January 16-19

The children's interest in rainbows continues. On the rare occasions when there is sun in the mornings, rainbows still dance on our floors and walls. The children will stop before going out to the playground to tell the teachers that they see rainbows in the classroom. They even give up the time outside to jump on, hit, chase, and count the rainbows that they see.

We took an opportunity to revisit Rainbow World. The children looked at the photos on the bulletin board and talked about what they remembered from their experience. A group of children were interested in talking about it more, so a rainbow group was formed. This group drew things that were memorable to them. EKS drew rainbows, bubbles, and stars. TK and BH drew the buildings they made for Rainbow World. JD drew the flying boat that his group sailed on. They all wanted to draw the rainbow leaf that was said to make the rainbows seen outside. We hope to create a large mural with their drawings.
(BH's people & stars) (BH's buildings) (EKS's rainbows, bubbles, & stars) (TK's rainbow leaf)
We asked the class if they remembered hearing music in Rainbow World. We played three different kinds of music: classical, reggae, and slack key guitar. The children correctly identified the classical music as the one they had heard. We then asked the class, "How can we draw the music on paper to add to our mural?" MF drew something in the air. We gave him a paper, and he drew a musical note! SK said it could also look like "this" as she drew a similar note. Some of the children are taking music classes; others remember "seeing music" on the cartoon, "Little Einsteins."
SK's note MF's note
We told the children that, indeed, that was how musicians play music -- that they read the notes. But what we were interested in was what the melody of music would look like; did music even create a picture in their minds? Was music a certain color? Did different music look different to the children? We had a small group listen to the three different types of music again and asked them to draw what they thought each song would look like. Here are some of their ideas.
(MF classical) (MF reggae) (MF slack key guitar)
At our reflection meeting, we shared the drawings with the class. Then we played the three different types of music again and had the children move/dance to the different songs. After some initial silliness, the children did move their bodies according to the different rhythms that they heard.
(classical) (slack key guitar) (reggae)
Our third and fourth grade buddies came for another visit. Our Golden Owls told their buddies stories that the "big kids" wrote down. Our children then drew pictures to illustrate the stories. This has been an exciting literacy experience for both classes; the "big kids" practice their listening and writing skills, while the "little ones" feel that their words are important because their stories are recorded.