Living in the present; experiencing the past...

This unit plays a very important role in our lives. It gives us a chance to use our thinking and acquisition skills. Using hands-on activities we will acquire knowledge of how certain activities happened a long time ago. The children's task is to take the time to experience on their own how duties were done in “olden days”. 

These are some of the things that the children experienced in the last few days: 

* They cleaned the room without using any power tools

They used a broom to sweep the floor, a stick to beat the carpets, old rags to wipe the furniture, their hands to wash and a line to dry clothes on. 

 * They were given the opportunity to experience eating, reading and playing by candlelight. 

Light is a very important factor in our life, allowing our eyes to see colour and detail. Not having light made it harder to see the pictures in the book and the writing as well as everything else in our environment.

For a couple of days, the children were given some old household materials to make their own toys. This allowed the children to design and build their own replica of a toy. 

As an assessment, we created a graph where we compared the effort each task would have taken in the “olden days” versus the effort it requires today with modern conveniences. 

Cooperation and coordination with every step

For the remainder of the unit, we will be playing games that people play nowadays, forgotten ones and even some from different countries/cultures. 

Baking an apple pie from scratch

The children were offered the chance to compare the quality of home baked food compared to the store bought ones. 

A common denominator that we all agreed on was that buying a pie from the store is more convenient when you take time and effort into consideration, but the home made pie allowed the children to practice social skills as well as gave them the chance to create their own pie by adding more or less of some of the ingredients. 

It was delightful to watch the children smell the ingredients and enjoy this whole process. They mixed ingredients, modelled the dough into pie trays and added the apples to it. 

It was delicious indeed!! 

washing the apples

cutting the apples into small pieces 

rolling the dough 

It smells delicious!! 

The different ways of preserving apples

Title: Then and Now 

The key concepts we are focusing on as we embark on this new unit are: Perspective and Causation. Our conversations are focused on similarities and differences between the past and present and the ways that inventions impact the things we do.  

After watching two short videos containing some examples of what children used to do in the olden days, the children in the wind group brainstormed some of their knowledge about the "olden days." 

This week, we talked about different methods of preserving food and reflected on the convenience versus the quality of foods made from scratch compared to those that are store bought. 

The children showed understanding of the comfort of buying food directly from the store, but they definitely enjoyed experiencing the process of making their own apple chips.

A very long time ago, people used to hang the sliced apples on a string and air dry them. Today, we are fortunate to be able to use the oven. 

fresh apples

dried apples 

The apple chips filled the air with a sweet smell and the apples tasted fresh and delicious. The children shared their home made snack with everyone and it was a total enjoyment!! 

The hung apples will definitely take longer until ready for us to eat. 

Next week, we will be using apples to make an apple pie from scratch!

Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another

For Art on Fridays, we made paper-mache to create hanging decorations. Each child took their time to carefully choose the colours they wanted to use.

The children showed an understanding that decorations can tell a human story or be the introductions to it.

Each hanging decoration is unique and tells a story.

Theo's hanging decoration is silver because it makes it look shiny. "It will brighten our Christmas tree", Theo added

Anila "The red spots are me and my parents"

Louis "The sun is peeking through"

  Zoe "I added sparkles to my ornament. It glows."

Keira "There is a red heart, showing my love for my mommy"

When you look at the ornaments, it might remind you of a different story. This is how we share our lives with each other.

What is a decoration to each of us?

The picture attached above shows the children's ideas of what decorations are. Each day, the children are encouraged to add more ideas to our chart. The new ideas will be added in different colours, allowing us to see the growth in our learning. 

I noticed a common theme in the children's answers - hanging decorations. All the children in the wind group celebrate Christmas and this is a conversation that arises each day. The children share their ideas on what decorations to use during these Holidays, their different shapes and sizes, etc. 

To broaden their imagination, I read the book "Night Tree" by Eve Bunting. This story is about a family decorating a tree outdoors with food and nuts for the animals. Eagerly, the children asked for us to do the same. They all showed commitment and determination while working on their decorations.  

Apples, cheese, popcorn and flowers 

The children were given a chance to connect to the animals and their need for food during winter time.

As an assessment on what they thought that the animals might like to eat, they drew pictures of what the tree looked like after they decorated it and we recorded our predictions on what will happen to the decorations on a chart.

The tree is decorated! The children are enjoying a bowl of popcorn while reading the story right next to the tree. 

We were all very surprised!! This is the only decoration that was left on the tree.  

Enjoy,

Anamaria

We Decorate Our World

Decorations are seen differently by each individual and expressed in different ways and forms. During the first week of our new unit, the children got a chance to express what they know about decorations. Most of them think that colour is decoration, as well as objects around the room. 

This exploration will continue for eight weeks, allowing the children ample time to inquire, explore and share their learning with others.  

The line of inquiry that we discussed first was: "Decorations tell human stories and help us know one another." 

This directed our discussion towards Remembrance Day. The children are aware of this Holiday and it is a great connection to our unit on decorations and who we are. The tradition of having a poppy pinned close to our hearts, is a form of decoration, remembering the brave ones as well as sending peace, love and kindness around the world. 

Sound Travels - Summative week

With Halloween just days away from our summative project*, the children decided to write a story about the characters they will embrace during this spooky fall celebration.  In connection to our unit, the children used their knowledge on Sound and used objects or musical instruments to accompany their story. 

The children showed interest in this project and were very confident that some of the stories will be scary ones while others will be great bedtime stories. 
After I jotted down their ideas, all the children used art as a visual tool to reflect the characters in their stories.  

The instruments or sounds written in the brackets show the connection between the stories and the sound unit.  

1. A Brave Knight - by Theo 

One night, there was a knight close to a swamp. An alligator came out.(Alligator sound) The knight attacked the alligator. The alligator died. (Trumpet) Safely, the knight walked out of the forest. 

2. Falling Snow by Serena 

During the day, in a castle lived an ice queen named Elsa. (Piano) She used her powers and froze the castle. Now there was an ice castle.(Piano)

3. Louis the Kangaroo - by Louis 

In a story there was a kangaroo. He jumped out of the book and went to my house. He jumped and I became a Kangaroo. 

4. A Giraffe - by Anila 

When I was at Palm Desert I saw a giraffe. The giraffe laid down for a nap and the baby giraffe went and joined his mommy. 

5. Zoe for Halloween - By Zoe 

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Zoe. She liked to walk around her castle, but suddenly, she got hungry so she sat down and had something to eat. 

She drank some water and after she was done, she put it in the sink.

6. Keira the Brown Bear - by Keira 

One day, Keira the bear was walking in the woods.(Accordion) Keira found her big stuffed teddy there. They met other bears in the forest and became friends. (Accordion)

*summative (project) assessment  - allows the children and the teacher to reflect on their learning in the last seven weeks of inquiry. This eighth week gives the children the opportunity to express the knowledge they accumulated along the way.