Hello Wonderful Kinder Families! This week, we began our work in a special chunk of time called, Investigations. During our Investigations, children self-select from a variety of activities designed to pique curiosity and "invite" discovery and exploration. Similar to our Exploration activities, most Investigations are open-ended by design and curated in an inviting manner. Our first week of Investigations built upon students' excitement around nature, names, and self-portraits. As soon as they walked in Tuesday morning, the Investigations were set up on our tables. They were all immediately drawn to them and I could hear the excitement in their conversations with one another: "Ooh! We get to paint today!!" "Wow! It's going to be fun today!" Our Investigations: Self-Portraits, Names, and NatureIn this station, children use "loose parts" to create Transient Art. During this time, students created nature self-portraits and circular patterns/mandalas. Loose parts provide many opportunities for open ended play and fine motor skill development. We are always in need of loose parts. Natural elements like seeds, pebbles, sticks, etc. are of great value to us! On your next nature walk, please consider grabbing some "treasures" to add to our growing collection. You can read more about the theory of loose parts here: http://www.aneverydaystory.com/2013/03/05/the-theory-of-loose-parts/ These Investigations are nature inspired. In the top row, students investigate clippings of native plants found in our neighboring canyon. Using magnifying glasses, they document the characteristics of each plant. In the middle row, students create a nature mobile using the treasures they found on our last nature walk. In the last row, students investigate a variety of rocks. Some children created animals out of rocks, while others counted, created patterns, and balanced (the record for the most rocks balanced belongs to Adam with 4 rocks!). In our Literacy Investigations, students can practice spelling each other's names, forming uppercase letters, and sounding out the initial sounds found in our friend's names. In this Investigation, students are sorting objects in a "M for Molly" pile or a "B for Bryson" pile. They can then practice writing each word. Here is a brief video of our Investigations time in action: The purpose of Investigations is to foster innovation, creativity, problem solving, risk taking as well as practice essential Kindergarten skills (emergent literacy, number sense, fine motor skills, social emotional skills, etc.). Our Kinders have had thoughtful reflections about their learning during our Investigations and truly look forward to this time.
To Another Magical Week, Mrs. Rosemarie
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September 2017
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