Did you get mail?

What is the post office?

Have you found messages in your child's cubby bag before? The Brown Room is busy creating lots of beautiful messages these days. Sometimes they are for a friend at school and stay in the friend's mailbox and sometimes they are for mommy and daddy and they go home in cubby bags. Check your child's cubby bag after school and you might find some mail. Thank you to all the family members and family friends that are sending in mail for our Brown Room children! They are always beyond excited to see mail in their mailboxes and to share cards, pretty stamps and envelopes they have received with friends. Maybe we will receive another feathery hello from George, the peacock... :)
We are diving deeper into the idea and concept of messages and exploring the post office at school and want to share a few thoughts about it with you:

​What is the post office? 
It's where you find your mailboxes. - Finlay 

And how do you know which mailbox is yours? 
Because I see my face on here. - Bea 
I find mine. Sea otter. - Finlay

Who can send us mail?
Our moms. - Finlay
Sometimes the mailman comes. On Fridays. - Lily
That one with the girl is from Maisie. - Finlay

How can you respond or answer a message?
Writing back! With a picture. Let's make a... Let's get a symbol for mom. - Finlay
What would her symbol be? - Ines
A flower. - Finlay

Hugh taped a smaller piece of paper to an envelope and 'wrote' on it.  
​This is my notebook. This is where I write stuff. - Hugh 

Bea also created her own notebook but used a different method to do so. She placed two smaller cards next to each other and taped them together. 
​Put tape on it. My notebook. Do you know what I write on my notebook? - Bea

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Block Printing

As a continuation of our paint explorations we used paint and different objects to personalize our cubby bags. 
On both days small groups of children transferred the content of their cubby bags to plastic bags (if you were wondering why your child brought home a grocery bag, this is why) and explored the process of block printing. Even though similar materials were offered on both days, we noticed differences in processes. The first group on Monday (Hugh, Daniel, Jade, Bea and Lily) decided that every 3D shape or item belongs to one particular color and has to get washed in the sink in-between colors and after you are done using it. The group today (Remy, Cate, and Finlay) chose a different approach. After an object got used it stayed in that paint and was left there for the next person to use. In the very end Finlay decided to mix colors and use "All of them" by dipping the same object in each of the colors before stamping onto his bag. 

Monday...

Tuesday...

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There are three blue - Daniel

Yesterday during morning meeting we revisited Finlay's birthday celebration on Friday and he got to open his birthday box on the calendar. An opened box tells us that this child already had a birthday celebration. Inside the box is a small representation of their birthday gift.

Hugh: I did all this stuff!
Sam: What's inside?
Remy: It looks like his blue!

​The birthday calendar can also tell us who will have a birthday celebration next: Michael! - Finlay

We will celebrate Michael's birthday this weekend. Last week Hugh was already eager to find out his favorite color. Looking at a color wheel they discussed different colors and while Hugh mentioned that he would choose red and blue, Michael let us know that his favorite color is also blue!

Today, the first birthday committee group (Daniel, Lily, Bea, and Jade) discussed different types of blue we could use for creating his present.

Lily: Does he like this blue or this blue? I think he likes this blue. (pointing to a lighter shade of blue)
Daniel: There are three blue.

We remembered how we personalized our cubby bags. Lily found purple cellophane paper next to the light table and said "We can try this. It looks like blue-ish purple. Can we make a stamp with this?". Daniel responded by "I see something. Bricks." So we looked around the classroom for items we could use as stamps to create Michael's birthday present. Lily was very interested in round items, while Daniel explored long chains or necklaces. Jade found a blue heart made out of glass we had also used for Finlay's celebration and Bea found a wavy blue vase. We collected a big basket filled with all kinds of interesting items. On Thursday the second committee group will then continue the process. We are already very excited to see how they will use and respond to the items the first group of children had picked out for them.