Trees - Dance

What a wind we had yesterday, the trees and leave blowing and bending. 

The children demonstrated how trees move in different types of wind and this 

inspired us to express their idea in the form of dance. 

The children watched a video of dancers using fabric and movement to express the idea of the ocean. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48BEHwzz4ZU

The children used fabric and danced to music that alternated between fast and slow tempos, representing different kinds of wind. The fabric represented the branches and leaves and Simone used brown fabric to become the trunk of a tree which is why you can't see her face in any of the photos.

Everyone was very engaged in this activity and they asked to listen to the music twice. 

Each child displayed creativity as they moved their bodies and fabric.

Trees - Painting

TREES

Trees are important to Johnathon because climbing them makes

him happy.

Artists who paint trees use colour and shapes to express feelings.
What feelings do you think are being expressed?

Paint a picture of trees and tell us what feeling you are expressing in your painting.

Painting trees

"This tree makes me feel yum, yum yummy"

"These trees were happy but then the dark came and it was scary"

New Unit: Express Yourself!

Central Idea:

We express ourselves in many ways and this helps us connect with one another.

Lines of Inquiry:

• How language, music and visual arts help us express ourselves and build connections with others (connection)
• Sharing ideas and being good listeners helps us build understanding (perspective)
• Taking time to reflect helps us practice slowing down so that we can make connections with what we see and hear (reflection)

The children shared their beginning understanding of what the words "express yourself" means:

"don't go away"

"think about things"

"don't give away your ideas"

"fly"

"drink water"

I explained that expressing yourself is sharing ideas, thoughts, and feelings and there are many ways we can do this. I asked "If I had a really important idea to share with you how could I do that?" The children's beginning knowledge is "Tell us (with words)" "Take a picture of it" (photography). 

Two great ideas! 

We explored other ways we can express ourselves: literature, poetry, songs, music, dance, and art. Why do we care about expressing ourselves? "It's like being generous." said Pippa. Sharing important ideas, thoughts and feelings helps us connect with one another, helps us understand each other and strengthens our relationships to each other and the world. 

The next 7 weeks of inquiry the children will be choosing topics and ideas that are important to them, researching and learning more about it, and then exploring different ways to express this to help them grow their sense of the arts (performing, visual, written).

Child Initiated Investigation

During our visit to Musqueam Creek the children were keenly interested in hearing about how salmon used to return to spawn here. The journey of the salmon from creek to river to ocean and back again spurred many questions.

Today we researched and read about the life cycle of salmon and all the dangers they encounter along the way. Some predators of salmon are bears and eagles and us! "I love salmon!" said Simone.

The children created a scene of salmon swimming against the current as they return to lay their eggs. "The eggs are soooo cute!" said Sofia.

 They used round dabbers to replicate scales.

First Nation Connection

"I like crossing water!"

We continued our Musqueam Creek exploration by crossing 41st Avenue 

to where the creek comes out and followed along.

"Push me please!"

"How did all these trees get knocked down?"

The first thing we came upon was a swing tied to a tall branch in a tree, of course everyone wanted a turn! When we finally reached the creek the first thing everyone noticed was the many fallen trees and the damaged dock. Esme was very concerned with the idea of storms strong enough to knock these massive trees down and was relieved to hear there were no storms in the forecast today.

"Oh oh water went in my boot!"

"Where does the water go?"

We followed the creek until we could go no further and stopped to watch it go under the road and continue on to the Fraser River.

We noticed a sign that labelled the area as an ecological sensitive area. I explained that long ago salmon would travel from the ocean up Fraser River then up Musqueam Creek to spawn but had stopped and people were trying to help them come back. The children were very curious!




"Why did the salmon stop coming?"
"Why do we want the salmon to come back?"
"How many eggs do salmon lay?"
"Why do people want salmon?"

To the people in nearby Musqueam Village salmon are very important for food and lively hood. The children have decided that they'd like to see the Fraser River where salmon travel and people fish and they'd like to do a dance to represent animals that need water "With masks so we look real!"

Musqueam Creek

An adventure in the forest brought the children to explore Musqueam Creek!

Bridges are not the only way we can cross water! 

We carefully balanced across, thankfully no one fell in!

As the children investigated many questions came up:

"Why is this water moving so fast while the last water we saw wasn't moving at all?" I asked

"Maybe it's down hill." thought Johnathan, but the ground was flat. 

"Maybe it's the wind." he guessed again, but there was no wind today. 

I told them that currents make the water move.

"What's a current?" they all wondered - something we'll explore further. 

In any case they enjoyed throwing sticks in the creek and watched the current carry them away. 

Where does the creek start and where does it end? Are there animals that live in the creek? They really wanted to keep walking and follow it but we ran out of time. Tomorrow we'll cross 41st Ave and continue following the creek and see what other questions come to mind. With the beautiful weather we will have a picnic on our trip tomorrow!

Animals and Water

 The children have shown care for sea creatures by being concerned that water pollution might hurt them. Who's responsible for keeping the oceans clean?

"We are!" said everyone. "My dad is!" said Esme

Using books to research!

What animals live in water and what animals drink water?

On a chart I used a red marker to collect the children's prior knowledge.

Then the children used non-fiction books to research more animals and an orange marker was used to add these animals to the chart.

This process illustrated for the children how their knowledge can grow with research.

Here's a link the children enjoyed featuring a song about keeping the ocean clean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vyHtYwQz-0

The children concentrated as they coloured pictures of sea creatures and created their own ocean scene.