Corn Syrup Painting

    
I learned about corn syrup painting from Heather, a StrongStart
facilitator down island, when I visited during Spring Break.

By mixing clear corn syrup with a bit of paint you can create
wonderful shiny pieces of art.
 
We used this painting technique for a couple of days.  The first day
using large paint brushes and large pieces of paper cut in flower shapes.
The wonderful thing about corn syrup paint is that the colours stay
separate unless you blend them.
 
The second day we tried the opposite by using small paint
brushes and small papers,
      
plus I added pictures of wild flowers of British Columbia for
inspiration.
 
 This paint creates a beautiful glossy finish that appears to be still wet.
 
 
 
Different styles by our young artists create wonderfully unique images.
Thank you to Heather for sharing.

Wee Folk Woods Makeover

  
About a month ago we finished our clay door project with our
big buddies and the doors were mounted on trees in the woods
behind our school.
  
We created a poem and poster to invite the rest of the school to go
for a walk and enjoy the doors.  They did and came back and told us
about the fun they had.
            
Unfortunately the doors haven’t survived.  Most of them have been
broken.

So yesterday we created new doors, a new way.
      
We went back to using wood, decorating them with nails
and string.
 
The buddies worked together to hammer the nails into the wood
in a variety of patterns then they tied the string around the nails.

 
This project strengthened the relationships that have been growing
between our youngest and oldest students.  Their patience, trust and
pleasure of working together was shown in many ways.
 
Most of the doors will go into the Wee Folk Woods but a few will be
new doors for Fairy Lane.
    
          

Estimating and Predicting

     
Our tadpoles have been growing for two and a half weeks and during
that time we’ve been checking them daily.
 
We’ve spent sometime talking about how many tadpoles there may be in
the tank.  Estimating is an opportunity to talk about numbers.  What numbers
mean, how many things represent a number and what numbers are a low
amount and which tells us there are more.
 
In the water table there were toy frogs to further explore the concepts of
numbers and amounts.  Which log has more frogs on it?  Which has less? 
Estimating how many frogs are on the log before counting them.

 
By providing pictures and models of the life cycle of a frog the children are
gaining a deeper understanding of the changes that will happen.
  
We’ve started to draw pictures of  what our tadpoles will look like as frogs.
 
So far we have a variety of coloured frog predictions.

Tree Freeze

        
I attended a workshop on the weekend that was called Growing Up Wild
and participants included Early Childhood Educators, teachers, principals
and a boy scout leader.

By participating in the workshop I learned several new ideas to play
with children outside and received this fabulous guide packed full of
activities.

          
One game the facilitator taught us was giving actions to trees.  I can’t
remember what or if she had a name for the game but I call it “Tree Freeze”.

We warmed up by singing an echo song called “Tall Trees”.  Then I
introduced a picture for each tree that we would give an action.

   
A douglas fir, straight and tall with arms straight overhead.
 
The hemlock, droopy at the top.
 
The maple tree, big and wide with lots of leaves.
 
A cedar tree, graceful low branches.
 
The spruce, with prickly needles, reach in then pull back into a fist
and say ‘ouch’.

   
We practiced a bit in the classroom.  I would say, “Ready?” then call
out one of the trees.
    
Then we headed outside for a walk, acting out the trees as I called them.
   
It’s an easy game to learn and a great game to play on a walk.
You could make up your own actions for the trees that grow where
you live.
                      Give it a try.