Movement of Bodies - Yoga

      The explorations taking place this week was for the purpose seeing how the children’s balancing skills could be put to use by participating in yoga moves. These yoga cards look like a mouse, cobra, bridge, windmill, cat, squirrel, mountain, bird, frog, and a butterfly.

At first the children were a little apprehensive with replicating the moves they had seen. In this picture, Jad is showing other children how to complete the butterfly move. This move is particularly difficult because of how the bottoms of their feet must meet. Olivia was also very ambitious with these moves and the other children seemed to be watching how she got to the end result with the moves. They were watching what body parts she was moving and how. Then, other children started to participate as well. I also demonstrated many of the moves on the first day. Yet, the second day of exploring was much different. I would show a yoga card and the children would immediately replicate the move without any demonstration. This time, their moves seemed to be more accurate than before. They were noticing the fine details of each move.

            On the second day of explorations, the children seemed to work together and gain ideas of how to improve their poses from watching others. In this picture, there are a few children that were working together and bouncing off of each other’s move ideas to incorporate them into their own poses. Olivia, Braden, and Marianna were looking at each other while they were flapping their “Wings” like a bird. Next week, we are going to see how long they can hold these poses and they will have yoga cards in which their pictures will be the ones to replicate. 

Animal Movements

           The children have been very interested in various types of animals and how they move.  More specifically, the children have been excited about how various animals eat and how they move as they eat.  The children have started to recognize that as animals eat, they use different strategies.  Some of these strategies might depend on the shape of the animal, or the type of food it eats.

            We have been exploring this with the children by looking at video clips of different animals.  We have seen these clips on the IPad, on the computer, and projected onto the wall.  Throughout this, we have seen the children react differently to what animal they see in the video.  We have noticed that the children seem to be making specific movements based on the animal they see.  Some children will comment to us about how an animal is moving but are not quite sure how to initiate the movement themselves.

            We have focused on clips of ducks, fish, frogs, horses, giraffes, and cows as they eat.  The children were most interest in these animals, and some children suggested them from the beginning.  Each animal eats differently, and as we explored this with the children we began to take video clips of the children reacting to the videos.  These videos will hopefully be shared at the Exhibit at the end of the semester.

The explorations taking place this week was for the purpose seeing how the children’s methods could change over time when using the same object. Yet, I added a new material to their explorations. The intentions I had when adding a mirror was so the children would see how their body is moving on the beam and possibly improve their balance. I was wondering if they would use a trial and error method to continue to improve their balancing skills. After all the observations with the children exploring, I did see how their methods of balancing were growing. After all the observations with the children exploring, I did see how their methods of balancing were growing. Many children did notice the mirror, but it was difficult for them to look down at the mirror while they were on the beam. They would have to get off of the beam to look at the mirror (like in this picture.)

The children also have been transferring what they have learned from the incline we were exploring to the balancing beam. This week, something new happened with the children. There was self-initiated teamwork! Marianna was trying to walk on the balancing beam when she felt unstable. Casey seen Marianna becoming unstable and he offered her his hand while he was on the floor, and he walked her up and down the balancing beam. To explain the second picture, Ali knew that bending his knees has always helped him to balance. He would then bend all the way down to his toes, but then he realized he couldn’t walk on the beam when he did this.  Then, he would scoot his feet sideways to get across the beam without assistance. Next, the students will have the opportunity to put their new skills to the test when we try to do yoga!

What Makes Cars Move?

Week of 3/10/14

Mrs. Stone & Mrs. Hughes’ Room

           

The children have been becoming more aware how cars move. Through explorations of materials that do not have wheels, the children seemed to prefer the cars due to the way they move. I am still curious if the children have made the connection between the movement of the cars and their wheels. A few children have turned the cars upside down and manipulated the wheels with their fingers, but I still wonder what their thinking is in regards to the wheels and the motion of the car.

I wanted to see if the children would make the connection between the wheels and the movement of the car if the motion of the car was made visible. So this week I placed black paint in a tray and taped it to the large ramp that was covered in paper. The children would dip the cars in the paint and then move them on ramp, leaving marks created by the wheels as the cars moved.

Laya was very excited and as soon as she saw the cars and paint she placed her car in the paint and then moved it back and forth very fast on the paper. This created a large space of black paint as she repeatedly moved the car over the same area on the paper. Will placed his car in the paint and then walked to the bottom of the ramp and placed his car on it. While still holding onto the car, Will began to move it up the ramp, leaving long marks of black paint. Nicholas used two cars, and placed each one in the paint with each hand. He then sat alongside the ramp and moved the two cars up and down repeatedly.

Based off of my observations I still am uncertain if the children have made the connection between the wheels and the movement of the car. I would like to explore other materials that have the same motion as the wheels on the car.

Movement of Feathers,

Using our bodies!

Week of 3/10/14 – 3/14/14

Madelyn Mollison

This week we explored how we can move our bodies to make feathers move differently. The children were very interested in the movement of the feathers. Many children including Olivia, Jane and Conner were moving the feathers with a blowing motion. Jad associated the feathers with a bird and threw the feathers saying "fly!"
            Abby picked up and dropped the feathers to the ground watching them float down to the ground. Reed and Olivia wanted to see what would happen if they dropped more than one feather at a time, saying "faster, faster!" When Reed was asked to describe how the feather felt he said "quiet". He was associating the qualities of the feathers with something that was quiet, soft and calm.
            To continue to explore the new materials we are going to compare them to paper like tissue paper and heavier papers to see how they react to our body movements.  We want to see how they move differently and how we can make them move. The children all made interesting reactions to the feathers being thrown or blown at them. Even though they are light weight, they all flinched like it was going to hit them. Most children; Abby and Jane for example would laugh if the feather landed on them.

Guinea Pig Movements

              The children were very excited when we brought guinea pigs into the classroom.  We brought in the guinea pigs because they were large than the gerbils and the children could see them move a little easier.  The children watched them move and began to really talk about how they were eating.

                To expand on this, we began to feed some different foods to the guinea pigs – things the children have eaten for snack that they are familiar with because they all seemed a little confused by the pellets in their food bowls.  We gave the children oranges and apples to feed to the guinea pigs.

                 The children began to talk about how the pigs were eating and commenting on how fast they were eating. Nathan and Liana continually pointed to the guinea pigs as they ate and said, “Ooo” and “look!” to draw attention to what was happening.  Other children began to comment on the teeth and mouth of the guinea pigs.  They seemed surprised that the guinea pigs had teeth.  Jad continually called the guinea pigs, “bunnies.”  We think he thought they were a similar size.  When we showed him pictures of what a bunny looked like, he was still persistent with his idea and did not change his mind.

               As the children watched the pigs, a couple of children began to bring over pretend animals from around the classroom and pretend that they were eating near the cage to the guinea pigs.  We thought this was very interesting and began to reflect on what the children were trying to tell us.  

Movement of Bottles: Using our Bodies

Ms. Mollison

Week of 3/3/14-3/7/14

The children have been exploring different bottles filled with different materials with weight and size as a factor. They rolled them, kicked them and moved them on different surfaces. Connor was exploring the different textures of the surfaces, he noticed that the bottle rolled well on the foil and made noises on the wax paper. Reed liked to roll the bottles when we covered them in the materials rather than rolling them on the surfaces. He liked the bottle with the foil and said, “Moves fast!”

To wrap up using the bottles this week, we discovered new ways to move the bottles, including using their knees and feet. Jane found that she could use the bottle to roll on her stomach and back. Olivia explored using her elbows to make the bottle move. She also tried to move the bottle with her knees.

  The children will now be moving onto exploring different kinds of materials and the ways they can make them move. Next week we will explore with feathers and other various materials. We will be focusing on how they moved them differently and how we can make them move. The children are working on their coordination and how they can move their bodies to manipulate other objects. They have been focusing on how they make things move, rather then the movement of the object.

Movement of Bodies

Week of March 3^rd – 7^th, 2014

Ms. Bolling

            The explorations taking place this week was for the purpose of testing their balancing skills in the most ultimate way. A balancing beam was introduced to see how they would use their already acquired balancing skills/methods to make their way across this object. The first time the beam was introduced, the children’s methods varied greatly. Some children were more reserved and slow in their movements. Other children sensed very little risk and would use quick movements. Also, some children would use teacher assistance to walk across the balancing beam as showed in this picture. Abby could make her way across with teacher assistance. After she tried many times with teacher assistance, she was gaining confidence and was trying to walk on it on her own. I am seeing many children’s confidence levels skyrocket after only a few steps on the balancing beam in which they complete themselves. 

            The students were persistent in trying to making their way across this object by themselves. Yet, before some students start to walk on this beam, they try other movements as well. For example, Jane liked to walk over the balancing beam. She was figuring out how thin the area was for her to walk on. She was also strengthening her balancing skills by standing on one foot while walking across this beam. I noticed many children transferring what they have learned from the incline and also the turtle shell mat by holding their arms outwards while they were trying to balance. Marianna and Jordan used their torso to lean side to side when they felt unstable. I am interested to see how adding a mirror to next week’s exploration will help them with their footwork.