Spiced Apple Cider

One of our holiday stations was putting together these delicious and aromatic spice packages. The children enjoyed touching and smelling the ingredients which included nutmeg, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, dried orange peel and star anise. A lovely blend to brighten hot apple cider, steamed milk or mulled wine. The children were excited to package up and surprise you with all the things they'd made to bring home for the holidays. Hope everyone is having a lovely winter break.

 

Portrait Ornaments

Last year I spotted a version of this ornament on a tree at a craft fair. Naturally, I photographed it for future project possibilities. I wanted the students to draw something personal that would be a lovely keepsake to pull out and adorn the tree with for years to come. A portrait seemed perfect. Plus, they'd had lots of practice drawing self portraits earlier in the fall.

First they sketched a portrait in their drawing books and then outlined it with a sharpie. Then they carefully traced over them onto broadcloth with a sharpie. The fabric was folded in half, inside out, and the excess was trimmed off (by me). With the help of support staff and supervision aids (huge thank you), small groups of students worked with an adult to hand stitch their ornaments in preparation of stuffing. They were handed a pre threaded needle and wow, they did they get the hang of things pretty quickly. They had to stop to leave a small opening so the ornament could be turned inside out and filled. The adults helped to tie off the thread but their little hands were perfect for inside outing the fabric. For time's sake, I took them all home to fill, seal and ribbon. The children were very proud of the finished products. Hope you enjoyed opening them as much as we did making them for you.

High 5

In Math we're taking time to explore numbers, by playing with them, deconstructing and reconstructing them in many different ways, in an attempt to deepen understanding about how numbers work. We call this number sense. Essentially, it's flexible and intuitive thinking about numbers. It's an understanding of numbers, their magnitude, their relationships and how they're affected by various operations. Number sense typically comes as a by product of learning rather than through direct instruction. We promote number sense through mathematical tasks and by encouraging students to make connections to their own experiences and previous learnings. In order for students to develop deep understanding of many math concepts, especially as them move through the grades, flexible and fluent thinking with numbers is necessary. Although many of the tasks and activities the children are presented with may seem trivial or simple, they're in fact promoting just this - flexible and intuitive thinking - number sense.

We call this, the hand game. We were working specifically on number five for a couple of weeks so five was the focus of this activity. Five cubes, between two partners. One friend distributes the cubes discreetly between their two closed fists. The partner chooses a hand to open or reveal and then declares how many must be in the hidden, closed fist. In this example, the right hand revealed 3 cubes. I might say, 3 and 2 more is five. Then my partner would reveal the other hand.

In this example, all of the cubes were in one hand. So all five must be in the other. Kids love playing this with a friend. I can hear some on them using counting on as a strategy (they see three, count four, five and know it's two) and then before long they know all the possible combinations. 

In the activity below, bowls of various pattern blocks were set out at table groups. Students were given the challenge of creating something visually with the blocks and recording a number sentence to match. This moved them from representing five in only two parts, in the hand game, to more possibilities. It also allowed them to think visually, spatially and numerically. Lots of unique creations emerged. They glued a paper version of their idea down. Here are a few examples.

Winter Art

Here is a look at some of the completed 'catching snowflakes' art project the class was working on in December. I know many of you saw at the Winter Concert a couple weeks ago. They're priceless.

Please know, I cherish your child's artwork as much as you do. If you're wondering why none of it has made it's way home it's because your child's masterpieces are being preserved (okay, maybe just stored) in a personal art portfolio at school. After a piece has been on display and taken down, it's filed into the artist's art folder. I promise each piece will be sent home safely in June for personal framing options or gallery shows you might wish to have in your own homes to celebrate this fine work. They're a talented bunch, seriously! Of course, please feel free to ask if there is a project you'd like to have sent home earlier for whatever reason. This curator will happily send it along.

Catching Snowflakes and Christmas Carollers

Consider this a sneak peek at our irresistible, open mouthed, snowflake catching kids and the sing your heart out holiday carollers. All in preparation for the highly anticipated and upcoming winter concert next Wednesday…

With a wintry blue black drop, heads were drawn simply by starting with the neck, extending to a large oval and punctuated with a little nose popping out at the top. Doesn't look like much at first, but add the other details and the big idea emerges pretty quickly. Big black, wide open mouths were placed strategically and tongues, in red, carefully glued on. Last but not least, the first grade teeth. Too cute. Hair, offered in convenient strips of black, brown and golden yellow (we're clearly not a full salon here) was collected, cut, trimmed and curled to perfection.

Still to come….cozy sweaters and scarves and the finishing touches, which you'll just have to wait for!

Hair was carefully glued to the back for a seamless look.

I wonder who this is?

Hmmm…catching snowflakes or carolling?

Pretty Patterns

This group loves to build and create. Here are a few of the pattern-ific designs captured this past week at the pattern table, which offered sparkly treasures and green trees as blank canvases. If these creations are any indication, I'm anticipating some heavily decorated and bejewelled trees happening over the holidays in your homes!

Old Bear

Kevin Henkes' picture book, Old Bear, is a magical and beautifully illustrated story of a bear dreaming through the seasons during a long winter sleep. The students were immediately drawn to the snow covered page, where the night sky is lit with the most colourful, glowing stars. The story reads...

After that, he (Old Bear) dreamed that winter was back. The world was covered in ice. It was night and he sky was blazing with stars of all colours. The cold went on forever. 

Although I had a different background in mind, it was impossible not to validate their enthusiasm and let the starlit night sky inspire their work.

Old Bear was drawn using directed drawing, a step by step strategy that supports students in drawing or in this case painting, successful and real looking bears. It involves good listening skills and scaffolds the process so all students can take risks and create something to be proud of. We focused on drawing big organic, overlapping shapes with oil pastels. We weren't concerned with being perfect, rather with achieving a recognizable bear shape. We'd add the details later. They dove right in.

Next came brown paint, and lots of it. Old Bear was painted in using long brush strokes. We were too worried about staying in the lines either, because we would be outlining the bear in black after and then cutting him out too. Using a thinner brush, black paint defined Old Bear's shape and added some texture around his face and underbelly using short strokes. Once dry, we decided to help with the cutting, to ensure the bold black outline was left intact.

Day two: background. We opted for white paper over blue. We tested white paint on blue construction and it just didn't pop, so white it was. First, we discussed the horizon line and looked at some examples in other books. We defined it simply as the line dividing the land and the sky. Makes sense. The horizon line was drawn in blue oil pastel first, followed by the trees and the large moon. Colourful pastels punctuate the sky in a simple star design created with a lower case t and x layered on top. Once satisfied with the abundance of stars lighting their winter skies, paint was added to set them aglow. This was a little challenging using the tempera puck paints. Navigating the perfect ratio of paint to water on the brush was tricky. Some stars came out darker than hoped, but the artists started to get the hang of it through trial and error which was pretty cool to observe. Once dry, Old Bear was thoughtfully placed in the foreground of the magical scene. Just beautiful.