Spring Is Here!
It's a new season at Bellaire. The birds are returning, the rain is coming, the flowers are growing and the wind is blowing! New life is beginning to emerge all around us. Spring is one of our children's favorite seasons, full of wonder, growth and new beginnings.
We began this week's unit by investigating flowers. They stand tall and proud in the fields, and the glory of their beauty has been captured through art by famous painters like Monet, Georgia O'Keeffe, Manet, and Andy Warhol.
Inspired by their radiant beauty, we began some still life paintings of our own. After examining a vase of flowers, we began to paint what we saw.
Great beginnings start with small steps. Their portraits were beautiful!
We also enjoyed examining real life flower and nature photos at the light table. Children, children, what do you see? I see a flower looking at me!
Meanwhile, our toddlers picked flowers from the pond. This was a great fine motor exercise and sensory activity. Adding water makes everything exciting for these little ones.
Say my name, say my name! We used "earthworms" to practice name recognition and spelling in our preschool classrooms. During the colder months, earthworms hide in burrows in the ground, but migrate up when spring comes. They must have migrated straight to the preschool tables.(No real earthworms were harmed in the writing of our names.)
One subtle reminder spring has awakened is the sound of birds chirping. We touched on birds one day this week in preparation for next week's full unit on our feathery friends. After reading Feathers For Lunch, we flew right into our creativity nest. A little birdie told me the children enjoyed the day's bird focus.
We began by painting with feathers.
Next, we practiced our hand and eye coordination with this simple fine motor activity...lacing beads on to feathers.
But our favorite may have been these bird creations from dough and loose parts. We supplied real life photos of different species and let the children do the rest.
Yes, birds sing and bees buzz. Our younger preschool room buzzed happily as they pollinated flowers. As they focused on the color of the week, they utilized their math knowledge while counting the "pollen" being transferred to the flowers. We discussed the importance of a bee's role in nature after watching The Busy Bees educational video.
Our biggest success of the week was the life sized butterfly canvas they painted. You can see more of this group project here under "If I Were a Butterfly."
We finished the week with some collaborative art that the entire center participated in. With our focus shape this week being triangles, we used triangular bunting to construct a massive banner of spring collages that will be hung on the art gallery wall.
Ecclesiastes says "He has made everything beautiful in its time..". The season of Spring reminds us that the hardness of winter will not last beyond the boundaries God has set in place. Spring has arrived, and we will celebrate!
