Falling Leaves

We gathered leaves and explored the shapes of leaves, the feel of them, and the colors that we see. The children created "leaf man" pictures from the collected leaves after we read the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We painted tissue leaves, with watercolors. We used pine branches to paint (the children noticed that "they don't change colors" and that they are "always green".  We came up with words for our paintings to describe the sounds and feelings of pine needles and paints (check out the bulletin board!)

In block building news, the structures being built are of varying complexity. The children are given the space and time during the morning to move into and out of block play.  We observe them each day as they negotiate their plans. Some children are absolutely ready to work together for one purpose, some children are observers, and some children are not yet sharing their stories but are listening and watching others as they come in and out of the building scenarios. Sometimes we (teachers) sit on the rug to support the learning and ideas that are being shared.

 These children (to the left and below) are demonstrating "steady" buildings. There had been some difficulty in making structures stay up.

AND we've composed our rainbow book together, and each child will have a copy to illustrate as they wish. Each child made a statement about rainbows, and we compiled them to make a wonderful book that illustrated both our science learning AND our magical beliefs (yes, there are treasures at both ends of the rainbows according to 4 year olds!) 

Until Next Time,

Michele