Exploring light

This term in Science our learning has focused on forms of energy, including light, heat and sound. We spent some extra time exploring shadows and natural light outdoors. Here's a glimpse at some of the hands on learning that was captured.

Creating shadows

Looking closely 

Careful observation and relaxing

Living things create shadows in sunlight

Our new rainbow blocks were a huge hit outside 

Structures emerged

Conversations and decisions were made

The 'light table' was a very popular place for a couple of weeks. All things shiny and reflective were gathered for play and inspiration. Flashlights and kaleidoscopes created magic. Gems stones, metallics and mirrors reflected light. 

We constructed a shadow puppet box to experiment with hand puppets. It was fun making animals with our hands and letting friends guess. The kids enjoyed using the coloured blocks inside as well.

Spring Bunnies

Another Pinterest inspired project, resulted in these gorgeous springtime bunnies. The children enjoyed this art activity immensely partly because of the challenges it presented. Sometimes things look simpler than they are. The finished pieces are beautiful.

I led a directed drawing lesson with the class to support them through the initial drawing of the bunnies. We started by drawing a curved hill shape for the body and worked our way up. The head was probably the most challenging, but thinking of the head shape of a ninja turtle seemed to help (their connection). We used masking tape to trace and circle off the nose and mouth area and the kids were able to add bunny ears with little instruction. We discussed scale and the importance of having each part just the right size.

The second step involved drawing pencil guide lines softly and evenly in the bunnies. I knew this would be difficult, getting the spacing just right so I completed this step for them when they were out for recess (took less than ten minutes).

Then it was time to pull out the sharpies. We focussed on the eyes first, colouring them in and adding rays of sunshine around them. The nose and mouth were coloured boldly before each ring was lined. We referred to them as the large donut, medium donut and the tidbit in the middle. Finally it was time for the lines, and more lines and more. They had to fill each section in using vertical lines, trying to keep them roughly the same distance apart. We had lots of tired arms!

The final shape the bunnies take is quite amazing. We didn't outline the bunnies, rather filled the space inside them. Pretty cool effect. Instead of the glasses in our inspiration piece, I decided on roses. So, the last step involved rolling paper roses from brightly coloured construction paper. Leaves were cut from crepe paper in two shades of green. They add the perfect pop of colour and say spring.

Spring Blossoms

Spring blooms offered an invitation to slow down, ponder and look closely. The most delightful, vibrant, and true to form pussy willow and forsythia drawings and paintings were born. Beautiful.

Circle Roses

With the support of our amazing PAC (let me repeat - AMAZING) we are working on an art card fundraiser this spring to celebrate our budding young artists. The teachers were chatting about possible card designs and ideas for weeks. Each settled on a design and every student completed a bright, spring painting for their card. With help from Ms. Terretta, each piece of art will be lovingly scanned and soon be ready for card production. Sample card images and ordering information will be sent home in the next couple of weeks. We're beyond excited to celebrate our students' work in such a unique and professional format. Families can share their children's art with friends and family near and far with these treasured keepsake greeting cards.

After much contemplating, I decided on a simple, but detailed circle rose design that I stumbled across on Pinterest from Art Projects for Kids. Here is the link and how to: http://artprojectsforkids.org/how-to-draw-circle-roses/. I immediately loved the simplicity of the design, the bold colours and the challenge of learning a new drawing technique would bring.

The class spent about half an hour  practicing the circle rose technique in their drawing books one afternoon. Were they ever focused. The following day, on a sheet of watercolour paper, with their practice roses in view, they set off to draw three large and three small roses. They added leaves and a few swirls before outlining their work in black sharpie.

They were most excited to bring their drawings to life with watercolour. With an assortment of reds, blues and greens (maybe a little pink and purple too for good measure) they painted their roses, leaves and backgrounds. The images below speak for themselves. Gorgeous. I cannot wait to see them as greeting cards.

Spring Haiku

Every month I change up the poems on our flip chart. The only predictable bit is the very first poem, which is Maurice Sendak's, Chicken Soup with Rice, for that particular month. They read with a familiar rhythm and rhyme and they're well loved by the children. We have Sendak's book of poems in both BIG book format as well as the regular little version (it's a mini). There's also a random mix of good seasonal and thematic poems of my choosing as well.

In March, one of the poems was a haiku, which got us thinking and talking about poems that had rules. We explored and played with syllables in words. I introduced more haiku to them and asked them to identify a common theme between them all. Nature. With wet weather in the forecast all week, rain seemed like the perfect topic to focus our own haiku writing on.

We revisited this beautiful book, Raindrops Roll, by April Pulley Sayre, that we'd read during our Sky Inquiry. It's a refreshingly fun and fascinating exploration of rain, raindrops and the water cycle. The stunning photography and descriptive writing inspired the collection of rain words on the chart paper below. We clapped out the syllables of the words before setting off to write our own three line poems, with 5 -7 -5 in mind. The goal was to have our poems paint a picture with words. Results, impressive. Collaboration, equally as impressive. Enthusiasm and interest, beyond impressive.

We stopped to share our poems as we wrote, to inspire ideas in one another. Some completed one, while others wrote multiple haikus. They helped each other when they got stuck and needed to revise or rewrite a line to lose or gain a syllable. It really was a group effort. In the afternoon, after a quick introduction to Pic Collage (love), they set off to publish their haiku poems and upload them to Seesaw. Let me just say, boy can this group can navigate an iPad like I've never seen. They're quick to learn and creative in their efforts. Here are a handful of their haikus. 

Forever Friends

So many lovely spring pictures books to read and share with the class, but this one, Forever Friends is the simplest of stories about true friendship. With a focus on Carin Berger's collaging technique, we recreated a spring scene using a variety of materials with different textures.

• blue background
• wood grain drawer liners (giant roll of sticker paper)
• painted paper in pink with added texture (patterned rollers) 
• different shades of green paper and crepe paper for leaves
• sharpies
• shredded Kraft paper
• mini eggs

Thanks to the five boys who painted paper during Centres the day before to share with their classmates!

The drawer liners were pre cut to fit the paper but still managed to create a few sticky situations. A few friends took the backing off before cutting out their branches, eek. But, with a little teamwork every twig was carefully placed. Next, flowers were cut from the painted paper and leaves were added. The flowers were finished with sharpie detailing. The finale was rolling and wrapping the shredded nest and deciding on its perfect resting location on the cherry blossom trees before choosing a mini egg for their tummies and one for their nests. Hot glue ensured the eggs wouldn't disappear.

Collaborative Community Map

As a culminating activity to consolidate our learning and exploration of community in Social Studies (just prior to Spring Break) we joined forces with Ms. Koo's K/1 class to create this collaborative mapping masterpiece of our community, Champlain Heights. This was no small feat, let me tell you. It quickly became their project and was tackled with full enthusiasm and determination from every angle. Once we got going, there was no stopping this crew of kids. They were passionate about including all of the places and spaces they felt really define, represent and meet the needs of their families in the community. We could barely keep up!

To create the map we consulted google maps to help draw out a simplified version of the community streets. Chalk on black paper. Did I say simplified? This hood is a web of tightly knit co-ops with cultasacs and crescents so inticrately woven it's near impossible to recreate on a scale that would sufficiently support forty plus paper bag houses to represent the single most important place in each child's interpretation of community - home. We quickly realized there was zero chance of fitting all of the colourfully decorated houses accurately on the map. Hence, the birth of the pin and string system. The kids were responsible for creating their own street labels and with google maps and some quick estimation, we got every home secured to the map.

The children decided on which additional places and spaces were important to include on the community map. Using oodles of paper and supplies parks, shops, cars, schools and fire halls were constructed and lovingly situated on the map. It was surprising how particular these customers were, cars had to be in exact spots, as did trees and shrubs!

When asked what makes their community great, this is what Division 3 had to say...

• I live close to my friends
• I can walk to my friend's house 
• I can walk to school
• Its prettiness
• Everything

When asked what places were important to them they said...

• My school
• Waterpark
• Nana's house
• My home
• Independent 
• Bus stops

When asked how they'd describe their community they said...

• Clean
• Tidy
• A nice place to live
• Beautiful
• Special
• Comfortable 

There's no place like home.