Water Color Painting
As we have been discussing and reading books about artists and museums, we did a new kind of painting this week- using water colors! We first drew pictures or designs with black markers and then colored our pictures with water color paints. The children were puzzled to see the paint not appearing on the paper at first, but then some friends suggested that we use water with the paint. When the teachers dipped the paintbrushes in the water before dipping them into the paint, the children were relieved to see that the paint appeared on the paper and wanted to try for themselves. Please come and see our beautiful collaborative water color painting hanging in our classroom. The children have also been working on something special for the parent teacher conferences so please look forward to seeing them next week!
Painting like Action Jackson
Recently, we have been reading a story called "Action Jackson" by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan about an artist named Jackson Pollock who uses a BIG piece of paper and uses his whole body to paint drips and lines. The children watched a short video clip to see him in action and were surprised to see he did not use an easel or put a piece of paper on a table top to paint like we usually do. They thought they could do a painting similar to his famous painting called "No. 5, 1948" so the teachers prepared the room for the activity. We chose four colors- black, white, blue and pink and the children stood around a giant piece of paper! They made big movements with their bodies while painting and some stood on the paper while covering other parts of the paper, just like Action Jackson as they have begun calling him. Someone even suggested that we listen to jazz music while painting as the story said he Jackson Pollock did the same. The teachers were so proud of the children for taking their time and making such a gorgeous masterpiece!
More Creations With Clay!
The children have continued to become quite the clay masters this month and have become more comfortable using the oil clay, especially in more creative ways. This week, in addition to using wires and sticks, they began incorporating buttons, wooden shapes and wooden blocks which provided more opportunities to expand on their oil clay creations. This week, the children made castles, a bunny, a birthday cupcake, and a submarine among many new art pieces. It is wonderful to see the children using their imaginations and concentrating hard. We will continue to explore clay more in the following weeks!
Continuing with THE Box
As we wrote in last week's blog entry, due to the popularity in the big storage box in the classroom, we decided to bring the box into the middle of the room this week. As soon as the children walked into the classroom, they were VERY excited to see the box. They continued to pretend that the box was an airplane and a submarine and also a pirate ship, a dentist's chair, and a bus. When the teachers asked what kind of bus it was, some friends answered, "A red bus!" The box was gray, so they children asked to put red paper on the outside of the bus to change its color. Friends took turns being the driver, the passengers, and babies.
The children added seat belts for the passengers and a steering wheel using classroom materials (a jar and a round plastic object) for the driver and we even drew a gasoline tank on the bus so we can add gasoline when needed!
Magna Tiles
As the loft has been a popular and creative environment for building with Legos, the children were introduced to Magna tiles for another way to explore construction. Rather than the teachers showing the children what and how to build, they were left out for the children to investigate themselves. As soon as the children entered the loft, they quickly discovered the new items and tried them out saying they were magnets and "sticky things." As a groups, we will explore them and their many educational opportunities in the coming weeks. But as teachers, we love to see what they come up with without instructions or modeling. Although it was many of their first attempts at using them they already came up with some wonderful creations- airplanes, rocket ships (one of which can fly to England!) and even ice creams!
The children have continued to read stories about artists and museums and have been talking about their experiences at museums as long as what you can do and see in them. One friend shared photos of a family trip to a museum and the children were excited to see pictures of dinosaur bones. The class read a book about a painting that mysteriously vanished from a museum and have especially enjoyed reading books from the "Katie" series by James Mayhew as they seem to take the children into many famous paintings. The children have asked about visiting a local museum so we will continue to listen to some ideas and will see where they lead!!
We look forward to seeing you at the conferences next week. Have a lovely break with your families!
- Julie and Natalie
- Julie and Natalie