ST. JOHN'S PRESCHOOL
  • Home
  • Brown
  • Rainey
  • Tucker
  • KW
  • Participation at St. John's
  • Home
  • Brown
  • Rainey
  • Tucker
  • KW
  • Participation at St. John's
Search

TUCKER ROOM

Picture

Wednesday, March 31st

3/31/2021

0 Comments

 

The value of documentation. 

As educators, we are forever strengthening and developing our practices. One area of practice in particular that we'd like to share with you all is the ways in which we document children's processes.
"Documenting is an indispensable but extremely difficult ability; however it can become an extraordinary opportunity for discussion and formative professional experience." (The Wonder of Learning: The Hundred Languages of Children)

We continue to learn how to best capture children's learning through experience, practice, and utilizing different methods of observation. We hope you enjoy the following examples of documentation related to a project this week that involved creating dragon sculptures out of clay. These examples are just two possible methods (out of many different potential approaches) in which we are able to utilize documentation as a valuable tool. 
Day 1 - Transcription
File Size: 1684 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Day 1 & Day 2 - Collaboration Comparison
File Size: 30659 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

March 30th, 2021

3/30/2021

0 Comments

 
Happy Birthday, Cate!
​

On Monday we celebrated our friend Cate's 4th birthday and got to meet her new stuffed animal; a bunny named Floppy!
During morning meeting she shared photos of her first birthday with us, which she celebrated in Paris. This year, she said, "I celebrated my birthday outside but not in France." After strawberries and macarons, singing the special birthday song for her together with her mom and dad,  Daniel and Jade handed Cate her hand-sewn pink birthday present. The birthday committee was very excited to finally share their beautiful work with her. 
After the celebration we enjoyed a dance party in the outdoor classroom with some of Cate's favorite songs, including "We're going on a bear hunt" and "This little light of mine". 
Remy singing "happy birthday" to Cate during snack time.

Is it a different projector? - Lily
​
Picture

​Over Spring Break the classroom has changed a little bit and the children were exploring the new sewing area.
​What did we find?

The children were instantly enthusiastic about investigating the new sewing machine further.  Together we learned about the different parts of the machine such as  the presser foot (which can be adjusted with the presser foot lifter to hold down the fabric or paper), the upper and bobbin tread, the reverse switch lever ("to sew backwards"), and the foot switch to adjust the needle speed. In the process of sewing we also had to thread needles and learned how to change needles in case the tip breaks off. 

​
A few impressions from trying out the sewing machine in the classroom for the first time on card stock:
​
Cate
Cate noticed how the tread is creating lines on the card stock and how you could created image with sewing as well. She then brought her paper to the message center to draw a flower on it before returning to the sewing machine. Cate then tried to "trace" her flower drawing with the needle.
Picture
Remy
Picture
Remy was mostly fascinated by using the reverse switch lever repeatedly, which created sharp zigzag lines on her paper. 
Luke

​Luke showed great interest in moving the paper around and making the needle "go super fast!" by pushing down the foot switch.
Picture
Hugh
Picture
​Bea

​Bea, at first a bit hesitant, touching and guiding the paper with only one hand and on the edge of the paper, developed great confidence quickly. After only a couple minutes she operated the sewing machine all by herself, being able to adjust the needle speed with her foot comfortably. 
Picture
Picture
Finlay
Similar to Cate's discovery, Finlay also noticed how you could create images on the paper by moving it around while sewing on it. 

It's a rainbow. Actually it's a dragon. It live under water. - Finlay
Picture
0 Comments

Wednesday, March 17th

3/17/2021

0 Comments

 
Chapel 
We started our day with chapel this morning.
Here are a couple thoughts from our friend Wilder about the Tucker Room's chapel responsibilities ...
Picture
Observing Tucker Room light and extinguish the chapel candles.



Sam, those kids are nailing it!
- Wilder referring to Tucker Room singing "Simple Gifts"


​
Wow. That's pretty tricky when they do that!
- Wilder acknowledging Tucker friends skills while using the candle snuffer. 

​

A Final Design

Using our collection of stair designs that we sketched thus far, we were able to arrange an image for the final staircase design for the  school pajama project!
Picture
Bea works on arranging different pieces for the pajama project design.


Bea shares her thoughts throughout her arranging process ... 

It goes up and down. 
I like all of them, but I like this one better. 
We could do three (different stair drawings) ... or just one. 
You go up to school and when you come in to go up the stairs.


Yesterday, after many different opportunities to work with our collective designs and narrow down our selection, we agreed on a final design to deliver to Lou Lou!

Here are some additional thoughts throughout our process when collaborating on our final design ... 

In the middle. - Bea (when placing the main staircase)
Do these even look like stairs? - Lily (asking Bea)
No, those are mirrors. - Bea
(reminding Lily that we are including the mirrors hanging next to the main staircase in our design)
​This is the railing. - Lily

We make a turn. So we need to make this one twist. So we have to tape it on. And then another one on.
- Lily
(suggesting how to connect the additional parts of the staircase)
Yeah, we go the other way. - Daniel
(recalling that we turn direction while on the staircase up to school)
​We have to tape one side on the middle. And then that one to that. - Lily (arranging stair pieces)

Then where should this piece be added?
- Sam asking about the final piece/stairs

It goes the other way!
- Lily
​(positioning the final stair piece to create the last "curve" in the staircase)
That looks so cool! - Hugh
Picture
Staircase up to school. / Left side: mirrors / Right side: railing

​We can't wait to see what the final designs from all of the classrooms will look like when printed onto fabric! 
Thank you for all of your help, Lou Lou!

Dragonfruit 

Today, Ines brought a new fruit to share with us and it was so interesting! 
What is it?
Dinosaur egg! - Luke
It looks like a princess egg. A cape and a dress. - Frannie
A T-Rex egg. - Luke
I'm scared of it. - Lucas
Some of us enjoyed it, some of us didn't, but many of us were excited to try another new food!

Dance Party! - Luke

We finished our day with some "music and movement" time in Blake Hall or how many of us like to describe it, a Dance Party! 
Picture
We're looking forward to our Parent-Teacher conferences with all of you tomorrow and Friday and we hope everyone has a fantastic Spring Break!
0 Comments

March 15th, 2021

3/15/2021

0 Comments

 
Cate's birthday committee
On Monday, a new birthday committee formed and started their work for Cate's upcoming birthday. She will be the first child to turn 4 in the Brown Room! Cate had already let us know about her favorite color a couple weeks ago, "It's pink!" (Cate)

Throughout the school year we deepened our relationship with materials by incorporating them into our birthday present. Since we are currently working on sewing and it is also one of Cate's strongest interests in the classroom, her birthday present will be created through sewing. The birthday committee, consisting of Luke, Remy and Finlay, began their work today by collecting materials at the school's sewing table.
Picture
What do we need for our sewing project?

Lot's of stuff. A needle. - Finlay
Two needles (pointing at himself). - Luke
Fabric. - Remy
Rope. - Finlay


Together, we collected different kinds of fabric ("sparkly" - Luke), embroidery floss and ribbon in shades of pink and purple.

Once we returned to the classroom, we had to decide which fabric we would use as 'the base' for our sewing project. In order to find a piece that would fit in our embroidery hoop we had to compare sizes and match them with the hoop.


After we attached the fabric to the embroidery hoop we chose, we went on to the next step: threading needles! 
Picture
Remy threading a needle with embroidery floss 
Luke threading a needle with embroidery floss
We continued to prepare our materials by cutting fabric we would like to sew on the birthday present into different shapes and smaller pieces. 
Today we continued the wonderful birthday committee work by adding the materials we had prepared yesterday. Sewing through multiple layers of fabric requires a heightened level of precision and control. Fantastic job, Finlay and Remy!
Sewing on our pieces of fabric and ...
... securing our stitches in the end by making a knot. 

Mystery Reader and new foods (continued)
On Monday, Bea brought one of her favorite snacks for us to school; beet chips, sweet snap peas and hummus. The children were especially interested in investigating the snap peas and popping the small peas out.

 I like the outside - Lily
You can also eat the outside. - Bea
I lick one piece and I bite it. 14 beans inside. Look, it has beans inside. - Daniel


Bea's mom, Abby, also joined us for snack to read a book to us, "Franklin's Flying Bookshop" by Jen Campbell. When reading this book at home, Bea noticed a connection to one of our current projects at school - a dragon - and wanted to share it with her friends in the Brown Room. Thank you Abby and Bea for a fantastic snack time!



0 Comments

Backwards Day!

3/12/2021

0 Comments

 
It's been a while since we were here to enjoy a Friday backwards day.
Yesterday, we witnessed a special delivery at school. You may have heard that we received new sand and mulch for the outdoor classroom!
Picture
Observing the delivery from the front lawn.
Picture
Picture
We stood out on the outside steps and watched the sand and mulch being carried in by wheelbarrows.
Although we couldn't use the space yesterday, we enjoyed watching the delivery take place and couldn't wait for today to be able to enjoy it for an extended time this morning!  
​
And not being able to use the outdoor classroom didn't stop us from enjoying yesterday's beautiful sunshine.

Today, we could not wait to get outside!

Is this new sand or snow? It's not cold at all! - Hugh 
It's soft like snow. - Daniel 
New sand! White sand! Yay! - Daniel 

Snow is cold, sand is warm. - Cape
This sand is like sugar. - Hugh 

Picture
We REALLY enjoyed our time outside today!


​Based off of a photo that Ines shared from one of her past visits to the beach, Lily creates "octopus legs" for Wilder in the sand!

​

In true Friday fashion, we ended our day with a dance party!
0 Comments

March 11th, 2021

3/11/2021

0 Comments

 
Today we got to spend some more
time with our friend Saul over Zoom!
​

During Morning Meeting the children discussed the possible reasons for our Zoom meeting with him.

Maybe it's Saul's birthday? (Wilder)
That was a great guess. So we went over to our Brown Room birthday calendar and searched for his birthday by looking for his symbol, the guitar. But no, today is not his birthday.

​Because we want to see him. (Finlay)
What a wonderful thought! And yes, we do want to see him and continue to build a meaningful relationship with him.    


Considering that Saul hasn't spend a lot of time in our (physical) classroom we were thinking of a few things we would like to share with him and show him about our work, projects, and  materials in the Brown Room.
What would we like to share with Saul?

I want to share the sewing project. (Bea)
I want to make him a message. (Wilder)
I want to show him some books. (Daniel)
The farm set. (Frances)
I want to share the farm set when I'm done reading books with him. (Daniel)
I want to show him my birthday present on the birthday calendar. (Daniel)


                                                                                                        
​During our Zoom .....
...Michael shared his taxi with him.
...Bea brought Saul into the studio to show him our project work on stairs for the St. John's pajamas.
... Daniel and Saul shared their constructions with each other.
Saul also used a foldable laundry basket, which can be transformed into a couch, and a soft chair to construct with.
Picture
... Lily, Cape and Saul explored our color blocks together by holding the blocks in front of their eyes and the camera.
Saul shared with us that he has also done sewing before - just like we are doing in the classroom right now! We hope to connect with him about this more in the future.

​During our snack time we reflected on our call with Saul:


I showed him the things on the wall (our pajama project documentation/drawings of stairs) and the cozy area. - Bea
Silver (remembering Saul sharing his favorite color with us) - Wilder

He was sitting in something. - Bea
​A yellow chair. An orange chair. - Wilder
A laundry basket and it was white and blue. And a couch. - Bea
That's so incredible! How did he get in there? - Daniel

​
Saul, thank you for joining us today! It was wonderful to play, explore, chat and share with you. We hope that we can see you again, soon!
0 Comments

An "Updated" Day in the Brown Room

3/10/2021

0 Comments

 
If you recall our Classroom Stories Night presentation in the fall, we used that opportunity to show you a typical day in the Brown Room through video.
Not only has our Brown Room environment changed so much since then, but so have the children! 

We thought it might be nice to bring you back into the present day classroom. Enjoy! 

​Getting ready for Morning Meeting 
Picture
Morning Meeting
Discussing Current Project Work - Dragons!
Today, we shared ideas with each other about what we want our final dragon design to look like so that we can begin to move forward with starting the actual dragon costume! Wilder used our documentation board as a reference point when mentioning what "parts of a dragon" we needed to include in the actual costume. 
Choosing Our "Plans"
What do we want to begin working on?

Not only are we currently working on our design projects (dragon costume & pajama project), but we are also learning how to sew and reflecting on our "trying new foods" experiences.  
Engaged in Uninterrupted Work Time​

​Snack Time
First, we take turns washing our hands. Then, we begin eating and enjoy our daily story time! 
Sometimes, we use this opportunity to have a "second meeting" together as a large group.
​We might reflect on the days work, continue a morning meeting discussion, or try something completely new.
Today, we played "Pictionary" for the first time! 

​Potty, Changing Shoes, Getting Dressed for Outside 
Outside Time
Dismissal
0 Comments

Finalizing our Dragon Costume Design

3/9/2021

0 Comments

 
This week we continued our dragon project and tracing work.

Today we had a large group meeting to discuss the next steps in our projects. After collecting different kinds of designs, drawings, paintings, tracings and dragon studies we decided it is time to make a final costume design.

What do we want the dragon costume to look like?

COLORS
The group decided on the colors green, yellow, purple, orange, blue and black striped for the body and red for the dragon's head.

BODY
"Horns. Two on the top of the head." - Finlay
We also decided on adding a tongue, fire, a mouth, and "people for dragon" (Luke).
"A curvy body and sticks to hold it up." - Hugh
"The biggest one ever." - Luke, thinking about the size of the costume.
Bea added that the body would also need "scales". Which brought up a concern for Jade: "Are they sharp?" But we agreed that scales can be sharp or soft.
​That discussion brought us to another topic:

MATERIALS
What kind of materials should we use for our dragon costume?
"I think we need fabric." - Hugh
"I think we need scales that are hard." - Jade
Hugh had the idea that if we want to be able to touch the scales they should be soft and made out of fabric as well. 

How can we connect the different materials?
As a response Luke interlaced his fingers and said "Like this."
Bea and Finlay both shared their idea to use sewing as a way of connecting the materials.


This discussion helped us visualize our final dragon costume. After deciding on critical parts of the costume, such as colors, size and details of his "body" we are now entering the material collection phase of our project.



We also notice more items around school that are made out of fabric, like this kite next to our cubbies.

​These explorations spark ideas about the potential of sewing!
Picture
0 Comments

March 04th, 2021

3/4/2021

0 Comments

 
A giant dragon? Like this big?
​
(stretching her arms out wide) -  Remy 
​
Picture
Yesterday Jen showed us a new technique that we can use in the classroom: tracing.

Have you ever traced before?
Cate: A heart with a cookie cutter.
Michael: I traced a  car.
Jade: A block.

When you trace you follow and outline, which is the shape a a photograph makes. 
Picture
We projected large images of a variety of dragons onto a special easel, with paper on one side and plexiglas on the other. This way children can trace the projected image without creating a shadow on the paper. The children worked in pairs collaboratively on this new part of our dragon design project. During the tracing process we repeatedly turned off the projector light by closing the shutter, to notice the shape of our drawings on the paper. This gave us an opportunity to compare our drawings with the projected image and identify areas that we would like to work more on. After the tracings were final the children brought them into the studio to then paint them.
​
Wilder and Cate:
Lucas and Luke:
before Lucas and Luke started their tracing work they also drew and designed their own dragons:
Cape and Jade:
Bea and Lily:
Michael:
Picture
Picture
Michael's first final tracing of a projected dragon image. He added vertical lines underneath the image to represent "sticks" in reference to dragon costumes.

Happy Birthday, St. John's!


Today our wonderful school turned "the number two and four" (Bea). We celebrated this important day with a Sing Along, lead by the Rainey Rooms. After Sing Along Molly, as a representative for the school, received a gift from the Tucker Rooms; the numbers 2 and 4 made out of clay. We will find these numbers soon as the newest addition to the "school's birthday count" next to the steps leading up to St. John's. Molly also brought in cookies for everyone in the school. "These are so delicious" (Lily). Thank you, Molly! 
​
0 Comments

Wednesday, March 3rd

3/3/2021

1 Comment

 

There is so much going on in the Brown Room!

Did you know that we currently have TWO design projects in progress?

If you need a reminder to catch you up, we are currently designing both a DRAGON costume as well as working on an all school PAJAMA design project. 

​Today, let's focus on sharing updates about the pajama project!
The Brown Room is now well on their way to making some awesome contributions to the all school pajama design. 
Last week, we became acquainted with the pajama project documentation board at school and began to grasp an understanding of the meaning of this exciting collaborative project.
We immediately had some questions about the project specifically regarding what the process of designing pajamas for the school would entail, so we asked Lou Lou Baker (Cape's mom) to join us on zoom and further explain her job as an artist/designer. This helped us gain an even deeper understanding of the work! After Lou Lou was able to guide us through her own process, we were ready to use this learned information to begin our own designing. 
What would "St. John's" pajamas look like?
Before beginning to take on the challenge of creating physical designs for the pajamas, we needed to have a collaborative brain storming session together as a class to begin to come up with ideas for potential designs. We know that pajamas can have endless amounts of amazing designs on them (we have seen so many different types of designs during our school pajama days), but what if we wanted to create pajamas that made us think about our school? What would St. John's pajamas look like?
With a shirt and pants. - Bea
My symbol! - Finlay
The playground. - Hugh
 ... (thinking about the outdoor classroom space)
Mushrooms! and trucks are on the playground. - Lily
​Rat traps are on the playground. - Daniel 
​

As we continued our discussion and shared our ideas with one another, we decided to focus on thinking about the school environment. We recalled on our many "school tours" where we had the opportunity to become more familiar with the entire building and all of the spaces within the school. We even reflected on some of our school tour documentation and looked at photos of the different spaces around the school. 
St. John's symbol! - Bea
(noticing the "imagination brain" in many different photos around the school)
You could draw the kitchen. Or paint the kitchen like Cape's mom. - Bea
And the stairs when you go to pick up (dismissal). - Bea
Suddenly we noticed that there are LOTS of stairs in the photos from the school tours. There are staircases all throughout the school! How many different stairs could we think of?
We walk up stairs to go to school. - Lily
There's two stairs! - Hugh
One down to the kitchen, one up to the school, and one down to pick up. - Bea
And Molly's stairs! - Wilder (referring to the staircase to the bell tower in Molly's office)
And one to go outside! - Hugh

That's a lot of stairs! We counted and could think of  five different staircases that we have visited/used within the school. 

Designing Stairs

A small group of children volunteered to begin the pajama design process with staircases in mind. 

Where is the best place to get inspiration for drawing stairs? From real life examples of course!
We set out around the school to observe different staircases and begin sketching our initial designs ...
Research / Observations:
Shape
Curvy, curvy, curvy. So that you can step on them. - Hugh
This is my first time (drawing steps). They go up and down. - Lily
They go up and down. - Daniel 

They turn! They're like zig saggy and they curve. - Hugh
(observing the difference in the shape of the staircase up to the school)
We could follow the finger! - Lily
(tracing the shape of the staircase with her finger in the air)
It's a triangle. - Daniel
(observing the difference in shape of the landing step versus the other ascending steps)
Shadow
(observing the staircase outside)
The shadows on the stairs do line line. So that's why I have to do (draw) line line. - Hugh
They look like an accordion body! - Hugh 
Quantity 
10 stairs! - Lily
(counting the amount of steps on the staircase descending to the chapel of the carpenter / dismissal area)

​After deciding that a staircase design should include at least 10 steps, Hugh and Lily worked together to create a design that depicted enough length for the appropriate size, length, and amount of stairs.
​This was challenging! 

Our initial designs are fantastic! The intentionality behind the work and effort we are putting into this project already is truly amazing. 
Picture
Picture
Picture

A special birthday!

How can a building have a birthday? - Hugh​


​


Remy and Michael visit the number line that is used to depict the age of the school. 



​

Even a school can have a birthday!
Tomorrow, our school turns 24 years old.
We will celebrate tomorrow with a special school sing along and Tucker Room children plan to present a birthday gift to the school.


In the Brown Room, we decided to create our own special birthday messages with well wishes and love for our school too! 

​Remy's Gift
​"It's like Beyonce. It's a fashion show. A fashion show store. For the school. I have to wrap it! With pretty gems."
Picture


Frannie's Gift

"It's a feather. A pen (the feather) for the school. For the school to draw with. It will make a dinosaur."

​

Picture
A card for the school's birthday. - Cate
Picture
Two roads and a whole dozen eggs. The school should share them because then more kids come. - Finlay
Happy Birthday St. John's! 
1 Comment
<<Previous

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Brown
  • Rainey
  • Tucker
  • KW
  • Participation at St. John's