Thursday, 31 October 2013
After reading the Barbara Reid book entitled Effie, one of our wondering groups decided they would like to try to create a clay book of their own. We talked about the word 'process' and about how it takes practise and effort before we get to our final copy. Children have enjoyed incorporating shape, colour, and texture into their sculptures and pictures. We've begun to look at Reid's books carefully and have watched a video that shows her using her techniques. We also notice the rich oral language skills emerging as they tell their stories to go along with their pictures. They plan to put a class book together as we become more skilled at using clay to make pictures. Below is a pic collage documenting our journey so far. The other group of children have been working on sensory mixing during wondering time. We will post some documentation from this group shortly. We like to give the children a chance to choose the group they are most interested in each day and we hope that these photos will give them some reminders of stories to share with you.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Some of Our October Documentation
We've been posting lots of documentation on our board in the classroom and are just getting into the swing of adding it to our blog! We're hoping to start doing it more regularly to shorten our posts :) Regularly in the classroom, we stand in awe of the ideas, interests, and activities that the children initiate or build on.
One of the food connections we made was using our food drive materials for sorting and incorporating graphing into making a decision about something to bake as a class. We are constantly pulling the math curriculum into our daily explorations and the embedding it into the interests of the children. Please click on the image to see it in larger form.
We began our month with lots of nature mixing and the mixing had carried over into exploring colour. We are amazed by some of the names that children have given colours they create such as ocean, pickle, golden, peach, octagon, seaweed, red of the raspberries, and inside of the sea. We also began to explore texture that can be created in colour.
Here are some of the conversations we overheard during mixing. Notice the richness of the language (literacy), the sharing of observations and planning of investigations (science), the sequencing language (math), and the clear capability of your children. Please note we use initials for privacy when posting online.
There are many rich discoveries that have taken place this week in the classroom and we are eager to share them with you next week.
One of the food connections we made was using our food drive materials for sorting and incorporating graphing into making a decision about something to bake as a class. We are constantly pulling the math curriculum into our daily explorations and the embedding it into the interests of the children. Please click on the image to see it in larger form.
We began our month with lots of nature mixing and the mixing had carried over into exploring colour. We are amazed by some of the names that children have given colours they create such as ocean, pickle, golden, peach, octagon, seaweed, red of the raspberries, and inside of the sea. We also began to explore texture that can be created in colour.
Here are some of the conversations we overheard during mixing. Notice the richness of the language (literacy), the sharing of observations and planning of investigations (science), the sequencing language (math), and the clear capability of your children. Please note we use initials for privacy when posting online.
Colour Mixing Conversation
“We put some blue in and it turned blue. Then I put in yellow and HSC put in red and it’s purple!’ - IRB
“Look! I made it with blue and red...and water.” - LL
“I’ve got three containers.” - MB
ET is trying to get red colour into a clear cylinder.
“Oh ET! I have a plan to get it in there. It’s gonna make more red paint!” - JR
JR pours the water from the cylinder into the red paint container.
“I think I’m gonna put water in and then paint.” - LO
“I’m gonna put paint in first and then see what happens.” - MB
“I made a different colour. It was bright orange and now it’s a little bit duller. I used a little batch of blue in there.” - AT
“I am a zombie!” - JM (paint on hands)
“We’re mixing a potion together. We’re helpers!” - LW
Some children were disappointed the water ran out.
“I really found water!” - BR (near a puddle)
“It turned! Where’s red? Almost turning (as he stirs). It turned red! More blue!” - EM (L)
There are many rich discoveries that have taken place this week in the classroom and we are eager to share them with you next week.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Emerging Interests As We Begin Our Journey
Mrs. Diljee and I have been so thrilled about the rich learning we have been seeing in the classroom. Each day, we are eager to capture exploration and creativity through photos and notes. Children are born ready to learn. They enthusiastically investigate the world around them, wonder, and communicate and we have loved watching their interests unfold as our year has begun.
We wanted to use this first post to communicate some of the rich interests we have seen emerging in September and October since our Open House where many documentation pieces were posted. The kindergarten program is designed to discover the interests of children, to provide materials that support their curiousity in these areas, and to weave math, literacy and other curriculum areas into their interests. Children who are exploring what matters to them become more engaged and students who are more engaged have an emotional attachment to their learning which makes it authentic, deep, and meaningful.
Below are some Pic Collage displays of a few the many areas of learning we have been exploring. We invite you to reflect on the collages as we do to look for the many math and literacy connections occurring naturally in the children's explorations. We are particularly struck by the engagement of the children in the photos. It's as if they don't even know we are there!
A clear interest from the beginning of the school year has been exploring insects. We have been reading books about bugs, collecting our questions, sharing observations, sketching, making bug books, and, perhaps most importantly, slowing down to look closely at the world around us. Our insect inquiry has also expanded to exploring the changes in nature around us (leaves, corn, flowers, etc.). There has been a great deal of counting and comparing how many insects we have found, measurement language as we compare sizes, sorting based on type of bug, etc. We have also noticed a great deal of fine motor work in capturing an insect and in focusing on detail as students sketch their observations.
Early in the year, we noticed the art centre to be popular in the classroom and wanted to expand and explore this interest in the outdoors. The group began by collecting nature materials to paint with water colours which led to their using items from nature to paint on paper. The children were noticing that dirt and sand would stick to the wet paint so this led to collecting items from nature to make a collage with glue. The students then began to ask to use the paint again so to explore different art medium, chalk and water was introduced. They used it to create using their environment and added colour to trees, the climber, etc. As puddles began to form around our schoolyard, we took the opportunity to incorporate rain water into our nature art creations. We will continue to explore this interest by putting out various materials at the art centre.
An interest around baking and cooking was also evident early on. Students were using the water table outdoors to mix in sand, mud, dirt, etc. and concoct all sorts of recipes. Coincidentally, we also planned to begin our dramatic play centre as a bakery and the interest took off in the classroom. We discovered it was a rich inquiry when we noticed children at many centres were "cooking". There were meals being made at the sand centre, "snacks" being taken to the block centre, and corn from our outdoor explorations being used for food and mixing. We supported this interest through reading The Gingerbread Man is Lost at School and created our own cookies (measuring, counting, size, etc.). When they went missing, we made signs using letters, words, and pictures to communicate our message. This interest continues to grow in the classroom and children are eagerly bringing items from various centres to add to our bakery.
We wanted to use this first post to communicate some of the rich interests we have seen emerging in September and October since our Open House where many documentation pieces were posted. The kindergarten program is designed to discover the interests of children, to provide materials that support their curiousity in these areas, and to weave math, literacy and other curriculum areas into their interests. Children who are exploring what matters to them become more engaged and students who are more engaged have an emotional attachment to their learning which makes it authentic, deep, and meaningful.
Below are some Pic Collage displays of a few the many areas of learning we have been exploring. We invite you to reflect on the collages as we do to look for the many math and literacy connections occurring naturally in the children's explorations. We are particularly struck by the engagement of the children in the photos. It's as if they don't even know we are there!
A clear interest from the beginning of the school year has been exploring insects. We have been reading books about bugs, collecting our questions, sharing observations, sketching, making bug books, and, perhaps most importantly, slowing down to look closely at the world around us. Our insect inquiry has also expanded to exploring the changes in nature around us (leaves, corn, flowers, etc.). There has been a great deal of counting and comparing how many insects we have found, measurement language as we compare sizes, sorting based on type of bug, etc. We have also noticed a great deal of fine motor work in capturing an insect and in focusing on detail as students sketch their observations.
Early in the year, we noticed the art centre to be popular in the classroom and wanted to expand and explore this interest in the outdoors. The group began by collecting nature materials to paint with water colours which led to their using items from nature to paint on paper. The children were noticing that dirt and sand would stick to the wet paint so this led to collecting items from nature to make a collage with glue. The students then began to ask to use the paint again so to explore different art medium, chalk and water was introduced. They used it to create using their environment and added colour to trees, the climber, etc. As puddles began to form around our schoolyard, we took the opportunity to incorporate rain water into our nature art creations. We will continue to explore this interest by putting out various materials at the art centre.
An interest around baking and cooking was also evident early on. Students were using the water table outdoors to mix in sand, mud, dirt, etc. and concoct all sorts of recipes. Coincidentally, we also planned to begin our dramatic play centre as a bakery and the interest took off in the classroom. We discovered it was a rich inquiry when we noticed children at many centres were "cooking". There were meals being made at the sand centre, "snacks" being taken to the block centre, and corn from our outdoor explorations being used for food and mixing. We supported this interest through reading The Gingerbread Man is Lost at School and created our own cookies (measuring, counting, size, etc.). When they went missing, we made signs using letters, words, and pictures to communicate our message. This interest continues to grow in the classroom and children are eagerly bringing items from various centres to add to our bakery.
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