This is my favorite day!

Today as we walked outside to the outdoor classroom to begin our day,
Wilder exclaimed, "This is my favorite day!"
We knew that the weather wouldn't be a burden on our creativity or prevent our enjoyment of a fantastic Friday!

Hmm... yellow and red... orange! - Lily

Outside at the easel in the outdoor studio space, we continue our exploration of color mixing! There were so many wonderful observations made throughout this process. Each child took a slightly different approach to painting on his/her own while also taking notice of how peers utilized their brushes and paints and learned new techniques from these observations. Watching each child learn from his/her own independent decision making, experiences, and consequential results is such a joy on it's own, but watching a child learn from observing a friend is its own special kind of magic!

Lily & Bea

Lily & Lucas

Lucas & Wilder

Daniel & Frances

Lily: I can't see because it's white. And the paper is white. 
Bea: I'm painting something. (also using white)
Lily: Mama calls these things 'redders' and 'bluers', but I don't know why really.
Bea: That's funny. 
​
Bea: I mixed them! Now it's changing to green. My paintbrush. 
Bea: I'm done painting. Now I'll go back to working. 

Lily: Maybe he mixed the colors. (looking at Lucas)
​Red and ... white? Maybe he put yellow on top. I don't know how he did it. 
Lucas: Blue. And this color in the middle. Red! I did it. 
Lily: It's getting darker.
(adding more blue on top of her first coat of blue paint)
Lily: Hmm... yellow and red... orange. 
Lily: Ohhhh yeahhhh. Pink! (looking at her brush)

Wilder: I'm trying to make green. I don't see green. Red and yellow. And white to go on top. Then we make green!
(tests his theory) ... pink!
Then we do blue on top to make green... no. 
Then some more white. (continues testing)

Wilder: Why's there no water? It's not water paint? Why?
What is this paint?
(Tempera Paint)

Frannie: Mom will love this! And my dad can love this!
Daniel: My mom will love this. And Isa will love this too. 

Daniel: Paint is not food. Only allowed to paint our fingers. 

Frannie: Look at my footprint!

Daniel: I'm painting myself.
( painting his skin)
Frannie: It's pink like you, Daniel!
(looking at her own body)

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It's a little wobbly. - Lily

Another highlight of our morning outside (besides from the rain stopping right when we walked out) were the new toys we found in the outdoor classroom. Everyone loved using the new shovels, trucks and brooms. The functions of a new excavator sparked interest and a few children collaborated to find out how to manipulate it in different ways. 

Hugh was wondering where all these new toys came from. After learning that Molly and Jessica had gotten those for us, Bea, Lily, Wilder, Lucas and Hugh created "thank you notes" for both of them.

​Bea: I'm drawing a lake for them. A black lake.
​Lucas: New toys.
​Wilder: A boy. That's me. Here.
​Hugh: I don't know. Kinda like a rainbow thingy.
Wilder: We can send it in the mail.

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Many children were interested in the climbing net today. Everyone waited patiently for their turn and supported their peers during their try. 

Daniel: I'm not done yet. I'm trying to make it harder. (going up one more step)

Lily: It's a little wobbly. Did Grace like this when she was at Brown Room? And how about that? The red thing. Did she like that when she was at Brown Room? (pointing at the red monkey bar)

​

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Brooke is in Tucker Room

... and today was her birthday! Yesterday, when we waited for our turn to go potty, we saw Grace and Olivia with their teacher (Rachel) in the hallway. They told us that they were on their way to deliver a birthday message to Brooke's mailbox because it would be her birthday on Friday.  Brooke's co-teacher, Jill, told us that Brooke's favorite color is orange and every single child wanted to be part of creating a birthday message collage for Brooke today! We each took turns adding pieces to the birthday message and then delivered it all together.

This was  also the first time Frannie got to add her symbol! Yesterday, she started to show interest in symbols when her friends used them to sign their messages and collages. She studied the symbol organizer and tried a few out. Some that stuck out to her were a tea kettle, dog bone, bear paw, and a school of fish. But she wasn't ready to make a decision just yet. During morning meeting when everyone "checked in" by hanging up their symbol next to their picture, she said "I want to add my symbol." Ines explained to her that she had not chosen one yet and asked her which one she would like to have as her symbol.
Frannie: The foot.
Ines: Do you mean the bear paw? 
Frannie: Yes!

When Brooke looked all the symbols on her birthday collage she also pointed out Sam's symbol "the deer feet."
To which Frannie responded: I got the foot!

We love seeing how connected  she is to her symbol already! 

Thank you for a great week and we hope you all have a wonderful weekend!