Swan Lake Sculptures

In addition to sketching and acting out the movements of the ballerinas in Swan Lake, many of the children also worked in wire. They used wire to capture the body positions of the ballerinas and to create a scene from the ballet.

The children explored drawings of dancers in motion from ballet books, as well as their chosen internet photographs and a closer study of the video.

To begin building, we anchored wire to a wooden board using staples and duct tape.

The children used different pliers, such as the kinds used in jewelry making, to help them curl and bend the wire, as well as their fingers.

 

After a few weeks of hard work, the children decided we needed to add tutus to show they were swans.

Here is our finished piece:

A close-up of the central characters, the prince and the lead swan:

You can see here, from the intricately twisted wire, the amount of finger-work, effort and patience that went into creating each wire sculpture:

Movement Sketches

After watching a video recording of Swan Lake, the children were interested in the ways the ballerinas moved. They printed photographs of their poses from the internet and sketched them using charcoal.

Some of the children have been drawing Ninja Turtles. They use a manikin and their classmates to help them represent moving body parts. After observing their classmates sketch ballerinas they gave it a try, too. Instead of ballerinas, they sketched the poses of their friends and focused on elbows and knees.

Growth

We have had plants in our classroom since the beginning of the year and the children have done a great job taking care of them; ensuring they've been watered and have enough sunlight.

Upon returning from the March Break, we noticed that a few of the plants weren't doing so well.

The children sketched their observations and discussed their theories about what had happened. 

We decided to grow new plants to help us learn more about them (and to make us feel better).

The children decided that plants need soil to grow, so we took turns reading the numbered instructions on a bag of soil.

It told us that we needed 5 cm of soil, so we measured to make sure we would have the right amount.

 We planted basil seeds

 and Cosmo flower seeds

 and pea seeds.

 The children were excited about watering the seeds, but we were very careful not to pour too much in.

Then we placed them in the sunniest spot in the classroom because we know the seeds need sunlight to grow.

 The children created a tally sheet to keep track of the number of mornings and afternoons it would take  before the plants started to grow. They also created drawings of what they thought would happen to our seeds.

After returning from the weekend, we were all excited to seed that the seeds has sprouted. This is what they looked like a week and a half later:

Do Turtles Have Elbows?

Some of the children have been creating cartoon characters and scenery for a number of weeks.

They were presented with a challenge when trying to sketch moving "Ninja Turtles," as their other characters had not been drawn with moving body parts.

With the introduction of a manikin, the children translated body positions, such as throwing, onto paper.

Some of the boys created written pieces for their photographs and sketches to reflect on their process and to help them continue their project.

Shadows

The children are exploring the idea of shadows. They have been hunting and creating shadows and theorizing about their existence.

The children located shadows in our classroom and school environment. Here, a child captures a shadow underneath the water table using a black china marker.

After tracing their choice of shadow, the children painted them using watercolour paints. They used photographs of their shadow to help them create the correct shades of grey by mixing  black and white.

 We created a "shadows" display out in our hallway. The children assembled the pieces of their work and explained their developing theories about shadows.

Sewing

Sewing is a fantastic way for young children to develop their fine motor capabilities. 

As a class, we assembled a simple sewing table using wood, burlap, hammers and nails. 

                                                        We started with a wooden frame

                                             Over this, we stretched a piece of burlap fabric

 We attached the burlap as the top of our table using a hammer and nails. We were very careful not to hit our fingers and measured to space the nails evenly to hold the burlap in place.

We are learning how to create a simple back stitch using tapestry needles and embroidery floss. 

Paper Comes from Trees... But How?

The children have been experimenting with manipulating paper at the art studio and thinking about how different types of paper move (bend, fold, crumple, etc.). During a class discussion about this, some of the children mentioned knowing that paper comes from trees, but no one was quite sure how.

One popular theory was that paper is found inside of the trunks of trees. So the children tried to open up a tree stump to find out if they were right.

After days of prying this tree stump open, the children realized that their theory was not correct and that wood and not paper makes up tree trunks.

This has led us to more theories...so stay tuned.

Stained Glass Art

While researching castles, we noticed stained glass art in some of the windows so we decided to create our own.


First the children drew straight or curvy lines across a piece of tissue paper.

Then they traced this onto transparency film.

After this, they used watercolours to paint their piece of film.

Instead of placing the stained glass art in our castle, we decided to put them up against the window to get the full effect of the sun shining through the film.

Surveys and Graphs

The children have been enjoying creating their own surveys to find out what their friends, neighbouring  classes and grown-ups in the school are thinking. 


The children used their understanding of tallies to keep track of information on their surveys. They know that four lines with one across the centre equals 5.

 Some of the questions children used for their surveys were: "Do you like cats or dogs?"  "Do you love rain or snow?" "Do you think the rails on the ramp or the circles on the floor are more beautiful?"

We then turned our surveys into bar graphs. This child learned that more children think the open pinecone is more beautiful than the closed one. The graph makes it easy to see this.