Escuelita South 2014-2015: I see. I hear. I feel.

I SEE COLORS, I SEE SHAPES

Red, red is the color I see
If you have red then show it to me
Stand up and turn around
Show me your red and sit back down!

What is rojo, what is rojo?
Rojo is red,rojo is red
Yellow is amarillo, yellow is amarillo
Blue is azul, blue is azul

Student interest continues in the colors they see, and how colors can mix together to make NEW colors! Mouse Paint was a particularly wonderful book to share with the children about some mischievous mice mixing colors and making a nice big mess.

Students used their whole bodies for color mixing by rolling balls in red and yellow paint and tossing them at a giant canvas outside! They also loved to use their hands, spools, paintbrushes, cars and wheels to roll that paint around. And what happened when we mixed that red and yellow paint? We made Orange! What fun engaging the whole body, and in turn engaging the whole mind!

What is a circle? Where do you see circles? What can you do with a circle?

Students are pointing out circles everywhere! From patterns on their clothes and grommets in their shoes to balls and wheels on cars, we see circles all day long. We draw a big circle in the air, and a small circle on our wrists to make a watch. Que hora es-what time is it? Circle time! We explored circles so many ways this week.

By dipping all sorts of things that might make circles into paint and stamping them onto paper.

By tracing circles with our fingers and with pastels onto colored paper.

By feeling the smooth wooden circles with our hands and staining the wood with rich and bright watercolors.

Circles go around!

By adding axles to these circle shapes we discovered how they roll.

And around!

By looking at Kandinsky's painting Concentric Circles, we observed how circles can be small or large, inside and outside, and noticed colors of red, yellow, blue, green, pink, blue, orange and purple.

We counted one, two, three, four, five circles within circles, went to paint.

"Color is a power which directly influences the soul."-Wassily Kandinsky 1912

I'm so inspired by other artists, big and little ones. I especially love to see the students take charge of the paint and create so confidently! We'll continue exploring shapes and color through our senses next week. -Teacher Sonja

Sonja.peregrine @gmail.com

Science,Gardening,Exploring & Building

Children in the early childhood years learn primarily through their senses and from direct experiences. They develop an understanding about the world through play, exploration and creative activities and by watching and imitating adults and other children.-NAEYC

This week in science we made a few observations and hypothesis about bees.

What are bees? What do you already know about bees? Here's what we came up with as a class:

"Bees are yellow!"
"Bees have round heads and circle eyes."
"Bees have 3 body parts. If they have 6 legs they are called an insect."
"Bees have stripes."
"Bees pollinate the flowers."
"When a bee pollinates the flowers tomatoes grow."
"Bees say buzzzzzzz buzzzzz buzzzz!"
"Bees live in hives."