Sensory Ateliers, Week 9: Compare/Contrast

With: An, Anya, Aven, Boden, Elly, Koda, Luca, and Sebastian

For the sensory atelier this term we are comparing objects using our senses. As we explore objects we will record our findings on a graph. We will be using mystery boxes to explore objects. These are cups inside of socks that enable us to experience the objects using one sense at a time. For example we can reach inside and touch an object without looking at it.

To start the week we discussed our five senses and read a book about them. Then we made a graph to record our data on. As I drew and labeled the rows and columns the children asked me about what I was writing. I explained each part as I drew it and why I made it that way. I labeled the rows with pictures and words for each sense. We did one sense at a time and wrote down our observations for each one. We had 6 objects to explore and we only used 4 of our senses. We found hearing and smell were difficult because we did not have a lot of words to use to describe them except loud, quiet and stinky. With sight and feel we had a lot of great adjectives we could use to describe what we saw and felt, like shiny, dark, round, smooth, soft, and bumpy. On the last day we explored some spices we could smell and taste since we hadn't had a chance to taste the other objects.

Atelier Break!

We have officially completed our 9 week term on the exploration of comparing and contrasting. Our Big Idea for next term will be Strength and we will begin the 8 week term starting March 31st! This means that we will be taking the rest of this week, and the full week of March 24th off of ateliers.

We have considered many update options, and to increase the level of privacy and security the Atelier Updates will be moving to a secure Shutterfly website. Compare/Contrast was the last term where information or pictures will be posted on Blogger.  More information about the new Atelier Shutterfly Site will be available later this week. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and attentiveness to our investigations!

Music: Week 8 - Compare/Contrast

With - Axel, Hanix, Isaac R., Jackson, Jesse Q., Simone, and Zooey

When brainstorming how to explore music Axel, Jackson, Isaac, and Zooey all agreed we should sing and learn about songs. We started singing freely then wrote down what we know about singing, here are some of our thoughts -
Jackson - You can yodel.
Zooey - It can be a higher pitch than talking.
Isaac R. - I say hello you say goodbye song.
Axel - I know we can sing in the classroom.
As we reread each comment, inspiration was found for music exploration. We yodelled for a bit, sang in our highest pitch, tried to remember the lyrics to Hello, Goodbye, and wrote down some of the songs we might sing in the classroom.
Singing was still a big interest the next day, so we tried to think of a challenge. Isaac R. thought we should create a "really long list of songs we know," and everyone agreed it was a great idea. Sometimes one song reminded us of another, like The Batman Theme led us to think of Batman Smells then Jingle Bells. There were a few songs that led friends to the question, "Is this a real song or did you just make it up?" like Aliens and Three Bugs in a Car. After Three Bugs in a Car was questioned Isaac R. commented, "There are 4 guys in The Beatles, so maybe you were listening to 4 beetles in a car..."
After our song list was completed we took turns putting on a concert, each friend choosing a song off our list to perform. Some friends chose to use instruments, and others did it acapella. Towards the end we started to make up our own songs, and discuss how people come up with new songs.
The idea of new songs transferred to our explorations on Thursday, so we began to explore some famous composers. We looked through the history of music during different periods, like Baroque, classical, romantic, and modern. After we learned about each period we examined each composer and attributes of their music. We were really excited about listening to some of the music we were reading about, so we listened to some sample tracks from the included CD.
Sometimes our comments were directly comparing the composers from each period, like when Isaac said, "I like Bach better than Vivaldi." or two pieces from the same composer, "He's good when he's deaf," Axel says of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Many friends compared the music to prior experiences like when Zooey excitedly notices, "He did Swan Lake!" while listening to Tchaikovsky or when listening to Beethoven's 5th symphony Jackson says, "I think this one is in a movie." Wagner's Ride of the Valkeries got many friends excitedly describing it. "War music, "music for warriors," and "a battle song," were all shouted out. There were so many wonderful things being noticed as we listened to and discussed each song, composer, and period.

Music: Week 7 - Compare/Contrast

With Burke, Camille, Isaac L., Isaac S., Lulu, Niko, Thomas, and Walker

We began our week with discussing how we wanted to explore music, and what we would like to do. Many friends were interested in instruments and "playing songs." We got out all of our instruments and learned about each one's name and sounds. Instruments were freely explored, and after a while we showcased our favorite one for the rest of the group.
Comparing and contrasting came up as a strong topic the following day, and many friends were interested in showing off how they could play fast then slow or quiet then loud. We looked in our resource books and wrote down the term for both dymanics and tempo on our chart paper. We then took turns challenging ourselves to sing the alphabet song in many different ways; each friend took a turn choosing two terms.
Singing and familiar songs were explored as we listed the songs we know, so we can sing to one another. Thrift Shop and Life is a Highway were quick favorites. We ended the week with "concert solos" where we combined our experience with instruments, tempo, dymanics, and singing to put on a big performance for our friends!

Language: Week 8 - Compare/Contrast

Amaya, Calvin, Henry, Jesse B., Matea, Myles, Neva, Zion

We learned about languages by using the easel. We also used books; the game Uno, a poster with the ABC’s and numbers on it, songs in different languages, and many discussions.

This week’s atelier group mixed ateliers up by sharing what they know about language with the rest of us. It was quickly discovered the following of these three kids:

Matea: Croatian!

Neva: I know Spanish!

Jesse: I know French! Bonjour and Dumbo!

These three friends decided they would love to share some of their language knowledge with the rest of us, so instead of learning German, we focused on French, Croatian, Spanish, and Sign Language this week. By playing Uno in Spanish and French we all learned a lot about the numbers, as well as colors in each language, and children were excited to say “I know that number/color!” We read bilingual books in Spanish and children were particularly interested in the books “Animales/Animals,” and “Casa/Home.” They decided that the teacher should say the word in Spanish, and they want to figure out what animal or thing that is in English!

We also learned more about the English language together by figuring out words that sound similar, and calling them rhyming words, and words that are very different even if they mean similar things! We sang different ways of ABC songs in English, and used paper and pencils to write down some letters and pictures to communicate in our own, written language.

We had a very exciting atelier during which we spelled our names with a sign language book, and then learned from Matea how to count Croatian! We also learned some colors, and had since this Atelier group loved to play Uno so much, that we played it again, and tried using our new knowledge, Croatian numbers and colors, during the game. While we counted and played some of us giggled and noticed how very different Croatian numbers sound from English numbers. 

Language: Week 7 - Compare/Contrast

Axel, Xavier, Hanix, Isaac R., Jackson, Jesse Q., Simone, Zooey

This week’s group was very focused and interested in the atelier subject and activities. Some comments we made about what language is, were:

Isaac R.: It’s something where you talk

Zooey: Mexico

Xavier: You draw

Jackson: I speak Spanish

Axel : P-P-C-C

Children shared about their experiences with language, such as Jackson who was talking a lot about how “I just know Spanish! I don’t know why?” He counted in Spanish for us, and him, as well as most other children wanted to read all 4 of the bilingual English/Spanish books, and tried saying each word that they heard in Spanish! Some kids associated Spanish with countries they have been to where they heard the language spoken.

One day we discussed the language we all speak at school and everyone immediately knew “we speak English!” We read books about rhyming, talked about similar and different words in English, and then drew messages or wrote letters on paper. We figured out that with the “ABC ‘s” (letters), we can communicate language in every language, but sometimes letters look or sound different in different languages.

We sang the ABC song in English and German and had lots of fun with these very different sounding letters in German. We sang some other German songs as well, and sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” in Spanish (La Araňa pequeňita). Many children were very successful in repeating and singing the Spanish words of the song, while having a harder time with the unfamiliar German words.

On the last day we looked at a book with sign language, and tried signing each of our names in that language which uses hands and fingers to communicate. Longer names were tricky we soon noticed! 

Art: Week 8

Ari, Desmond, Inez, Gabe, Maya and Zoe

As you may have heard, I took over art atelier for Griffin, and I am extremely excited to learn with the children on this topic! Compare and Contrast is the main topic for Atelier’s for the next 9 weeks (less than that now), and we've been focusing on black and white photos taken by Annie Leibovitz.

During this atelier I finally got to teach room 7 students and I was very excited to explore the art room with them!  This was my second week teach the “little” guys so I was a bit more prepared then last week, however each group is much different. With this group I had the youngest of the young, which concluded in several art activities. And although we were focusing on black and white photos, we were also new to the art studio so we did some exploring. They really enjoyed looking in every drawer and watching the amphibians and fish!

On the first day we looked at the photos and I explained to them how there are a variety of shades ranging from black and white. We poked around at the photos pointing out the “really dark” shades and the “really light” shades and everything in between.  Once I explained to them what we were learning about this week, they were ready to get started!  Our first activity was to focus on a light (white) back ground and forming our photos with black writing utensils (color pencil, charcoal, and/or oil pastel).  This didn't last too long, but once they had made a “photo” we moved onto a new activity which was face painting!!  They really relished this experience and it kept them busy for almost 15 minutes! On the second day, I once again kept the intro simple, short and we reconnoitered the black and white photos again. It was interesting to listen to them explain what they believed was going on in each picture. Following the introduction we gathered material to make black and white photos once again. This time we used a black background (black paper) with white writing tools.  After focusing on black and white photos we then moved to water colors. It was fun to watch and teach the children how to use water colors the correct way.  The following day we mixed black and white tempera paint to make variety shades of grey. They seemed to really enjoy seeing the difference between each shade.  On the last day, we went outside to enjoy some sunshine along with discussing shaded areas vs. non shaded areas. We also snapped a few black and white photos of our own!!

At the end of the week, the children were able to look at the photo and determine whether it had more shades of dark or light. They were also able to compose their own black and white photos using an assortment of materials. Needless to say, we appreciated the photos Annie Leibovitz took and enjoyed constructing our own!