December 6th, 2009

Blog Manager:
"Today we painted. We used blue and yellow to make green. Some of us built with blocks." -Gage


Today we read another book about color mixing! In the atelier, we used cyan/blue and yellow to mix different hues of green. Instead of just paint brushes, we also experimented with sponges, foam wedges and rollers to mix the paint.

We were able to create amazing texture with our various painting tools!

We experimented and found out that if we added extra blue to our paintings, it made darker greens. If we added more yellow to our paintings it made lighter greens.

Since two artists had to share both an easel and paint cups, this activity provided an opportunity to practice our negotiation skills. We practiced asking, "May I have the yellow when you are done?" and responding, "Yes, as soon as I am finished with it!" We also practiced patience as we waited for the sponges and rollers.

We continued to write down our precious stories today! Some of us wrote about rats, some of us wrote about our parents, and some of us made up stories about other types of animals. We are real authors and it is important to tell our stories through pictures and words.

Some authors just use illustrations to tell their stories, some use words. Both are great techniques to communicate our ideas!

Some of us are ready to add letters or words to our writing! We use our alphabet sheets to help us identify and form the letters we hear.

Some of us made books to put in the library for our friends to read.

We dictate our stories to our teachers. We are so funny and creative!

We also played the alphabet fishing game today! This game helps us with both letter recognition and letter sounds. We love it!




Another way we write and read in a meaningful manner is through our daily letter to families. Using the letter format, we learn about dates, punctuation and the shape, name and sounds of letters. We learn to recognize familiar words (such as family and love). This letter also gives us a chance to reflect on our learning processes for the day.