Preschool and Kindergarten Ateliers: 1/23/07

Preschool 3-year-olds:

Last week after the teachers reflected on our documentation of what children had been doing with the chalk, we began to take notice of their ongoing fascination with materials and water. The children love to add water to the sand, wanted to add water to the clay when we were investigating clay, and even while painting enjoyed watching the color of the water change as they washed out their brushes. What about water is so fascinating to our children? we wondered. As we began to explore chalk with the water, we noticed many children again fascinated by the color of the water changing and the effect of putting different colors of chalk in the water.

We wondered whether the children noticed the differences between the dry chalk and the wet chalk and, if so, what they noticed about the chalk water they were creating as they dipped in pieces of chalk. The next day at the morning meeting, we asked the children if they had noticed anything different between the dry chalk and the chalk that they had begun dipping in the water. We demonstrated by making a line each with dry chalk and wet chalk. We also invited children to come into the atelier, where they discussed the things they were noticing:

RM: “It looks like a different color.”
AR: “That one.” (referring to the wet chalk)
RM: “It has little holes.” (referring to the dry chalk)
Teacher: “Is it darker or lighter?”
RM: “Darker.” (referring to the wet chalk)
DK : “This one is darker [wet chalk] and this one [dark chalk] is lighter.”
Teacher: “Does it feel different?”
DK:”Warm [dry chalk], cold [wet chalk]”.

In the atelier, children also noticed that the sound of the wet chalk was softer than that of the dry chalk.

(listening to the dry and wet chalk)
D.K. noticed that when she dipped the red chalk in the water, the water turned pink and little pieces of chalk remained in the water.

On seeing this, another child said that if you put all the colors of the chalk in the water, the water itself will change all the different colors. He demonstrated first with a picture.

Preschool 4-year-olds:

Next week I will write about the four-year-olds' investigation of paper:

Kindergarten

Ms. Hoddick’s class:
Ms. Hoddick's class has begun to research different insects in their classroom studies. As the children learn more about the insect that was assigned to them, the children will be making visual representations about the things that they notice. This week the children observed pictures of their assigned insect and discussed things that they noticed about the way that they looked. They also made their first drawings of their insects.

Ms.Hitomi’s class:
For the next few weeks, the children will be working with clay to learn about different techniques and ways of using it. This week they spent time learning about imprinting, building with slabs, and using slip (clay glue).

Posted on January 24, 2007 12:05 PM | Permalink