longer (and therefore heavier and more difficult to manage), but also have to be woven vertically instead of horizontal since the loom is standing upright. The weaving concept then changes slightly from over/under or up/down to front/back. The transferring and adapting of concepts like this requires great critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Who would like to build something outside today?
​Should we attempt to recreate the "house" we constructed together before winter break ?
​Remember this one ... 

Yes! We need to look at the picture. - Hugh
(referencing the photo of the house built by many of the children on the last day of school before break) 

And we need an upstairs today! - Cape 

​Our enthusiasm for today's plan started off strong as we headed outside to start our day! 
We were ready, we had new ideas to contribute, and  we had a "blueprint" to reference for inspiration. 

Let's get to work! 

Unfortunately, today's plan didn't exactly progress to the finished product that some of us were hoping to construct.
Some of us had ideas for the house that others didn't agree with and others decided to leave the project when they noticed a lack of investment and cooperation from their friends.

After about 30 minutes of building and working on the house, some children started to notice the lack of progress and that the work that had been done so far wasn't turning into the house we had previously built in December.  

Why do we not have the walls? - Lucas
Why didn't we finish the house? - Hugh

This was an excellent learning opportunity! 

Even though many of us enjoyed the process regardless of the outcome today, some children were left feeling disappointed. 
It's clear that if we're going to attempt a large scale project (such as building a large structure outdoors), we are going to need communication, cooperation, teamwork, and persistence in order to be successful!

Maybe next time, we could approach the project with some more in depth planning and discussion beforehand. We will also have to make sure that we are willing to talk and listen to one another if we want to reach our goal!
​There's nothing stopping us from trying again and learning from our past experiences to improve in the future. 

Here are some examples of working together, collaborating, and demonstrating strong examples of friendship that we have observed during our very short week in person at school. 

And Singing! 
Thanks for sharing your unique take on our classroom favorite (Row, Row, Row Your Boat), Michael! 

We will continue working on weaving in the classroom.
Please remember to bring in the loom you worked on at home during our virtual day so that we can share it with others and display it in the classroom.
​Thanks! 

​This is a ship. Up hear (pointing to a place right above his loom).
And there is a net and whales (pointing to his loom). This is the fins (the wooden strips). In the net.
They're trying to get their fins out but they can not. (Finlay)

Finlay repeating the weaving pattern "over, under, over, under" to himself while adding items to his loom.
​

Having a pajama day at school is always fun. Today we had 2 pairs of friends matching in their pj's. Lucas and Finlay both wore dinosaur shirts and pants that had "monster pockets". Hugh and Daniel also wore a matching pj set. Everyone was extra cozy!

​Soon after formulating his initial idea for building a barn, Cape had a few friends join him to help with the construction phase. 

There were many conversations being had throughout the process. Both planning and building seemed to take place simultaneously as children observed each others contributions and made suggestions to one another about important additions to the barn. Soon the idea for the barn was extending into an entire farm project. 

I need the barn book to look at. - Cape
(retrieving Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown to use as reference throughout his planning process)
We need animals and we need trees around. And we need a fence.
And the roof of the barn is made of shingles. - Cape 
(observing pictures in the story book)
Lucas can do the trees! - Cape
(handing Lucas a box of trees to place around the barn)

And this ... I do this. - Lucas
(pointing to a weathervane he noticed on the barn puzzle piece)
I put the trees in here. - Lucas
(placing trees inside of the blocks being used as the walls of the barn)

I can do the bricks! - Finlay
Yeah. And the bricks can make it stronger. I can do the bricks. - Daniel 

These can be hay rolls for the animals to eat. - Cape
(adding wood cylinder and round blocks to the interior of the barn)

Michael also joined the construction team and continued to add additional blocks to the "side walls" of the barn.

As the planning and construction of the farm continued, Cape announced to all of his friends that the farm was missing a tractor! He showed friends photos of a tractor that he has experience riding and used his family photo album as a visual aide to show his peers what a tractor should look like.

How could they include a tractor at the BR farm?  We don't have any tractors in the classroom ... 

Cape suggested that maybe we could paint a tractor because it needs to be green.
​Wilder offered to draw a tractor for the farm using a photo from Cape's family album as his guide (with some additional guidance from Cape as well). 

Cape speaking to Wilder :
"It has to say John Deere Tractor"

Today, the children were pleasantly surprised when they found a new addition to the construction area.
​There were some new farm animals toys to add to their farm! 

Can I touch it? It wants to jump into the barn! - Wilder
(excited to begin playing with the newly found farm animals)

​Construction, additions, and alternations to the farm continued today.
Children who worked on the project yesterday were eagerly ready to continue their process! 

It's both fascinating and impressive to observe the children's increased ability to expand on their work and continue to develop their ideas over lengthened periods of time. The collaboration on larger scale projects (such as creating this farm) strengthens their investment in and respect of the overall process.
​This was definitely a team effort that produced some incredible results! 

Here is a quick recap of Daniel's new found interest in measuring today. He spent his morning using a very long PVC pipe for measuring different objects in the outdoor classroom. So interesting!
​Maybe this will inspire a deeper look into the concept of measurement in the future ... 

​He also introduced us to a few Star Wars characters and shared that his favorite pancake topping is whipped cream. This turned into a conversation about everyone's favorite pancake toppings, from syrup (Bea, Cape, Wilder and Hugh) over chocolate chips (Lily) and Bananas (Sam and Ines) to salt (Daniel). Frannie and Finlay agreed with Lucas that whipped cream is the best topping for pancakes. Michael shared that he doesn't like pancakes. 
​

​Our Morning Meetings are for sharing ideas with each other, discussing current or upcoming events, such as Sing Alongs or birthdays, and talking about our day ahead. At the end of every meeting each child makes a plan and decides how he or she would like to start their morning at school. 
​
Today Cape, Michael and Lucas decided to start by puzzling, Daniel wanted to play with frogs in the construction area, Wilder and Frances chose painting in the studio, Bea and Lily continued their birthday committee work, Finlay was interested in working with gems on the light table and Hugh said "I want to make something for Daniel" and he joined the birthday committee in the studio.
​

Bea, Lily and Hugh spent all morning working on Daniel's special birthday present. While they decorated the paper they had just pressed, many more ideas came up. 

Hugh: Should we try to draw his name on it? How can we do that? Let's look for more things blue.
Lily: Maybe we should use our fingers?

Since the paper was still very wet we weren't able to use a regular blue marker, that Hugh had found, to draw or write on it. Hugh decided to utilize other parts of the classroom for his plan and went to the message center. He asked a teacher to write Daniel's name for him to use as a reference. He returned to the studio shortly after with his incredible work! He asked if we could add it to the finished birthday box in the end.
​Absolutely fantastic work, Hugh! WOW! 

​
​Mixing our own paint colors ​

​Lily: We need to use everybody's symbol! Go on a box!
Ines: Maybe ofter we finish the paper we can make the birthday box for him?
Lily: Yes. But the box need to be blue because because he (whispers) likes blue.
Ines: How can we make a blue box?
Bea: How about we paint it. We can use blue paint. 
Hugh: Look! Blue paint right there. (walking into the classroom, remembering the jar of blue paint we had talked about during morning meeting before making our plans for the day, which represented "Painting in the studio" as a possible choice). Where is the blue paint? (Sam informed him that the jar of paint was brought to our easels in the studio and that he can find blue paint there)

We decided to create more shades of blue (by mixing different amount of blue, white and black) which we could then use to paint a blue painting. The idea was to tape the painting around the birthday box. The final step would be to add everybody's symbol to the box. 

Hugh, Bea and Lily used the paints they had created to paint a collaborative painting for Daniel. Lily painted "a mean lion" which later decided "I'm just nice!". Bea painted multiple ponds and a "mean alligator". Hugh used a thick and soft brush to create a "puffy cloud" and in the end also a "big big big big ocean".

The collaboration showed in different ways. Throughout the entire process the children shared their plans for the painting and asked questions about their friends' painting. Towards the end Bea and Lily trailed each others paint brushes across the painting in an effort to "connect" their "individual paintings" (e.g. Bea's alligator, Lily's lion and Hugh's cloud). 

​

​This elaborate process showed us that the children now have a deeper understanding and recollection of birthday presents and traditions in the Brown Room and their ability to guide almost the entire birthday committee work by themselves. They repeatedly questioned their ideas under the aspect of Daniel's preferences and likes and thought ahead about the next step necessary for a successful birthday present. Their familiarity and positive relationship with the environment showed in the way they drew and expanded on information from past experiences in the classroom and their level in autonomy, critical thinking and the way they support each other in finding solutions.

After noticing that pipe cleaners won't stay on the paper by themselves and trying out different ways (e.g. pushing it in deeper and bending it):
Hugh: We're using tape (about using wet tissue paper in order to attach pipe cleaners to the paper)
Bea: Yeah, it's like using tape.
Hugh: Guys, if you smoosh it it goes on. (showing his friends which way to apply the tissue paper in order to support the pipe cleaner best)

The next Brown Room birthday celebration is for our friend, Daniel. It was decided that we could showcase our recently learned paper making skills to create a beautiful blue paper message for him as his birthday gift. 

So, what's going on in the studio today?
​The birthday committee uses a blender to process our wet paper pieces into fine paper pulp. 

After the mixture of paper + water has been added to the blender... it's time to blend! 

The blender can be an intimidating tool to work with because it's so unexpectedly loud! 
However, it was quickly evident that the noise would not deter us from following through on making our pulp. 

If you haven't ever had the opportunity to feel paper pulp yourself, Jade uses a fantastic vocabulary word to describe it - Goopy! 

Many of us feel that the paper pulp has a very pleasant texture. Frances and Lucas were both drawn to exploring the pulp with their hands. This exploration quickly transitioned into a fine motor challenge as they worked on transferring the viscous material into a variety of different sized containers using tools such as spoons, sponges, and their hands. 

Today was the first time the BR children had the opportunity to work with a loom. We created "web looms" to use in the classroom as an introduction into the concept of weaving and how to begin to learn this skill. 

Wilder and Cate were eager to learn what they could create using the new looms! 

Weaving on a loom is not an easy concept to learn. 
It takes concentration, patience, persistence, and greatly challenges fine motor control.
Weaving is an excellent introduction to pattern and repetition as well as a great opportunity to strengthen visual-spatial skills. 

While experimenting with this new concept, it was discovered that if you don't weave the paper strips into the loom using the over, under, and through concepts, your materials could potentially fall out if not secured!


Cate tests her work to see if her paper strips are "stuck" in her web. 

We plan to send home weaving materials to try at home during our virtual learning day next week (Wednesday, January 20th). 

If you are interested in creating your own additional weaving experiences at home, here are a few images for inspiration!

As part of our "Home Research" we asked you to collect all things paper over the break. Maybe you came across a special piece of mail, wrapping paper, paper interesting in texture or purpose, or anything that especially spoke to your child that was made out of paper? Collect it in a ziplock back and bring it in to school. We are excited to see and hear about it!

Today, Lily and Cate shared their paper collections with us during Morning Meeting.
​

​We also wanted to share a couple stories the children shared with us during Morning Meetings about their Winter Break:

Daniel: I got dinosaurs for Christmas. We stayed home. Even my sister stay home with me. I heard him (Santa) on the roof and then he dove down the chimney. I saw him. I was sleeping. When Santa was here I went to go potty upstairs and then I goed back to the living room and I saw Santa. I sawed him! Yeah. He looked like a silly old Santa. He was wearing a silly old hat. 

Bea: We had a great flight on an airplane. We went to Florida. I did not visit anyone. We just stayed there. Mommy, daddy, James and Bea. No Teddy because dogs are not allowed in Florida. Teddy stayed with a person in Maryland. We go in the pool. Some pools are cold. 
​

...and it's going to be Daniel's! We decided on making paper for his birthday present.
​
"We should do it the same (referencing to time we made paper in the classroom before winter break). We scoop and then we put it on a towel and then we add stuff to it." - Hugh
​

Daniel chose BLUE as his birthday color so the birthday committee decided to create blue paper for him. But in the process we noticed that the pulp we created was white and not blue.

How can we turn it blue?
Jade: How about I have something else blue. Like a paper patch. So maybe we can try something else.
Bea: Not blue paint!
​Jade: I didn't say blue paint. I said blue pulp.

 But how can we create blue pulp?
Lily: Definitely not blue paint.
Jade: I think blue water.

​To end our blog today we wanted to share Cate's creations of houses for her bunny 'Poppelhase'. Yesterday she created a house out of loose parts (paper and feathers) in the classroom. Today she constructed a house out of various wooden blocks and planks int he outdoor classroom.