October 13th, 2020

Sing Along with the Rainey Rooms

Lily immediately noticed that the projector was turned on and asked what we would use it for. When she learned that we have a Sing Along today she asked "With who?". Today's Sing Along was lead by the two Rainey Rooms. Hugh and Lily were so excited to see their moms on the big screen. Thank you for joining us! We also noticed that our friend Saul joined again. Hugh played his instrument and asked "Saul, can you hear that?". During Sing Along we learned a couple new songs, even one in a different language, French. We especially loved the song "Apples and Bananas". Daniel started singing it again at different times of the day, while playing at the light table, during snack and when we were outside. It is clearly a favorite.

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Toad Came to Visit!

The day we have all been waiting for so patiently. Today Toad got to come over and visited us in the Brown Room. Before Rainey Room B brought him over we made a plan for the day. 

What would you like to show Toad in our classroom?

 We introduce ourselves. - Finlay
The light table. - Bea
The message center. - Finlay
The books. - Daniel
And the blocks. - Cate
And we can show Toad the markers. - Hugh
The diamonds. - Finlay
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Along with the ideas of sharing the markers and message center with Toad the thought of creating pictures for him came up.  What could we draw for Toad? - His face! (Bea) 
Bea, Daniel, Finlay, and Cate drew fantastic pictures of Toad in different situations and surroundings.

This is Toad. Toad is gonna be so surprised! - Finlay

When Melanie, Lucia, Giacomo, and Audrey from the Rainey Room came to drop off Toad they also handed us another message from them with concerns and questions they had about his visit:

We discussed ways to keep Toad safe in our classroom, such as keeping him off the floor so no-one can accidentally step on him, touching him gently, or keeping the doors closed so he can not jump out. 

Is that the same Toad? - Lily
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After we introduced ourselves and each other to Toad, Finlay gave him a tour of our Brown Room. He got to see the message center, the studio, the light table, and the building area.

Toad got to play, make messages, build in the construction area, read books, go to the bathroom, wash hands and even have snack with us. Fun fact: Toad likes to eat popcorn. 
It was such a fantastic day!

We wrote a thank you note and brought him back to Rainey Room B before we went outside. Thank you Rainey Room !

A tour of Brown Room for Toad:

​Our Thank You Note to Rainey Room:

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Reading our book fair books

Sam reading "Jabari Jumps" by Gaia Cornwall

We LOVE to read books together in the Brown Room. Today we read "Jabari Jumps" by Gaia Cornwall and "How to read a book" by Kwame Alexander. Did you know that you can also find these books at the St. John's Book Fair? Our book fair started yesterday and will be online until October 25th.  This year's book fair focuses on integration and diversity. You can find amazing books for all age groups and adults as well. Check it out! 

Click on the link below to open up St. John's Virtual Book Fair in cooperation with the wonderful Busboys and Poets bookstore. 

https://busboys-and-poets-store.myshopify.com/collections/sjep-reading-for-change