We have spent a lot of time exploring the link between music and emotions. The children are now experts at identifying a piece of music as 'happy', 'sad', 'angry', 'excited' or 'calm'. This week the children learned that the well-known lullaby Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star began life as a poem (by English author Jane Taylor, first published in 1806). Over time, it was set to music. We talked about why the music chosen to accompany the poem is soft and calm and talked about why it isn't it faster or louder. The children were able to point out that if the music was more energetic or aggressive, it would "keep the children awake", in other words they recognised that the music had a specific job to do -to create a sense of calm and quiet for those who listen to it. Later in the week the children were invited to be musicians themselves. First they were asked what kind of music they wanted to play. In other words, what mood did they want to create; how did they want to make their audience feel? They were then invited to select from a range of different instruments and to experiment with making music to help engender that particular feeling. Some chose to make music to help the audience feel happy, others chose sad or calm, while still others wanted to make scary music so that the audience felt scared while listening. Experimenting with making music to affect people's feelings turned out to be a lot of fun! T,hose who wanted their audience to feel a sense of happiness played more gently and upbeat, those who wanted to have others feel scared chose instruments that were more eerie-sounding, and played louder and faster. Those playing sad music played slowly while those who wanted to create a sense of calm, tended to choose quieter instruments and to play them softly.
This week we also continued to investigate capacity; considering the terms full, empty and half-full, as well as continuing to compare groups of objects, to decide which has more or fewer. Next week we will begin a new Unit of Inquiry, the central idea for which is Letters help us organise our world. This is great timing, since the children have been showing an increasing interest in letters, in particular the first letter from their own name and the names of their friends. Stay tuned to hear how the inquiry begins in the next post! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. I hope you are able to enjoy the predicted warmer weather.
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This week we spent some time considering capacity; identifying containers as full or empty and comparing containers to decide which would hold more or less water. We began with a whole group session. I showed the children three different containers designed to drink from; a flask, a bottle and a mug, and asked them which they felt I would be better off using if I were very, very thirsty. There were different ideas about which one might hold the most water. We decided to test the containers to see which had the largest capacity. Using a small plastic cup, we counted how many cups of water could fit into each container, and used number cards to mark each one so we would remember and be able to compare afterwards. We discovered that the flask held five cups of water, the bottle held two and a half, and the mug held one and a half. We talked about the numbers, and decided that five was the biggest number, which meant that the flask could hold the most water, in other words that it had the biggest capacity. Following the group investigation, the children were given time to explore and investigate the capacity of a variety of different containers, using water to fill and empty cups, cylinders and pots. It was fun guessing how many cups of water it might take to fill each container before checking, and especially fun filling containers to overflowing. Experimenting with capacity is something that can easily be incorporated into bathtimes at home, or in the kitchen when making and pouring drinks, for example.
Welcome back and Happy New Year to all PS1H students and their families! For the first couple of weeks after the December holidays PS1 will be returning once more to focus on our first inquiry, specifically looking at ways to become happy and healthy. When we were working on this inquiry earlier in the school year we began looking at the Action for Happiness 'keys to happiness' and had already considered
We wanted to give the children the opportunity to try something new, but felt making green eggs might be a step too far! Instead, we opted to make green vanilla pudding. First, we looked together at the main ingredients, namely milk and pudding mix, and we measured the milk into a bowl. Then the children helped to mix the powder into the milk. Now it was time for the fun part! We added green food colouring, a few drops at a time, mixing well after each addition, and checking on the colour. We ended up with a rather lovely pale green-coloured pudding. The children found this very funny! We put the pudding into the refrigerator to wait until after snack and outside playtime so that it would be properly set. Everyone was very excited to see the pudding when it came out of the fridge. It had set into the perfect pudding consistency. Now was the time we had all been waiting for; time to taste the green pudding! Everyone who tried it loved it and had several spoonfuls (NB each spoon was, of course, washed each time after it had been used, and before putting back into the pudding; there was no 'double-dipping'!) I would strongly urge you to continue to encourage your child to try new foods at home. In class we also watched a short clip from Sesame Street entitled Try, Try Again where Elmo is considering trying Kiwi fruit. He is not sure he will like it, but is encouraged by his friends to try it. The first time he tries a little, Elmo doesn't like it, but his friends say he should 'Try, try again!'. When he does so, he discovers that he does in fact like it. The song emphasizes the fact that often we need to try a new food several times before we grow to like it. We will be referring to both Elmo's experiences with the kiwi fruit, and also our experience with the green pudding during lunch and snack times at school, and we encourage you to do the same at home. Of course, trying new things is not limited to food. It also includes trying new experiences, making new friends and more.
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