Children were given time to openly explore the studio during their first week back following the New Year. They were especially interested in building and creating with recycled materials. The children worked with cardboard, scissors, tape and pens to create small houses. A few students seemed to be more interested in using more concrete materials when building their structure such as small tiles, granite and wooden planks. 

Rooms 2 and 3 of our Gilliate building have both begun an investigation of light, reflection and shadows. To explore this further, we brought small groups into a dark room where a projector had been set up with various manipulatives to explore. The children had so much fun collaborating with one another in creating shadows and manipulating the light! We cannot wait to see where their explorations lead them next.

Jasmine: We learn it when we see the shadow.

Where?

Jasmine: In our room… outside.

David: *covers projector*

Where’s the light?

Servando: We can’t see?

Leilany: I’m stomping. I’m too fast… I’m gone! *covers projector*

Jaretssi: It’s gone!

Camilla: I see the shadows.

Thomas: I see Thomas. Where is that light on there?

I don’t know. What happens when we block it?

Camilla: It goes away. Look, it came back! That turned off (projector) so it turn off the black (wall) light.

Thomas: Big, small, big, small, big, small, big, small… *moves object closer and further from projector*

Today, children from the Gilliate Room 2 visited the studio where they were welcomed by a provocation of air-dry clay and various sculpting tools. The children molded, pressed, rolled, and chopped their way to new understandings of what was an unfamiliar material to most of them. A couple of children even connected to their work on a personal level by recreating food they are used to having at home!

Cervando: "Cooking eggs with tomatoes and strawberries and milk." 

Mila: "I'm making a cake. Mommy used sugar to make a cake for me. She made it like this." *make mixing motion*

One friend, Thomas, noticed two foam balls sitting on one of the shelves. With this, he took the opportunity to show us one of his interests!

Thomas: "Planets of the solar system. I’m making earth. You have to paint it blue and green."

Today in class, we decided to approach a different way of painting ... with RUBBER-BANDS!

In room 2 at the Gillette building our classes has been very interested with lights. We are starting a light project. We have been discovering different variations of lights . We have walked around in building finding different lights in classrooms and offices. We have explored outside finding lights also. We  use different materials such as projector, mini tornado lamp, Christmas lights and natural lights.

In support of room 2’s light project… we took a walk around our community so as to find and photograph different sources of light. The children found quite a few on their own and were very eager to have their turn at becoming photographers. In addition, we discussed natural light and where it came from. To further these discussions, we observed a large pond that had many different reflections and lots of “bouncing” light…

In the sky…

The sky is very bright today, I wonder if that is light shining through…

Ashlynn: Yeah!

Mayte: It’s in the air.

Street light…

Ashlynn: You can follow the street.

Mayte: So it not dark.

Car lights…

Yeshua: To go to work.

Mayte: For dark to go here.

Lights on the building…

Mayte: For the dark and when you go out and in.

Sign lights…

Mayte: I found a light!

Yeshua: Yeah, I found a light back there.

Ashlynn: It’s a big, giant “hulo” light.

*We stopped and looked at the reflections and light coming off of the pond. There wasn’t yet a large understanding of reflection or how the light bounces off of the water (or other things). This might be a good direction to move in to further understandings and making connections to prior knowledge!

Yesterday we explored book making. The children used various materials in creating their own story.  We also worked on some sensory activity. We made slime!

On Monday, we explored with craft sticks, laundry pins and rubber bands. The children made different items using craft sticks and laundry pins. They also explored their numbers using different materials to the different number sticks. 

Today, the children of room 2 at the Gilliate building were given a brief introduction to the works of Pablo Picasso. They were then invited to use various mediums to create Picasso inspired works of their own! Can you tell which one is a robot? How about the octopus? That’s the beauty of Picasso. He had the uncanny ability to create surreal, but oft recognizable representations while still leaving observers with a sense of wonder. It is not uncommon for our children to work and create in the exact same way… and that is what you see here! 

 Today we worked on making different line patterns using marble tracks and marbles.