Imagine

We made purple today. We spread out aluminum foil on a table and gave the children blue and red paint. It was great fun watching the paint turn purple! We added white paint to make different shades.  Painting on foil was a new experience for most of us. It was shiny, and the paint glided across it in a cool way.  We discovered that we could make all kinds of designs in the paint using the brushes, our hands and our fingers. We wondered what would happen if we pressed a clean piece of paper down on our designs. We talked about what a "print" is. This activity turned out to be multidimensional. We thought we were just going to make purple but it turned out we also had a sensory experience and an introduction to print making.

Today we made lines using paint and marbles. We put the marbles in jars of paint and dropped them into a box lined with butcher block paper. The children had a great time figuring out how to work together to make the marbles roll up and down and side to side. This was a fun, messy activity that required the use of fine motor skills (getting the marble out of jar with spoon), and plenty of team work.

This activity was inspired by the book " Lines That Wiggle". We began asking about different types of lines. We asked the children to look around the room for lines. They found them on the walls (cinder blocks), the food we were eating for snack (pretzels) and in all the art work that covers our walls. When we really started looking around we saw lines everywhere. We made lines with our bodies, using our arms to represent straight lines or wiggly lines. To further this exploration we decided to use the opportunity for some fine motor skill practise along with a refresher on how to use the paint brushes.  Using chalk the children drew various types of lines on a large piece of butcher block paper. We then asked them using the different shades of green paint we made the previous day, to paint over the chalk lines being careful to stay on the lines the best they could. Some chose to paint under the lines or next to them trying to replicate the same motion.

Today we explored the color green. We asked the question " Does all green look the same?" We had a discussion about things that are green and realized that there are a lot of different "shades" of green.  We set out not just to make green using blue and yellow but to make different shades. We discovered you can make your green lighter by adding some white or a bit darker by adding a bit of brown, but not too much! We discovered some cool things.  When they were satisfied with their color they got to name it.

We are beginning to explore shapes, lines and representational images by thinking about faces. We asked the question, "what does a face look like?", "can you draw a face?" These questions and others were further explored when the children drew pictures of their Fathers for Fathers Day. We discussed the shape of a human head, where the eyes, nose and mouth are on a face. For our really little ones this was a great opportunity to use words like "above" and "below". The older children in our class wanted to draw their Dads whole body.  Wishing all our Imagine Dads (and Grand Dads)  a fantastic Fathers Day!

In our first weeks of Summer camp we spend a lot of time getting to know each other, learning the classroom rules and exploring Art basics. We will be discovering various mediums and learning how to use the tools to express ourselves through those mediums.  We started out doing a red color activity which allowed the children to experience smaller paint brushes. They discoverd that paint brushes can make thin lines and fat lines, they can be straight or wiggly. While exploring yellow the children practiced scissor and gluing skills making beautiful bright "collages". We used the light table to find out for ourselves what color is created when we put red and yellow together. The children used their strong hands to manipulate and shape blue clay. They added rocks for additional texture discovery.  We are looking forward to a fun Summer filled with new art discoveries!

I want to welcome you to Imagine Learning Centers 2015 preschool Graduation.  This is a special day, it's your child's first graduation of the many to follow. This ceremony is an important rite of passage. For most of these children ,  I magine has been the first world they have experienced independent of you, their parents. We strive to make this world rich with new experiences, from exploring new ideas to learning to make and keep new friends    to discovering that there are kind adults you can rely on outside of your family.     O ne of our tasks at Imagine is to help prepare your child(and you) for the next step. We feel honored and privileged to have been chosen and trusted by you to guide your child through their first school experience. They are off to explore the bigger world that lies outside the walls of Imagine. I have great confidence that they will take on this challenge with exuberance and finesse.   While on their new journey it is our hope that something of this

     We have spent the last 3 weeks preparing for the "big day".  As a group we've had many conversations about what it means to graduate. It can be a bit confusing for our younger ones. Kindergarten is very abstract concept that we've been trying to prepare our seniors for all year. By this time of year the reality of this transition is very clear. For those spending another year with us kindergarten remains a far away fantasy "someday" place.       The last three weeks haven't  been all about talking. We had stuff to do! There were crowns and caps to make and decorate, invitations to write and decorations to create.  Getting ready for our  graduation ceremony is a lot of work.