Making home made butter 23th of April

Our group made homemade butter.

This idea came from the conversation of the last Friday with the children.

Two children made me cupcakes with the play dough and then a child said "I know how to make cupcakes." And the child asked to make cupcakes together at CM.

I said " we wish I could but I think we don't have butter here today" and then I remembered when I was little I made butter from cow milk.

We started to think about how we could do this together.

We watched videos and then made plans for the ingredients.

We poured the whipping cream into a glass jar, put the lid on and shook it.

The children thought we could make it quickly but it took a long time. 

It was interesting that the children noticed how the sound created by the shaking changed as the butter was being made. 

With all our effort we eventually had butter and saw how the solids and liquids separated.

We added salt and then tasted it with toast.
It was yummy!

We thought our butter is very tasty, we shared other children, too.  They liked it as well.


The children noticed that this way of making butter takes so long that a family would not have such time to do this, so the machines that are used no to make butter make our lives easier.

This raises the question about how we often want to make our lives easier and what cost it has to us.
Is everything that is faster or easier actually what makes our lives rich???

Then and Now - telephone-

In this inquiry, we will explore past and present through our unity of inquiry titled "Then and Now".

We started by looking at modes of communication and how they have changed over time, particularly, cellphones.

We added a rotary telephone to the drama area and the children happily made phone calls to one other as they practiced turning the wheel.

Our group made two types of telephones.

We made rotary phone and a "cell" phone.

Everyone was very excited with this technology.
It was wonderful to watch them make their phones unique through the images they added to make their phones beautiful.

They talked about what they noticed about their cell phones their parents carried.

 

 

We found all the ways that the phones were different. We talked about weight and size and processes for using these communication tools.

 

 

We also talked about how technology has changed and we are beginning to talk about how technologies makes our lives easier. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday art - Cherry blossoms

At the beginning of April, we saw many beautiful cherry blossoms in our neighbourhood.

After we played at the forest, we walked in our neighbourhood for looking at some cherry blossom trees.

We closely looked at the petals and we gently touched the petals and counted how many petals the one flower had.


 

 When we came back CM from the little walk, the winds made petals move on the ground.
It look like a moving pink carpet!!  Aegon tried to step on petals but they were moving so quickly!

 We started to draw the tree, and the children remembered may details.

 

And after we finished drawing the trunk and branches we added flowers. they made from squished little tissue squares.

A few children asked the teachers, " I need green tissues! " They noticed there aren't only flowers on the branches, but also tiny green leaves beside of cherry blossoms. 

One child noticed there were many hues of pink and so we added more variety of pink to the finished product.

 

Some of trees has very stout stems, some of trees had many branches. Through this experience I was reminded that it is very important to see and touch nature closely.

And I felt so lucky, that our school has a beautiful neighbourhood that gives the children more ideas to explore.   

A quiet space

This summer, we found " sit spots " for those children who didn't nap.
Last month, we found a "quiet space" for the non nappers in th cubbie area.

Everyday, a teacher stays with 6-8 children and the children have a quiet time reading books, drawing, do some puzzles.

Yesterday, I brought a playdough and mats and books and paper with markers.

Monday, Mai made a playdough with gold gritter and she added some cinnamon powder.

Roisin: Naomi this play dough smells real cookies!"

We are drawing a Christmas tree!!

I am making yummy cookies!

 

I am making a big Christmas cookie.



I made chocolate ginger bread man cookies.Ready to bake!



Now they are in a oven !


 

 After all cookies "baked", Gwen shared them with the children. We all "ate" the delicious cookies. 

The children's conversation warmed my heart. I started to feel this holiday season and wondered if families were baking cookies or decorating their house like my family does.

They all enjoyed quiet time sharing their family stories with cinnamon scent.

Outdoor forest play- Hopscotch-

Yesterday morning, when we played at the forest.

I collected some big leaves from the ground and put them as a line on the side of our forest play area.

Just like " Hopscotch"

 

 

When I started to explain the rules of this activity, Simone noticed " Naomi I know! this is Hopscotch" .

 

The beginning I set up the leaves in a straight line.

 

After all the children had two turns jumping I placed the leaves in a zigzag shape.

 

Adrienne : "Wow,  now it is a zigzag! I can do it!!!"

Simone: " Me too!"

 

 Almost 10 children joined the activity and a child said " My body is warm now Naomi! "

 

It was simple activity that emerges from the children's delight in jumping and the lovely leaves in our forest.

 

It was a very cold beautiful sunshine day! 

 

 

 

 



Clay time on Tuesday afternoon.

One Tuesday afternoon, 5 children enjoyed time with clay.

Some of the children decided to make "a human " like they did last Friday with the other kind of modeling materials.



 







   




While I was making my " little human"  and trying to show "movement" such as helping her bend her knees, Elise and Emma began making accessories for her.

Elise:  " She needs some food.  Here is a sandwich."

Then a backpack was made " Now she can go on a picnic."     
 And Emma made a tiny blanket for the snowman.  

 

Lina made a ginger bread man that later turned into a hamburger just before it was eaten!

 
This started a whole cafeteria of food being made and shared.


The wonderful thing about being with the children was not only in what they were able to make with the material but with how they shared delight in ideas and processes with one another and with me.
 
They showed so much flexibility of thought and play as they transformed one objected into another. The power in this creativity is something that will help me in my own practice.
 

Clay time -Friday Art -Nov 16th-

We have started to explore clay inspired by Niki de Saint Phalle. 

 

She was a French - American sculptor, painter, and filmmaker. She was one of the few women artist widely known for monumental sculpture.

 

Before we started the our art project, we explored the differences between playdough and clay.

Most of the children had not touched clay before so we needed to take time and not rush this important step.

They noticed a lot of differences between playdough and clay, among them being the temperature, texture and the weight. 

 

We showed a few images of some of the artist's work. This was our entry point into the idea that clay can be used to express movement.

We started to explore making a human and we remembered from Picasso's work that sometimes there are different ways of expressing the human figure.

We talked about the parts be often see when we play with one another. Arms and legs turned out to take a bit of practice when using clay, but the children enjoyed the challenge.

 

And we noticed it is difficult to connect to each part of the bodies...and clay is a bit harder than making arm and legs.

 

 

 

 

 

Clay play helps the children to develop their hand and eye coordination as they pound, pat and push the clay into shapes and objects. 

 

And all the teachers delighted in the joy these children expressed through their engagement with this earthen material.