Foil Art

We switched it up today. Instead of changing our medium we changed our material!
(Notice the “M” words? Yeah, we’re awesome like that.)
We used oil pastels again BUT we used them on the not shiny side of aluminium foil! This was even cooler than we expected it to be!

Here are some of the things we talked about while we created our art:
DA: I draw a Christmas tree.
SS: Me too.
SL: I color around my house.
DA: I’m making a bench.
KR-J: Please pass me the yellow.
RC: Pass the orange…oh! Please.
DA: A big table like this! A BIG HIGH table like a chair.
SL: I drawing my name.
KR-J: Thomas could you please pass me the color purple?
TK: This one?
KR-J: No. Purple. By your hand.
TK rolls the pastel across the table but it gets stuck in the middle. SL picks it up and walks around the table to hand the purple one to KR-J.
KR-J: Thank you SL.
SL: You welcome KR-J.
SL: Hey!
VS: YOU hey!
TK: I drew a lot of tables! Look, twenty one!
KR-J: TP-W, can I see what your hands look like? My hands are messy.
RC: (after studying his art for a moment) Hey! I made a monster.
DA: Um…Miss J…I’m making a bus.
SS: Red is my favorite color.
TK: Can I please have that pink?
DA: This one pink?
TK: Yes please.
DA: (walks around the table to hand it to TK) Here you go, TK.
TK: Thank you.

Check our Shutterfly site to see photos and for more of what we say while we play and learn, remember to check out the new section called ‘observations of authentic learning’.

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art is taking over our world

​​We see everything as art now and it is really COOL!

Today we tried our hands at oil pastels. These are things we said while we were experimenting:
SS: Red is a primary color.
ZB: And yellow and blue are primary colors, too.
JK: (showing Thomas her art) This is the hot dog and this is the pan.
XT: It’s a monster with bananas.
EY: American flag with dinosaurs.
TC: Monster!
VS: Spiderweb and a wheel around.
TP-W: Blue and pink.
SL: I make a choo choo train.
DA: Wheel barrow and it twists.
RC: I got a crab.
TK: A big big pond.
AG: A cloud.
KR: I’m making Geemaw and Geepaw and Mommy and me!

We talked together after we were finished and here are some things we had to say:
Oil pastels are different than charcoal.
Oil pastel feels gooey.

AG: The oil pastel was hot.
Miss R: It was hot in your hand?
AG: No. After I colored it.

VS: It was kind of gooey. After I colored with it, it was gooey on the paper.
KR: I colored on the paper not the table because I’m a good listener and I followed directions!
XT: They didn’t get my hands dirty!
ZB: The pastel colored my skin. I drew on my forehead on purpose just to see what would happen.
Miss R: Hey! That’s a mixture of art AND science!
TK: It felt fluffy on my paper.

Miss J and Miss R asked us if we liked using the charcoal or oil pastels better and Miss R used the tick marks to count how many of us chose which medium.
This is how it broke down:
five of us liked charcoal better
five of us liked oil pastels better
(and here’s the trickiest part)
four of us liked them exactly the same

xoxo

too cold to play in the snow

Guess what we did today?
We played!

Yep. We played.
We didn’t have a big lesson, we didn’t follow a set plan. We just played.
In this case, “just” is a very tricky word…it doesn’t mean we “only and nothing better”. In this case “just” means we learned.

We used excellent communication and cooperative skills while playing with the big wooden blocks. We negotiated and planned and disagreed and re-planned.
By working together we:
built huge buildings
ran intricate train systems
raced horses and race cars

We engaged our imaginations when we drew on brown paper bags with markers. We made simple puppets but created elaborate stories about our puppets. We pretended they were:
superheros
mommies
teachers
animals

We developed our imaginative play together but bouncing ideas off each other…by our conversations that started with something as simple as, “Hi, I’m Superman.”

We used our imaginations to turn simple magnet letters and boards into “sandwiches” and “signs” that hung on the chairs.

When we drew, colored, used magnets, and built with blocks, we talked about:
Santa Claus
trains
race cars
horses
wild animals
doctors
teachers
parents
the Cat in the Hat
snowmen

We encouraged each other’s imaginative growth.
We encouraged each other’s compromise.
We encouraged each other’s disagreements.
We encouraged each other’s resolutions.

We are problem solvers.
We are elaborate pretenders.
We are authentic learners.

We hope your cold snowy day was as awesome as ours has been!
xoxo

bucket dipping

We are sad to report we were bucket dippers today.
What is a bucket dipper you may ask? Well it’s someone who is not being kind or helpful.
We have a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and we read it to remind ourselves how important it is to be bucket fillers and not bucket dippers.
We want to be bucket fillers but have been serious bucket dippers, we are wondering if it’s because it’s the first week back after the holidays when so many of us were not at school. Or if it’s just a developmental phase we’re all in together.
Miss J and Miss R gave us real buckets to see if that will help us remember. We hope just as much as they do that seeing the buckets will be a way for us to make good choices and fill buckets.

Did you know that if you fill another person’s bucket you will fill your own too? So we’re going to pay attention and work really hard to be bucket fillers so we will each have buckets full of positive energy!

We painted our salt dough ornaments with ACRYLIC paint! And guess what!?! We didn’t spill a DROP! We had to wear smocks to keep our clothes safe because acrylic paint isn’t washable like all the other paints we use.
We used the acrylic paint because ALL our washable paint got lost when the art shelf crashed to the floor. Miss R and Miss J haven’t replaced it because they’re going to get a sturdier shelf for the paint.

We talked about Yulia and her art again this morning! We are getting really good at saying Vladkovska (DA is teaching us because he can say it the best of all the kids!)
We are also getting really good at understanding the difference between portrait, still life, and abstract paintings.
We are going to begin use of new art materials next week and we are SO excited!

Miss J and Miss R gave us homework for the weekend! We have to make sure you know who Yulia Vladkovska is and we have to practice filling buckets.
Please help us do these things so we can come to school on Monday and let them know we did it!
xoxo

we’re pretty awesome

We investigated two new art mediums at meeting this morning. Charcoal and a kneading eraser. The charcoal was like a piece of black chalk, but instead of being round, it was square! It rubbed off on our fingers making them black. BUT when we were able to try out the kneading eraser, guess what happened? It got the charcoal off our fingers! How cool is THAT!?!

We talked a lot about these two art mediums, mostly about the way they felt when we held them. This is what we had to say about the charcoal and the eraser when Miss J asked us what they felt like:
Warm
It was sticky in the back. Gooey.
It felt sticky. It felt gooey.
The kneading eraser feels gooey to me. The charcoal was gooey too.
It’s squishy! The eraser. The charcoal is squishy.
The charcoal is hard and the other thing is gooey.
The charcoal felt very soft. It felt very very very hairy.
Um…it’s squishy!
It’s soft. Feels sticky.
The charcoal is hard and the eraser is soft.
The eraser is sticky.
The charcoal feels chalky but the eraser feels sticky.
They are sticky.

After meeting we played in the plaza so we could use our bodies in big ways since it is WAAAAAAAAY too cold to go outside!
These are some of the things Miss R observed us doing:
XT: “Who wants to go on an airplane ride?” JK and AG get into the wooden wagon.
JH: Holding EY’s hand as EY walks the obstacle course, “Don’t worry, I gotcha.”
DA: “Beep Beep!” as JK pushes him in the wagon.
XT: “Can I help you push?” JK replies: “Sure!” DA and AG are in the wagon.
JH: To herself as she goes along the obstacle course: “I’m a big kid so I do these.”
JK: To DA in the wagon, “It’s OK baby.” DA replies, “OK baby.”
VS: Riding the rocking horse, “Whoa!”
TC: Runs to Miss R and says, “A snake! It’s coming attack you!” she replies: “Are you sure?” TC: “Yes! RUN!” XT comes with the snake making hissing sounds as the snake slithers on Miss R’s shoe.
AG sets up a picnic with the rocking horse.
ZB: To himself as he finishes the obstacle course: “I did it! I went all the way!”
JK: “We’re going backwards!” as she rides in the wagon with VS while TK pushes them.
JH: “Mr Mailman! Here!” as she hands a cup to TC.
ZB: Quietly to himself, “I’m having FUN!”
DA: Walks up to JH and says, “Hey baby.” JH grins and they each walk their separate way.

Miss J and Miss R think we are pretty awesome. We think it’s because we ARE pretty awesome!

We ran out of time to do show and share this morning, so when we wake up from our naps we’re going to have a quick meeting after snack to discuss our review letters and all the things we brought from home!

We hope you’re having as great a day as we are!
xoxo

we learned a new word today

The word we learned is: mayhem!
We learned it because our art shelf fell down yesterday, spraying paint and glass everywhere! We were all safe, but it was pretty messy.
So today, we worked at getting the art and writing center put back together. This project took a REALLY long time! (And we’re still not all the way finished.)
We’re not going to use that same shelf again, we’re going to get a new one. A stronger one.
A super-strong-and-not-at-all-falling-down shelf for our paint! WOO HOO!

Today is JH’s birthday! Happy Happy Birthday, JH!
We made beautiful strips of paper for her skirt and she designed her hat and we all sang happy birthday while she sat in the newly decorated rocking chair!!
To celebrate her birthday, JH’s mommy brought us all the things we needed to make salt dough! We LOVED it! We had fun using our fine motor skills to create our own sculptures. When we were making these sculptures we said things like:
I’m making pancakes
I’m making chicken
I’m making this for JH
I made Mickey Mouse
I made this big thing here

If you brought our snow clothes this morning thank you SO much for being good direction followers, but we’re sad to say it was WAAAAAAAAAY too cold to go outside in the snow…so we’re hoping for next time!

the arty snow day

WOW!
The snow made everything a BIG adventure this morning!

We watched out the window once it was light enough to see the snow falling! We watched the snow fall and got more and more excited as it kept coming down!

We learned about the color wheel during morning meeting. We know that red, yellow, and blue are called primary colors and that ALL the other colors are made from them!
This lead to a discussion about our favorite colors, which was pretty cool.

We painted our own color wheels! Miss R showed us how yellow and blue make green. Then she showed us how blue and red make purple (well actually it’s called violet) Then she showed us how red and yellow make orange.
After that it was OUR TURN!!
We LOVED making our color wheels! It was SO fun to explore the colors! You can see these pictures on our Shutterfly page!

Miss K came for art class too! She brought copies of one of Yuliya’s pictures and we practiced coloring it. Today we used colored pencils, next week we’re going to try a different medium! We’re going to practice on our own copies until the end when we work all together on a BIG copy for the art show!

We are going to use some pre-made color wheels and also color specific shapes specific colors on ready made pages.
Miss R and Miss J are a little concerned that we’re using “coloring pages” but the goal of the color wheel and shape coloring sheets is to give us practice coloring specific things specific colors. Also to give us practice coloring INSIDE the lines. These are VERY important skills for us to practice before we create our own Yuliya inspired pieces.

Have you used Google to check Yuliya out yet? You should! She’s pretty awesome!
Also, check out our “Gallery Wall” over by the cubbies to see Yuliya’s art, some of our Yuliya inspired sculptures, the color wheel and a very cool eyeball!

xoxo

SUPER BUSY

Welcome Back, Sound Stage! So many of us were out during the holidays but we’re back to school in force today!

Happy Birthday, RM!
Today we celebrated RM’s birthday! She is FOUR!! How cool is that!?!
We each decorated a strip of paper to create her “birthday skirt” and she made herself a birthday hat! We decorated the rocking chair especially for RM to sit in during story time!

We were SUPER BUSY today!!

We are starting our unit on art to help us get ready for the art show. The artist we chose is Yuliya Vladkovska. She was born in the Ukraine. Did you know that’s in Europe? We do! Miss R showed us where we are in America and where Europe is. There is a WHOLE OCEAN between us!! We have a map of Ukraine in our classroom with some of Yuliya’s art work and the place (we can’t really say it but we’re learning to try) where she was born is highlighted yellow.
We’re going to be making some COOL art in the style of hers for the art show!

We’re reviewing the letters F E D R P and B this week…that means on Thursday we can show and share something that starts with ANY one of those letters!

We are SO EXCITED to begin this unit on art! We’re going to learn so much new cool stuff! We can’t wait to share it with you!!

Even though it was VERY cold, we went outside for a little while this morning. Please remember to bring us coats every single day. Even though we only go from home to the car and then from the car into school and we don’t really need a big coat for that, we try to get outside each day and we need more than sweatshirts!
Thanks!!

imagination day

Miss R gave us some silver and blue and purple ornaments and pipe cleaners today. Then guess what she did? She told us to make art wit them!
And GUESS WHAT!?!
WE DID!
We made SO many different things!
Drums
Earmuffs
Jingle bells
Bracelets
Spider
Wrecking ball
Rattle
We had SO much fun using our imaginations to create cool things.

Guess what else!?!
WE GOT TO GO OUTSIDE TODAY!
Everybody had a coat and it wasn’t rainy so out we went! It was VERY windy but that didn’t stop us from running and playing!
We got a little wet going down the slide, but we came in and changed our clothes.
We pretended the balance beam was a train and we all rode it together. We pretended one of us was the conductor to take the tickets. We pretended it was the Polar Express and we had yummy hot chocolate!!
We are getting REALLY good at pretend play. We heard Miss R say it’s the best way for us to learn to cooperate and learn teamwork and compromise. We’re not so sure about that, but we do know we had a LOT of good fun doing it together!

Hey! Wait a minute! Using our imagination and pretending are the same thing!! We TOTALLY had a pretending imagination kind of day! We’re awesome!

a snoring bear and jingle bells

We had art with Miss K today! We practiced our ‘Bear Snores On’ performance. We totally ROCKED it!
Miss R said we “knocked it out of the park” and XT knew that was a baseball reference.

We also worked to create our costumes for the performance…we worked REALLY hard to make them JUST RIGHT!
We can hardly wait for you to see us being bears, badgers, ravens, hares, (Did you know that was another word for bunny? We do!) mice, and wrens!

We read The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Freres again today, and guess what!?! Most of us know that cheese soup is called soupe au fromage! AND…we are beginning to remember some of the other ingredients that the brothers put in the soup…did we tell you that all the brothers are called Jean-Something? EVERY SINGLE ONE!

Miss R asked us to thank you all for volunteering to bring things for our Pajama Day of Deliciousness next week! She asked us to let you know EVERYTHING has been volunteered for except a baguette. So if one of you will please say you’re going to bring a baguette (sliced, please and thank you) we will have absolutely EVERYTHING we need to make our soup and ice and decorate our cupcakes!

Because it’s so cold and rainy, we didn’t get to go outside…BUT…we danced to some very cool Christmas music…WITH THE JINGLE BELLS!
It was AWESOME!
We also did some yoga with Miss M, it wasn’t the same as Miss J’s yoga, but it was pretty good.
We hope the weather sorts itself out soon so we can go play outside.
xoxo