A Thursday Walk Through...

Looking back on our morning together, the Cardinals participated in many exploratory activities such as building! Block play and building are ways for our children to test out problem solving skills while also engaging in dramatic play.

At an early Morning Meeting, the teachers announced that the Cardinals would be having a special Art Class with a visiting teacher named Amanda. Just in time, Amanda visited our room and we greeted her. She shared with us a little about herself, telling us that she loves to paint. After a snack and short choice time, we excitedly made our way to the Art Room to see what type of art we were going to create with Amanda.

The children enjoyed playing a guessing game first, using their sense of touch, to identify the materials we were going to use. They reached in a colored bag and shared what the item felt like with the group. After seeing all the different pieces laid out on a white surface, we identified the similarities and differences. All of the colored and textured scraps were forms of paper and Amanda demonstrated how we could use the pieces for collage making. The children shared different ideas and techniques on what to do with the paper such as: "ripping it to make it smaller", "folding it", and "standing the paper up". This sharing time inspired forms of art as the children engaged in the collaging activity in small groups:

Bridges, Carnival Rides and Space Stations were created and the children continued to select materials to add to each piece showing an ability to build on a beginning idea!

After our art time, we ventured outside and explored in our Outdoor Space. Looking around, the teachers were reminded of a request that was made to the Cardinal Class. We were asked to collect any natural materials that could be used for art work for visitors coming to see our school this weekend! We loved the idea and used this as a perfect opportunity to go on a nature walk. Collecting and gathering are beginning ways to experience math skills such as counting and exercising our growing observation and classification skills. Our children's connection with nature was truly observed in their interactions with each other and their discoveries:

As we joined together in our classroom before lunch, a few friends had special items to share and the children had the opportunity to hear about each of these items and what makes them important or special:

"The Paper"

"A Pretend Flower"

"The Guitar"