This week, we began a nature exploration in the classroom. On Tuesday, we started with leaf collages. The children were eager to paint leaves onto paper with a mixture of glue/paint. They carefully selected leaves and attached them to their papers with either red, green, or brown glue/paint. Some friends chose to spread the glue/paint with their fingers and hands while others chose brushes.
Later in the week, we continued with the idea of investigating fall nature. The children were eager to once again complete individual collages. They collaged with different small pieces of fall colored paper (brown, green, orange, yellow), cut into different shapes. For this collage, the children used small paintbrushes to carefully paint glue onto the pieces of paper and place them carefully on the paper. As they worked, some children shared they were making trees, while others were reminded of the leaves we collaged with earlier in the week.
We also began taking walks around the school this week, which we will continue to do throughout the year. On the first walk, the children were eager to explore the environment, pointing out different things along the way. Although for the first walk, we just remained on the city block, they did note different animals that they saw.
Today, the children had the opportunity to do one more collage with a combination of the cut-up pages together with the leaves on green paper. A few children made collages with the mixed media materials. One student, upon noticing a brown triangle, placed it on her paper, exclaiming that it was a house. The children were excited to see the leaves once again, noting the texture. Next week, we will continue to explore the nature of fall.
