During our “Food from Scratch” theme, les Inventeurs learned how yeast works. After discussing how yeast eats sugar and releases gas, we tested it by placing sugar, yeast and water in a bottle, and covering it with a balloon. This also became an opportunity to compare salt and sugar, as they both look the same, but don’t taste the same or react the same way with the yeast. We added an extra bottle with salt and yeast to compare its reaction to the sugar bottle. Our scientists tasted both salt and sugar and voted for their favorite. As it turns out, we learned that both Les Inventeurs and yeast prefer sugar! As we observed and illustrated the results of the experiment, we explain that the air in the balloon is just like the air bubbles that yeast creates into bread dough. Later in the week, we made our own loaf of bread, first observing how the yeast made the dough grow, then finding all the little air bubbles it created once the bread was baked. Science never tasted better!

This month we studied Bridget Riley, a British artist who is best known for her singular Op Art paintings. Riley has created countless contemporary paintings over the past seventy years. We learned about her art, from early student drawings to very recent paintings, from oil on canvas portraits to abstract synthetic emulsion on board paintings to acrylic emulsion on canvas. We had a lot of fun recreating and reimagining the works of Bridget Riley. We used paper, glue, and our imaginations to create new art based off Riley’s paintings. We tried color matching, weaving, and 3D construction, all the while working on our fine motor skills.

How can we build a track that helps the wooden ball roll from the top of the wall to the bottom, without falling off? This is a difficult task that makes us think strategically about how we might engineer a successful track. Our friends helped each other think through what might work, and how we can start this process. Through strategic thinking and processing, we are able to create new variations of a working track. We used trial and error to complete this experiment as a group.

We started using the light table for a new project this month. We used transparent cylinders in multiple different colors, illuminated by the light table, to practice balancing. How can we use these cylinders, in their various colors, to construct a city. We used the blue cylinders to represent water, the green for grass, the yellow for roads, and the red for buildings. After separating these blocks into their colors, we started building a “magic city” in our creative vision. All of the students participated and practiced how to balance these cylinders on top of each other.

This month we were excited to learn about and start using a new light table that includes special marbles and color changing. In the class we are learning about color theory, composition and light. With these marbles, we are able to continue our development of fine motor skills, as well as color and pattern recognition. We are having a lot of fun collaborating with all of our friends to create new patterns.