ROSEBERRY PRESCHOOL
Our investigations with children in the afternoon class have centered around their multifaceted interests and explorations in the area of flight, and space exploration. These investigations illuminate the children’s theories, their questions and passions, and their varied languages of creative/physical expression represented in a variety of modalities.
Our morning class has been exploring ideas around identity. Who am I in relation to my school friends, my family and my teachers. One conduit for this exploration has been Moe the mouse. Moe goes back and forth between school and home. He has a sleepover with each child and when the children return to school they bring a book about their adventures with Moe, and their family, to share with their friends at school.
SALTWATER PRESCHOOL
Paintings
Our painting technique is described as wet-on-wet. Our watercolour paper is soaked in a tray of water. Once saturated, it is laid onto a paint board. The paper is then smoothed with a damp sponge to adhere it to the board. The wet paper is now ready to receive the colours.
Pots of yellow, red, and/or blue watercolours are set out, along with a jar of water, a rag and a paintbrush.
A song sung by the teacher invites the children to their readied papers…”a rainbow, a rainbow… all across the sky you flow… a lovely rainbow see it span… so brightly shining o’er the land.”
We begin with one colour at a time. Yellow in September, after the heat of the summer sun and wide open beaches. Then comes red for the apples that ripen on our trees. When yellow and red are offered together, the children discover the orange of pumpkin season. Then blue takes the children into the coolness of the deeper autumn days. When red is offered with blue, the magic of purple is revealed. Mixing yellow with the blue and green arrives to enhance the emerging colour palette.
The philosophy behind our painting technique:
Initial exploration in the primary colours, on large paper, allows the children to feel the effects of the colours within themselves. The yellows and reds bring warmth. The blues bring coolness.
Preschool children are offered an experiential involvement with colour. The watercolours are brushed onto the wet paper, flowing and blending into each other in beautiful unexpected ways. This free flowing form of painting allows the children to live deeply into all colours of the rainbow.
Felted Wall Hangings
The senses are delighted in the process of making felted wool art pieces.
The colourful wool fibres are chosen and gently pulled and fluffed. Laid upon the white fluffy cloud of a wool batt in a way pleasing to the artist’s eye, the composition is ready to be felted.
The wooly project is put into a plastic baggie, along with some hot water and dish detergent. The wool is then agitated by rolling it with a rolling pin and rubbing it together between hands until the mass is
tightly felted. Rinsed and laid flat to dry, the hanging is ready to be hung.
The final result brings smiles of joy to the children.
Students: Sara Atkinson, Hannah Bain, Ophelia Bell, Bryn Bowker, Tobe Ezema, Rose Hawesova, Dani Holland, Sophia Merchant, Maysa Milligan
Teachers: Wendy Poole, Lucia Perez, Joyce Moffitt, Eloise Nolin, Lucy Overbye, Olivia Parsonage, Beatrice Payton, Gracie Smith, Jordyn Stromquist, Katelyn Wiggins