Art - Bead Threading Jewelry

This Friday, we started our art time being reflective by reviewing what we have decorated during the group time. (houses, rooms, totem poles, and etc.)

Anamaria drew a person on the paper and asked the children what they thought about this person.

Cameron - "He needs eyes!"

Trystan - "He needs pants."

Rylan - "Shirt."

Jayla - "Flowers."

The children took terms to add things they wanted to add on the plain person. As the same time, we moved on to talk about how people use jewelry to decorate their bodies.



The children started their bead threading project - making bracelets. The children selected beads from our collection to design their bracelets.

The children were very proud of their own designed bracelets. Here are some pictures of them displaying the beautiful jewelry. 

At the end, Anamaria also helped the children to compare each child's design and bead selection. This connected the children together as they realized that some of them shared the same or similar preference of colored beads.

Science - Slope

This afternoon, we used the blocks to build slope with different steepness. I built the first incline with two blocks under the wooden board; then, we led go the toy car from the top. I helped the children mark where the toy car stopped. 

"What will happen if we add one more block under the board?" the children were asked.

"The car will run faster!" the children said.

We continued adding blocks and recording where the car stopped; at the end, we concluded that the more blocks we put under the board the further our toy car went. By manipulating toy cars and blocks, the children had a concrete experience of slope. What a playful way to learn math and physics! 

Math - Measure with Blocks

Using a non-standard units ,like Lego or our hands, to show the children measurement is a fun and helpful way of doing it. The children are familiar with those objects from their daily life, which makes the learning process more concrete and easier to understand for the children.

This afternoon, we used wooden blocks as our units to measure.  

"How many blocks tall is this rabbit?"

I asked the children to collect the objects they want to measure in the room. First, we all made our predictions about how many blocks tall it is. Then, we measured the objects with the wooden blocks.

"How many blocks tall are our friends?" I asked the children. 

The children were all eager to know their height.  

Our measurement chart!

Art - Masking Tape Art

Unit: Who We Are

Central Idea: People use decoration and this helps us learn about each other

Lines of Inquiry:

Exploring a variety of decorations from various cultures (form)

Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another (connection)

This Friday, we carried on exploring another form of decoration in our daily life - wall paintings.

"How do people decorate their wall?" I asked the children. 

Bela - "Pictures."
Max - "My daddy and mommy's photo."
Mila - "Windows."
Sofia - "Mirror."
Damon - "Batman poster!"

I showed the children some pictures of wall painting and wall decorations. As well, we looked at how people record and tell their stories through wall paintings and decorations. For example, in Ancient Egypt. Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire, people used simple words or painting to draw down stories. New, we still use wall paintings and decorations in our houses and in public space; for instance, Graffiti is a form of wall painting we can see nowadays.

We learned about that painters use making tape when they paint walls. Painters use masking tape cover the part they don't want to paint. Today, the children explored and manipulated masking tape and water colour to create their own design.

Each unique design was revealed when the masking tape was removed.  What an interesting and playful way to create paintings! 

Math - Number & Clouds Counting

There are many ways to encourage children to count and learn their numbers. This afternoon, we reinforced counting through a gluing activity.

The children counted the little blue clouds and glued them under the corresponding numbers.  

As well, we explored what "zero" means in this math activity. "We know zero means nothing; what should we put under zero on the paper?" I asked the children. "Nothing!" some of them said excitedly.

Science - Colour Float

We explored density through an easy experiment this afternoon. Using simple material, salt, food colouring and water, the children could conduct the experiment and visually observe different densities between tap water and salt water.  

We added lots of salt into warm water.

"Why did the coloured water float and separate from the salt water?"

The coloured water has move to the top of the salted tap water because salt water is heavier than the tap water. The heavy salted water stays at the bottom.

"I can stir the water to mix blue water and salted water!" 

Art - Colourful Houses

Having started our new unit, We Decorate Our World, the children have been exploring and learning so much about decorations from different cultures and how decorations help people tell their stories.We began our art activity with some pictures of colourful houses from Italy, Mexico and Brazil. 

"Why do people paint their houses into different colours?" the children were asked.

Sofia - "Because it's beautiful!"

Mila - "They think it's pretty. It's like decorations!"

Max - "Because people can recognize their houses."

The children chose the colour they liked to paint their own house. This time we tried a different technique to paint. We use a small piece of cardboard to spread the paint out on the paper.

The children picked and glued their decoration on their little houses. They all enjoyed decorating and designing their unique house.  

This is Damon's house! I can find Francine's house as well! 

Before rest time, we read the story book, "The Big Orange Splot" by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. The story reinforced the idea that the way we decorate our houses actually helps us express ourselves; moreover, decoration tells our stories and represent ourselves!

Science - Which One Will Erupt?

This afternoon, the children were asked to make their scientific guess about which powder mixing with vinegar would erupt. 

First, I introduced the three powder for this experiment, salt, flour and baking soda. The children had a chance to taste salt and feel the three powder with their hand. As well, they had a chance to smell vinegar. 

We needed to add one spoon of powder into each yogurt container.  

Then, we added a spoon of vinegar into each powder.

It was time to see which one erupted!

At the end, we all saw what happened when vinegar mixed with baking soda. Look! A big bubble!

The children enjoyed this science experiment so much that we repeated this activity three times this afternoon! The children learned to follow the steps to conduct an experiment; as well, we learned to make our scientific guesses - hypotheses.

Math - Share a Pizza

I can cut like this!

This afternoon, the children were given rulers, makers, scissors and a piece of circle paper. "How can you cut and share this pizza with 4 people ?" The children manipulated the tools they had to solve the problem. We tried folding the paper, pretending to cut with a plastic knife and using a ruler. 

  

Slowly, we used ruler and makers to draw and to divide the circle into little pieces. Before we cut the circle, the lines we drew helped us cut better!

I helped the children to put down numbers on the slices they cut. We counted the pizza slices and gave each doll a slice.

At the end, we tried to share a pizza with 8 people! That was a lot of slices to cut. The children were really proud of themselves when they achieved this task successfully! 

Art - Snake Pattern

This Friday, we used Q-tips and paint to create patterns on the snake. Before we started, Anamaria helped the children to recall the shapes and lines they know. As well, we practiced using our fingers to dot the contour line of the snake. 

Let's pretend that our fingers were Q-tips! 

The children enjoyed using Q-tips to create little dots carefully. This activity not only encouraged the children's creativity, but also enhanced their fine motor skills.