We’ve had such a great second week of school in 2B! The children are growing more comfortable in the classroom and starting to grow their interests and relationships. We’ve also been able to introduce more activities and project work!
This week, the children continued working on their self portraits. This year long project is so incredible to watch and document. As the children grow, so do their portraits. Details are added and changed throughout the year, offering an amazing visual comparison from September to June.
Maddy looked at her reflection in the mirror and said, “that’s my!” She pointed to her chest, then pointed to her cheeks. She began her portrait by drawing lines, then added in several circles.
Mikey looked at his reflection in the mirror and said, “that’s me…I see Mikey” He began his portraits by drawing dots, then added lines and circles. After he finished his work, he said, “I made it!”
Cooper looked at his reflection in the mirror and said, “me.” He touched his nose and hair. He began his portrait by drawing lines, then shading those lines in.
Nicole smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She began her portrait by drawing a big circle. She then added three little circles. She stopped periodically to look at her reflection again.
Nate looked at his reflection in the mirror and said, “me…hair…eyes and nose…I have two eyes and two ears.” He began his portrait by drawing lines, then shading those lines in.
Amalia looked at her reflection in the mirror and said, “I see Amalia. I have a bow…eyebrows.” She began her portrait by drawing lines and dots. She continued, “me…A for me…a circle…M for Mommy.”
Charlie looked at his reflection in the mirror and made silly faces. He said, “me!” He began his portrait by drawing a circle, then continued into drawing lines. After he finished his work, he said, “It’s me!”
Stay tuned for our October portraits!
On Tuesday, the children explored a loose parts provocation: different colored assorted materials (pipe cleaners, bottle caps, feathers, pom poms, and tissue paper). The children spent time exploring each material, noting the color and/or texture. Cooper wondered if “the feather will blow.'‘ He blew on it, and noticed that it moved. The other children noticed this, and began blowing on other objects such as tissue paper and pom poms. Nicole was interested in placing different colored bottle caps on paper. We’re excited to continue exploring open ended materials and loose parts!
On Friday, we celebrated Laura’s birthday with a smell/taste test! We put apples, bananas, and sun butter in a cup covered with perforated foil. As the children smelled the mystery food, they took guesses as to what could be in the cup:
Amalia: “Smells like peanut butter.”
Cooper: “Peanut butter…bananas…blueberries!”
Nate: “Peanut butter…Blueberries!”
Mikey: “Blueberries!”
After the children explained their guesses, they were able to try each food! We also offered the children veggie sticks, which Amalia and Cooper explained were “crunchy!” The children also discussed which food they liked better, apples or bananas. Charlie, Nate, and Cooper preferred bananas, while Amalia liked the apples better. Many of the children tried different combinations of foods, such as veggie sticks + sun butter, apples + sun butter, and bananas + sun butter. It was so fun to watch the children use their senses and engage in dialogue to discuss the taste, texture, and their preferences of different foods. We can’t wait to try more!
Other projects this week included:
Collaborative paintings
Color mixing
Dot Paint
Foil painting
Exploring natural materials
Collaging
Drawing with oil pastels
Building with Legos
Cotton Pad Art (pipettes + watercolor + cotton pads)
Reading! Some of our favorites this week were Subway, If You Give a Pig a Party, and Room on the Broom.
Have a great weekend!