Art - Decorating with Lights

Science - Ice & Salt

The children were all curious and interested in the salt we put on the ground outside our centre on icy days. This afternoon, the children and I observed how ice affect ice through a little science experiment. We had three dishes, each of them with one ice cube in it. I asked the children to add two spoon of salt upon the first ice cube, one spoon of salt on the second ice cube and leave the third ice cube plain. 

Then, we had a five-minute timer to help us measure the time. "What will happen to the ice cubes?" I asked the children. The children all excitedly said "it will melt!"

"Which one will melt the fastest?" I asked again. This time, each child had his/her own guess.

The children all waited patiently for five minutes. Then, we observed the ice cube by our eyes to see which ice cube became the smallest among the three. We found the plain ice cube was the biggest, but we could not decide which was the smallest.

Therefore, we took out the scale to help us compare which ice cube became the lightest at the end. The difference between the two ice cube with salt were really small (0.1 g)! 

Math - 10 Fish Game

This afternoon, the children and I played a math game, which introduced the act of subtracting. Here, we started by counting and confirming that we had ten fish on the paper. 

Then, one child would hide some fish underneath the blue paper while everyone else hid their eyes. The question was "how many fish went under the paper?"

"I am ready!"

The third step would be counting how many fish was left on top of the paper. Once we knew the number of the fish left on the paper, we could open up our little hands to count with our ten fingers. Bending down our fingers one by one, we would know how many fish went under the paper.

Of course, we lift the paper up to check if we get it right!

What a fun way to encourage the children to count and to introduce subtraction! 

Earth Group - Decoration Book

We started our group time with two videos to review what we have learned in the Earth group.

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

Lines of Inquiry: Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another (connection).
We reviewed two forms of decorations, totem poles and sand drawing, that tell human stories we learned through Earth group group time.

After the videos, the children talked about their totem and sand stories right away. What a great way to reinforced and refreshed their memory! Then, the children made their decoration books that record what they know about decorations.

       

Art & Craft - Jingle Bell

This Friday, the teachers and the children were busy preparing props for our Mini Concert. As many of you already know that we will sing "Jingle Bells," the children would make their bells to shake while we sing it.

The process required the children to thread the bells on wire and to wrap ribbons around a stick. The movement would enhance the children's fine motor skills. 

We all practiced singing "Jingle Bells" with our bells at the end of the activity!

Math - Secret Bag Counting

This afternoon, I brought in a secret red bag for the children. The children all wanted to have a peek in it badly when I showed them the bad. Once they all had a peek in the bag, they chose the items they want to sort and count.

Them, we reviewed our numeral numbers 1-8 and place the numbers on the carpet. 

We poured out all the objects from the secret bag, the children took turns to count and match the objects with the right numeral number cards.  

Here, we completed the task of counting, organizing the items and matching with the right number cards. 

Science - Taking Care of Our Fish

Keeping our commitment, we change the fish tank water regularly. This Monday, we thought it would be fun to make a schedule of changing fish water. As well, we assigned the tasks while we recorded each step on the paper. Reflecting upon their past experience of changing water for the fish, the children were able to break down and verbalize the steps.

Having made the schedule ahead, the children were more independent and more organized while completed the task. 

Art - Snowman

Since winter is coming soon, we started our art time with Deb reading the story "There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow" by Lucille Colandro. At the end of the story, the lady becomes a snowman, which was today's topic! 

First, the children painted their snowman with the colour they liked. Then, we glued and decorated the snowman with buttons and straws. 

It was very interesting to see that some children sticking to the idea that snowman is white. Some of the children painted their snowman while or pale pink; some children just left it plain without painting it. This activity also reminded the children what items we usually use to decorate snowmen. Here we could see the children reflecting the knowledge they already knew. 
Roy - "People use carrots for snowman's nose!"
Trystan - "Sticks are snowman's arms."  

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!