Week 8 - Tie Dyeing and the Fall Festival — The Early Learning Community Third-Fourth

This last week has been busy and full of fun! Below is a brief recap, along with lots of photos.

In Writer’s Workshop, the Sea Lions are working on using their writing to really “show” the scenes in their stories, rather than just summarizing the events. We reflected on some learning goals that each student wants to work towards, and we had mini “Student Conferences” with Ms. Susan to discuss how school is going and how we would like to improve. We started a new chapter in our math lessons which will be focused on multiples and factors, so we’ve been brushing up on knowing our basic multiplication facts. We finished our chapter book read-aloud of Poppy, and the Sea Lions are anxious for us to continue reading the next book in the series. We are enjoying Bunnicula as our current read-aloud, just in time for the spooky Halloween season.

We explored a new art medium this week: oil pastels. We created Jack-o-Lantern art pieces based on some guided questions, colored them in and decorated with oil pastels, and then painted the background with watercolors. The Sea Lions loved exploring how the oil pastels repel the watercolor paint, and they had fun using the white oil pastels to create hidden messages in their artwork.

The Sea Lions were invited to attend a play performed by the Whales class, and we were thrilled to get to watch it in a real auditorium on campus. The Sea Lions were so impressed by how well the Whales students did performing their parts and creating the scenery for their play. Now we are looking for ideas of stories we could use to create a play in our own class.

We loved getting a chance to tie dye again! Each Sea Lion student chose their own unique design, folded their clothing item, and added the rubber bands (with only a little teacher help). It was fun to see how each student approached the dyeing process differently. Some had a specific plan in mind for the colors, while others just added whatever color felt right in the moment. Some carefully applied small amounts of dye slowly, and others were excited to squirt and quickly add lots of dye. The Sea Lions cannot wait to see how their tie dyed items turn out.

We ended the week with our Fall Festival, which was loved by everyone! There were lots of different activities available throughout the day, and one of the most special parts for our Sea Lions was getting to combine with the Otters to enjoy it all together. Our day included: