February 17th, 2022

Luke's drawing of a vacuum with trash inside of it as well as around it

This week the birthday committee, that focuses on taking care of the environment at St. John's, worked on multiple projects this week, from vacuuming to repairing broken artifacts around the school. We were busy this week!

Remy, Lily, Bea and Luke were excited to use the vacuum to clean the Middle Room, which they identified on our previous walk around the school as an area that would need some extra care.
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"There's paper on the floor!" - Lily
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It turned out, vacuuming is a 4 person job when you're making sure to not accidentally vacuum in the cord...
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It's easy but it was kinda hard when you turn it. - Lily

Cleaning and redesigning the school's ball run

Did you know we have a large magnetic ball run in the hallway, right outside the Rainey Room? The children enjoy interacting with this ever changing installation daily. It was imagined, designed and created by a parent-teacher work group a few years ago and has inspired children to create intricate pathways ever since. 

As part of our birthday committee work we decided to dedicate time to cleaning and redesigning the area. We removed and organized all magnetic items prior to washing the chalk board. 

​Don't look at this loop-dee-loop surprise! - Remy
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Once the board was all clean and dry, Remy, Bea and Lily used the ball run materials, such as tubes, pipes or gears, to create their own ball run design. Their idea was to keep it a surprise for everyone else in the school.  Among other things, during this process they explored the properties of movement, consequence, directionality, speed,  gravity ("They keep falling down!" - Remy) and sequencing ("It goes up and then it spins." - Lily).

Then when it comes back, there's a loopy (adds a spinning gear to the end of a pipe) and (...) then four more spins. And then it's gonna get a spinny spin. - Lily

Ooh! It's gonna be so exciting! - Remy

Collaborative drawing by Lily and Bea of their ball run design

The children took great pride in creating a unique surprise for the school and the people inside the school. This interactive creation was immediately noticed by other classrooms in the school. As Tucker Room walked down the hallway, passing the ball run, they noticed the changes and engaged with the new set-up.

​Rainey Room did it. They cleaned it. For the school's birthday. - Sylvie

This is my favorite! You have to drop 6,8,12 balls and then they fall down. But you have to pick them up. - Remy about her ball run/ball drop design
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We need to clean the outside, too. It's so sandy! - Cate

The birthday committee works happens throughout the day, often spontaneous, as the children's awareness of their surroundings is growing. Cate and Remy took the initiative to sweep the platform in the outdoor classroom. Thank you!

What does repair mean? Maybe fixing it. - Daniel

As we begin our day at St. John's, walking up the stairs to school, the children often stop and inspect, reflect on or discuss the clay number line next to the stairs, that counts up to the school's age (currently the last number is 24). Daniel noticed that the number 6 fell off and broke.  We expressed concern about it an interest in repairing it. 
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​ "The six is broken! We need to fix it!" 
​- Daniel
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How do you make a number 6? - Daniel

While exploring ideas on how to create the needed shape out of clay, Daniel reflected on some of his previous experiences with clay. "I did it with, I just rolled it" - Daniel, remembering the coiling technique he used to shape a femur/thigh bone. 

​It looks like a P. But you have to make a little curve. - Jade

It looks just like a 6! And when you turn it over it looks like a 9! - Daniel