Art - Hello, My Name is ...

The story, "Hello, My Name Is Ruby" by Philip C. Stead, was read to the children today. Ruby, a fearless little bird in the story, looks for a friend and starts her adventure in a very big world. Along the story, this little bird keeps introducing herself to make new friends.

"What is a name?" one of the birds in the story wonders. The children in the Water Group pondered as well. The children understood that our names are for others to call us; also, we can introduce ourselves by our names.

For art activity today, we used crayons to write down our name. Then, the children were encouraged to paint and to decorate their name with water colour.

We explored these two art media and observed how crayon and water colour interacted upon our paper.

Art - Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon!

The coming Monday will be the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures. It is a harvest festival held on the 15th of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. People celebrate and admire the beautiful full moon the Mid-Autumn Festival with family members and friends.

Water group children used multi-media (pompoms, coloured tissue paper, felt and construction paper) to make a collage full moon together.  

The children drew themselves and talked about what they want to do with friends on the moon festival.

A collaborative art work water group made 

Experiment Day - Colour Mixing Fun

The children enjoyed our science experiments outdoor today.
Having observed some children showed interests in colours when I prepared food colouring for the water table and play dough, We decided to let the children explore and have hands-on experience with colour mixing.

The children were invited to mix three primary colours (Blue, Red and yellow) water using an eye-dropper. Squeezing an eye-dropper can be an great movement to enhance fine motor skills and pre-writing skills.

As well, our children were fascinated by the various different colours they made. Alfie and Cameron were satisfied with the different shades of emerald colour! How wonderful to hear the children described colours with such enriched language.

 I invited the children mix colours on a piece of ice. As the coloured water dripping upon the ice, the children said "the ice is melting!" 
"I wonder what makes the ice melt," Ann asked.
"Coloured water," William said.
"The Sun," Esme said.
"Would the ice still melt if we move it inside our school away from the sun?" Ann wondered.
Cameron said "the ice would melt inside our school if we touch it."
What an interesting conversation I had with the children!

We put our mixed coulour water in the freezer after the activity. We can explore more about the diffrent for of water (Solid, liquid, air) next.

Maple Group - What Do Spiders Eat?

Central Idea:  Crawling creatures are an important part of our ecosystem

Lines of Inquiry:

Form - Features of crawling creatures

Causation - Crawling creatures affect the ecosystem

Maple group children shared the criteria they learned about spiders. The children were curious about what bugs eat from the previous group time. "What do spiders eat?" the children were asked. "Flies!" the children answered. Do you know spiders actually eat a lot more other insects and animals! Therefore, we started with a video about spiders' food.

We made a chart records spiders' food we learned from the video. the children were amazed by the fact that some spiders eat bats and birds! We also learned that some spiders need web to catch their preys and some don't need a web.

The children make spider webs with glue and thread.

The children made their own spider web with thread and glue. Then, we made a spider with clay and pipe cleaners. The children carefully rolled two clay balls for the two body parts and counted eight pipe cleaners for the spider legs!

Art - Rooting

The book "Rooting for You" by Susan Hood was read to the children today. 

The children learned about how a seed spread out roots and sprout when it grows. Moreover, there are warms and insects under and on the ground that help plants grow. Earth worms sow earth that helps plants grow better.

"Who need plants?" the children were asked.

Allye - "Butterflies."

Angela - "Bees."

Lucas -"I can eat fruit from plants."

The children created a picture of how a plant grow and how other creatures depend on plants or help plants to grow. The children used crayons to draw out plants, worms, and insects. We used hole punchers to create loose space in the dirt for the roots to grow easier.

Art - Leaves Print

Transdisciplinary Theme: How we share the planet

Central Idea : Plants play a unique role in our lives and the lives of animals

lines of inquiry:

• The features of plants in our local area
• How animals/people use plants
• The needs of plants in our local area

"What do you know about leaves?" the children were asked.
Mila - "they need water."
Matthew - "leaves grow."
Brendan - "Leaves are in trees."
Lucas - "You can use leaves as fertilizer"
It was always amazing to hear how much our little ones already know!

We read the book "Leaves" by Vijaya Khisty Bodach to learn more about leaves.

Each child chose the leaves they like to touch and feel the veins on the leaves. The children all want to show me their veins on their arms! What a great connection our children made!

Carefully, the children painted the leaves and print the leaves pattern on the paper.

Leaves use water, air and sunlight to make food for the plant; at the same time they give off oxygen, which all people and animals need.

Art - Dandelion

Transdisciplinary Theme: How we share the planet

Central Idea : Plants play a unique role in our lives and the lives of animals

lines of inquiry:

• The features of plants in our local area
• How animals/people use plants
• The needs of plants in our local area

This Friday, a big bunch of sunny yellow flowers was brought into Creative Minds classroom. Many children delightfully called out "dandelions!" The children shared what they knew about dandelions:
Cameron - "They are weeds. Dandelion can be medicine, too!"
Alfie - "You need to dig them out from a garden!"
Roy - "You can blow the white things."

To learn more about dandelion, the book, we read the book "Dandelion Adventures" by L. Patricia Kite. Then, the children were amazed by the beautiful time lapse video of dandelion flower turn into seeds.

Dipping dandelion flowers into yellow and orange paint, the children printed dandelion pattern on the paper and drew leaves and stalks with green crayons! 

It was lovely to hear children talking about dandelion flowers and seeds after the art activity.

Cameron asked "do dandelions grow all around the world at any place?"

Jayla asked "why some dandelions at our playground are closed?"