Art Studio

I just love when the children go to the art studio and create what ever comes to their minds.  Two girls sat in the art studio before leave for the holiday and this is what they came up with.  The imaginations is endless when provided with the right kind of materials.

Classroom Art Studio

Everything is always ready for the children to create their own art projects.  We restock the art studio daily with new materials to keep the ideas flowing from the children. 

Paint Studio 

The easel area is also always ready for the children to create one of a kind painting projects.  They have a variety of materials to choose from to paint on.

Graphing our Families

In the 3 year old classroom the teacher there is introducing her class to graphing.  This week they found out how many people are in each of their families.

This teacher had them pick out shapes to represent the family members in their family.  Once the children identified the shapes that they had chosen, she then had them draw a picture of each family member on each shape.  Once they had drawn on their shapes she had them find themselves on the graph and glue the shapes on their row.  When they were done she had them count how many members were in their family.

Some of the children got really detailed in their drawings as you can see above.

This teacher will then use this activity to help her meet her observations for her assessment of the Desired Results Developmental Profile.

Thank you Lyndah, for sharing and inviting me to visit your classroom.

Turkey Spelling

Here is a fun way to get your students spelling and recognizing letters. Make picture cards with seasonal themed word. Have the children turn over the picture card and identify the picture and read the word under the picture. Next have the children spell out the word to one another. Once they have spelled it to one another have the children find the letters to that word and place the feathers in order around the turkey. Have the children check each others turkeys allowing them to help one another. Once they are done with that picture card, have them move onto the next one.

Note: Have enough feathers with letters for each child to spell out every word. Remember there are no winners or losers.

Turkey Rhyming Game

Make a set of rhyming word with pictures to match each word. For each rhyming set make a large picture card and a small picture card that can fit on a construction paper feather cut out. Glue the small rhyming picture card to a construction paper feather. Make a turkey shape body for each child. Have child turn over a picture card and have them identify the word. See if they can come up with any rhyming words to go with that picture card. Once they have come up with some of their own rhyming words see if they can find a feather with a picture on it that rhymes with the card that is turned over. Once they have found the feather have them place it around the body of their turkey. When all the feathers are gone game is over.

Note: Have enough feathers of each rhyming word for each child in the group.

Here are some rhyming words to get you started

• Hen           Pen

• Jeep         Sheep

• Cow          Plow

• Hog           Dog

• Chick         Pick

• Wheat       Heat

Making Turkeys with Handprints

Making art with children’s hand prints is important to the parents; it gives them keepsakes of their child’s growth. When reflecting back it will help them recall when their child made it.

When using hand prints for you projects you can still make it where the children have control of their own project. You can do this by just providing them with the materials and letting them create what they want from those materials.

Here we gave the children materials that could be made into a turkey, but allowed them to create it how they wanted.

Every child in the classroom knew which one was theirs. 

Friendship Soup/Stone Soup

We ended our week last week with the story Stone Soup and a class discussion on how we could come together and make soup.  The children wanted to call it Friendship Soup.  So all the children came up with a list of groceries that we needed for our soup.  We dictated what they said.

All the children brought in different kinds of vegetables some fresh and some in cans.

We used the canned goods for the block area so the children could experience building with cans and also stones.  I was a great way to build on the print awareness in the block area.

All the children had turns cutting up the vegetables for our Friendship Soup.  We used plastic knives and precooked some of the vegetables in the microwave so that they would be easier for the children to cut.

We set out trays of grocery story fliers, coupons and scissors for the children to practice cutting skills.

At the paint easel we cut out large pot shapes for the children to paint on.

We played food group bingo

The children experimented with making vegetable prints.

Stone Soup

Cactus Soup

Kid Created Boarders

I like for the children to be able to see that their classroom is designed by them with them in mind.  One of the ways that the children help to create their learning environment is by having them make all the bulletin board boarders.  Here is what they came up with for November.

We placed out precut white strips of construction paper.  Next the children decided what containers of collage materials that they wanted set out on the table to create the boards with.  All we did was provide the materials the children did the rest.  They enjoy the process so much that most children make two to three boarder strips.  So next time when you have the impulse to purchase those cute boards from the store stop yourself and let the children create the most amazing boards for you.

Painting with Feathers

Art allows children to explore and discover the world around them. It is import to provide children with the process of art allowing for discovery, mystery of mixing colors, creating a one of a kind piece of art and most of all the joy of the process.

I like to provide interesting and different painting materials to the paint process. Today we gave painting with feathers a try.

Here is what they said…

• It is harder to mix my colors

• I can paint a rainbow

• It makes different lines

• You can make prints of feathers

Even the toddler class gave it a try.

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards))

What In Your House

The children talked to one another about what they had in their house and the different kinds of rooms that they had.

As they talked about it with each other they also drew what was in their house.

This was a great activity for building on vocabulary and language skills as the children talked to one learning about different things in each other homes.

This is our school community.

Family

This week we have been talking about our families. We have been meeting some of our friend’s families and they have been showing us what some of their family tradition are. We have learned that roti and tortillas are similar family traditions. We have learned that some of us live with our grandparents and our parents in the same house. We have learned that some of us only have a mom living with them and some how only have their dad. We have learned that some of us have our moms and dads over seas because they have been deployed for duty. The most important thing that we all learned is that we are all different and that is OK because we are all friends.

One of the things that I did was to have all the children take home a large cut out of their choice to make a collage on of their family and bring it back to school a share with us. We had cut outs of house, trees and flowers. Once all the children brought them back each child took the time to tell us about their family. We then hung up all the family collages through out the classroom, this helped to bring about the classroom community and that we all belonged.

The children also drew pictures of their families and told us about what they drew.  We dictated what the children said.  Once the pictures are done being on display I will make a book out of all the family pictures and place it in our book nook so the children can keep telling one another about their family.