![]() We would both just like to say thank you to our Brown Room families for joining us for classroom stories night. This was a first time experience for both of us (and many of you as well) and it felt so fulfilling to be able to share special moments with you from our school year so far. We love our Brown Room children so very much! Cape and Daniel both reflected on their experiences attending the presentation last night. Cape: I see you (Sam) in the video and the kiddies. Daniel: I also sawed you (Ines). I sawed Caped in the video. And I sawed Hugh in the video. He had a shirt on. A friendly reminder - on the last day of each month, the St. John's staff spends extra time cleaning and caring for our environment. Therefore, we will not be posting a typical blog post. BUT ... today we celebrated our friend Lily and had some extra fun movement time in Blake Hall. So, please enjoy some photos from our very fun day! Lily is 3 years old and she likes to "tell jokes"!A tunnel! Guys! There's a tunnel down here! - Hugh |
| |
Daniel: What's down there, let's see. Bea: (to Finlay and Daniel) I want you guys to come up. Cause I'm worried. Because the lots of stairs. Daniel: I can hold the railing. It's not really scary. It's not a race. Bea: I don't want to be i the dark. I just want to be in light. I'm really nervous when I don't see him. (about Daniel and Finlay which are at the bottom of the staircase) Finlay: (Counting steps) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16. |
Daniel: I hear your voice, Sam. (commenting on a noticeable echo) Finlay: Let's get out. I think someone's in here... someone's hiding in here. Sam: Have you been inside the church where mommy works? Finlay: Yeah. It's different. Let's get out of here. We made our way up the stairs to the "balcony", which is right in front of Molly's office. She offered us to turn on the lights in the church so we could explore it again. |
The last stop on our tour was the bell tower. We hear the bells in the Brown Room every day during snack time and were curious about where exactly they are. Finlay: Molly, what's up there? Bea: I want to see. After we explored a fairly dusty staircase... Daniel: That was yucky. The rain made it yucky. Bea: (to Jessica) I was a little nervous, but I was safe with all my friends. | |
Later in the day, children reflected on their Chapel experience and some shared their favorite moments - Remy: I like Chapel. Cate: The stories. Wilder: Lighting candles up. Lucas: Umm, sing a song. With Saul. Jade: Reading the book. Michael: The candle fell off. | This Little Light of Mine (maybe you can practice at home!) This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine All around the great big world I'm gonna let it shine All around the great big world I'm gonna let it shine All around the great big world I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine |
Frogs & Toads Whenever we read some of our classroom books about toads, frogs, and other creatures, we show lots of interest in the sounds they make. We spontaneously decided to play some recordings of both frog and toad sounds today and what we heard was very unexpected! Maybe not all frogs and toads say, "ribbit"... It says whooooooo. Who is an owl sound! - Wilder (listening to a toad "whistle") Like a little baby! - Frances He's screaming! - Remy Then, we were interested in making a "frog house" for some of our classroom frog friends. What should a frog house include? Soft carpets for mommy, daddy and baby frogs to sleep. A pond. Water. Grass. Trees. Bugs. A slide. Books. |
| During morning meeting we discussed the schedule for Chapel on Wednesday morning. We will sing the song "This little light of mine" and practiced it together. On the program paper we noticed "a symbol". Maybe the school's symbol? Molly told us that it is called "The Imagination Brain" and that it can be found around the school. Have you seen it around school before? Cate, Jade, and Hugh set out to explore the school and to find the symbol. |
Finlay: "I can get blocks. But there's a small crack. (noticing spaces between the blocks) Oh, that's a great idea. (while using small bricks to fill the cracks) I made it! A Cooncoon house! It needs a roof and wings on it. A flying house! It needs one more thing... A roof! (the roof he's constructing keeps falling down) Okay, this is getting ridiculous! (adding pillows and trees) Them gonna get hungry. They eat trees. (finding rubber tubing on the shelf and bringing it to his construction) Pipes! For water going down. They got a perfect house! Now they need a bathroom. They can go to the roof for the bathroom." Hugh: This can be the toilet (adding a cylinder can) | |
We had a surprise fire drill today during our outside time. Everyone did so well pausing what they were working on to make sure that we exited the gate quickly and safely together as a group. When we were out in front of our school, Cape looked around and asked, "Where is the fire?" This was the perfect opportunity to remind all of the children that although there wasn't any actual fire to be worried about, it's important that we practice so that we know how to leave the school and get to a safe place in case of a fire emergency! Does anyone practice fire safety at home? These type of drills can sometimes be unsettling, but our children handled it so well and were back to working and playing in the outdoor classroom in no time. Way to go Brown Room! |
Did you know that Daniel was a part of Cape's birthday committee and chose to paint him a "big castle" on his birthday message? Well, Daniel decided that he would build that castle during his final minutes at school. We make every minute of our day count while were here in the Brown Room. I'm gonna put little bricks here. Because so it doesn't fall. It's not gonna fall, Michael. Okay so now I'm gonna put a tree here. Look at my castle with bricks and a tree! - Daniel |
| After our morning meeting another fantastic Mystery Reader joined us - Camille, Finlay's mom! She read the books "Pigs make me sneeze!" by Mo Willems and "Spooky Pookie" by Sandra Boynton. Both were big hit and made everyone wiggle and giggle. Thank you, Camille, for reading to us this morning. We absolutely LOVED it! |
As a continuation of our color explorations we studied different kinds of yellow and learned that each one has a unique name. Hugh named the four watercolors we were using the following: (from left to right) "Grayish yellow, reddish yellow, I think a little lighter yellow, this one is a little lighter, too." Bea: I want to make the very orange one. Daniel: It's dark. (about the golden/bronze shimmer) |
The Brown Room is continuing to develop a deeper interest in toads. Today we learned more about the American Toad which is native to our region. We asked, what they thought toads like to eat. Wilder: Bugs. Lucas: It likes to eat bees. Wilder: Maybe it likes to eat those bugs (pointing to a beetle in a resin casing, which we picked up from the light table in the greeting hallway this morning). Maybe they eat different frogs. |
Building houses together is also a favorite in the morning when we arrive at school. In Blake Hall houses are being constructed with magna-tiles for items that were brought from home like stuffed animals or cars, berries that were found outside and lovies. Remy: I want to put something inside. clockwise from the top: Frannie, Michael, Wilder, Jade and Remy constructing different types of houses this morning. |
After exploring our front lawn and collecting natural materials yesterday, we revisited them during a collage making process today. In addition to the natural materials a variety of items from our studio was provided. A special focus was placed on intentionality, self-control and proportions. The children were encouraged to choose an item before using glue. This assisted with choosing the appropriate amount of glue for the size of the chosen material. The smaller collage base (2.5x5 inches) promoted and demanded awareness of dimensions and to make intentional choices. Instead of dumping a larger amount of items at once, individual items were placed with purpose on a previously chosen space. Collages left to right, top to bottom: Lucas, Frances, Michael, Wilder, Cape, Cate |
Lily & LucasLucas & WilderDaniel & Frances | Lily: I can't see because it's white. And the paper is white. Bea: I'm painting something. (also using white) Lily: Mama calls these things 'redders' and 'bluers', but I don't know why really. Bea: That's funny. Bea: I mixed them! Now it's changing to green. My paintbrush. Bea: I'm done painting. Now I'll go back to working. Lily: Maybe he mixed the colors. (looking at Lucas) Red and ... white? Maybe he put yellow on top. I don't know how he did it. Lucas: Blue. And this color in the middle. Red! I did it. Lily: It's getting darker. (adding more blue on top of her first coat of blue paint) Lily: Hmm... yellow and red... orange. Lily: Ohhhh yeahhhh. Pink! (looking at her brush) Wilder: I'm trying to make green. I don't see green. Red and yellow. And white to go on top. Then we make green! (tests his theory) ... pink! Then we do blue on top to make green... no. Then some more white. (continues testing) Wilder: Why's there no water? It's not water paint? Why? What is this paint? (Tempera Paint) Frannie: Mom will love this! And my dad can love this! Daniel: My mom will love this. And Isa will love this too. Daniel: Paint is not food. Only allowed to paint our fingers. Frannie: Look at my footprint! Daniel: I'm painting myself. ( painting his skin) Frannie: It's pink like you, Daniel! (looking at her own body) |
Hugh was wondering where all these new toys came from. After learning that Molly and Jessica had gotten those for us, Bea, Lily, Wilder, Lucas and Hugh created "thank you notes" for both of them. Bea: I'm drawing a lake for them. A black lake. Lucas: New toys. Wilder: A boy. That's me. Here. Hugh: I don't know. Kinda like a rainbow thingy. Wilder: We can send it in the mail. |
Many children were interested in the climbing net today. Everyone waited patiently for their turn and supported their peers during their try. Daniel: I'm not done yet. I'm trying to make it harder. (going up one more step) Lily: It's a little wobbly. Did Grace like this when she was at Brown Room? And how about that? The red thing. Did she like that when she was at Brown Room? (pointing at the red monkey bar) |
Today we received the most beautiful message from one of our St. John's teachers - Elyse. We saw that the message got send via the post office because it has the Brown Room's address on it and a return address. We also found two stamps on the envelope. We noticed the message Elyse made us looks like fall and a few friends shared about pumpkins they have at home. In her message Elyse tells us that she loves to send and receive messages and she asks us: "If you respond to my message, how will you send it to me?" Finlay: The mailbox. And then she can send on back to us. Hugh: We bring it. Out. Outside. In the mail truck and then we send it. Sam: How do we find the mail truck? Hugh: I don't know. Hugh wondered if we could go and look for it outside because we had never seen someone deliver mail inside St. John's. And then he decided that he would like to check his own mailbox in the hallway first. Finlay and Bea shared that interest and joined him. |
And we had our very first Mystery Reader join us during snack today! Yay! To solve the "mystery" of who would read to us we gave the children the clue "It's the mom of a boy in the Brown Room." Who could it be? Hugh: Saul! --- Finlay: Me. --- Wilder: Me. Willoughby, Wilder's mom, joined us via Zoom to read the book "The Circus Ship" by Chris Van Dusen. Everyone loved listening to the story while finishing up snack. Thank you so much for reading to us today, Willoughby! |
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