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.