The children were presented with a painting by American artist, Roy Lichtenstein. The piece is titled, "Sunrise (1965)," perfect for our unit on weather and clouds! We studied the painting and the children quickly noticed that the picture was filled with tiny dots! Lichtenstein created mostly comic book art during the pop art era. The children worked in small groups and sketched their picture before adding color. After some discussion and experimentation with a variety of tools, the children decided it would be a great idea to use a Q-tip to create the tiny dots. Check out the pictures below for a sneak peek of the children's work.
Weather studies naturally bring on lots of experimentation! The teachers created a water experiment studying absorption and repelling. One water tub had lots of different materials including bubble wrap, cork, fabric, cotton, etc. Each child was invited to this tub individually and were asked to make a hypothesis regarding which items will absorb the water and which items will repel the water. The next step was to dive right in. The eye droppers provided the children with fine motor practice and acted as a vehicle for the water. Once the children dropped water on each item, they referenced their hypothesis and determined if their prediction was correct or needed to be changed. Great work little scientists!
The second water tub had a variety of sponges and containers. The children were asked which sponge held the most water. Many of the children enjoyed squeezing the sponges and filling up the small containers.
Another fun activity this week was an extension activity of the book, "It Looked Like Split Milk," by Charles G. Shaw. The story is about looking at shapes that look like spilt milk, but aren't spilt milk. It isn't spilt milk because they are clouds! The book is a quick read that shows the clouds as different shapes. When you were a kid, did you ever look up into the sky and pretend the clouds were different shapes? For the activity, each child was given a dark blue piece of paper. White paint was squeezed on the sheet and folded in half. The children then used their hands to move the paint around the paper. After opening the folded paper, the children were asked what it looked like to them. The answers were hilarious and very creative!
What's up Next:
Next week continues with weather studies on wind storms and tornadoes! More experimentation and activities will be presented.
Friendly Reminders:
- Tomorrow, April 11th, is our monthly gathering at the Stone Zoo! Don't forget to RSVP via Evite! The weather will be amazing! We'll see you there!
- Don't forget to continue to send your child with boots for outdoor play! The ground is still a little muddy. Spring is almost here :)
- Our playground cleanup is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of May 16th. There will be lots of shoveling, moving sand bags and planting to be done! Bring your muscles! An Evite will go out in a few weeks with more details! Thank you in advance for your planned participation!
Here are some pictures from our busy, busy week:
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| "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" |
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| Some more cloud pictures |
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| A Roy Lichtenstein recreation in progress |
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| Some of the finished recreations on the bulletin board! |
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| Absorption/Water Repelling experiment |
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| Sponge activity |
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| Absorption on the piece of fabric Have a great weekend! Joanna |
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