Patty's Room: Practical Life

Today I am bringing a series of photos of Patty Eaton's classroom - an amazing early childhood educator/expert in my area.  It is a blend of Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Constructivism.  It is wonderful!

Patty has agreed to co-teach an eWorkshop with me online - - -and it will happen next month!  Woot!  Stay tuned for the wonderful details!  It will be all about creating dynamic classroom environments.

Here are a few of the trays in Patty's Practical Life center.  I love the mix of basket, tin and silver trays for the work.

These trays provide the following benefits for children:

• it develops concentration
• it develops fine motor skills (to ready children for handwriting)
• it builds eye/hand coordination
• it builds dexterity
• develops control of movement
• and more.

 Wide tongs to pick up small wooden blocks from one basket to another.

 A wooden box of flour to spoon into the bowl.

 A flour sifter.  (Love this!)

 A bowl of rice to scoop with a little ladle into a silver bowl.

 Two containers with cotton balls to pick up with the tongs.

Two baskets of nuts and bolts.

 Colored water mixing tray.

Turkey baster to squeeze colored water from one container to another.

Tomorrow I will share Patty and Jenni's amazing art center.  So rich!!!

Snowman Village

Here is a peek at the Snowman Village project.  I love the diversity of their villages.   I love providing a palette of choices.  In this project the children:

• embellished their houses with markers and watercolor paints
• painted the cardboard "earth" with snow
• created snow "people" out of white foam clay (pipecleaners and markers for details)
• pompoms, sticks and other elements were provided for fun

What I love about creating little villages and habitats is how much it captures the hearts and minds of the children.  It is a hushed room while these little universes are being created.

Afterwards, I like to have the children create a little story to go along with the village.  These villages hold the potential for many stories. . . 

Red Birds in a Nest

Foam clay has to be the most amazing invention.  Ever.  It is so cool what you can create.  At the museum, I had the children make little nests out of the brown foam clay - adding sticks to give it the "nesty" look.

We formed our birds by making;

• a large oval for the body
• a small sphere for the head
• a little cone for the nose
• two flatten balls in the shape of an oval for the wings

Click here for step by step instructions from my clay birds.

So simple.  A great way to teach three-dimensional shapes in a hands on way!

Red Birds in Snow

This is an art project I did at the local museum.  I used the extra large black construction paper (24 x 36) which gave it such a "wow" factor.  We painted this in three stages:

1. Drew and painted the bird.  Let it dry. (Used oil pastels to draw the bird.)
1. Drawing Instructions:
• Draw a large oval for the body.
• Draw a circle for the head.
• Make a small triangle for the beak.
• Make an oval with a tip for the wing.
• Add a tail feather if you wish.
• Add legs.
• Draw a baseline for the ground.
2. Painted the snow using q-tips and brushes.  Let it dry.
3. Added little details with oil pastels.  (The beak, eyes, wing texture, and designs.)

This student wanted to add clouds to her painting.

Reggio Emilia: Collections

Here are snapshots of "collections" from several different Reggio Inspired classrooms.  Enjoy!

 Pictured taken in a Reggio Inspired Educare classroom.

Photo taken at Rosa Parks Preschool.

 I love the idea of using those old divided boxes for little collections.

I am uncertain where this was taken - perhaps Colorado.

Sorting natural material into baskets and wooden boxes is so beautiful.

 How glorious is this?!  Embroidery threads sorted in rainbow ordered boxes.  

Photo taken at Rosa Parks Preschool.

This is just a great storage answer and it makes the paint so inviting.

Photo taken at a preschool in Colorado.

Hanging nature items from a branch with wire.  It is so artful!

Photo taken at Rosa Parks Preschool.

Collection of red ribbons and beads on a hanging wooden hoop.

Photo taken at Rosa Parks Preschool.

A collection of fabric strips made into a curtain.  

*Some of these photos are several years old and I am uncertain where I took them (before blogging).

Pattern Owls

 

I love collage work.  For this project I gathered some of my old scrapbook papers for the children to make their pattern owls.  I made tracers out of old file folders as well.  Here's how I made the tracers:

1 large oval tracer for the body  (I had pre-cut construction paper rectangles for tracing the body)
1 small circle tracer for eyes (cut 2)
1 small triangle tracer for ears (cut 2)
1 triangle tracer for beak

I let the children design their own feet for the owls.
We tore pieces of brown construction paper for the tree branches where the owl might be sitting.

Polar Bears in Snow

This was such a fun painting project.  I ordered the largest size construction paper (24 x 36) in pale blue.   This gave it the "wow" factor.  I love large paintings!  We drew the bears on the paper before painting.  I gave the children crayons.

Step One:  I had the children draw a half moon shape for the head of the bear. I told them to make it a big half circle.  We practiced with our finger "pencil" first on the paper.

Step Two: Next, we drew the ears of the bear - half circles or ovals.

Step Three:  Finally, we drew two dot eyes, an upside down triangle nose with a J shape coming down from the nose.  Then a backwards J to make the other side.

Paint the bear white first.  Let dry.

Paint the eyes and nose.  Let dry. 

 Paint the storm with a q-tip.  Done! 

TIP:  I taught the children to "dip, tap, paint."  Dip the brush into the paint, tap it against the side of the paint pot, and paint.  Otherwise - you will have drips all over your paintings! 

I created a little song that I will share later this week!

DIY Clipboards

I don't know about you but I love having a clipboard for every child in my class but holy moly that can get expensive!

Well, I ran into someone  (Stacy)  who came up with a DIY version and I couldn't wait to share the goodness!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• bulldog clips or binder clips (the binder clips are cheaper)
• 9 x 12 hardboard panel (Nasco carries one for 75 cents :: Click here)
• You could have boards cut at your local hardware store - but I like having the board's edges already sanded and smooth

Super simple - just attach the clip!  Done!

You are ready to go!

I use clipboards for guided drawings, group work, writing. . . . the list goes on!

TIP:   

A subscriber, Danielle, wrote me and said she was taking this idea and using it with her white boards.  Every student has a white board in their chair pocket.  (Check HERE for my DIY White boards)  She is going to add a bulldog clip to their white boards - and voila!  It doubles as a clipboard!   Brilliant!  Thank you Danielle! 

Waldof: Table Puppets

Waldorf table puppets have to be one of the most powerful things I have ever taken into my teaching practice.  They are simple standing puppets.  People make them in a variety of ways and materials.

 This table puppet is a part of a late spring Nature Table.  She is made of wool felt.

 This table puppet is made of roving and sits as a little scene in a kindergarten.

 Here are two table puppets made by a sweet teacher in my Waldorf training.  It is Grandfather and Granddaughter.

 Carol would tell the story of Grandfather and Granddaughter.  It was an ongoing story.

 Here is a simple knitted table puppet.

Here is another wool felt puppet.