Bea's Special Day

All About Bea

During her interview, Bea shared the following information with her friends based off of questions they asked her about some of her favorite things. 

Favorite animal: A pony. They have shorter fur and are small. 
Favorite color: Red because it's first in the rainbow. And apples are red. 
Favorite shape: Square
Favorite country: Virginia
Favorite time: Daytime. Like 10 o'clock. 
Favorite season: Summer, because it's really warm out. 
Favorite day: Sunday because I go to church and I pray there. 
Favorite material: Wire sculptures. 

​Given that the children are so familiar with the work that goes into a birthday committee and the processes involved, committee members Cate and Lily asked Bea specifically if there was anything she would like included in her portrait setup. 

Even though her favorite season is summer, Bea decided that she really wanted her portrait to look like she was "skating on a ice rink with skates on."

Cate and Lily made sure to ask Bea and confirm that she would be okay with it "snowing" in the portrait, because skating usually happens in the winter and it snows in the winter. Bea agreed! 

Snowflakes

Taking into consideration Bea's favorite material (wire), committee members Cate and Lily began creating beautiful wire snowflakes using "winter colors". Other friends were interested in this process, so they volunteered to help with the work! 

How else can you make snowflakes?

​I made them with paper at my house before. - Lily

Although cutting snowflake designs can be a challenging technique, Cate and Lily were up for the challenge. 

It's hard to cut so many layers! - Lily

Persistence paid off and gorgeous snowflakes were made for Bea's portrait scenery and background. 

This is so pretty! And it's large! Perfect! - Lily

I thought my snowflake was gonna be a mess, but it's pretty! - Cate

A Snowy Background & An Ice Rink

After creating a bunch of snowflakes to use for the portrait setting decor, Cate and Lily began discussing their plan for the creation of a skating rink for Bea. 

It's like blue and you have to wear skates. - Cate
And it looks slippery too. - Lily
It is slippery! - Cate
It's like a crystal blue, right? - Lily

​Cate and Lily searched the Tucker Closet to find materials that looked both blue and slippery for the ice rink. 

The following day Lily went out of town, so Cate took over the rest of the committee duties which included arranging the materials to be included in the portrait setting and designing the background. 

​Snow isn't black! We need white fabric! - Cate

Ooo. It looks like it's raining snow! - Cate

Cate put a lot of time and effort into hanging each snowflake in an arrangement that looked evenly spaced and didn't "get in the way" where Bea might stand to take her photo. 

It's getting more and more beautifuler! - Cate
(taking pride in her work)

Well... real ice rinks are like a light blue and white, but we (recalling her and Lily's original plan) thought blue was a good winter color.
​And slippery blue for the ice. - Cate

Designing Ice Skates

Ice skates for Bea to "wear" during her photo shoot.

The Photoshoot 

Bea is a really good skater! She can skate backwards! - Cate

Cate made a suggestion that Bea pose in a backwards skating position during the photoshoot.
​Knowing from a "real life" experience of seeing Bea skate on a real ice rink, Cate shared with friends that Bea is a really good ice skater! 

​Cate also offered to share her lovie (Didi the unicorn) with Bea for the photoshoot.
Remembering that Bea's favorite animal is a pony, Cate said,
​"Maybe Bea can skate with Didi! Because she's kind of like a pony. And Bea likes ponies!"
Didi even got to wear her own special ice skates for the photo. 

The final edited portrait!

The Rainey Room turns into an "Ice Rink" !

The rest of the class was so curious and interested in Bea's portrait setup, that we eventually turned the entire Rainey Room into a skating rink for a period of the day. Lovies were included and even tried ice skating themselves.
We also played some holiday music to skate to which was inspired by both Hugh and Bea's birthday portrait settings. 

Sweetie Dog uses blocks for skates.

Celebrating Bea

Bea requested a slightly different song for her birthday celebration. Instead of "Happy Birthday" we sang "Happy Special Day"! 
Bea explained why her family chooses to use these special words for their celebrations:

​Special day means how much people love me,
but it also kind of is about turning age too. 
When you say special day it also kind of sounds like love. 
Whoever comes to your special day celebration, those people love you.
They just say Happy Birthday too.
​

Thank you for reading The Spiffiest Giant in Town for us, Bea!
This was a new book for so many of us and we really enjoyed it. 

We will greatly miss having you as a member of our classroom family, Bea.
We hope you have a safe move and enjoy the new adventure with your family in St. Louis! 
We love you!