Clay Art

September 29th, 2011

This week we have had clay available in the art studio. Last week the children went to appointments to learn how to use the clay. They used their whole bodies to mold the clay into inventive things. This week we opened it up at a table for the children to mold with their upper body limbs. The children got into making snakes, worms, and pots out of the clay. They were excited to dig their hands into the clay and make something new.

Summer was happy to begin rolling a snake out with the clay. 

She stated "it is going to hiss, and slither, like this" doing the slither dance.

Carson used fine motor skills to make eyes for his face he made out of clay

Many snakes were made to slither in the ground. Some also called them worms. The children remembered the worms from the walk with Mrs. Weller. 

Rebecca Payne

POD A Wednesday Giving baby a bath

In the discovery area with the continued fasination with cleaning and the big interest in pretending to take care of babies Last week we had dishes for the children to wash and for this week have since left the soap and water and added babies to the water sensory table so they can take care of the babies and give them a bath and dry them off. So far they love having the ability to give their babies a bath.



"Once baby is clean we have dry her off"

In pretend they are really enjoying the nursery that we have set up and have been taking great care of the babies pretending to be mom's and dad's and using phones to call each other to check on their babies or to find a babysitter for their children.



Maria is changing her babies diaper



Pod B: Making Muffins

This week one of our special projects is making muffins with Mrs. Kauppi. The children have the opportunity to make muffins and then eat them. We added so many new activities in the classroom this week so I think this kind of took away from children wanting to go cook. There were a few who went and everyone had a good time. 

Sydney G. is showing us how to make a muffin:

Step 1:

Get muffin mix.

How many spoons of mix do we need?

"One, two, three, four!" 

Step 2:

Get oil.

How much oil do we need?

"Just one, and we have to pour it in this spoon."

Step 3:

Get Water.

 Let's look at the picture. What's next?

"One, two, three. We need three spoons of water."

Step 4:

Stir.

"Now we have to stir it."

"I think I need some more water."

-Ms. Jenkins

Objectives:

Mathematics 22: Compares and measures

Science and Technology 28: Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Pod B: Working Together

 We had some changes in Pod B this week, we added restaurant props to the pretend area and we added some new materials to the college area.  But something that never changes is the blocks that children can build with in the construction area.  Children can build a solo or a group project. The project stays up for a few weeks and the children can work on it continuously and as a community.

Sheila and Morgan wanted to build a house, it started out small and then Sheila said "Let's make a big house for all the people."
"Yea, and the color blocks are windows." -Morgan

Sheila is adding blocks to her large structure. "I'm building a big house." -Sheila












Sheila and Morgan work together to expand their house.

POD A: Pretend Childcare



In the pretend area the children have the choice of playing with babies.  Materials to use for the babies were added including cans of baby food, beds, blankets, lots of clothes, and highchairs.  In the Walnut classroom, the story for the day was called "Everywhere Babies" and talked about what babies do and how they grow.  Many of the children have been interested in caring for babies and were acting out what they heard in the story.  Some of the care taking I saw included feeding the babies, putting the babies to sleep, rocking the babies, and some of the children were using the hospital supplies to help their sick baby.  The children were also using their social skills while taking care of their babies by working together to feed the babies and some of them were even forming families with a mom, a dad, and a baby. 

-Ms. Szumila



Aisha: "I feeding my baby carrots."



Pod A: Finger Painting At The Light Table

 Today was another great day in Pod A. There are some new changes in Pod A starting this week. In pretend the children have been interested in the babies so we have set up a nursery for them. In discovery we have changed out the water tables and now have put babies into the water so the children can wash babies. In the art center we have the clay table open now. We have changed the light table to finger painting and have put small cars where the children can finger paint and use the cars to make designs on the light table. Some of the children were very interested in the light table today and were loving mixing the colors together.- Amanda Schulkins

Pod B: Rhythm Sticks

In large group we explored rhythm sticks and then danced around the circle with them. At first some of the children were worried about them hurting their ears but everyone gave them a try and saw that they weren't that loud. We tapped them together softly to make different tones and sounds using different areas of the sticks. When we put the music with them, we tapped them up high, down low, to the side, and in front of us.

Learning how to use the rhythm sticks before we get up to move around.

Dancing around the circle as we keep the rhythm up high.

-Ms. Jenkins

Michigan State Standard:

Physical Development and Health: 2.2:

Children experience growth in gross motor development and show their ability to use different body parts in a rhythmic pattern.

Pod B: Experimenting With Primary Colors

Today the children further explored primary colors using eye droppers filled with colored water to saturate huge coffee filters.  Being that this was a community art project for the class, the children worked together on each coffee filter to create a multitude of colors.  They worked on this project in pairs throughout the morning and the afternoon.  

  

We also had a surprise rain shower today right as we were about to head outside.  The children were not phased as we geared up and headed out in the rain.  There was plenty of sliding and sandbox time.  The children had fun turning the house in the outdoor learning environment into a doctor's office where they prescribed medicine and administered shots to many upper arms.  The children practiced their balancing skills outside on the stumps as well as the new wobbly platform that balances on a basketball outside the Pine Room.  We all look forward to a refreshing weekend and a happy start to next week!

-Ms. Betker

POD B: Sharing

Since the children have been in school for 4 weeks now I have noticed a lot of changes.  One thing I have noticed is that there is more sharing going on as the children start to learn who the other children are.  In school we encourage the children to share as much as they can.  We understand that sometimes there is only one toy.  We are here to help the children find their own words to talk to the other children about sharing.  Today I noticed two girls playing in the discovery area.  One was playing with the magnet puzzle and the other one was interested in playing with it.

Laken started playing and then Addy asked, "Can I have a turn when you are done getting that piece?" Laken agreed and then when they were all done taking them out they put the puzzle back together.  There have been other days that children don't want to share because "They don't know what I am playing."  So we help them find the words to tell the children what they are doing then ask if they want to play with them.  The other child usually agrees and they go on playing. I look forward to many other days with the children learning new things.  Kayla Reid

POD A: Another fun day!

Today there were so many great things happening in the classroom. 

In the past week children have been able to go to appointments and one of the appointments was mixing water colors. Today the children were able to expand upon what they learned in those appointments and were able to use droppers to mix different water colors on a large filter. At the end of the day the filter was full of many different colors all tie-died together. 

At the light table children can practice shapes and their names in a fun way by using paint bags. They use the pads of their fingers to move the paint around in the bag to let the light shine through and exposing the shape/line they made. Here, Bryanna and Oliver were moving the paint around and making hand prints. 

"It feels squiggly" - Oliver

Looking forward to another great day!

Kayleigh Payne

It was a beautiful Tuesday today in Pod B! The children continued to explore with corn starch and water, and learned more about mixing colors in the art studio. The used the primary colors red and yellow to create orange, and are grasping a better understanding of how to make new colors.

Outside the children started a new activity of corn husking. They are taking the husks from the corn and weaving them into the fence. If you check out the fence on your way in or out of the CDLL, you can see all of the work they have put into decorating the fence with corn husks.

The children also seemed to express a major interest in the musical instruments in the hallway and the outdoor learning environment. Daysha and Sidney really enjoyed playing the xylophone during outdoor time.


I hope the sunshine continues to feed our rainbow garden!
See you Thursday!

-Ms. Fischer

POD A: Shucking Corn and Weaving

This week the children have been peeling the corn, which we call 'shucking', that has come from our Rainbow Garden, as well as some that has been purchased at a local market. The children discovered that the outside of the corn is called the 'husk' and the soft covering is called the 'silk'. When shucking the corn the children saved the husks and used then used them to weave throughout the gate outside. Some of the children weaved the husks while others were finding new ways to use it, such as tying it in knots and twisting it throughout the gate. We will continue to explore corn this week. -Ms. Buckley


"I am doing it this way!" - Remington

"I tied it!" - Henry

"I want to try this!"- Maria

Pod A: Looking For Birds

Today we changed the schedule around for the afternoon. We now do lunch, small group, rest, center, large group, outside time and then pick up to go home. Even though the schedule changed the students did very well on the new change and it worked with them. I know it was hard to go outside to pick up your kids at the end of the day, but please be patient with us as we are all working on this together to make it the best environment for the children.

Something recently we added to the discovery center is birds, binoculars, and in the dry sensory table we added bird seed. The children were very interested in the new additions of the birds and materials to go with them. Today the children were picking up the binoculars and looking outside to see if there were any birds. The children did see some birds but they were far away and not close enough for them to get a good look at. The children were not finding any birds so Ms. Keck starting asking if they hold the binoculars different ways if they can see a difference in size. The children did notice that if they held the binoculars differently to look threw them the sizes of  what they were looking at were different.

I see sky- Aisha

How do I look the other way?- Ms. Keck

You look little- Aisha

How do you call the birds?- Ms. Keck, Tweet tweet- Aisha and Alana

A rainy start to week 4!

Week 4 is starting out damp, but the students continue on with their hard work! A few of the students finished up appointments this week in clay, cooking, and mixing corn starch with colored water.

Aiden M. mixed his colors to make "orange juice." He also enjoyed the texture of the "fluffy powder," which was the corn starch.

The rain didn't stop us from enjoying the outdoors. Today while we were outside, a train went by! The children got really excited as they waited for it to drive by.

We are eager for another good week with the children as we finish up our clay, cooking, and corn starch and water appointments. Hopefully it'll rain some more so we can explore all the changes that happens when it rains!

-Ms. Slater

Pod A: Picnic Lunch

Today, is Thursday September 15th it is the last day of week four for the children and many friendships are developing between the two classrooms. We had a special lunch today where we got to go outside to Zen Gardens and had a picnic. This picnic consisted of peanut butter and jelly, baked potato chips, celery, and cherry tomatoes. The children really enjoyed the fresh air and the insects that were flying around. After our picnic lunch we had the children take care of all their garbage. Then, we had open stations that the children could move between. These stations were scarf throwing, sac races, parachute, and reading stories about outside.




The children worked together to pass the sack lunches around to decide what they would like to eat.
Pierce states: "I love peanut butter YUM!"

Sydney and Oliver laughed at the bees that landed on their sandwiches then flew away. Sydney also pointed out the butterfly flying around.






                                                                                





Devin passed the bag of potato chips to Bryanna so everyone could have some.

The sack races were fun and challenging. The children built gross motor skills and friendship. when Rose fell Jordyn offered to help her up.










Danielle, Alexis and Kyla worked on getting the parachute high enough to get under it as well as work together as a team to get it up high.

Becca Payne

September 15th, End of Week 3

Today wrapped up the end of another wonderful week. We are seeing great progress as the children are becoming noticeably more comfortable with the routine and being away from their parents (especially for those students who have been experiencing school for the very first time). We had a beautiful day to end our week with a walk in the sunshine and a picnic on a grassy hill on campus. The children enjoyed their sac lunch as they observed the commotion of a busy campus along with the insects, birds and squirrels. The children basked in the sun on this flawless day while taking in their surroundings and the fresh brisk air of the fall season on the horizon. We finished lunch with a story under a tree and had an eventful walk back to the CDLL, sticking with our groups and singing songs all the way back to our destination. Our adventure was exciting but there is no place like home. Everyone was glad to be back with time left to play outside!  The children were very mindful of their surroundings and handled the walk very well. Our picnic lunch was indeed a success! 

"You guys make an excellent caboose", Mason shouts back to the last group! 

Some of the children were fearful of some of the insects flying and crawling around, but were reassured that they were harmless as long as they didn't hit or swat at them. "I'm going to leave a little piece of my sandwich out for the bee to eat, he's probably hungry too"! -Armony

The children were somewhat distracted by the hustle and bustle of life on campus, but were still able to draw attention to Mrs. Nims for a short story. "This is my favorite part of the day" Aiden M. says energetically! 

-Ms. Roemer

Watching Corn "Fall"

      This update is from Tuesday Sept. 13th, but I had some technical difficulties with my computer.  There we're still appointments going on Tuesday, but i was drawn to the discovery area by a few children playing with the corn in the sensory area.

     We decided to add corn to the sensory tables in the discovery area, because Fall is just arond the corner and early this week the children got to harvest corn from the garden.  We also added funnels and cups that the children have been using to pour the corn back into the tub holding the corn.

     

      Some children used their hands to pick up the corn and see how much they can hold and then drop them, Racheal let a few slip out, then a lot, then a few again.  She kept opening and closing her hands seeing how doing that affected how much corn fell.  "Look how many fall when I move my hands." -Racheal  Kelly used the scoop to pour corn into the funnel, but due to all the corn in the funnel none was coming out.  So she dumped it out and poured in more corn, but this time she poured it slower and had a big smile as the corn fell through the hole.  She looked at me and did several more times, smiling each time corn fell out.

POD A: Washing Dishes

Bryanna: " I can wash dishes like my mommy"

     Today we started the day out in large group learning what strangers are and how not to talk to strangers. Since last week when we noticed the children's interest in cleaning we added soap to the water at the discovery table and gave them wash rags and dishes to wash and a drying rack.Once large group broke the children continued their exploration and intrest in learning to wash dishes. Many of the them spent almost the whole free time washing and drying dishes and once all the dishes had all been washed they would put them all back in the water and start over again.



Summer: "once they are all clean and dry we can eat off them"

        Along with the addition of dish washing this week, we added materials for the children to dress up and pretend to be doctors and treat patients where they have been fascinated with giving the teachers and other classmates shots, checking their heart beat, giving them medicine, and putting band-aids on them. Another new addition to the classroom in the library is a puppet stage and puppets where the children can put on hand puppets and act out whatever they want a sing songs.  

Maria putthing a band-aid on one of the 402 students



Pod B: Cornstarch and Color

As we continue with appointments this week, I was able to assist with cornstarch and color appointments today. Since the beginning of the semester we have been exploring colors and now we’re starting to mix them. The kids were really excited about this new exploration. They had the option to choose two colors out of three (red, blue, yellow) to explore and we experimented to see what happens when we mix them with and without cornstarch. 

Before we started we talked about Scientists and what they do. Some children said they paint and others said they didn't know. 

Then we talked about cornstarch and what it looks and feels like. 

"It feels like snow" - Landen & Marc

"It looks like sand" - Sydney G. & Daysha

Jonah adds cornstarch to his colors

Daysha is mixing cornstarch in to her mixture of orange color.

We talked about what happens when we mix colors and Marc said we make new colors. After asking what happens to the colors after we add cornstarch he said it makes different colors.

Marc made a lavender, light blue, dark blue and purple mixture.

-Ms. Jenkins

Michigan State Standard:

Early Learning in Science 1.5

Children develop positive attitudes, gain knowledge about science,  and begin to participate in simple investigations.