Pumpkins Everywhere!

 Since it's the season of pumpkins, we decided to bring pumpkins and pumpkin decorating into the classroom.  We talked about pumpkins in morning meeting (their shape, size, color) and WONDERED if they could roll.  We painted little pumpkins, and rolled bigger pumpkins in paint!  We read about the life cycle of pumpkins and sang our pumpkin songs.  Our "slime" is orange and squishy, and their are pumpkins in the sensory table.  We washed pumpkins, moved pumpkins, and rolled pumpkins. The children all shared their stories of pumpkins, too.  Some pumpkins were eaten by squirrels! 

It's a matter of the classroom imitating life (smiles) .

There were mini pumpkin gourds to wash and paint with paint sticks. 

The slime was a lovely orange color. It caused a lot of exclamations "HEY what happened to the slime?"

We painted with marbles and yellow paint on orange paper, and then the children cut out a circle and added a stem for their own pumpkin. 

We tried rolling things like cylinder and other blocks.....experimenting with rolling....

AND then  it was a beautiful day to roll some pumpkins in paint! 

Until Next Time,

Michele

Buddies First

 

Fridays are Buddy Day !  For our first buddy outing the PreK classes and the 3-4 class combined for an epic hike and to meet each other.  It was a beautiful day! 

Until Next Time,

Michele

Process Art

 

What is Process Art?

Process art is characterized by being open-ended, experiential, unstructured, self-motivated, creative, and unique. It focuses on the process, or the doing, rather than the outcome.     (Bright Horizons, 2022)

The children in the Hemlock classroom are drawn to art in every way. They will sit with markers and scissors and create projects independently, or build beautiful structures with blocks and a group of friends, or sit at the art table that the teacher has set up for exploration.  

Although we do offer coloring sheets, ask for self portraits, or even illustrate stories that we are writing, there are many instances of process art, or art that is all about the moment and not about a completed project,  happening !  We set out materials, including tools like glue or paintbrushes, and the children are given the freedom to explore the materials, even deciding how much time they are going to spend.  

"nature's paintbrushes" that we picked up on a hike, including sticks, pinecones, and leaves....

leaf cutouts with the colors of fall, press down and enjoy the colors that you make!

rainbow colors that are cut out, to glue where you wish.  Will you pile them up? make a pattern? 

loose parts to explore and create with-where will you put the feathers? what colors do you like?

swirling colors in shaving cream, watching the mixing and creating

there's so much to explore with watercolors-intensity of color, mixing, brush strokes, pictures

paint sticks mix and match, create brilliant colors, coloring in shapes or coloring around a dot

These projects are all about process. The child is not going to have something concrete to take from it, but the experience is everything.

Whatever the process, it captures the children's attention and gives them the opportunity to create at their own pace and according to their own interests......

that is process art in PreK

Until Next Time,

Michele