Don't Eat a..... POINSETTIA!

 

 

 

Recently, I lugged in some boxes from home labelled, "CHRISTMAS: SCHOOL". I always rejoice in opening up storage/decoration boxes at home, revisiting little treasures that I put away and forgot about. The same holds true for the boxes that I open for school.

 

I pulled out my potted poinsettias, "Olde World" Santa, door wreath, and nutcracker. I am making a conscious effort to not overdecorate with commercial items, and allowing the childrens' work to take centre stage. However, knowing that some symbols are important for developing schema, I decided to introduce the poinsettia. And so the arrangement sat at a table, summoning the children...

To play.

To explore.

To observe.

To create.

 



 

 

Their master pieces continue to fill the room. And without giving too much away (you'll see at the concert :), the children connected with the plant through song and fine arts.

 

 

 

I'll admit that I didn't fully draw their attention to the shape of the leaves each time, but some did notice that the green leaves were similar to the red leaves, except in colour. It was decided that it is really just a leafy plant, with leaves of red and green. And yet, maybe the red ones are the petals?(They were divided). What we all agreed upon - they are not for eating!

 

 

Something else I noticed (seen in the bulletin board display) is that a few children chose to not directly represent the poinsettia itself, but have created something akin to wrapping paper patterns, using the colours RED, GREEN, and YELLOW. So, while not representing the plant itself, their connections are documented too. Poinsettia, wrapping paper. Symbols of the season, dear to them :)

 

Thank you for visiting our busy atelier!

 

The Setting Sun

It was wonderful to reconnect with families this past month, and reflect on the progress and milestones that our junior kindergarten children have met. And yet I know, there are still so many questions that weren't asked and perhaps not answered. I am only too aware that your little ones are never far from your mind. There were reports from some families that they are looking forward to the day when there is more of a daily conversation at home, about the highlights of their child's day. I can relate, and I hope that this blog can be viewed with your children as a prompt.

This blog has been tailored to reflect more about what is the current interest in the classroom, as opposed to "what we will" learn. With the changing pace of kindergarten, I feel it is important to share some of the guiding principles in our classroom. The "emergent curriculum" is drawing the attention of educators across our school board.

And so we ask, "What is emergent curriculum?"

(excerpts taken from pages 17 & 18 : Susan Stacey, 2009, Emergent Curriculum in Early Childhood Settings)

- In its practice, the teacher takes the role of facilitator, taking what they see and hear, and bringing to children the opportunity to discover and construct further knowledge

- It enables childrens' learning and teachers' thinking to be made visible through varied forms of documentation

- It is flexible in that curriculum planning, rather than being done well in advance, is constantly developing.

Traditionally, I have outlined our future units (e.g. migration, hibernation, adaptation). Please be assured that I still have these ideas in the back of my head, though I am making a greater effort to listen to the childrens' ideas and allow this to lead and inspire my instruction as we journey through the year. For this reason, you will not see me pinpointing exactly what we "will be learning" in advance.

While on our nature walks this fall, the children made observations about the Canada geese traveling overhead. With their interest sparked, we took to the books. (A daily read-aloud is still part of our emergent curriculum :) We compared the Canada geese to the Snow geese on a Venn diagram, moved to the "Migration Dance" and explored images - many of which were sunset images.

*courtesy of flickr*

From here, another art project was inspired. And while the children sang the alphabet in French, I took the opportunity to set up a water colour provocation with the intention...

To play.

To explore.

To observe.

To create.

Some care was taken to demonstrate how to create "wet on wet" water colour. With our paper fastened to the tables, the paper was prepared with water. With a  jar of plain tap water and a brush, long sweeping brush strokes were practiced, taking care not to disturb or tear the fibres of the paper.

With broad paint brushes, the children set to work, applying water colour to their wet paper. The children marveled at how the colours ran across the page and made little puddles.

                                       

Perhaps because the children are now accustomed to cleaning off the tables, many were concerned about the paint that was pooling on the paper, and drips that were on the surface of the table. They had to be reassured that this was fine :)

The next morning, they were delighted with the colours that remained on the page. Eager fingers reached out to touch the paper, and several shared their surprise that the painting was no longer wet. Perhaps because the pages were so significantly saturated the day before, they wondered...

Where did the water go?

This is very likely a question (and concept) that we will revisit, time and time again this year. Each time the children experience it, their schema becomes broader. When I probed some of the children for their responses to this question, their thoughts and ideas were recorded:

"It dried up."

"And now it's painted."

"It's under the paint."

"I don't feel any water under there." (feeling under one of the pictures)

"It went into the paper."

"Maybe it went away."

"It goes outside."

"It disappears like magic."

"It's in the sun."

 I look forward to revisiting this science concept as the winter snow trails in,
(and our daylight time gets longer!)
In kindergarten, we keep on "building" at our perfect pace :)

Thanks for visiting our atelier.