Discussing Our Watercolor Paintings

The children's interest in watercolor painting continues to be evident in the classroom as we explore these materials several times throughout the weeks.  Since January, we have had dozens of paintings that we sorted through to develop an idea of what the children are doing and learning through this process of painting.  With this focus group, I chose three paintings from each child and displayed them in order of when they were painted to see the sequence of learning throughout this experience. 

The children took the time to discuss each other's paintings and tried to figure out what types of movements the other children used to complete their paintings. They talked about the markings, the colors, and the amount of space they used on the paper. 

As we were discussing the paintings, the children drew their own representations of what the paintings looked like or what it reminded them of. We used half sheets of paper and sharpie markers so that the colors were similar to the watercolor paintings. 

Some of the children talked to their classmates about their own paintings and how they decided to paint. Reem explained to the others that she connected her colors to work on covering the whole page. 

Together in small groups, the children continued to draw and discuss the different techniques of painting. They developed a sense of community and ownership of the class paintings and the process that we have been learning. 

As the discussions wrapped up, we agreed on a word that described each set of three paintings. The children sounded out the words and wrote them out together to display with the paintings. 

After we finished our discussions and wrote our describing words, we displayed them in the hall to share with the program. Some of the words that the children used describe the paintings included 

slow, fast, super fast, colorful, and lines. 

Throughout this process of discussing of our paintings, the children were strengthening their communication and description skills, enhancing literacy skills, and developing ideas of movement and spatial awareness. 

To continue our explorations of painting with Watercolors, we will explore different ways to use brush strokes to show movement and change. We will also strengthen our process of watercolor painting to develop stronger representational skills. 

Making Movements in Clay

The children have continued to develop a greater vocabulary when it comes to working with clay.  So far this semester we have rolled, poked, flattened, cut, and pinched.  Today, we talked about how we can make different designs in a flat piece of clay.  We used shaping sticks as a tool to develop designs that were curvy, straight, holey, and twirly.  

The children began by making different shaped lines that moved from top to the bottom of the square piece of clay. Quickly, they started poking holes and working on covering the entire clay piece. 

 

These are some pieces that the children created independently.  Once the children found a design or movement that they preferred, they typically stuck to that method of changing the clay.

We discussed the different reasons to make designs and markings in our clay.  The children's ideas consisted of making faces, letters, and teeth. 

 

Many of the children had different techniques to their process of changing the clay. 

We also talked about how we can transform the clay back to a blank space by rubbing and pressing on the clay.  Several of the children worked on this too.  

Some of the children's ideas to the question I asked, 

"How can you change the clay with your movements?" 

• "I'm pressing it."
• "I am poking holes all over."
• "I can twist it to make a circle."
• "I can cut it when I pull this stick."

During this experience and thought process, the children were developing ideas of cause and effect, strengthening fine motor skills, enhancing skills of representation of thoughts, and building communication and vocabulary that they can use throughout their play.   

We will continue this experience to see how it develops into different, more consistent movements of design and how it changes their ideas of how they can represent their ideas through project work in other areas of the classroom. 

“Underwater Environment”

“Underwater Environment”

Exploring the movement of underwater sea animals.

We started our underwater environment exploration when the children began to show  a lot of interest in the sea animals at investigation time. The children would have their sea animals swim around the room, or the children would pretend they were the animals swimming around the room.

 The water table was filled with sea animals, rocks, and sea shells for the children to explore. The children explored the water table with the sea animals and other ocean like materials.

The children observed and explored the movement of sea animals  at the water table with a backdrop of a video “Ocean  habitats.” 

The children are learning the different movements sea animals use to swim around in the ocean and making connections that they use their feet to move around and sea animals use different parts of their body to move around in the ocean.

   The children will further explore the different movements of sea animals in water and sand,how sea animals move around different obstacles in the ocean, and ways the sea animals move fast or slow.

Movement in Shaping Clay

The children have started thinking about clay and how we can move it and change it in different ways. Initially, we introduced clay with rollers - to give the children a focus and to begin a purpose.  The children pounded, hit, and rolled the clay for several days. 

While working on these strategies - the children recognized that they were not always making the clay flat. As the semester continued, the children used their hands as tools to make the clay move and change in shape.  We started with finding ways to flatten the clay.  The children suggested several different ways:

• Rubbing
• Patting
• Pounding
• Tapping
• Pressing 

We then explored these ideas.  The children recognized that they need to use a lot of pressure to make the clay flat.  Emmett used both hands to press extra hard on his piece.  Abe continued to roll and use other pieces to press together to make the clay flatter. 

The children began to notice more changes in the appearance as they moved the clay in different ways. 

Emmett noticed the clay coming off on his hands and Abe focused on the pieces that were coming off as the clay wore thin. 

This is a piece of Emmett's finished piece of flattened clay. He continued to use his hands as a tool until he envisioned it flat enough. You can see the different impressions of his knuckles and fingers. 

    

While exploring the ideas of flattening clay, some children began to recognize that once the clay was flat, that they could begin creating on it - like a base or stage. Ali is making different animals with his flattened clay and other pieces he rolled up. He began using the technique of pinching to form his pieces together. This will be the next step in our clay exploration when the children are familiar with flattening it with purpose. 

Throughout this process, the children have developed a stronger sense of cause and effect, strengthened fine motor skills, and supporting different ideas of communication - whether it be through language or through art. As our investigation progresses, I intend to introduce the children to different strategies and techniques that will give them opportunities to manipulate clay for a purpose of representation of their ideas in a 3D form.