Monday 26 January 2015

Generosity Abounds #3: Give and Take

Connection: There is give and take in generosity


To understand the give and take in generosity, Water group read The Self Crocodile by Faustin Charles. In the story, a selfish crocodile would not let anyone drink from or swim in the river and said that it was 'his river'. All the animals feared him until one day he had a bad toothache and a brave little mouse helped him. The crocodile was so thankful that he gave the mouse a present in return and invited all the animals back the river.


The children enjoyed this story so much that they dramatized it with puppets and even made stick puppets to bring home. They could see it is very important to share and be kind to others. Sophie said: "If you're mean, then nobody wants to play with you." Jayla added: "You have to have generosity then other people will be happy." We started telling about a time when someone else was generous to us and what they would do in return to thank them for their generosity.

Olympia: Bela plays with me. I will make him a card and give him a hug.
Sasha: My daddy and mommy plays with me. I will make them a heart.
Charlie: My daddy helps me.
Jayla: I was generous to my brother, I gave him a jellybean and he put on the TV for me. 
Sophie: My family takes care of me and play with me. I will make a picture for them. 

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Generosity Abounds #2: Helping Hands

What is generosity?

The water group read Ribbon Rescue by Robert Munsch to get some ideas. In the story, a young girl gives away the ribbons from her new dress to help various people on their way to a wedding. As the children listened, they noticed that Jillian is so good at helping others and sharing her things. "She doesn't even mind when she falls in the mud!" Olympia pointed out. "Yeah, she's very generous," Sophie added.

For an art activity, the children made hand prints and on each hand print, the children listed ways of being generous. As the unit continues, we will add more hand prints or examples of generous acts.

Monday 12 January 2015

Generosity Abounds #1: Who We Are


When the children were told that our new unit would be about generosity, many asked, "What is generosity?" I explained to them that generosity is the quality of being generous/kind. "Oh!" they said. Then I asked if they remember a time when they were generous and here are their replies:

Olympia: I'm generous when I share with my friends and play with Bela.
Sasha: When I play with my mommy and daddy.
Theo: I'm generous to my mommy and daddy when I dress myself.
Sophie: I give my mommy hugs.
Lucas: I'm generous when I am caring.

To explore a little of Who We Are each child created a poem titled "I am".



Thursday 8 January 2015

Colour My World #6: Nature Painting


We ended our colour unit by doing a nature painting on canvas. During the planning stage the child identified something from nature they wanted to represent and the colours they needed. They were given the primary colours, white, black and they created other colours they need. The children all showed their knowledge of mixing paint to get a specific colour and adding white to create a tint or black for a shade.