Documentation...

I LOVE documentation.  This blog is documentation, displays in our classroom are documentation, discussions with the children are documentation.  Documentation is making the learning VISIBLE. 

For example, we are learning about great artists and different styles of art.  Over the next few weeks, you will probably see a good amount of art on here and coming home, as well as all over the walls (and hanging from the ceilings, and in the windows) in our classroom. 

First we asked the children what they know about art, this is what they said....

 

We looked at some pictures of the Pointillism style (at the top of our dry erase board) and talked about how we can make dots.  We decided together (or THEY decided, rather) that we could use Q-tips, our fingers, the dot painters, pencils, or markers.   We read a really good book called "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds.  Our first project was using Q-tips....

 
 
 

 

We also did some color mixing and each child made at least one card with their own personal color on it.  I personally think these look amazing together.  

 

 We painted some Kandinsky-style circles--trees and abstracts.

 

Easel painting galore!  I think this particular painting is VERY interesting.  Obviously a square face...

 

 

A little transient art, which is temporary, then left for someone else to add to or change.

 

 

 

More transient art on the light table, with shapes.

 

 

 

Makin' Mud in our outdoor classroom during Gardening time...

 

 

And painting with said mud.

 

 

More outdoor classroom photos--this is the mud kitchen, or should we say the SAND KITCHEN?!

 

 

Reading a story with some good friends outside is really good for whoever wants to join us.

 

And of course, a little art outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Our Week...2-10-2016



 

As usual, we have a lot of stuff going on in our classroom.  We have been growing some really awesome stuff in the garden and today, we had collard greens for lunch straight from our garden.

 



We also have been making kale chips in the dehydrator we have in our classroom--these are really good and the kids love to help make them.

 

Naturally, we've had some Valentine's Day activities.  We made predictions about how many candy hearts we thought we could pick up in our hand, then tried it out and wrote the actual number.  Interesting.

 

 

 

A little light table fun on Groundhog Day (figuring out shadows).

 

 

One of our friends is going to be a big brother soon, and apparently he's feeling for his mom having to carry that sister around in her tummy all the time, so he drew a picture of his baby and taped it to his own tummy to carry around for awhile... (you CANNOT make this stuff up, people!)

 

Since we started our bakery project, Ms. Mandy and I have heard about almost nothing but cake pops.  Cake pops, cake pops, cake pops!  So naturally we had to make.... cake pops!  For this no-bake recipe, we smashed up snack cakes, rolled them into balls, stuck a lollipop stick into them...

 

Rolled them in melted chocolate....

 

Added sprinkles.... and of course we ate them!  Did you ever see such GORGEOUS cake pops? 

 

We played a game called "Musical Hearts" (this is Ms. Daniella and one of our friends setting it up).   When the music plays we dance and walk around and when it stops, everyone has to find a heart to stand on.  There aren't enough hearts so we have to hug and squeeze on together to fit.  I just love a non-competitive game.

 

A Valentine's Day experiment... question:  What happens if you put candy hearts into different liquids? 

 

This is what they looked like after one day....

 

We did a graphing activity with candy hearts (can you sense the theme?) charting them according to colors.  Just look at the concentration in these little faces.



 

 



 

 

 

 

The Scientific Method in Preschool....

We have some serious little scientists in our class. 

 

Think about the Scientific Method. 

• Ask a question.
• Do research.
• Make a hypothesis.
• Test hypothesis by doing an experiment.
• Discuss data and make a conclusion.
• Communicate your results.

 

We asked our class what would happen if we mixed up two materials.  Would it make something liquid?  Would it make something soft, like play dough (they are very familiar with mixing ingredients to make play dough)?   After some discussion, the children decided that it would "make something".  This was our hypothesis.

 

We put on our super-cool lab coats (SCIENTISTS wear these) and set up our experiment.  We  put a heart-shaped cookie cutter on our trays to define our area.  We scooped baking soda into the heart.

 

                                    

 

We added some red food coloring and glitter to make it really fabulous!

 

 

We used basters to drip vinegar onto our concoctions, and......

 

Look what happened!  It fizzed and exploded all over our trays.  Super fun!

 

At gardening this week, we learned about what happens to plants when it snows or gets cold outside.  Ms. Mel read us a story about it.

 

 

 

We made snow in the gazebo with baking soda and shaving cream and added plants to see what they would look like in the snow.  

 

 

 

Ms. Nadeska picked us all Bolivian Sunflowers from our tree to give to our moms.  Aren't they gorgeous?  

 

 

And they smell like honey....