Kindergarten Rocks

I had some fun with watercolours in Kindergarten this week. It was inspired by a t-shirt worn by one of my students. When I was in Grade 12, I took Chem. 12, mainly so I could be part of the ceiling tile art so, I wanted to start that tradition in my Kindergarten classroom. I've missed a few homerooms but I'm starting this year. When I saw this shirt on a student last week, I knew that would be the perfect quote for the artwork. The kids loved the idea and we got to work. Be kind! ) In a world where you can be anything Be kind

Earth Keeping -by Scott Froese God’s earth Polluted by humans Forests Destroyed by logging Restored by planting trees Clean air Polluted by smoke Restored by burning less garbage Animal habitats Destroyed by buildings Restored by building less Oceans Polluted by floating garbage Restored by not throwing garbage in the ocean Sandy beaches Polluted by washed-up garbage Restored by cleaning the beach God’s earth Destroyed and Restored by humans

In British Columbia, we have just started using a brand new curriculum, called the BC-Ed plan. For the most part, I like it. There are still some kinks being worked out, as there always is when a new program is introduced. Something I like about it is that it gives educators freedom to teach the big ideas through the vehicle, or unit of study, of their choosing. For instance, if it says I need to teach about plants and animals, I can choose how to go about this. In Kindergarten, we touch on plants in our Harvest unit, as well as in our farm unit. Likewise, we learn about animals both in our Farm unit and our Africa unit. Embedded throughout our entire curriculum is conversation and teaching about the First Peoples of Canada, and when possible or accessible, specific education on the Indigenous People of our southern BC region - the Sto:lo Nation. I have the honour of serving on the Indigenous Education Support Team at my school and we are learning more each time we meet. Our focus ...

I love it when a project turns out better than I expected. My goals for this tree art were: 1) to do a directed drawing with my Ks 2) to try a fun water colouring technique 3) to make some artwork related to our tree unit I gathered the Ks around to demonstrate. I drew my trees with a sharpie on water colour paper and then showed them how to colour with some plain old regular Crayola felt pens. After that (and I stressed that the colouring part didn't have to be perfect because I was going to do something special!) I said, "Now it's time to add the magic." Some of the girls' faces made a perfect "O" shape because I said there was some magic in this art project. Then I whispered, "It's just water, but don't tell anyone!" I sprayed plain water onto the paper, making sure to cover the whole sheet of paper, and then we left it on our tables to dry overnight. Just make sure you won't need your tables anymore that day...

Earlier this week, we learned about pomegranates in my class. I wrote to the parents and told them about the experience. I said, "Don't be surprised if your child asks if you can buy pomegranates next time you're at the store." Sure enough, several moms wrote back and said that is exactly what their son or daughter did! I have heard that pomegranates are the "Friendship Fruit." When you want to get to know someone you should share a pomegranate with them. Since they take so long to eat, by the time you are finished eating the pomegranate, you will have learned several new things about that person and you will have made a new friend.  My class was hesitant at first, not knowing quite what to expect from this strange looking fruit. We started by looking at photos of a pomegranate on the tree, and pictures of pomegranate blossoms. Next we looked at and felt a real pomegranate. The colour, the texture, and the place where the blossom died to make way ...

This is a little project that we did in the weather workshop I took at convention. The instructor said that her students find it easier to glue the rainbow garlands on from the back. So, following those instructions I turned my paper plate over and glued my colour strips on the back. It wasn't until I was painting that I realized what I had done! Can you spot the problem?! It is always good too do a trial run of projects. Now I know one more instruction to add when I do this with my own students! :)