Week Twenty: Portraits and Experiments


Posted by Admin on February 08, 2017 at 2:40 PM

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We have had another wonderful, smile-filled week in the Early Learning class. The girls were busy at play all week learning more about the interesting ways in which water works, collaborating to create unique structures, and using their artistic abilities to sketch and paint self-portraits. The age-old "cootie catcher" also made an appearance, and most of the girls made their own (glad to say I haven't forgotten how to make them). I continue to be impressed by the depth of their thinking and impact of the kindness they show toward each other and the rest of the Linden community. Enjoy the pictures from the week!

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G is focused on laying out the sight words to decide which ones she wants to "say, make, and write" at the Communication Centre. Organizing the words helps her read them clearly.

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M has drawn a detailed self-portrait at the Art Centre. She wanted to add some designs to the background before painting it over. 

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G and G work together at Communication to search through the "popcorn words" for the word "POP". Each time they find it, they write it down.

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Z adds little details to her self-portrait with a fine-tip Sharpie before going over it with watercolour paints. I love to watch hoe careful the girls are when they are working on something that they care about.

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G and G explore capacity, floating/sinking, and suction with the water buckets at Nature. The smile on G's face speaks for itself - playing with water is the best!

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G enjoys even the smallest amount of snow that we got on the roof today. 

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M worked on this "hidden numbers" piece while in the Math Centre. She has hidden small and big numbers around the drawing, and challenged me to try to find them all. 

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G sits peacefully, as she concentrates on adding and removing kapla blocks to and from her structure. She had built a tower that was about twice this height until it collapsed. She is determined to rebuild it. 

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G peeks into the insides of the spools as she drops marbles down the hole. She tells me that this is a waterfall (with the ribbons being the water that is flowing out), and it is filled with marbles for the water. 

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G is pleased with her progress so far on the new Alphabet Match game. She is reviewing upper and lower case letter matching, as well as working on her fine motor skills.

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All smiles on an extra special ravine walk with Brie!

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Z and M chat about what their stories are today. We are trying something new - writing using a picture prompt. Both girls needed extra space on the back of the page. 

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We are watching the different colours of water move through the paper towel into empty cups. The girls have predicted that the colours will mix and make new colours. 

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G is thrilled with her new, hand-made cootie catcher. She approaches Z to pick a number, and then a letter, to find out the mystery message inside.

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M steadies the planks as she builds a very tall tower. Together we measure it, and realize that it is almost as tall as her brother!

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G is deeply engaged as she sketches herself. On some parts of the drawing she works slowly to add detail, and for others she likes using quick pencil strokes.

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G plugs the bottom of the funnel with her finger to keep the water (and pumpkin seeds) from dripping out. She and S learn more about water through exploration and discovery.

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G adds bright colours to her self-portrait. She seems to be balancing out colours that she sees on her face with colours that she likes and wants to paint with.

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Z carries around her babies as she travels around the room. She has told us that she is not Ziyal today, but called "Cheesecake".

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The girls look carefully at the two jars of water - one hot and one cold. They predict what will happen when I drop food colouring into each one. If you didn't know, the food colouring dissipates quicker in hot than cold (because the molecules are moving faster).

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G and M watch as the food colouring mixes into the water during our science experiment.

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M admires her name in the snow on our Friday ravine walk.