The Wonderful World of Kindergarten

Welcome to our Reggio Emilia inspired classroom at Dr. David Suzuki School.
JoAnne Pizzuto, OCT & Jocelyne Brent, RECE, BASc (Hons)
Showing posts with label open materials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open materials. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Knitting Looms


The only difference between an experienced knitter and a new knitter is that the experienced knitter makes bigger mistakes faster. 
Be bold!
There are no terrible consequences in knitting.
~ Stephanie Pearl-McPhee ~


Tangles of yarn.


Bits and pieces of bright colour.


Small, larger, largest.


Wrap around, bottom over top and off.
Wrap around, bottom over top and off.
Wrap around, bottom over top and off.

Patterns.




Patience and perseverance.








Creating, recreating.
Try and try again.


Monday, 7 December 2015

A Rose By Any Other Name

A single rose can be my garden,
A single friend, my world.
~ Leo Buscaglia~
Zen has been exploring her natural artistic talent. Taking a break from sculpting, she began filling page after page with many drawings. Mrs. Brent introduced her to the book, Look at Me!
(Click on the link to hear the story) 
In this story, a little girl named Madison gets a rose painted on her face. Everything is fine until the rose grows! Zen was excited to see the roses begin to cover Madison and commented on how beautiful she looked. She shared the story with Gemma. And...what do you know? 
Gemma had discovered roses that Mrs. Pizzuto had brought to school that day! 

Zen and Gemma were inspired by each other. Gemma, who had been examining the roses, wanted to draw. Zen, who had discovered a rose covered story girl, wanted to examine the roses.
 
When Gemma was noticing how the rose petal swirled around each other, they began to fall off.
The girls began to take the petals off the roses. 
Art and Science united!
Swirls of colours and green stems were being drawn. Just like the roses on the little girl, more and more children appeared at Zen and Gemma's activity. Gemma discovered what the inside of a rose looks like. The stem had tiny, delicate strands with soft yellow tops. Were they seeds?
"I'm gonna plant some petals and grow some more roses."
"I'm gonna plant the seeds on top." 

Zen examined the roses. She touch one of the leaves saying, "Feel it or else you won't know. It's spikes!"
She drew quickly and deliberately. Her roses were in the shapes of buds. The lines swirled at the top.
Annabeth drew circles and swirls. She used the magnifier to examine the stem without the petals. 
On some of her swirls and circles, she added dots.
Hasny drew slowly. Her roses were open. They had roots at the bottom. Hasny watched others and talked about the roses. She noticed the underside of the flowers and added green triangles to the bottom of the flowers she had drawn. 
"See everybody. Look. There's green leaves at the bottom."
 
Ivy, Vivienne and Megan joined the activity. Ivy brought glue. She had another idea. The children began to draw stems and glue the petals to become the flowers in their garden pictures. Vivienne drew on the petals before she glued them. The marks left traces. She drew a 'V' for Vivienne.
When the petals ran out. Vivienne cut petals out of paper and coloured them.
Gemma gathered a handful of petals to take home, and used petals to make a garden picture.
 
Ivy used the petals, the underside leaves and the rose stem! She was making a special picture for Mom.
 
 
The children lead their learning in the wonderful world of kindergarten!

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Inspired Learning

So many creative things happen each day in the wonderful world of kindergarten! Children become inspired learners when they are able to let their interests lead their play. We become inspired educators when we follow the children's lead!





Tuesday, 7 April 2015

Sand Art

A provocation...
What might the children do when they come to the art studio today?
Given the language of art with words like sketch, still life, shades...
what might the children be inspired to create?
 
We talk about curves and lines and perspective and compare heights.
 
We notice.
 
And then the children, as they always do,
begin to think and consider and...
become inspired by the many materials available in the open art studio.
Artistic expression emerged.
Glue and coloured sand came off the shelves.
Sketches of still life were adorned with glue in just the right spots and scattered 
ever-so-intentionally with matching colours of sand.
 
 
 No great artist ever sees things as they really are.
If he did, he would cease to be an artist.
~ Oscar Wilde ~