Dinosaurs: The Beginning Investigations

The kids decided to investgate dinosaurs next. I set out a couple areas for them to explore while we finished up our clay inquiry. 

I created an area for them to dig for fossils. 

During Thinking, Learning and Discovering Time they started exploring. They wanted to identify some of the fossils and dinosaurs that were set out. 

Because of their love for art, I set up the painting area for them to use art to show what they noticed about dinosaurs and their skeletons.

I also set up an area for them to look closer and create observational drawings using art tools and watercolors. 

Here is an area for them to look closer and create dinosaurs through clay.

Even our engineering and math tools were being used to create dinosaurs!

The kids leisurely explored the areas and started talking about creating a dinosaur museum in our dramatic play area. As the discussion about this grew, we realized the dramatic play area was too small.  Some started talking about using other areas. After listening to their conversations, I presented an idea to them. Would they be interested in making our whole room into a dinosaur museum? They were very excited about this! I posed another question to them. What if we became experts and invited other classes into our dinosaur museum to learn all about dinosaurs? Wow! The excitement and motivation blew me away! A project was born!

All of the sudden, the interst in learning everything they could about dinosaurs took on a whole new level! Their explorations were no longer leisurely! It was amazing how much more driven they were to learn once they had a purpose for it! Stay tuned to find out how we will turn our room into a dinosaur museum!

How Does Clay Help Kindergartners Learn The Skills They Need?

One friend decided she wanted to make a Chihuly inspired Macchia out of clay. She asked if she could paint it. I told her that particular clay did not dry, but I had some that did. She really wanted to make one so I got out some air dry clay. She carefully worked on it and then painted it beautifully after it dried. 

When the other kids saw this, they wanted to make one also. This shouldn't have surprised me since this group loves everything that has to do with creating works of art! I asked if they wanted to learn how to make things out of clay and explore clay further. They were very interested! They told me what they knew and wondered about clay, then I set up a table for them to explore trying to make some different things out of clay. I put some clay pots and a clay candle holder for some inspiration.

They learned how to use observational skills as they observed sculptures both real and pictures. They learned how to look closer and notice things like texture and shape. They learned how to wonder and ask questions like how did the pots become shiny and smooth? They learned to research to find answers. They asked experts like our art teacher or used technology to help them find answers. 

They worked their fine motor muscles to help them with writing as they worked the hard plasticine to make models. 

They learned writing skills. After exploring, we incorporated writing by making a plan and then practiced making a model out of plasticine. They were focusing on putting spaces between their words. 

They also had to learn persistence and how to deal with disappointment as I did not always accept their model.  After telling them what the problem was they had to try again! 

They learned how to follow a plan. They took their plan and model to the sculpture station. Here is where the air dry clay was for them to make their final sculpture. 

They learned first how to make a basic pinch pot by watching a video. Then we learned about how to score and slip to make two pieces stick together. Scoring is when you scratch the surface.  Slip is watered down clay to a consistency of slippery mud that you paint over the areas that you want to attach together. 

We sat them in the window to let them air dry. 

They learned how to focus and concentrate. After their sculptures dried, they painted them. Their focus and concentration amazed me! They were so purposeful and careful with every stroke! Many wanted to let them dry and then add more details with a tiny paint brush. Being able to focus and concentrate on something is so important in order for these kids to learn in future grades! 

They learned to use resources for accuracy. Our friend below wanted to use a resource so that the lava on her volcano sculpture was just right!

They learned about the attributes of 3D shapes. Because of their interest in clay I put some plasticine out for them to try to create 2D and 3D shape sculptures.

They learned how to explore and get their hands dirty! They had wondered what would happen if water was mixed with the clay. This turned into a wonderful sensory experience! They loved the feeling of clay squishing between their fingers! They also wondered what clay was. We found out from a video that it is basically mud!

They also learned that things take multiple steps to finish! Many thought they could just go to the air dry clay and make a sculpture. It took a lot of patience on their part as they realized this was not a one day process. It took one day to plan and make the model, another to create the sculpture, and another to paint it.  In an age of immediate gratification, this was a bit hard for some to accept, but in he end, they could see that the process was important to get the end product. 

They also learned how to handle disappointment as some sculptures broke, and persistence when they had to try again. 

They also learned how to be proud of their accomplishments. Making these sculptures were not easy. I love seeing how proud they are when ey know they did something hard and /or created something beautiful! Here are the final products of those who were interested in creating something out of clay. Most wanted to make a pinch pot, cup, or Chihuly inspired Macchia. A couple made candle or plant holders, one made a person and one made a volcano!

Yes, these kids need to learn how to read, write and do math. There are other skills though, at this age that are equally important (if not more) for them to learn. In order for them to learn academic skills as they get older, we want them to be persistent if they get to a hard word or math problem and not give up and move on. We want them to concentrate and focus on details of a story or a problem in math. We want them think creatively as they work out a new math concept. We want them to try again if they get a wrong answer. Most of all, I want them to use reading, writing, and math because they naturally have to. All of these skills were practiced and used. By having to use these skills in their inquiry, play, and projects, they just use them. They naturally want to learn how to read, write and use math skills because they see a need for them in everything we do. That is why we will spend a whole two weeks playing with clay in our classroom! 

Using 21st Century Skills To Create Our Own Math Games, a 3D Shape Challenge, and More

The kids really enjoyed the math challenges that I set out for them! Here are a few!  One challenge was to use the their creative thinking skills and the materials shown below to create a math game! They were very creative! As they played the games with each other, they were learning and practicing patience, taking turns, collaboration and problem solving. They used speaking and listening skills as they taught the class how to play their games. 

One friend came up with the idea below. You roll the dice and put that many beads on the ten frame. Your partner does the same. Whoever fills up both of their ten frames first wins. This game helps kids with subitizing (saying how many without counting), and using ten frames. Since there are two, the ten frames show that teens are a group of ten and some extra ones, and twenty is two groups of tens.

Below a friend came up with the idea of rolling the dice and putting that many beads in your side of the balance scale. Whoever has the heavier side at the end of the game wins. This works on subitizing and comparing weight. 

Here, each player picks a row. You take turns rolling the dice and move that many beads over. Whoever gets all of their beads to the other side first wins! This helps them learn subitizing, and shows different ways of making ten on he abicus.  

Here is a game where you collaborate. You each roll the dice and put that many hexagons on top of each other, creating a tower. If you make it fall, the other wins. 

Here a friend used connecting cubes to create a game board. You roll the dice and move that many spaces on the game board. Whoever gets to the end wins! There were so many more that I did not get pictures of. Some made game boards out of blocks or on paper also. All of these games also help with one to one correspondence when counting.

There has been a big interest in three dementional shapes. They need to be able to name them and describe the attributes of thhe shapes. I set up the invitation below for them to create both 2D and 3D shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks. They loved this! They also had to try their best to draw and label their shape. 

They glued a label onto their shape that had their name and the shapes name. 

Here are some of the literacy explorations I had set up as well.  This challenge is called Stack It. You build a castle with these sight word cups, but you can not use the cup unless you could read the sight word on it. 

Build sight words on the pipe cleaners and record them. 

Time how fast you can read the sight words. You can't put them in your pile unless you can read them. Count how many you could read in that amount of time. 

Pick a tile. If you can read the word, put it in one pile. If you can't, put it in another pile. See which pile is bigger. 

Be a detective and see if you can read the teeny tiny sight words with the magnifying glass. Record the words you can find. 

Pick a picture. How many syllables does it have? Put that many cubes on the picture. 

There are more but I did not get pictures. The kids work on math or literacy goals of their choosing while I work with small groups. They look in their data folders where all of their goals are, decide what they want to work on, then find the materials in the room to help them work on that goal. These are also always available during our Thinking, Learning, and Discovering Time for the kids to choose.