Looking A Little Closer

On a regular day in our class, you will find that the Art Studio is one of the busiest areas in the room. The children love to draw, paint and create! This week we decided to introduce pastels to the students. I did a mini lesson on how you can create both bold and soft colours with oil pastels, while still showing detail in the drawing. The children were very eager to give it a try at the Art Studio.

On a walk that we took last week we collected fall leaves in different colours and shapes. We have been matching the leaves to the trees that they come from and learning why leaves change colour and fall off the trees.  To extend the learning, I decided to set up a provocation with fall leaves, pastels, white paper and magnifying glasses.

Paying close attention to the details they observed in the leaves, the children used their sharpie markers to draw the veins. They then began to blend different coloured pastels to create the colours they saw on the leaves.

M.B. “Their are lots of different colours on my leaf!” 

A.R. “The bottom of the steam is bigger than the top part.” 

The results were quite remarkable! The detail that the children were able to observe and portray in their drawings showed us that its very important to ask children to look a little closer and pay attention to the finer details. This skill with help them later when they are reading, writing stories, or discovering something new. This was not only a lesson for the children but also us. We are reminded that we have to take a moment and look a little closer so as not to miss the learning that is happening while children are engaged in their play.

“The Full-Day Early Learning- Kindergarten program capitalizes on children’s natural curiosity and their desire to make sense of their environment. However, curiosity on its own is not enough. The guidance of a thoughtful Early Learning-Kindergarten team is essential to enable children to learn through inquiry.”                                            -Ontario Ministry of Education, FDK Document

Mystery Reader

Today marked the first day that we welcomed our mystery reader into our room. As the children sat waiting for our day to begin, I shared with them that we had a very big surprise. I explained to the children that a mom, dad, brother or sister would be coming in to read to the class but that the person was a big mystery. I suggested that we brainstorm some questions to ask the mystery to gather some clues. We would use these questions to guess who’s parent or sibling was hiding behind the curtain.

Here are some questions we thought of:
“Are you a boy or a girl?”
“Do you have a boy or girl in our class?”
“What colour is your hair?”
“What stories do you like to read at night?”
“What colour skin do you have?”

The children could barely contain their excitement and hurried out of the room so that the Mystery Reader could get set up.

Upon the children’s return, they asked the reader questions and eventually guessed who’s mom it was.

Thank you Mrs. Dhas for being our first mystery reader. We thank you very much for keeping it a secret from your son and being such an enthusiastic volunteer. We can’t wait for November 3rd when we will meet our next Mystery Reader!

If you are interested in being a mystery reader please send in a note with your child and we will book a date for you (we are looking for Mystery Readers for the months of March to June).

The Outdoor Classroom

This past week was very exciting! We had a great deal happening in our outdoor classroom. Mrs. Quinn Dias and her husband installed two new learning areas for the children to use while exploring outside.

The first is a chalkboard that will be used to extend the children’s inquiries outside. We will be using it to write messages, record our findings and our wonders.

We now also have a musical fence! The tubes are designed to make different sounds depending on where you hit them.  The colours are arranged in a pattern which will encourage the children to hit the tubes in sequence so that they can discover the different sounds that can be made.

Thank You Mr. and Mrs. Quinn-Dias for adding these exciting new learning areas to our outdoor classroom!

Many of the children have been showing interest in boats and cars. They are using various materials and toys to transport objects and people across the playground.

Two students created a bridge to walk across. They discovered that the plank had to be placed in just the right spot to ensure that it wouldn’t fall when they crossed it. Later, it turned into a draw bridge when another student wanted her boat to pass under their bridge.

A.G. and I discovered that our shadows were much longer in the morning sun. Here, we measured A.G’s shadow against her structures shadow to see which was taller.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the long weekend with their friends and family.

This weekend I am thankful for my family and good health.

Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Lately…

Over the past few weeks Ms. Smidt and I have been doing our first term assessments. This will allow us to get a better idea of where each child is individually and how we can support them in their learning.  Our goal is to look at were the children are in terms of the curriculum areas and plan our program according to the needs of the children in the class.

Below are some photos of what we have been up to…

 

Patterning at the Hands on Learning Area

Making numbers and letters at Light

Celebrating Birthdays by making cakes and cookies at play-doh and Dramatic Play

Creating our own Kandinski inspired art using overhead transparencies and sharpie markers.

This week we will begin our Beautiful Stuff project. You can expect to see an introductory letter and a brown paper bag in your child’s mail bag this week.