Light Exploration: Colored Shadows

The children have been showing a very strong interest in light and shadows. We have been experimenting a great deal with the overhead and noticed the children were intrigued by where the light was coming from. We began experimenting with colored lights this week, in an attempt to create a colored shadow (something both the teachers and children were curious about after our strange turn of events during a lesson last week…. contact paper is not transparent, so we learned). The first few days we used red and blue lights. When Ms. Stine joined us in the classroom on Friday, she brought the yellow light with her as well.

Some things we noticed:


*Using two lights creates two shadows


*The shadows appear more transparent as we move closer to the light source


*The shadows move side to side as you move closer to the light source (less overlap of the shadows)


*White light creates black shadows, but colored lights can create colored shadows, sometimes

Questions to ponder:


*Can we create colored shadows using white light?


*What happens when we use a black light?


*3-d glasses are red and blue, what would happen if we wear them while exploring with those colored lights?

All About Sunflowers!

This week has been all about sunflowers!  The sunflowers in our garden are in full bloom and the seeds are ripening.  The children noticed one of our taller sunflowers was drooping.  We decided to cut off the head of the sunflower and explore further, looking at the seeds and the petals, as well as the stem.  The children have been using tweezers and magnifying glasses to closely examine the different parts of the flower.  Some of the children even wanted to taste the seeds.  We might trying some out at snack later this week.  We also brought in a bouquet of sunflowers, to use as inspiration for some of our art pieces.  We have been drawing and painting pictures of the sunflowers.  Keep an eye out for some of our pictures in the art studio space.  We will be displaying them soon!  We continue to further explore the sunflowers and will be watching some videos and reading books about them as well.  We will continue to explore different materials reminiscent of fall.  The children are definitely noticing the leaves changing color, and the weather feeling a little cooler.  Hopefully they appreciate the change of the season as much as their teachers do!  

Art Studio Exploration

During our first few weeks of school we began exploring the classroom and getting to know the space.  One area of the classroom which appeared rather bare was the art studio space.  Each week (or so) we will be introducing new materials to the children.  Our first material was crayons.  Many children are familiar with crayons, so we thought this would be a great place to start.


We would bring out the crayons during self-initiated play, so the children could explore as they pleased.  We discovered they were very curious about lines, as well as shapes.  The children tried out different techniques for holding the crayons and realized different amounts of pressure caused the color to be lighter and darker.  The children have developed a great deal of confidence using the crayons so we will be adding them to the art studio as a permanent material (as long as we stop feeding them to Genie and the fish :) ).  We'll be posting some pictures of the children's work in the art studio space soon.  Make sure you check out the whole classroom to see if any new documentation has been posted.

Next up for our art studio exploration- pencils and black pens!

Are the children more interested in the color of their picture, or the material being used?

Welcome Back!

We have been very busy in the classroom over the past week.  The children are transitioning very nicely and the teachers are able to get to know their own unique personalities!  We are very much looking forward to this upcoming school year.  We have been adding more materials to our art studio.  This week we began studying crayons and the various ways to use them.  The children have been creating different lines and shapes.  The crayons will now be a permanent part of our classroom art studio. Feel free to stop in and check them out, as well as some documentation about the development of our art studio.  Over the next few weeks we will begin studying pencils and crayons.  We will begin creating self portraits and working on our classroom identity board.  If you have questions about the identity board, feel free to ask Ms. Ala or Ms. Shaw (our interns).  They will begin developing a plan with the children over the next few weeks.  Also, keep an eye out in your email for a welcome letter from the interns.  They should be arriving soon!












We have also been experimenting with various building materials.  We noticed all the children (especially our Tuesday/Thursday group) really like to build.  We have brought out legos, magnatiles, wooden blocks and other materials to build.  The magnatiles have been a big hit so far!  Over the next few weeks we will continue to get to know the children and their interests.  We look forward to developing our learning groups and documenting the work of our children.  

Enjoy the weekend!
Danielle and Michelle

Here are some of the highlights of our first few weeks of school!