Bee Day 2014

Every year in January our school hosts a Spelling Bee.  Leading up to the Bee classes make art work to decorate the hallway.  These are our bees.
                    
One of our families donated a big bag of rug hooking yarn.  I dug out the yellow and black and placed it at the art table with yellow paper, glue, scissors, googly
                  eyes and wings cut out of laminating material.


     
Each child approached their art in a different way.  Some started by drawing an
               oval, others placed the eyes, others just glued on the yarn.
    
                               
                                Each bee was unique and lovely.


  One child and his dad decided to make a 3D bee and make him fly
                      (the bee is attached to a string).
          
They spent probably a half an hour creating this bee.  The child loves using the
          glue gun and the parents are allowing him to be creative with it.
  
            Our hallway display drew attention from the older students. 
                      I saw them pointing to their favourite bee.
                                
                             Till next Bee Day, keep having fun.

Record Player Art

I’m embarrassed to say that it’s been three years since we used the record player at the art table.  I’m not sure why because it attracts  the children that are the least likely to chose the art table to explore.  That was reinforced again today.
                   
It’s mostly boys that I’m talking about.  Boys that are always on the move
           and don’t like to sit and do but prefer to be up and go.

    
            There were little brothers wanting to not to be left out.
Reaching in to be sure he got his turn even though he could barely see over
                                       the record player.

 
  We added a stool to make it easier to reach and to see what was happening.

 
              They enjoyed every step; squeezing, watching it drip and
               
           then using different tools to move the paint and see it blend.

              
Occasionally you can still find a record player at the thrift stores but you could ask your families if anyone has one packed away that might like to donate.  We’ll leave it out again tomorrow and see who ventures over.

Snowy Owls

       
    
Our craft today was to make snowy animals using pinecones and cottonballs. 
 
After stuffing the pinecone full of cotton they then glued pom poms on and
                                  added googly eyes.
 
               Some children used wool and looped it to make wings.
                            
                        They definitely are individual in their looks.

Play Trays this Past Week

                
      
A venn diagram made from felt comparing where Arctic animals live, on snow,
                               in the water or both.


                                     Counting penguins. 
      I printed the numbered penguins from Children’s Learning Activities.

            
 
                            A scale with jewels and tongs. 
These tongs work opposite then our other tongs or tweezers.  Instead of squeezing them together you have to use two hands to pull them apart, pick up the jewel and close.

        
 
                                    Little bears, die and grid. 
The child rolls the die, counts the dots then places that many bears on to the grid.

After the first day I modified it by cutting the grid down to show six squares.

Polar Play

Last week we moved from exploring Penguins and the South Pole to polar bears and the Arctic.  Here are some of the activities we’ve done for Arctic.

  
       Sensory tables – one full of fake snow and other with rice.


                                   Small world play.

                     
 
                    A new fingerplay with stuffies to play it out.


  We built igloos at the art table using styrofoam bowls and packing peanuts.

                  
   
        While continuing to build our igloo a big polar bear moved in and
                   that provided an invitation to play inside.

    We added the pillows for comfort and now its a hide away for quieter play.
 
               Time to be alone with the bear or to make a fort.
      
This afternoon I added a blanket underneath and smaller pillows.  I’m not sure if we’ll add any more jugs to the top but will focus on making a bit more of a tunnel
                                       out the front.
        
               I like the coloured lids on the inside of the igloo.