Glorious Gingerbread

"You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread _______!" (Insert: man, boy, girl, bear,...)

 

 

 These past few weeks, the children have enjoyed reading the many versions of the classic tale of a gingerbread cookie that jumps out of the oven and runs away. Element of story was explored as the children compared and contrasted the characters & setting, and character/problem/solution. They were quick to observe how the stories were similar or different. The stories have "played" out in a variety of ways in our classroom, and been an ongoing theme of interest.

 

Serving gingerbread, fresh from the oven

 

When I brought this huge box into school, I had anticipated that the children would use their imaginations and create a rocket. Before we knew it, the children were closing the flaps and jumping out while reciting the rhyme/song/chant from any given version of a gingerbread story. They turned the box into an oven - and they were the cookies!

 

Literacy was embedded at play. Not only were they practising rhyme, but they also added a sign to the oven to let peers know that it was hot! 

 Kid print.

 

Someone suggested that a timer be added. We found just the thing. I notice that someone must have have been "keeping time", as there are numbers written on the box. It always impresses me when I see that the children are using and representing numbers, in meaningful contexts.

Numeracy initiated in dramatic play.

 

 We recorded the rhyme/song/chant from the books on the oven, reinforcing an awareness that writing can convey a message.

 Exploring rhyme.

 

Gingerbread man, or pan?

 

When the children broke into focus groups one day, they met paper & stuffed gingerbread cookies, animal toys & puppets and various dolls & blocks as provocation for a story retell.  

"The gingerbread boy is going into the oven for 8 minutes.

This is the oven."

 

 

This small group created the bridge depicted in a few versions of the story,

and explained that they had created the path that the

gingerbread man was chased down.

 

 

"And the little old woman chased her gingerbread baby."

 

 When the story retell using props has run its course, story "maps" were available for the children to tell their version of the story, should they wish. Illustrations were used to support their retell and comprehension of the text. We offered to scribe their stories, and we were impressed at how the children transferred their knowledge and made use of sequence words : First, then, next and finally.

 

 

 

 

Story retell, using the flannel board.

 

Their hunger for play & learning inspires us. We are excited to see the direction the children will lead us in the new year! We wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all the best over the holiday!

 

Thanks for stopping by the atelier!

Trimming the Tree

Our little tree sat at the front of the room for weeks. Unadorned, it waited patiently for me to drag out a bin of Christmas decorations. Green and red ornaments, and a long strand of silver garland awaited the children one afternoon. They quickly got to work, and cooperated with each while debating how to take takes, and how to 'balance' the tree. We stood back to take it in. Beautiful.

"We need a star."

The children found yellow construction paper and tackled that problem. We jogged our memories and recalled the morning when we practiced drawing stars on the white boards - way back when we were still learning to put the lids on the markers. The next task was to figure out HOW to attach a paper star to the tree. We had three stars, and three different ways were utilized. There were deliberations over how to display the stars. This too was solved - some are staggered, and some are visible from different angles.

But still more children wanted to decorate. Hmmm. Who could say no to more promising collaboration? A bin of lacing beads was lugged over. Several got to work sorting colours, while others sorted by shape, and others still created simple patterns. The tree is quite decorated now, and we have found the right balance so that it no longer falls over. This was a challange, and now nobody dares even sneeze near it!

Beautiful garland of AB patterns initiated

by the children 

And while some were sharing stories about their pet cats and Christmas trees (pure entertainment!), some children were keen to record the procedure we went through to create such a beautiful and festive sight. The steps were transcibed onto the large mobile white board.

We used "sequence" words: first, then, next, finally.

The children are hoping you will get a glimpse of the tree at the concert.

Thank you for dropping by the atelier.

Grumpy Grizzlies!

A while back, one of our friends brought in a birthday book to share with us, and it was non-fiction text on bears. Bears have weaved their way in and out of our days, and sit quietly with us in the reading centre.

More recently we have been reading stories about what bears do in various seasons, and singing/playing our song, "Grumpy Grizzly". Bears have also made their way onto the carpet for small world play.

 

Recently, we got on board with other classes who had planned a pyjama day. The children asked if they could bring in a stuffed animal too. Hmm. Opportunity knocked, and we welcomed their bears to come to school. We read a story titled: O'Reilly and the Real Bears, written by Dorothy Butler. It is a story about a stuffed bear who is dressed in clothing, and wants to know what it's like to be a "real" bear. He goes out in the woods and is taken in by a family of bears. He climbs trees and sleeps in a cave on a mattress of rocks. In the end, he misses his boy and returns home. He ditches the clothes and decides that a bit of exercise is good. 

We asked the children:

 

What would your bear learn if it went into the woods to be a "real" bear for a while?

 

Lots of ideas were shared:

 

"They'd eat berries."

"He would catch fish."

"They'd scratch a tree."

"He would growl."

"They would learn to hibernate."

"They'd learn to sleep on a bed of rocks."

 

 While the children were at gym, we got to work and transformed the classroom and relocated some bears.

 

 

 

 

The children were thrilled with the surprise, and created more bear caves of their own using sheets, shower curtains, blankets, and tunnels we borrowed from each of the other kindergarten classes. Tremendous fun! Some bears were learning to hibernate and slowing their heart rate! Some of the mama bears were getting ready to have cubs of their own!

 

And at the atelier, the children wanted to make more bear caves. We scrounged around and grabbed some supplies from the science centre and cupboard.

 

Pieces of moss, pine cones, twigs, leaves and milk weed adorned the pages to create a winter scene and den for a bear to hibernate in. In a box of odd and ends, I found a chunk of faux fur. The "bears" snuggled in for their long winter rest. No doubt, after such a busy and exciting day, the teddy bears and their keepers had a good rest of their of own at home.

 

Thanks for dropping by the atelier.

Many Moons

 

This story dates back to last year, when FDK teachers were asked to "rethink" traditional calendar. I've been tucking ideas away ever since, and was inspired at the beginning of this month to look at the phases of the moon for the duration of December. We have overheard the children talking about the recent Rosetta Mission and pictures from the comet at snack time. This had us thinking that a study of space was imminent. Hence, the moon phases have been incorporated into calendar.

Each day this week, we've been pulling up a website that shows the moon phase, and the children have had many questions. We watched the age old video of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. It's been fascinating! And the children were thrilled one day this week, when they noticed the moon while walking to the buses. "It looks the same as our calendar!"

 

There was much anticipation on Friday, as the waxing Gibbous moon approached a full moon. We pulled up the website, and while we were talking, something on the screen caught our eye. Numbers were changing. We hadn't noticed this before, but the distance to the moon was changing! Before our very eyes, the children were calling out the number in the ones column as it increased. In very little time, the moon had travelled the distance equivalent to the distance between our school and Metcalfe. This created quite a buzz!

 

We started recording the buzz on chart paper. Their comments are brilliant! Never underestimate the mind of a four year old! And then they started story telling - how they would bring the moon back, and why the moon was travelling. The adults in the room were staring at each other in disbelief - what just happened?!? We had to find a way to let the children tell their stories.

 

We quickly printed up some earth and moon pictures and looked at what the earth looks like from space. The children had opportunity to practice their cutting skills (curved line).

 

 

Stories were told.

"The magnet attached to the rope is bringing the moon back."

 

We had pulled up a video that showed the orbit of the moon, and one observant little scientist noted, "So that means, the earth is spinning faster than the moon!"

 

"The moon is spinning really fast."

 

Earlier in the week, one of the read alouds was a non-fiction text on space and the planets. Recognizing that their attention spans have not fully developed to the point that they can remain focused on the carpet for a great length of time, the plan was to look at the table of contents and let them choose the parts they were interested in. They were so focused and eager to learn more! They read that earth has one moon, some planets have none, and some have more than one. The picture below shows the many moons in space.

"My bridge is bringing the moon closer to the earth."

 

Before the children left for the day, two children asked us, "Can we build a rocket next week?" I'm now off to visit a local furniture store - a big box will no doubt be transformed into something very elaborate in the days ahead.

 

Thanks for visiting the atelier.

Promoting Peace & Preparing Poppies

In junior kindergarten, Remembrance Day is another opportunity to focus on peace. Promoting peace within our classroom is of utmost importance, and it takes shape in many different ways. As one of our little friends likes to remind us (daily) when we walk toward the buses, "We take care of each other in a day!" This is in fact, our class motto : The most important thing we'll do in a day, is take care of each other.

When we started introducing Remembrance Day to the children, we focused primarily on peace and poppies. Peace is not a new concept, and the symbol of the poppy is very familiar this time of year, as the children see them afixed to jackets. We have discussed the assembly and practiced standing (still?) for the Last Post and O'Canada. (The children made a good connection to the trumpet we examined in a the music room a few weeks back - good remembering!)

In creating a plan for making our wreath, we watched a few short videos depicting aerial views of poppy fields in England and California. We compared and contrasted the variations of poppies. We also googled painters' renditions of poppies and noted the colours of the petals. The children were encouraged to brainstorm how we could go about making poppies for our wreath, and paint seemed to be a popular material. But I knew that I also had some felt scraps, yarn and tissue paper squirreled away in the cupboard. A provocation was born, and the children were encouraged ...

To collaborate.

To play.

To explore.

To observe.

To create.

When the children broke out into their focus groups, they jumped into the paint straight away.

Working together, collaboratively, they started by making individual poppies on the page. Then I overheard someone say, "Hey! Look at this! I made orange!" The excitement over colour mixing never gets old. Remember, the little things are the big things in kindergarten! I can't be sure, but I think from that point on, they lost interest in painting individual poppies. I think they got caught up in the magic of paint - creating colours and line. Before the paper got too saturated to the point of tearing, the painting was scooped up and put on the drying rack for later.

The felt scraps, tissue paper and yarn remained. However, the felt was in squares.

"What shape are the poppies?"

"Circles!"

"Really?"

Picture a table of scrunched up faces. Too funny!

What followed was a discussion about petals, and stems. They're not circles.

"But the poppy on daddy's jacket is kind of a circle."

"Why do you think that is?"

We thought back to the videos - aerial views.

"When you look down, maybe it's a circle."

"How do you make a square a circle?"

The children were not impressed with the felt and scissors provided at this point. There was a lot of frustration expressed and another learning opportunity presented itself. Actually, many learning opportunities presented themselves.

In reflection afterwards, the children shared:

"The scissors only cut with little snips. Not my big snips."

"The felt wasn't cutting. It's different from paper."

"The scissors weren't closing on the felt."

"The scissors were sticking to the fabric."

"It was trickier because it (the felt) was soft.

The scissors were going up and down - kind of slow."

"The fabric doesn't work with scissors. Paper will work with scissors.

The felt doesn't work with scissors."

"The felt doesn't work with scissors because it's soft and fuzzy."

"I could do it with little bits."

"It was tough. It was closing but not cutting."

"It would work with sharper scissors.

Sharper scissors could cut off the corners and make a circle better."

The poppies were given a centre.

Felt poppies await the next part of the process.

Their "little snips" did work in the end, and the children cleaned up. As they were cleaning up the fabric scraps, an idea emerged, and the scraps were collected and tucked away for later.

The children had so much fun colour mixing, and the little "snips" of felt were too precious to waste, so another provocation and collaborative art work emerged. I regret that I didn't get photos of the initial "stage", but you can see from the one below that the children discovered that blue and yellow creates green.

A green "field" emerges

Little hands take turns applying tissue paper and felt scraps.

In "kindergarten" the flowers grow.

The earlier collaborative painting provides a bit of

dimension to the felt poppies.

At the end of the day, the children had worked together to create something beautiful to be proud of. There were lessons in comparing the many variations of poppies around the world. There were lessons in communication and problem solving. Value was given to process, cooperation and listening. Risk was taken, with the best of intent. We didn't know where the day would take us. All we had was paint, paper, some tissue paper and yarn. But we had ideas, and we were inspired, and we took care of each other in a day :)

Thank you for stopping in, and visiting our atelier.

Preponderance of Pumpkins

Early pumpkin exploration

As October pressed on, there was an increasing interest expressed in pumpkins. In fact, many unsolicited pumpkins arrived on our tables (thank you!) and opened the window for many math, language, creative and musical explorations. We had opportunity to hear about your visits to the pumpkin patch, and the many success stories of home grown pumpkins. Still life renditions were created. We read stories and watched videos exploring the life cycle of a pumpkin. Some seeds are set aside with the intention of starting our own little pumpkin patch, come spring.

The timely appearance of pumpkins provided many sustained inquiries and opportunities for math in our focus groups and independent play. In these small groups, we capitalized on the childrens' natural curiosity, which allowed us to be the "guide on the side" as opposed to the "sage on stage".

My approach to mathematics and numeracy continues to develop, and capitalize on learning opportunities. Our intention is to "spark" a curiosity. With our knowledge of the spiralling curriculum (concepts are built upon each year, K-8) we take children from one level to the next, and allow them to progress at the perfect pace for them. Numeracy provocations were inspired, and we broke out into our focus groups...

To play.

To explore.

To observe.

To create.

One numeracy math provocation

  

The children explored and discussed. The "spark" was evident as they poured over the manipulatives before them.

Measuring tape mayhem

 

There were trials, and it was interesting to see the many directions the children went with the materials available. Clearly, they were building upon their prior knowledge. These could not have been unfamiliar items: a weight scale and a measuring tape. Their actions indicated they had some understanding of how to use them. From here, we build.

Measuring the "perimetre" of the pumpkin 

 

There were some prompts to really observe the measuring tape. "What do you notice?"  They noticed that there were the numbers 1, 2 , 3 ... like a number line. So, we started again at 0, and wrapped our way around the pumpkin. Someone announced, " 52! " and I asked, " 52 what? "  My question was never really answered, and they moved onto something else.

 



Building around the perimetre of the pumpkin.

 

The children started building/measuring/counting around the pumpkin using blocks. We'll get there eventually - identifying standard units of measure (e.g. centimetres ), and using terminology such as circumference and diametre. But in the meantime, their experience is expanding and curiosity is piqued. I assure myself that it won't be the last time the children use the measuring tapes. And in the meantime, using non-standard units of measurement is right on target for the kindergarten curriculum.

 

 

Meanwhile, in other parts of the classroom, children discovered that when they press down on the pumpkin with force, the number gets bigger on the scale. Connections are made to home, when they stand on the bathroom scale with one foot, and then two feet.

 

 

The exploration wasn't over yet. Balance scales captured the childrens' interest, and they took part in the exploration of items in one bucket v.s. the mini pumpkin in the opposite bucket.

 

 

Admittedly, there was some "front loading" of information to assist with the balance scale "play". And, I was thrilled to recently acquire little weights to add to this exploration centre.

This little person is indicating that he finally applied the right weight in the bucket in order for the pumpkin and opposite bucket to achieve balance. This is kind of a big deal :)

There are moments when I stand in awe at the amount of enthusiasm that the children express, and the content covered during a "break out" session in our focus groups. Without paper and pencil tasks, the children are truly exploring, and their learning is relevant and concrete.

We thank you for dropping by our atelier.