|
July brings field trips for both our Quadra Kids and Preschool programs. Tuesday's outings were spent close to home enjoying our beautiful Quadra Island; it looks like the kids are ready for Summer and all it has to offer!
0 Comments
September 2017- We respectfully acknowledge that our encounters with paint have been inspired by the book, “Material Encounters” a catalogue of a project under taken by Capilano University Studio Art Gallery and curated by Sylvia Kind. How else could we offer the paint to slow the children down? How can we help them join with the paint in different ways? Children use many different materials (languages) to express their ideas and theories about the world in which they live. We believe that children are intelligent, curious, imaginative, intuitive individuals capable of discovering the properties of each material by creating their own experiments suggested to them by the materials themselves, thus formulating their own theories on how they might use said material to represent their ideas. Instead of thinking of materials as having predictable properties such as colour, shape, density etc. and using them as inanimate objects, what might happen when we consider this: "What if the human role in shaping materials is not as central as we believe? “What if materials shape us as much as we shape them? How might we experience materials differently if we acknowledge them as joint participants in our interactions with them?" (Material Encounters. Kind, 2014 P.3) “Experimentation opens up worlds, creates new venues for thinking and doing. It actively extends experience.” (Kind 2014, P.3) With this in mind we embarked upon our exploration of paint. “These as all the teeth. They are sharp and spiky.” Dylan The children experimented with the paint, discovering how it worked in relationship with the movement, tools, paper and how it all fitted together.  “It's turning orange.” “It’s rainbow.” “Woe! Mine is way darker than yours!” “You think it's ready?” “Something makes it really dark.” “The blue does.” Harmony, “I have never done this before, this is fun. This was our experiment. Wow, I made a great idea right? This is so fun. I'm not grinding, I'm just making goop.' Jari, “What about if I am the grinder and you take care of the goop?” Harmony, “We didn't mean to do it, we just added water and we made our own paint!” Our interpretations of the children's encounters have led us to believe that the children display an intuitive interest in flow, fluidity, transporting and feeling the paint. To extend this we wondered, what can hold, carry, and move paint? “(Children)...join with materials...Every mark, gesture, and actions becomes a question. What can this material do? What can it become? How can I join its becoming? (Kind, 2014)” In most of their encounters with the paint the children moved as individuals, as though their experiences and experiments were personal to them. How can we use the paint in a way that would encourage collaboration and a shared exploration of the material? We created the painting area in response to this question. Within this space your children have experienced paint in a way they have never experienced it before and the paint has truly become a joint participant in it's interactions with the children.  We have observed the collaboration we were seeking between the children and it is beautiful. The paint is a full body experience, a sensory exploration which jives with their natural tendency to explore the world using their senses. They have an unspoken collective understanding of respect for each other and acceptance. With no direction or restrictions from us, they feel free to express themselves and include their friends in their expressions. They are amazing, in this small space we see them moving quickly in excitement and joy as the paint says, "Spread me", and they do so all over their body. It oozes harmony, the paint is their friend and with it they are building relationships with their peers, the space around them and themselves. The paint is shaping the children, and their experiments with it are opening new experiences to them. As the paint flows so does their collaboration with others. The paint transforms them and when they look at themselves in the mirror it is as if they are meeting themselves for the first time. How else could we offer the paint to slow the children down? How can we help them join with the paint in different ways? When small amounts of paint were offered with small scale tools the children were more deliberate with their movements, swinging, dipping, and observing. They tolerated their friends painting on their backs which they found to be an odd sensation. The children join with the paint as it slips and slides over surfaces. “If materials are not just static, … but are always already in the midst of becoming something else” (Kind 2014, P. 9) have we given the paint time to react to the children? If there was no time limit would we see a change in the paint? Would we see a change in the children’s movements?  When all the paint was gone, the children showed no signs of being done. As the paint dried the children began scrunching up their faces and opening their mouths wide.   The children and paint slowed reflecting the rhythm of the material itself. By giving the children multiple opportunities to explore the paint they were able to repeat their previous experiences with it. This repetition strengthened their relationship with the paint. By giving the children multiple opportunities to explore the paint they were able to repeat their previous experiences with it. This repetition strengthened their relationship with the paint. Using the tools, they observed the paint. With their bodies, they felt the paint. They affected the way it moved and were affected by the paint. The paint transformed them, and the play was imaginative. We observed their relationship with the paint growing and strengthening, we also observed collaboration between the children as they had these paint events together. The paint binds them together, it is a teacher, it is the instruction of how to be. If this is so, will their bond extend beyond the paint area? Will the children build upon the harmonious experiences they had with their friends with the paint to other areas of the Centre? A Provocation for ConnectionJanuary 8th, 2018 - In our continued effort to provide opportunities for the children to collaborate and strengthen relationships with each other through paint explorations, a long banner was taped to the wall and a group of children were invited to paint with watercolour. Titus initiated the painting by choosing yellow paint and connecting the experience to the song “Yellow Submarine.” The other children recognized the song and joined together to make a submarine. They talked and laughed and added details. As they dipped their brushes in each colour, they quickly discovered that this created a brown and of course the submarine needed a bathroom. The focus shifted to “bathroom talk.” This attracted Beckham who had been observing from the outside who then joined in. With paint brushes in each hand, the children made fast strokes and sang fast songs to match. Eventually, Eamon and Beckham were left in the paint room alone, a pair not typically seen engaging together. The boys moved from the mural painting to the mirror. Back and forward they went from the paint pucks and water to the mirror, singing, laughing and communicating with one another through movements and silly noises. The play was long, and what interested us was how the bond they created in the paint room transferred to the sand table where the two engaged further, happily connecting with one another. "What concerns us as educators and researchers are relations: the dynamic relations between and across various elements,” (Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher p.54) In this case, we have been intrigued with the relationship between the children themselves. A previous wondering has been proven; yes, the children can and do transfer their harmonious experiences outside of the paint room confirming that these experiences truly are bringing the children closer together with one another. Participating; In, Out, and Around the Paint Corner When Isla, Eamon, and Rosa were in the paint room together I wasn’t expecting to see the collaboration and shared vision that the group of older children demonstrated while creating the submarine. But I was interested to see how they expressed the shared experience of being in the paint room together. They took cues from each other, built on each other’s ideas and imagination and worked co-operatively with the materials. But what I was really interested to see was when the shared experience jumped the boundary of the painting corner and included the children who were observing. As they made their first explorations with the paint, Dylan who was outside the paint corner watched, and cheered them on; “Good job painting your foot, Isla.” As their explorations with the paint and their bodies became bolder, it went from cheering on to egging on as three boys took to chanting. “Paint your hair, paint your hair.” It was time to redirect this group from egging on, but the participation between the two groups continued.   .After painting themselves and peering at themselves in the mirror, Isla, Rosa, and Eamon became paint monsters. Once they roared to each other and the relationship among monsters was settled (Isla declaring, “I am the Mommy monster.”) their attention turned to the group of children gathered to watch them. They menaced them with roars and hands outstretched into claws Once again, the painting activity was drawing more children into participating. There were several times when children came to quietly observe the activity. As I looked at them observing intently with smiles on their faces, I am reminded that there are other ways of participating in an activity besides directly participating, or interacting with the participants, and that is a type of inward participation. This goes beyond watching and waiting outside for a turn. Seeing their complete engagement and the smiles on their faces, I imagine that they are able to project a part of themselves into the paint corner with the other children. As they watch I wonder if they can feel the smooth, cool paint on their own skin, and I wonder if they are making decisions about what they would do if they were the ones with the paint brushes in their hand.   Inward participation can be over-looked as a form of participation, but it can also be a rich way of experiencing. When an activity like the painting corner is offered at the Children Centre, the learning, the relationships, and the participation stretches beyond the corners of the painting area and grows to include more than just the children painting. March 2nd, 2018 Cleaning up after a paint experience becomes an event in itself.   “Back to normal. Taking off my suit, wash off my Black Panther Suit.” Said Finley. The children strip themselves of the personas they layered on with paint. They take their time to notice the water dripping onto their skin, making the paint run into the tub. Everything a child does deserves recognition. They notice, feel, and experience everything.   Taking care of themselves and the paint room after an event gives the children a sense of well-being and belonging. By helping to clean up gives them confidence in their ability to contribute to our community and an awareness that they are valued. ConclusionThe Paint Room has inspired so much joy in both us as teachers and in the children. As we have shared this experience with one another, we have discovered endless value in allowing relationships to build in such raw and uninhibited explorations. As the children and the paint mingled, their bodies often became a canvas that brought life to their imaginations. We watched as the children surprised us with the way they inherently “wore” the paint, as if it was dress ups from a tickle trunk. Each instance provided an avenue to safely express and process everyday happenings in their lives. As a group we transformed, morphed and reformed in the whirl of activity that the paint room gave us. This exploration has demonstrated the idea that the materials are our partners with mutual offerings in our encounters with them; the paint affected the children as much as the children affected the paint. The children’s undivided presence with the paint as they engaged with it created a strong foundation for the relationship between themselves and the material to continue to grow. With this authentic exposure we have not only became familiar with the many properties of paint as it reacts with our own interpretations, we have practiced how to share ideas, how to be heard in a group and how to honour and support the positions of our friends. It was with satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment that we dismantled the paint room. Although this ends the first chapter of our relations with paint, we will continue as we shift our environment to include the outdoors. As we move forward, we will keep in mind what we have been taught thus far and look for ways to enhance and expand on this learning.
With a great deal of emphasis being placed on literacy and young children, we would like to make visible how we support children here at the Centre develop those skills. It is known that children get ready to read for many years before they are cognitively mature enough to learn to read. What children know about reading and writing before they can read and write is what is known as “Early Literacy”. This is where we place our attention in our pre-school program. We hope to create opportunities to develop an understanding of, and encourage an interest in, communicating through the written word. The Rock 'n Roll Band February 2016 The three boys prompted by Finn formed a Rock 'n Roll band. Finn had a wooden plank Emilio a frying pan and spoon Maddox had a computer keyboard. “Then they went home.” said Finn abruptly and the others followed him to the house keeping corner. Then back to the band area........ “ 1,2,3,4, YOW! YOW! Finn spontaneously cried, “We late for the band! Rock 'n Roll camel.” Maddox picked up a computer keyboard and said, “This piano is an electric piano.” “I've got a electric guitar.” said Finn Emilio joined in and said, “This is an electric drum. This is my drum stick. Finn offered Jason a ride. Jason refused by saying, “No, I don't because I hate music.” Finn was not deterred, “Come to my band, you'll really like it. Hey, you've got star shoes, you like music.” “No I don't, I hate music.” Jason became the guy who stayed at home where he offered the band members food after their gig. A video was taken and unfortunately lost. It was a joy to hear them whooping and creating the sounds of their band with their voices. Some of the areas that need to develop before children are ready to read are the following: Vocabulary: This is done through conversation and reading to your child. Many hands on experiences help connect words to the real object or idea. Awareness of print: At a very early age children learn that the printed word carries meaning. When you read to your child they become aware that it is the words in print that tells the story they are enjoying. Street signs labels and even store logos and names become recognizable to children at a very early age. Narrative Skills: Everyday conversation is an early form of story telling. The answer to “What did you do at the Children’s Centre today?” is a form of story telling. The more children are engaged in talking and sharing experiences the more they become aware of the “order” of story, beginning, middle and end. Phonological awareness: Nursery rhymes, silly songs, games and rhymes make children aware of the sounds of language. Children need to be aware of the sounds that letters make, but need to learn it in a fun and meaningful way. Letter Recognition: Children start to learn to recognize the different letters. They usually start with their own name and the letters of people’s names who are important to them. Here are some of examples of Early Literacy that we have seen in our classroom. Message Centre: When I use the message Centre I am learning how to:
Names - The children’s names are in several places: in the attendance basket; on the mailboxes; on the cubbies and on name cards. When I see my friends names in these places, I am learning:
Sequencing - When I am sequencing, I am learning:
Puppets - When I play with puppets, I am learning to:
Felt Board - When I play with the felt board I am learning to:
Singing - When I sing I am learning how to:
Dramatic Play - When I play in the house keeping corner, I am learning to:
Scribing Stories - When you scribe my stories and read them back to them, I am learning to:
Story Time -
     As a part of advocating a high quality program, our teachers work hard to document the happenings among the children. Through these learning stories we engage in our relationships with the children and with the materials that we offer in an effort to use our interpretations to extend learning. As the parents of these children we seek your knowledge and insights as a valuable part of this process as you know your children best of all. Please take a moment when you are picking up or dropping off your child to visit our documentation board and participate in our conversations. Your children will greatly benefit from your interest in their experiences! The photos below are snippets from an ongoing exploration, by posting the art in the hallway and continuing to add to the Material Encounters documentation board we hope to attract your attention, curiosity and input.  Each spring the children enjoy participating in the planting of our garden. One of our favorite things to look forward to is watching the corn plants grow from tiny starts to very tall stalks. It’s so exciting when the plants are finally ready to harvest. It is hard work, but with a little help from our friends, the deep roots are pulled up and the ears of corn are ready to be opened, cooked and eaten. Scrumptious! I have several characters and a backdrop made out of felt wool that I like to use when telling stories. Some of the children were so awed and complimentary when they found out that I had made them, that I wanted to give them an opportunity to explore the unique qualities of wool and how it transforms during the felting process. First we wrapped beach rocks in wool and dipped our hands in soapy water. Gently we patted wool with wet soapy hands. There were all sorts of sensations to experience; fuzzy wool that changed as it got sodden and then felted, foamy bubbles, wet water, slippery soap, the smell of peppermint soap and wet wool and lots of colours. At first we had to be patient and gentle until the wool started to felt. Once the wool stopped slipping the children's attention went from what their hands were doing to what they were making. When the 5 year olds were working the table was abuzz with ideas flying around; a pollywog, a home for a wood bug, a rat, a wolf, a cave for rabbits.  Once the coloured wool came out , the focus became all about the different colours and the ideas of creating specific animals or homes were abandoned. The older children with the larger rocks spent several sessions felting, while the younger children felted smaller rocks that they could finish in one session.  A parent and child arrived at the Centre with a gift of roses for the teachers. The teacher took a rose from the bouquet and placed it in the centre of the table along with a palette of acrylic paints. What you see in this hallway is a display of children's art, some very young, working along side older children, expressing what they saw and felt from the rose's colours.   A Dad and son arrived at the Centre and the son was wearing a t-shirt with an aboriginal design on the front. The Dad asked the children, "Guess why Emilio is wearing this shirt?" "It is Aboriginal Day, Happy Aboriginal Day!" The teacher brought out some other examples of first nation's art and a palette with similar colours to the art. On the board in the kitchen room you will see the wide range of children's interpretations of the first nation's art. Once again there were very young children painting along side older children.   With Mayday approaching, we spoke with the children about this year's theme, "Celebrating Canada". One child said, "We live in Canada". We then talked about how we would decorate our float with that theme in mind. Immediately, the children came up with a lot of clear ideas: I want to be a knight, I want to be a princess, I want to be a ... We as teachers thought, Canada embraces diversity. So the children came as they wanted, each representing Canadians in their own way. The name of our float, "Canadian Colours" expresses a child's idea of diversity more simply. Below is a slideshow of our Mayday festivities. Forest and Hotaru have chosen to play together in the sandbox. Their play is quite organic as it moves flexibly from one idea to another. The sandbox is an industrious and busy area, water rights debate occurs quickly. This offers perfect opportunities to practice their social skills. Forest and Hotaru navigated the sandbox “politics” quite well today, they succeeded in respecting other children’s play and letting go of territorial dispute in creative ways. Well done!  Hotaru: "Keep digging, deep!" As Forrest fills up the truck, Hotaru follows. Forest: “That’s enough now! I’ll go and deliver the sand.” “Who needs sand? Sand delivery!” “Not me!" says Breccan. "Put it in there!" Dylan suggests. Forest has a different idea: “I don’t want to... I go and deliver on this side." Forest notices that Hotaru is digging a hole. He eagerly goes to help her but becomes frustrated as water starts flowing in his hole from Dylan hose. “Stop it!” Forest cries out. Dylan keeps watering the puddle. Hotaru tries to defend Forest and orders Dylan: “He said stop!” Dylan declares to Hotaru: “You’re not in charge of me!” Hotaru and Forest go on saying in a calm way that they do not want water in their hole. Dylan respond: “I am not putting it in your hole, I am putting it there and it channels in.” Forest and Hotaru seems fine with the explanation and keeps on digging with wet sand. Our friend Yvie has been struggling and not wanting to come to the Centre. Grandma shared that Yvie really protests and it is very difficult to leave the house in the mornings. On this particular morning, Yvie cried loudly at drop off. I wanted to support her concerns and acknowledge her feelings. I asked her what she was missing at Grandmas house which was where she wanted to be instead. She named some specific toys and so I wondered with her what we could do here that could be just as fun. We did not have the toys that were so attractive to her but, I suggested we could try to make something. I went through a list of materials that we have here at the Centre that we might use. Felts caught her interest. She got very excited at the thought of making her very own felt board story. Initially, Yvie was very concerned about working together with other children, she wanted to work alone. I reminded her that children come to the Centre because their families want them to learn how to be in a group and work together with all kinds of people. At first, the children decided that their story would take place on a beach. They chose a unicorn, a rattle snake and a shark to be their characters. The unicorn and the snake both wanted to be the most beautiful creatures in the world. They were fighting. The shark gave them an idea. They could both be the most beautiful. I supported the children in making their characters by tracing and helping them to cut out but I mostly stood back and let them explore the felt. Their ideas evolved and the story grew and changed. We did not focus on a concrete story but rather the children freely added characters and ideas, sharing and talking with each other the whole time. This project kept these children very happily engaged for over an hour. What happened here was an amazing example of friendship building and learning how to share and accept other peoples ideas.
|
Archives
July 2018
|
RSS Feed
Powered by