One of our families graciously came to visit during Tuesday's morning music class to share how they celebrate St. Nicholas Day! Oh what a treat!
The snow has arrived and it sure is cold. When the temperature is colder than -10C we need to be creative. On Monday we enjoyed an obstacle course followed by five-minute minion videos, and on Wednesday we went on an adventure lead by Ivy.
An artist inspires others and helps deliver the important messages conveyed in literature. It has been marvelous carefully looking at the work of illustrator Matt James. We have been inspired by how he draws people and also by how he represents a specific location using a red star. Perhaps we'll come back to his illustrations when we start learning more about mapping!
Below we pose for photos that will be shared with Matt James as a thank you for allowing the Coutts Library to display a image he created of many children reading in a tree. When you are in the library be sure to stop and admire the way Matt James created art to includes multiple ways of moving, reading, and being: VERY CLEVER! The children were delighted to be the "teacher" and guide their special adults through six different activities during our first Celebration of Learning. (Thank you Ivy for taking the lovely photos.) These six activities included:
How lucky we were to have a parent expert volunteer to do a project using pastels with both the morning and afternoon classes!! Press PLAY to see the slide show. Magic is happening at Junior Kindergarten!! Our art inquiry is well on its way and so much is going on!
On Monday this week the children enjoyed playing in fallen leaves!!
On Tuesday and Thursday, as part of music Frieda led the children through rainbow yoga, integrating colour into music class. Play doh was enjoyed all week long! On Thursday, the morning class was introduced to journal writing (the afternoon class will begin next week). The first journal entry was a drawing inspired by a photo of them dressed up at the Pumpkin Party. In addition, on Monday afternoon Mary's EDEL 305 class came to read to the children. See the blog posted below. We had special visitors on Monday. Mary's EDEL 305 class stopped by to read to the children and gave us a special book, "Hey, Little Ant," to thank us. Wow! Thanks for spoiling us!!
Our guest artist, Dr. Patti Pente recalled stories of being a young child and asking her mother what she should draw. She loved to draw everyday! Now that she's an adult, she still creates art often and loves to be inspired by nature: Her drawings and paintings are beautiful! Then Patti drew a monster using the children's ideas. "Just use your imagination!" She encouraged. "Your monster can look like anything!" Step by step Patti showed the children how they might draw a monster. While some children were eager to see how to draw, others assured her that they already knew how to draw. You really can't beat the confidence of 3 & 4 year old artists! To create a print, the children drew a monster on the back of a styrofoam plate. Then one-be-one they sat with Patti. Together they: rolled ink onto the plate, rubbed the plate/paper, and pealed off the paper-BRAVO!! |