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Looking back on the content and inquiry of Light I found this inquiry to be the most successful and interesting.
The inquiry I presented to the children was the most successful and the children were most engaged in this, I feel like I can extend alot more further learning on this topic and there is alot more resources to extend on.

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Reflecting on the content and experiences set out with paint I feel I have learnt to continue exploration with paint and other materials.
In some experiences I used water coloured paints which the children really enjoyed using.
'Look the paints more bright when you add the water!'
'can use it better with water' another said

I would really like to continue the exploration with other materials to actually do the experiences eg. spray bottles, balloons, body parts, bubble wrap ect

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Going through the content for paint really made me look at some thing a little differently.
I as an educator see paint as a very basic tool: to create art, but it can be so much more.
Some things that really stood out for me were:

- exploring the difference between setting up painting, exploring paint
How would I present this to the children? what would be some provocations I could present to children for them to expand their knowledge? how could it be extended on?

- reading through the section of aboriginal dot painting made  me reflect on an incursion our centre had recently with a local aboriginal man who guided our educators on the correct presentation and theory of dot painting and what is appropriate to guide the children on.

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Going through the content of assemblage at the start I found the theory hard to grasp but as it went on and it was discussed with peers it became clearer.
Some things that stood out for me were:

- Introducing materials to children as a dear friend. To me this would be an experience in its own and would really bring a positive first step to any art and craft

- I really enjoy the thought of giving children the opportunity to revisit their own work, it really emphasizes the notion of creating a relationship with their pieces and nurtures their creativity.

-This unit also reminds me somewhat of our playwork and loose parts unit, watching children gather construct and assemble their on creations!

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As part of my inquiry of light I decided to explore some concepts with the children in the 3 year old room at my centre.
A child brought in a cardboard cylinder as apart of his show and tell, I decided to extend on this with exploring light with the children.
I set out an experience for the children to create their own kaleidoscopes using cardboard, paint, cellophane and rubber bands the children helped roll the cardboard, paint and decorate to their creations and help clasp the cellophane to the end.

Watching the children look through and observe peers and objects through different coloured lights was interesting as they would comment on the capacity of watching and seeing things through a coloured lense.

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https://constructivismcurriculum.weebly.com/children-exploring-lightshadowrefelction.html

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Here are some examples, done by other educators on the big idea of light which expanded and touched upon across the curriculum with not just Science but Mathematics and The Arts.

However it can also fall under any other domain, if looking closely at the children engaged in the play. The children in the pictures below demonstrate the different ways of their learning by saying , doing and representing through the big idea of light leading to shadows and reflections

Mathematics

This is a picture of a child that was captivated by the natural lighting on the table along with the cups placed on the table. The child enjoyed moving the cups and changing the form of the shadows. She then began making patterns and shapes with the cups. The child decided to line the cups up, and wanted to investigate what would happen to the shadows if they have been overlapped. Suddenly the child discovered that she was able to mix the colors . When the natural light was gone, the child was a bit upset, but then it was easy for the educator to step in, discussing about sunlight and how the earth moves and that's why the natural light was gone. This can lead to an expansion on Earth or Sun movement . Through this the child, discovered and explored light, shadows, patterning, shapes and building 3-D structures.

The child here, is using cotton swabs on the mirror and seeing the transformation as he places the cotton swabs on the mirror. More and more cotton swabs were being placed by the child and he then realized that he was making a "symmetrical snowflake". This lead on to the child counting the number of the points in the snowflakes as well as naming shapes he seen.

For this classroom, the educator had placed mirrors on the walls and other places around the environment such as on tables . As well as placing mirrors by other materials to see where children will explore and investigate with the mirrors. and they started to count to see how many they can make appear on the mirror. It was fascinating as well for the children to recall using one material and making it into a 3-D square while looking through the mirror. The challenging part they faced here was when the children were trying to count on the reflections of the shapes in the mirror.

The child also explored that some of the shapes turned into different forms when placed by the mirror. Some of the realizations were that the triangle shapes were turning into diamonds when placed in the reflection of the mirror.

When the educator left the mirrors by the loose materials, she noticed the children placing some loose materials on the bottom of the mirror.The children then noticed that there is more of the shapes now when looking at the reflection

Here is a picture of a child how used light on paper to draw his own shadow. But the challenge the child faced was trying to figure out how to stand out of the way of their own shadows and still be able to draw their shadow at the same time.

The child was problem solving when engaged in drawing his shadow on the wall.

Words said by the children in a preschool room; when exploring with the flashlights.

"Look at the dragon, don't be afraid!!!!

Through this the children were exploring with making light on different surfaces and shining the flashlight through different objects such as hands, ceiling.

To see other pictures of what the children have made and said when exploring with flashlights. Click on the link below:

http://palisadespreschool.org/we-are-going-to-explore-the-light

The children here went outdoors to explore shadow and light. Testing in regards to when the sun moves, the shadows move as well.

The child here said: "Let's build the CN Tower outside and see where the shadow goes!"

When the tower was build, the teacher asked the children "How will you know if the shadow moves from now until this afternoon."

The one child said " Let's fill it in," The children placed rocks on the ground based from the shadow of the structure they created.

After a while the children noticed that the shadow moved based on the materials they placed down first and the shadow change

In this picture, the child placed the mirrors into the water, and found itamazing to see t he reflections of herself as well as the reflection seen of the objects she was playing with. Which can lead to many questions and wonders for children

Children exploring natural materials, which can lead to questioning, about rocks, leafs, sand and much more. Children may have a chance to take a closer look at natural materials in their environment through the light tables

See patterns, shapes , colors and learn about materials and the different perspectives when looking through light

Light Tables and Projector Lights

A picture from the light play exhibit which the children were taken too. Many open exploration,i nquiry,and play. Children here discovered light on the light table and questions came up like

Are their many shades and typesof colour? Why?
Can you change the colour of an object by placing another object on top? Why?"

The children in this picture had fun exploring the projectors and came to discover many aspects "

Questioning: Words said by the children

How do the sizes of the materials change on the projector?
Why are some objects brighter than others?
Why are some items that are colourful not colourful on the projected image?"

A Sensory bin close to a light table, can really spark children's creativity and investigation

The Arts/Creative Arts

These are some children noticing the details of a tree, over a light projector.

The teacher facilitating, noticed the children's drawing to be more enhanced after this opportunity.

http://www.artandsoulpreschool.blogspot.ca/search/label/playing%20with%20light

Here are children tracing and drawing as the projector was placed towards the whiteboard

After that the children began to ask what would happen if they placed the projector on the chalk board?

Here is how it looked ..

http://www.artandsoulpreschool.blogspot.ca/search/label/playing%20with%20light

Some of the children were tracing around the object that was projected and while others colored in the spaces that were not dark.

This has shown different ways children explored the shadows and light and the use of different utensils on the chalkboard.

Placing toys, dolls, story books and loose materials by the light projector may have the children in making a puppet show, may even tell a story or make a story up. Children would use their creativity and imagination

Creating background images with a light projector in a classroom could spark's children's play and imagination

Children may begin to pretend play which can lead to many exploration and possibilities

Mairtown Kindergarten Exploring Light Color and Shadow

The teacher introduced the children to working with over head projector's and with light box tables, with which the children were already very familiar with.

One of the children discovered something about the projected images of elephant's trunk. He pointed "Hey look, when I put them on this way, they point that way"

The child was experimenting and using t rial and error when moving the projector around

Some of the light tables have had many different objects , but were all same colour. This lead the children to notice thedetails of colour - how many shades of green are there?

In these photographs the children were placing things onto the over head projector so that the image reflected the paper on the wall, but they had trouble tracingaround the image. It was hard on the children which lead into the requirement of trial and error, lots of thinking and lots of experimenting

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Here are some examples, done by other educators on the big idea of light which expanded and touched upon across the curriculum with not just Science but Mathematics and The Arts. However it can also fall under any other domain, if looking closely at the children engaged in the play.

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Resource - Constructivism Across Curriculum - Children exploring Light/shadow/refelection

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Resource - Constructivism Across Curriculum - Children exploring Light/shadow/refelection

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This resource really spoke to me, I found the activities that were done with the children were so interesting and gave me some really insightful ideas!

What resonates with it?

so many things, different aspects of children's development, expanding children's creativity and curiosity, experimentation and connection.

What could you take from it to use in your own service?

I would love to try some of these activities with children within the service and see what can be extended on expanded on

What did you not like about it?

continuing through the resource I couldn't find anything I didn't like

Was their experiences mentioned in the resource you had tried before?

I had tried experiences with light boxes before but that's it

If so, did they work well?

Yes it was an experience that was a permanent space in the room for a long time.

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Setting out and watching children use and manipulate the clay was interesting as I had already reflected on my own inquiry with the project.
I asked the children to help me set up the experience and materials, using a large chunk of clay, natural materials (shells, stones and leaves) popsicle sticks, scissors and water.
I sat back at observed for this experience as I wanted to see where the childrens creativity took them.
I had a couple of children ask 'what are we making?' and when I replied 'whatever you like!' they were very excited!
There was a couple of birthday cakes, a horse, a dog, some flowers, a snake and rainbow!
At times I asked the children 'how does it feel?' 'why do you think it does that?' 'where do you think it comes from?'
the children had some intriguing answers and followed on with some insightful conversations! 'clay is so slimy!' 'it dries up quick though!' 'its from the ground!'

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As someone who hasn't had alot of experience with Clay I found so many of the elements of this experience so stimulating!
- the textures of the clay with and without water
- its manipulation
- how it reacts to different materials
- the final product

I found picking it up and manipulating it was different when it was hard and when it was wet and soft. It brings up memories of art class through my childhood and creating ash trays and mini pots for my parents with clay.
Reflecting on this I felt I had more confidence going into a clay experience now than I did when I was younger. Once I started manipulating the clay I found I still had no idea what I was doing but enjoyed the process anyway.
As a young girl messy art never intrigued me, i was never drawn to getting dirty and un earthed and revisiting it as an adult I feel this hasn't changed, after utilizing the clay through class I felt messy and frazzled with how dirty I felt.

I didn't like the feeling of dry clay on my hands and i found the cleanup to be quite extensive!

On the other hand I find the History of clay very interesting, what different cultures used it for and the different ways it manipulated.
I decided to continue this inquiry with the children at my centre.

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This video stood out to me so much I actually had to re-watch it. The process of creating the mural, the understanding of oxidizing the soil and clay, the sourcing of different types of clay from different countries and manipulating this all together made me reflect on how our ancestors and indigenous elders would have used different types of clay and soil and what its purpose may have been for them.

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Geologist explains painting with soil at Rice Gallery's 'yamatane'

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On reflection of this session I extended with my daughter whom is almost 2 on her notion of paper.
I handed her a blank piece of paper and sat down with her to see what she would do, instantly she motioned me to pass her some crayons sitting on a shelf close by.
After passing her the crayons she picked a few colours out did some scribbles and lost interest in the activity.
Further extension would be to explore different capabilities of paper.

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What do you think paper is capable of?

In early childhood papers capabilities are endless, from drawing to crafting, extending with other resources and of course documenting

How does paper interact with the environment?

paper is durable but recyclable, a great starting point to teach children about recycling

How can paper exist in a shared space?

I see alot of educators using paper in different experiences and laminating it!

What are the restrictions of paper, if any?

paper can be destroyed in pay easily

How can paper be introduced to the space and how will it interact with other materials within the space?

depending on the space paper can be an main element, a secondary element or decorative

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Reading - Encounters with Materials in Early childhood education

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Reading - Encounters with Materials in Early childhood education

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Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Sylvia Kind, Laurie L. M. Kocher
15 September 2016
Encounters With Materials in Early Childhood Education
1st Edition
Chapter 1 - Pages 1 - 5
Chapter 2 - Page 3

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Reading - Encounters With Materials in Early Childhood Education

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Reading - Encounters With Materials in Early Childhood Education

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- Materials as active participants in early childhood education

- John Dewey (1897) reminded us more than a century ago that “the child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education”

- Chapter 2 - Paper:
- Singularity -  the story of Eli Manipulating, contorting and placing paper mâché  in different ways.
What could be going on through his head? what is he seeing with his eyes?

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I found this experiences quite difficult! This surprised me as i feel I am someone who enjoys drawing and I felt restricted in the element of not being able to lift my pencil off the paper.
Shannon and I discussed this, and our relationship with drawing over time (school, our workplace and our own children) we reflected back on times of what drawing made us feel