Group TIme December 6

Line of Inquiry: 

Decorations tell human stories and help us know each other

The Wind Group have been exploring quilts as a way to tell human stories.  They have expressed an interest in making their own quilt and voted for a paper rendition. Each child took time to brainstorm ideas for images of things that are important to them. It took a couple of tries to understand this abstract concept of “what’s important” but they soon came up with ideas, some unique and some inspired by the ideas of others. The quilt represents the members of the Wind Group and help us to know them a little better

These are the ideas that are important to each child:

Chloe

Things of beauty and colour are important to Chloe and is why she chose colourful little balls, fish, sparkly and shiny, and pink. Soft things are important to her and why she chose teddy bears and little dogs. Chloe also loves to play ball games.

Byron

Small balls are important to Byron, he likes to throw them He chose sharks because they are scary. In contrast, he chose images that represent two very important stuffed animals at home: Ralphy and Froggie

Rocco

Rocco had only three ideas that were important to him; Thomas the Tank Engine, people and schools. He says he likes people and schools are fun places. He likes his school.

Natalya

Shiny and sparkly things are important to Natalya. She uses teddy bears to decorate her bedroom and chose these images. She also really likes small dogs, not big ones, because they are cute. She included balls because she likes to play ball with her brother.

Adyson

Adyson enjoys playing ball games and thinks little dogs are so cute. She enjoys fish and likes them a lot. The other things that are important to Adyson are shiny, sparkly and pink!

Hao Hao

Hao Hao was inspired by the ideas of others and chose many similar ideas. He also likes Thomas the Tank Engine, dogs, sharks and pink and shiny things.

Kai

Kai loves playing in the woods and playing with balls. He also wanted to include a picture of his dog Zoe who was black and white and died after falling down the stairs. The other children listened with compassion of Kai described Zoe and shared his story.

Nico

Nico had three ideas that are important to him. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine, International Super Spy and things that are pink.

YuHa

Yuha loves playing ball games, especially “the orange ball” (basketball). Teddy bears are important to YuHa because they are soft and she also likes things that are pink.

Group TIme December 5

Line of Inquiry: Decorations tell human stories and help us connect with one another

 The children continued brainstorming ideas for their square on the quilt we are making - the square that will tell the story of who he/she is. Some of the children were inspired by the ideas of others and wanted the same: sparkly and shiny things, colourful balls, little dogs. Some children chose images that were unique to them: school houses, people, and Ralphy (stuffed animal from home)

The children decorated strips of paper for the border of their quilt - yes, they have agreed unanimously that they want to make a quilt of paper!

Group Time November 28

Line of Inquiry: Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another

Similarities and differences in ideas about what a decoration is

The children have spent the past few weeks sharing decorations from the cultures and connecting with one another. We will be looking at quilt's as a way of sharing stories and connecting with one another.

The story Mr. Nick's Knitting is about two friends who share a hobby; knitting, which they do together everyday on the train on their way to the city.  When Mrs. Jolley falls ill and must stay in the hospital for a very long time she is very sad at having nothing interesting to look at.  Mr Nick knits her a quilt of all the images the saw as trey looked out the train window, a quilt that tells the story of their friendship together.

Can we make a quilt that tells the story of the children in the Wind Group? The children enthusiastically brainstormed ideas for decorations they could use on their square that would express who they are. Some discussion happened as they practised being open minded and accepting that what might be a decoration to one person may not be to another and that's okay.

Group Time November 22

Assessment

To assess the children's understanding of the lines of inquiry I put together a slide show of images from our explorations: feathered head dress, steel drum, paper lantern, stuffed animals, and a shamrock. I asked the children what they thought about these pictures and recorded their responses. Right away they identified the decorations with each child and country. Indeed the children understand that different cultures have various decorations and that they are connected to people's stories!

I made the statement "Only Trinidad has head dresses" The children disagreed and Chloe said that China has some and the question was formed "Are there head dresses in China?" We researched the question and Google Images gave us many examples of traditional Chinese head dresses. "Can we make one?" wondered Natalia. "Can we?" I asked. Everyone responded "Yes!" and so we set to work.

The children are beginning to understand that there are similarities in ideas of decorations across cultures.

Group Time November 21

Line of Inquiry: Exploring a variety of decorations from a variety of cultures

Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another

Today was Nico's turn to bring some important decorations from his home and culture and talk about their stories. Nico brought in a mouse that is the character on a TV show his mom watched as a little girl. Another stuffed animal was of a bear playing rugby, a sport played in New Zealand where his paternal grandparents are from. There were a few more items and I asked Nico where he kept these things and he replied "In my room!" The children began talking about the things they have in their rooms and we made a list of their decorations: Adyson, Hao Hao and Byron have stickers on their walls, Chloe has a sparkly ceiling and flowers, Natalia has bears, Rocco has animals, YuHa has stuffies, and Nico has a bed, blanket and pillow.

We watched a video of Margret Wise-Brown's Goodnight Moon. Then the children circled the things they thought were decorations in the room. The drama area has been transformed into a bedroom and the children were given time to play and decorate as they wished!

Group Time November 15

Line of Inquiries: Exploring a variety of decorations from various cultures

Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another

Julia's culture is from Ireland and Scotland. Kai's family also shares a Scottish heritage. Julia's mom sent an email describing some decorations that are important in their family and a link to show the plaid that their clan uses in their kilts. "What's a kilt" someone asked. Julia showed the ballet skirt she was wearing and said "This is a kilt"

We researched this together and listened to bagpipes played by a man in a kilt and we watched some dancing Highland dancers wearing kilts. Byron loves music and started bouncing along. All the children wanted to dance and they studied the girls moves and tried to imitate them. Just precious!

St. Patrick's Day is a big celebration in Julia's family and they use shamrocks to decorate and make shamrock cookies. Julia brought  in her special shamrock cookie cutter and her Papa's special sprinkles and we made cookies together, enough for everyone. The children decorated the cookies with the sprinkles, "But not all of them because they belong to my papa"

Group Time November 14

Line of Inquiry: Exploring a variety of decorations from various cultures

What a wonderful resource families are for the children's exploration! This weekend Rocco's Granddad emailed me a plethora of information on decorations and food that are from Rocco's Trinidadian culture! His email included stories of Rocco playing the steel drum back home and his mom told of the beautiful feathered head dress she wore at festivals and is now used as a decoration along with the steel drum.

Included in the email was a link to an amazing boy who plays the steel drum. The children were captivated! I've included the link, this little guy is definitely worth checking out! How fortunate are we that the daycare has a small steel drum, the children were keen to try. Soon with chac chac's in hand and taking turn on the drum music filled the room!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=cncVDvWLPus

We researched some picture of head dresses worn at festivals and the children made their own feathered rendition. The children watched the dancers with magnificent costumes and got up to dance with them! What a great family-home connection and how special for Rocco to have his Den Den's stories shared with the children!

Group Time November 8

Line of Inquiry: Exploring a variety of decorations from various cultures

Thank you parents for providing information on your child's cultural background. Today we looked at the world map and located the countries the children's ancestors are from. We will spend the next few weeks exploring decorations from the cultures of the children (form).

Adyson, Natalya, Hao Hao, Chloe and Byron's ancestors are from China. What are some common Chinese decorations? We researched this questions and the results from Google Images were picture after picture of red and gold decorations, many of them lanterns. We read about why gold and red are such important colours and learned that they represent good luck and happiness.

We read "Moon Festival" by Ching Yeung Russell and the children listened intently as the story described how lanterns were used in this festival. The story mentioned Moon Cakes and this intrigued the children. "What are Moon Cakes?" many wondered with curiosity. Adyson said she had eaten Moon Cakes before. Many of the children wished they could try them too. Does anyone know where they can be purchased?

The children used red and gold paint to decorate their own lantern which we will use to decorate the daycare. I observed many of the children exploring with patterns. After Julia's suggestion we listened to traditional Chinese music as they painted.

Group Time November 7

After searching for decorations in the daycare with Debbie the children decided that we need more decorations. All of the children are working on a group project, decorating tiles that will be displayed along the length of the daycare.

Each group decided what materials would be needed to decorate their tiles.

The Wind Group chose:

• paint
• markers
• hearts
• Christmas trees
• feathers
• sparkles
• marshmallows

Thank you to YuHa and her mom for being the first to bring decorations to decorate one of the tables for lunch. The children are learning that some decorations are just for looking at and some can be used and held. The candles set a soft glow and the children felt like the table was special!

Summative Week

It's hard to believe that 7 weeks have gone by already!

I have observed growth in the children's ability to reflect on how music makes them feel and express the images that come to their minds. I have seen an a developing interest in music from other cultures.

The Summative Activity is an opportunity for your child to express what they've learned and understand from the unit of inquiry. The children listened to 3 songs and chose 1 to work with. They talked about how the song made them feel, what it made them think about and then they decided how they wanted to express their thinking: art, drama, or dance.

I've included the links so you can listen to the song your child chose.
Vivaldi - La tempesta di mare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVljpDIPQ0s&feature=related

African Tribal Orchestra - Sundown in Madagaskar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrq6Rcq0F8c

Raven Hart-Bellecourt and Lisa Muswagon - Strong Woman Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHVAzmfZAy4&feature=related

Today I worked with Byron, Hao Hao, and Kai who all chose the First Nations song; The Strong Woman Song. They each chose to paint and decided on which colours best represented the music and what colour they wanted to paint on. Debbie will continue with the other children the rest of the week.

Group Time October 18

Teacher Question: What is music like in other parts of the world?

Child's Question: What is music like in Trinidad?

Rocco's family is from Trinidad, he still remember the house and all the toys he had there. Rocco described what it was like to live there as we watched a video showing scenes from rural Trinidad. The children noticed the trees were very different there.

We watched a video from a Children's Festival in Trinidad. The children thought the costumes were beautiful. Adyson expressed that the music made her feel happy and the others agreed. Natalya wondered who was singing. Byron started dancing in his seat which initiated the idea for everyone to get up and dance to the music!

Next, we watched some street musicians playing on the streets of Trinidad. The children identified some of the instruments that were being played; a guitar, maracas, and rhythm sticks

The children were given maraca's and rhythm sticks and played along with the street musicians!

The children are familiar with the song Hot Cross Buns. I introduced the idea of 'beat' and we used the rhythm sticks to show our understanding of beat. We watched a video of a young girl playing Hot Cross Buns on the clarinet. The children saw links to other instruments and we listened to Hot Cross Buns on the saxophone, recorder, guitar, tuba, and trumpet. The children noticed some sounds were high and some were low.

At the end of group time I took some time to write this blog while the children played and they've all expressed that they want me to send this blog to all of you "Even Nana and Papa", said Julia. Sharing these blogs with your child at home is a wonderful way to snuggle up together and talk about their day!

Group TIme October 17

Teacher Question: What is music like from around the world?

The children used the Smart Board today to play two online games.

The first game required the children to match instruments to sounds.

Everyone was eager to check their answer!












The next game introduced the children to various instruments from around the world and rhythms from Africa, Brazil, China, and the Middle East. Everyone chose a sound and rhthm to lay on one of the three tracks. The sounds were recorded and then we were able to hear their composition!
The children enjoyed the games so much that I've included the links so you can extend their learning at home! http://pbskids.org/mayaandmiguel/english/games/globalgroovin/game.html

 

http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/games/game_music_matchem.html

Group Time October 11

Teacher Question: How does music make us think and feel?

We've explored Irish fiddle music, Chinese ehru music and today we listened to some cello music. 

The children's eyes grew wide. Adyson identified with her body that the music made her feel scared.

It was interesting how some children have difficulty separating how the music made them feel with how they identify themselves. For example, "I'm a happy boy!" Rocco said. And all music makes him happy.

We listened to the music again and most of the children's facial and body language showed they felt scared. We checked this in the mirror. We discussed what scares us. What images come to mind when we listen to this music? What scares you? This brought on an energetic conversation! We looked at some Halloween books and I read The Ghost Eye Tree. The children were captivated!

The children worked on a group mural. I drew the ghost eye tree in the middle and the children drew scary images all around. This activity held their attention for 15 minutes and they talked about what was scary for them.

Images of a tiger, scary children, sharks, ghost trains, people with pointy chins and many others were drawn by the children.

Group Time October 4

Teacher Question: how does music make us think and feel?

We listened to the Irish Fiddle music again and reflected on how it made us feel. The fiddle is a string instrument. The music we listened to today was also played on a string instrument from China; an Erhu. First we listened to the music and then we watched the video clip. The children were entranced and wondered aloud why the man was sad. "Maybe he got a cut," Rocco offered.

The children reflected on how the two pieces of music made them feel and recorded their answer on a chart.

Using a colour chart the children selected a colour that represented the feeling sad for them and used it to paint a "sad picture". Just like the man in the video who was obviously thinking sad thoughts while playing the Erhu, I asked the children to think of what makes them sad while they painted.

Here's the link if you'd like to listen with your child and talk about this very important feeling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omc6zROf7q4&feature=related

What makes you sad?
"When someone pushes me." - Adyson
"When I bumped my lip today on Byron's head." - Rocco
"When Charlie pushes me down on the kitchen floor." - Julia
"When I broke mommy's door." - Byron
"When Adyson pushed me I get sad." - Chloe
"When I fight with Adyson." - Hao Hao
"I can't remember what makes me sad." - Natalya

Group TIme October 3

Teacher Question: How does music make us think and feel?

We've been exploring how sounds make us feel, today the children explored a piece of music and thought about how it made them feel. After a few seconds of listening to the Irish jig had the children began bouncing and laughing. They wanted to move and dance! Ribbons in hand, the children danced and twirled in time to the music. Indeed the music made us all feel happy! Have a listen too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknWUhpJfDI

Exploring how music makes us feel through art!

It's been my experience that certain materials bring delight to children and it is these that the children used to create "happy pictures" as they listened to the jig. A blizzard of sparkles, feathers, pompoms, and shiny paint occurred as they intently created and bounced to the music!

Group TIme Sept. 27

Line of Inquiry: How sounds are made and heard

The children enjoyed playing the song game Clickety Clickety Clack again today. The game requires them to work cooperatively as they move forwards, backwards, and forwards again. It was hard to keep the singing going from all the giggles! In the end, we made it, inviting one child at a time to join our train and no one fell down!

SOUND TRAVELS! Wearing a blindfold the children took turns identifying where the sound of the maraca was coming from. They're enthusiasm and excitement had us playing the game for 20 minutes as they asked "Can I have another turn!"

                                                              

Group Time Sept. 26

Line of Inquiry: How sounds are made and heard

The games the children played today helped them practice identifying sounds.  I used hidden musical instruments to make a sound and the children made a guess. Then the children wanted a turn to make a sound!

Donald Crews' story Shortcut is about children who decide to take a shortcut home and walk along the train tracks. Soon they hear the sounds of an oncoming train! Danger mounts and the children narrowly escape harm. The children participated in the story telling by making the train sounds.  A song game was played "Clickety Clickety Clack" and everyone joined the train as it moved forward, backward and forward again. Everyone co-operated and worked together to build a train track. The sounds of trains and whistles chugging along were great as the children lost themselves in play!

Group Time Sept. 20

Line of Inquiry: How sounds are created and heard

Ears Hear!

The children know they have ears. Who else has ears? Using books the children researched and looked for ears and discovered that some animals had ears they could see and some didn't. They practiced sharing their research by telling the person beside them.

Everyone had an opportunity to choose a set of ears: human, cat, dog, and rabbit, and attach them to headbands

 Our ears catch sounds in the air. To illustrate this the children tried "sound catchers". Looks of surprise spread quickly as the children heard their own voices as they echoed "Hello . . . hello . . . hello!"

Wind Group Sept. 12 & 13

This week we are investigating the line of inquiry "How sounds are created and heard"

"SOUND IS VIBRATION"

"What is vibration?" the children had no idea. 

To understand the meaning of vibration we conducted many experiments:

1) make a vibration board: the children helped to hammer 4 nails onto a board and stretched two elastics across. When the elastics were plucked they vibrated!

2) place rice on a drum and band a pot loudly beside to watch the rice vibrate on the drum

3) touch your larynx and feel the vibrations

4) hold a balloon next to your mouth and say "Aahhhh" and feel the balloon vibrate

To gain insight into the children's understanding of sound we played a sorting game with picture cards: things that make sound and things that don't

I always love when I bring an activity with a predicted outcome and the children's perspective changes my thinking! The children had their own ideas about what things make sound:

"A bed squeaks!" - Kai

"Grapes crunch with your teeth" - Natalya

"A pear crunches"- Chloe