Happy Birthday Violet!

5/17/2022

The Interview

"My favorite color is pink-purple, and I love cheetahs. And my favorite shape is a square." - Violet, 5.0 years
"I thought you would say Kitty." - Lucia, 4.11 years
"Cheetahs are kitties, just big." - Jack, 5.10 years

"My favorite kind of paper is a pink piece of paper and flat." - Violet

[conversation about the nearby tree ensues]
"My favorite tree is a persimmon tree." - Violet
"I thought you would say cherry blossom." - Jack
"That's my favorite too. I like to plant flowers and plant trees." - Violet
"What's your favorite kind of flower?" - Elle
"Roses." - Violet

"Do you like to sew?" - Jack
"Yeah, I like to sew." - Violet

"What's your favorite kind of wire?" - Elle, 5.4 years
"Gray wire." - Violet

"What's your favorite snuggle friend?" - Lucia
"Two kitties." - Violet

"My favorite kind of book is Lucia's books. She gave them to me for my birthday." - Violet

"I want a flower." - Violet

When Violet stepped away, with the promise that she wouldn't "peek", the children immediately began brainstorming how to use Violet's answers to create the perfect gift just for her.

"Oh, I know! We can make a garden!" - Elle, 5.4 years

Elle's suggestion was met with a lot of enthusiasm:
"Are you all up to the challenge?" - Elyse
"I'M UP!" - ALL

Brainstorming Session

As we sat down to brainstorm what Violet's paper garden might look like, the children began to imagine the kind of flowers they might create or where the trees might be found. Sitting down to draw is always a great way to share ideas with each other, begin to visualize their thoughts, and they inform our 3D work.

[left to right]: Cherry Blossom Tree, Persimmon Tree, tulip, and dandelion. by Sylvie, 5.3 years

"Cherry Blossoms on the water." - Lochie, 5.6 years

"Garden plan for Violet's birthday. There are snakes to scare the squirrels." - Lucia, 4.11 years

"Cherry blossom, red flowers, yellow flower, and blue tulips."
- Audrey, 5.1 years

"These are the flowers, cherry blossom, and the purple on the grass are flower seeds." - Lucia, 4.11 years

Techniques we know

Throughout their time at St. John's, and in life, the children build a repertoire of skills, materials knowledge, languages, and shared ideas. When the committee gathered to think about a garden, they instantly began to employ knowledge and techniques for paper that we have previously learned and used.

For both Janie's birthday gift, and our stop-motion "Rat world", they've referenced an artifact left behind from a previous Tucker Class who also made paper grass [as seen in the left hand photo]. By looking at this former Tucker Room work, we discovered that there are many ways to represent grass by curling paper, cutting it, bending it, and even using wire.

We started with a variety of green, yellow, and brown papers. Some were chosen by the children, while others were gathered to compliment their choices. We even used "the cool scissors" that cut multiple slices at one time.

Lucia and Elle met to begin our work. They chose a beautiful shimmery brown piece of crepe paper as the base for the garden because "it looks like dirt, but pretty."

They measured out the size of the rectangle that they would need so that it would cover the whole cardboard base that would support the garden. They counted inches and centimeters, and Elle decided that she liked centimeters best because "they are smaller".

The girls put their knowledge of paper folding and shaping to use as they created a variety of grass pieces for Violet's garden.

The whole committee back together again!

By the next committee meeting, all three children were back and ready to tackle the garden. Jack was very pleased with Violet and Lucia's choice for the dirt, but he wanted to start his own work by creating a "persimmon tree because it was her favorite".

The "cool scissors" as mentioned above.

While Jack took on the task of creating a tree made out of pipe cleaners, gray wire (Violet's favorite), and paper, Lucia and Elle tackled the grass.

Enthusiasm

When some of the other children heard about Violet's garden, they shared their enthusiasm for making flowers, and asked to join the committee. On this same day, we had to make a decision about how to attach the pipe cleaners (the base for many of the new flowers) to the "ground". CC suggested that we could use "that hot glue thing".

The children were thoughtful about the arrangement that they were creating in the garden. They were careful not to "block things" and they wanted to spread out the flowers so that the whoooole garden would have some.

With all of their thoughtful additions, the garden was complete.

The Gift

The Celebration

Violet's family came to celebrate today! For snack we had cake pops and some special "unicorn lemonade" (Butterfly pea powder tea mixed with lemonade). When the lemonade mixes with the blue tea, it turns pink! Very magical!

After snack, Violet's mom and dad joined us to shared a beautiful photo book of Violet's 5 years! They also shared a book that has ALL of our symbols in it! How fun and special!