A Study of Seedlings

Ms. Sarabanda's 2^nd and 3^rd grade class recently planted lima beans. In Studio, they are recording the growth of the plants by drawing and painting them. Each one is numbered. Paying close attention to the details of each seedling, the students will monitor the growth of the plants through their study of the same plant next week.

First, a careful and detailed sketch.

Students prepare watercolors.

Students use test strips to create color samples. Once they test a color on their strip, they can then make any needed adjustments to a color as they match it to the part of the plant they are painting.

Students also learn to use sponges as a tool in their water-color work.

Painting the roots of the seedling.

Taking on the challenge of a seedling that is laying in the soil.

Each water-colored sketch is then labeled with the student scientist's name, the date of the observation and the number of the plant.

The test strips also become works of art.

Ms. Zeena's Kindergarten - An investigation of The Arctic

The Children in this class have been talking recently about many things having to do with "the arctic."  They were interested in ice and snow and told many stories about their experiences in cold and snowy environments.  Some children had been skiing or ice skating and many others had visited cold wintry places.  The children read books in class about the arctic and saw a video which featured polar bears navigating on the ice.

As the classroom teachers and Studio teachers talked about the children's ideas and interests they realized two things:  first, the children were intrigued by the way that their bodies move differently on icy and snowy surfaces;  second, some of the children may not have had any experiences with ice and snow.  In order to give all the children a chance to experiment with the properties of ice they (along with several parent volunteers) froze large containers full of water and placed them in the studio room for the children to explore.

Ice can be strong or it can be weak.

Ice can be sharp and jagged or it can be smooth and slippery

At a point in the investigation the children decided to crush the ice on the ground and watch what happened when it was left out in the sun.

 

Students know water can be a liquid or a solid and can be made to change back and forth from one form to the other 

*California Kindergarten Science Standard. 

First Grade - Hands-On Experience with Simple Machines

The children experimented with foam insulation pipe cut in half.  The result was a marble run - hill machine- that could be changed in many ways.  They could bend it up and down, and from side to side.  They could even make the marbles do a loop-the-loop and seemingly defy the laws of gravity!

The nails and hammers provided experience with two different kinds of simple machines:  The nail is a wedge machine and the claw of the hammer acts as a lever.

First Graders experimenting with levers and fulcrums on a "full body" scale.  We chose to turn the studio into a hands- on experiential environment for the first graders who were learning about simple machines.

Fifth Grade Amusement Park Design Team Challenge

After breaking up into small groups, the Walgrove fifth graders learned they were going to be theme park designers. The challenge before them was to design an amusement park ride based on the digestive system. The designs had to be tasteful in order to attract a variety of customers.

The first step was brainstorming.

Discussions and sketching out ideas ensued.

 

Next came putting their ideas on paper.

 

Using research and reference tools.

Video of groups talking out their initial ideas:

Mr. Ziff's Kindergarten Topic of the Day: Silly Bands!

Every day of the school week, the children in Mr. Ziff's kindergarten take on a new, child generated topic.  Each student in turn chooses a topic for the whole class to explore.  The class uses tools like brainstorming, bubble mapping and lots and lots of writing to delve into their topics.  On studio days they use other tools ranging from clay to paint to wire, depending on the kind of topic that the children have chosen that day. 

In one area the students used rubber bands as tools to attach pieces of wood together.  This was a way to explore the elastic quality of "silly bands"

Some of the creations were quite simple and others very elaborate.

In another area, children used lengths of very flexible wire to make shapes that were reminiscent of silly band shapes.  The students learned how to attach the two ends of the wire together to make a circle and then they talked about their shapes being "balloons, bananas, hearts and moons."  Many of the children were very excited to be able to take their creations home with them that day.  One child said: "It's my very own invention of a silly band!"

Shadows

 Mr. Olf/ Ms. Biolatto's Kindergarten (Room 1) worked at the beginning of the year with a unit on shadows.  They decided to bring this topic to the studio for further exploration.

Children used scissors, black paper and sticks to create shadow puppets.  When they placed their shadow puppets on the overhead projector a large image suddenly loomed on the wall.  Many children decided that they looked like monsters and this started the creation of a whole series of monster shaped puppets.

A shadow screen

The darkened studio room

Beginnings - Creating Color

Our work began in Studio with experimentation with color. Children, Kindergarten through Fifth Grade (and many adults on back to school night) used these three tubs of primary colors to mix their own unique color combinations. They thought up interesting new names for their colors and wrote them on labels next to the cups.

Ms. Laichtman's fourth grade class was introduced to color value by the district arts teacher during a lesson on still life painting. As an extension of that concept, a small group spent their studio time arranging the cups of color according to color value. They worked together discussing the quality of the colors, assessing their intensity and creating a system for placing them in a sequence.