Learning to be artists

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Some of the children took to creating pictures within frames.  Discovering a real artist who creates using real natural objects was our inspiration.  Each child worked hard and made a creation unique to themselves.  They sure are learning to be artists.

Spring cleanup

Spring is finally here! Some of us went to the Green Classroom to help Mother Nature shake of her winter sleep.

We grabbed tools and carts and raked up the grass and leaves. 

 

The children also found a mound of earth beside a small hole. They lined up to see if thy could leap over the hole. 

While the hole was tiny and there was no danger, the children perceived their activity as a bit scary. It's important for young children to engage in so-called "risky play" so that they become coordinated, confident, and aware of their own boundaries. 

April Showers

Is here any greater childhood joy than splashing in a puddle?

After 30mm of April showers we had plenty of them around. We went on a search for the largest one in our yard. 

We also found a "river" and followed it back to its source. 

Let's hope the May flowers arrive on time!

Grab Bag

Here are a few shots of our learning this week.

Some water table experiments into hydrodynamics and volume:

More owl pellet exploration:

Dramatic play

Using tools and taking apart old items

Lots of writing

And of course a snowmobile track!

Do onions grow into tulips?

Now that our bulbs are starting to die down, we got out the digging tools to explore under the soil. Many of the children thought it was onions in there. Today we compared the smell of an onion to the bulbs and decided they were NOT onions! But what are they?

Can you see all the steps of the inquiry process in these photos?

Wonder

Explore

Observe

Plan and Research

Experiment

Communicate

Story Time

The SKs visited the public library and enjoyed a story time with Mrs Telford. 

 What a peaceful and relaxing visit we had. 

What is this thing?

The children were presented with foil wrapped packages and challenged to figure out what they were. They used observation skills to make a hypothesis. 

After carefully measuring, smelling, feeling, and recording their observations,many guessed it was chocolate. This is probably because Easter was last week and chocolate was at the front of their minds!

When we opened it up, it definitely wasn't chocolate!

To their delight, it was filled with bones!

The children used their fine motor skills to carefully extract the tiny tiny bones. Then they drew pictures and recorded their findings in the notebook. 

Our next step is to do some research into where these bones came from, and to ask some more questions. Here's Rylee wondering "why are these bones all formed differently?

Scientists at work!

Do you know what these things are?