Art - Spring Flowers

This Friday, we all enjoy a long forest and neighbourhood walk with the sunny weather!
The children were told to find some spring flowers on their walk. Some children found wild flowers in the forest; others were amazed by the beautiful flowers our neighbours have planted in their garden.

During our neighbourhood walk, Cameron and Bela also saw some constructors building house. The boys immediately connected to our community unit and said "I see some community helpers!" How lovely to see our children recall their learning experience. 

After the long walk, the children had a rest on the grass and listened to the story, "The Imaginary Garden" by Andrew Larsen. In the story, the little girl creates beautiful garden full of beautiful plants on a great big canvas with her grandfather. Through the story, the children explored how to use paint brushes to draw certain flowers, like tulips, scilla and daffodils. 

We tried the brush techniques in the book. Using dots and strokes, the children created their own spring garden with water colour. 

It was such a nice painting experience when everyone was actually surrounded by the beautiful spring flowers! 

Art - Night Shift

"How We Organize Ourselves" 
Central Idea: The work people perform helps build community
Lines of Inquiry:

• The jobs people do in our community support its development (function)
• We take on roles each day and this helps us build a strong community (responsibility)

"When do people work?" the children were asked at the beginning of the art activity today.
"Morning time! and afternoon!" the children answered.
"Do you know there are people who work during night time?" I asked the children.
"Policemen," Bela said.
"Firefighters and bus drivers, " Cameron answered.
"Construction workers, " Brendan said.
Here, we introduced more community helpers through the book "Night Shift" by Jessie Hartland.
The children learned that there are street sweepers, security guards, newspaper printer and road workers on night shifts. 
Here were some questions the children asked along the stories:
"Why do they have to work at night?"
"What do these community helpers do in the morning?"

"Policemen work at night to protect people all day and all night!"

We decided to created a poster about community helpers on night shift.
On a paper doll, the children drew the special uniform or hats that night shift community helpers have.



Inspired by The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, we introduced "Pointillism" skill to the children. To create a night city scene, the children used sponge dabbers to make little dots on the poster.

"There are stars and street lights!"

  








Through the children book illustration, the children had a chance to explore people who do their job in night time. In order to build a strong community, people take different shift, even in night time!