Preschool and Kindergarten Ateliers 1/9/07

Welcome back, and I hope everyone had wonderful holidays!

Preschool:

Chalk:
This week, the three-year-olds began to explore chalk. In order for the children to continue to build strong relationships with materials, we had them explore at their own pace and provided small, intimate groups for them to work in. As the children explored the thin and thick, colorful, rich chalk, we began to notice the different ways the children investigated this new material.

Some of the ways children used chalk:
Used the side of the chalk, blended with their hands, represented ideas, overlapped color, hit the chalk on the paper so that little pieces broke off that could be smoothed into the paper (and resembled smoke), rubbed some colorful chalk on arms to feel its smoothness, created new colors...

Paper:

This week the four-year-olds began the investigation of paper. The children have continued to enjoy exploring materials with their hands and bodies by building, drawing, dramatic play, and working in the sandbox. We as teachers also observed an interest in texture and color and being able to differentiate subtle differences between the way things feel and the way they can be changed. Our four-year-olds often can take one small thing like a piece of paper and transform it into many different things, giving it multiple meanings. In our first week of investigation, children gave many different meanings to paper as well as discovered many different things about it. One child was so excited that when, for the first time, he was able to rip paper, he exclaimed,"I did it, I did it!"

things children have begun to discover about paper: different weights, textures, and colors; representing many ideas through paper; bending, folding, ripping, and attaching paper without glue or tape; twisting, making 3-D constructions, and exploring ways to create texture by crumpling and uncrumpling.

Kindergarten:

Ms. Hoddick’s class:

This week we will be reflecting on our transportation project and preparing for our next project. One class will be finishing up by sketching a plant they have been growing to represent their idea about transportation. The other group will make small books of photos they took of different objects, such as balls and marbles, moving, in order to show their ideas about how moving objects can also represent transportation.

(Above: Children felt that Mr. G. moving up a ladder was transportation because he is going from one place to another...so they took this picture.)

Ms. Hitomi’s class:

We will also be working towards reflecting on their transportation project. Monday's group finished making drawings for a collaborative book about their ideas, which ranged from tsunamis, hurricanes, and air to music and ghost ships. After this group reflected, they decided that everything that moves is transportation.

Thursday's group will be constructing books with the pictures they took after going on a transportation hunt around the school.

Posted on January 9, 2007 12:14 PM | Permalink