The Third Day of PEP

Whew, half way through!  I am kind of ready for this to be over!  But honestly it went pretty good.  Our theme was the Northern Lights.  I had always planned for this class to be mostly an art class.  First thing, we took 'em out to the playground and had them climb around for a little while.  Then we went back to the classroom and I showed them a book with pictures of the Northern Lights in it.  The book was way too complicated to try to read to them.  I really don't feel like I understand how they work myself.  I told the kids that the earth is a big magnet and that all the time there are teeny tiny bits of the sun (particles) being drawn toward the earth. The tiny bits are most attracted to the top and bottom (my book had a very good drawing of this) and depending on what they are made of, they appear as different colored lights.  The kids really seemed to like the book. 

The art project was to paint Northern Lights using water colors.  I split the group up in two to have half play with magnets while the other half painted.  It ended up being that as one kid finished, another kid would take his or her place.  That was not how I planned it, but it worked very smoothly.  The magnets were a gamble - I did not do a trial run at home, but they were a big hit.  Plus all the kids loooooooved getting to paint.  I loooooooove water colors because they make anyone an artist! 



Nice picture of anonymous kids painting!

 

Finished paintings.

I really like how different they all are!  The idea was to paint the lights and then fill in all the white with black poster paint.  Some of the kids understood that better than others!  Two notes - you might see in the picture that I used those no-spill snack containers for water - I do that at home.  It really helps slow down a spill.  And water colors, I think they need to be treated with respect.  You can't dab at a water color or you will ruin it.  C&A helped me come up with the analogy of petting a tiny kitten to explain how to gently transfer color to your brush. 

So did they learn a lot about Alaska....maybe not, but really I think all I can do is inspire them to want to learn more.  Next week - Balto!  yay!