We got the paint out - well not the regular paint - that is always out at the easel.  The fancy paint from the art store in Victoria.

And we painted flowers.


Bright, beautiful flowers like Georgia O'Keeffe painted.


We read My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter. We learned that Ms O'Keeffe liked doing things differently than other people, and that she even thought different thoughts from other people.  When she saw a little flower, she noticed that people did not take the time to see how beautiful it was.  So, she decided to paint flowers really big, so that their beauty could not be ignored.


In kindergarten the kidlets and I have been learning about seeds and plants and the great circle of life (seed - sprout - plant - flower - seed - repeat).  We still need to chat about pollination and photosynthesis ... next week.

Back to the flowers and the paint.  

A number of real art teachers have made Ms O'Keefe flowers with their students.  

Art with Mr. E - kindergarten kids learned about radial symmetry used tempera paint and oil pastels  

Little Blogfish and Pink and Green Mama  - Robyn and MaryLea both talked to their young artists about looking at the flower from the perspective of a bee.  The kids used permanent markers and water paints.

Since I am not an art teacher (or even artistic!) I needed something a bit more primitive. 

We  used paint and fingers. 

The kidlets could chose two colours for their flower - a main and a complementary colour.  Choices were: red, orange, blue and purple.  Need to get some yellow for next time.  

I put a dot of the main colour in the centre of the paper, and added six more dots in a circle.  Three dots of the complementary colour and three dots of white were added.



The kidlets used their hands as a paint brush.  They started at the central dot and "swooshed" towards the edge of the paper, collecting paint and mixing colours on the way.



After the "swooshing" had gone full circle ...



I love how the colours blend together.

Last job is to  fingerprint black dots in the centre.



Now the kidlets can talk about Mr. Van Gogh stars and wind, Mr. Picasso faces, Mr. Kandinsky circles and Ms. O'Keeffe flowers.

Anyone like to invite them to an art show opening?




don't ever make a business deal with a hare

One of the (many) joys of teaching kindergarten is reading wonderful books with kids.

One of the books that we read this week was Tops and Bottoms.



adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens

published by Harcourt Children's Books

juvenile fiction

suitable for ages 4- 7

themes   Afro-American folk tale, animals (bear and hare), work ethic

opening lines  Once upon a time there lived a very lazy bear who had lots of money and lots of land. His father had been a hard worker and a smart business bear, and he had given all of his wealth to his son.  But all Bear wanted to do was sleep.

synopsis  A Caldecott Honor Book.  The story of clever Hare who grows a garden for lazy Bear every summer, splitting the produce.  Even though Bear gets to choose whether he gets "tops" or "bottoms", or even "tops and bottoms" Hare ensures that he gets the best of the deal.  After three summers, Bear decides to tend his own fields rather than go into business with Hare.

I like this book because ...  The story is a wonderful read aloud with lots of opportunity for predicting, discussing vegetable growth and discussing character development.  At the end of the story, one of my kindergarten kidlets asked "who was the bad guy?"  There were advocates for both Hare and  Bear being the "bad guy", and then one student asked "does there have to be a bad guy - I think they are both good and bad".  Pretty deep for a bunch of 5 year olds.  Even better than the story (which is wonderful) are the illustrations.  We loved the ways that Bear sprawls himself on his chair while he sleeps his summers away as well as his facial expressions when he realizes that Hare has tricked him. To add icing to the cake, the book reads from top to bottom rather than side to side.

resources ...
Tops and Bottoms lends itself easily to learning about plants.

Growing beans in a cd case is a great way to see both tops and bottoms.


We planted pumpkin seeds a couple of weeks ago; the tops are growing well and the bottoms are beginning to peek out the bottom of their containers.


Michelle at Hubbard's Cupboard has a free sight word book about veggies growing in the garden.


Michelle at Apples and ABCs (must be a Michelle thing!) also has a free veggie emergent reader.


Mary at Sharing Kindergarten is selling a  Tops and Bottoms mini unit which includes a couple of board games for @2.00.


Little Miss Glamour and Mrs. Borden's Pre K 4 Class (in Shanghai) made Tops and Bottoms bulletin boards.


A garden sensory bin can continue the story inside on a rainy day.


 And, just 'cause they're super cute - available at The Library Store.


For other perfect picture books, check out Susan Leonard Hill's blog and her  Perfect Picture Books page.




learning on a tray

Montessori inspiration.

One tray with glass gems, cheating chopsticks and a funky ice cube tray.


Add a child with a fierce look of concentration on his face.




Success!

And repeat.

Yup, learning on a tray.


magnets in the sand table

We have been playing with magnets in our sand table for the past couple of weeks.



As well as three magnet wands, I put in some coloured paper clips, magnetic marbles and some wire rimmed plastic discs (magnetic bingo chips?) that came in a magnet kit.  

The kidlets and I chatted about other things that were magnetic and could go in our magnet sand table -- magnetic letters, spoons, pipe cleaners, votive candle covers, bottle caps, money, clothespins, jingle bells, scissors, nuts and bolts, cookie cutters ... and we are still finding new additions.


I found a magnet discovery bottle (along with a whole bunch of other really cool discovery bottle ideas) at Pre-School Play.  I cut up a bunch of brightly coloured pipe cleaners (the same as in the sand) and put them inside a 2 L pop bottle and a 1L water bottle.  The kidlets are having a grand old time using the magnet wand to drag around the pipe cleaners inside the bottles.


Pulling magnet marbles out of a sand mountain is a cool experiment. 


Seeing how many magnets will "stick" or "hang on" is always fun.

There is always the silly magnet faces and magnet people. 

And the mesmerizing effect of falling sand.



Karen at PreKinders made a sensory table with rice and magnets. Check it out.

What other things could we put into our magnet table?





            

The Lorax is one of the heroes of Earth Day.

He spoke for the trees (for the trees have no voice).  And for the Brown Barbaloots, the Swommee Swans and the Humming Fish

If the Lorax can speak out, then there is no reason why we can't too.



We were inspired by the Lorax moustache at the Sub Hub. Get it here.
Instead of making it has a hat, I shrank it down and created a mustache


All the kidlets had their pictures taken with the moustache beside our truffula tree. I tried to give myself "Lorax" eyes for my picture!



We used our pictures to write about the earth.  

The Lorax spoke for the trees.  The kidlets wrote what they wanted to speak for -- the trees, or the deer, the whales. the butterflies, the families ...

The kidlets glued their Lorax photos into the box and printed " I am the Lorax.  I speak for the ...." in the speech bubble. For the free printable, click here.



I need to remember the last words of the Oncler ...





            

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