Sometimes there is nothing more interesting or satisfying than watching the birds and squirrels busy in the backyard. Tuesday morning, I scattered a few handfuls of mixed seed on the ground as the children came in, and we have been watching the activity all week, taking little breaks in play to check the scene out the back window. Lots of sweet little juncos are present, a chickadee or two, and we still see that nutty upside-down squirrel having a grand time devouring the suet we hung out on Tuesday afternoon. My favorite part is hearing the children yell to me: "Hazel, there's a big blue bird (scrub jay) on the feeder!" or "Come and see the birds! They're eating the food!" These conversations are full of exclamations and enthusiasm, and I love sharing something I love so much with the children.
On Tuesday morning we came together to sing about our weekends; these songs always seem to reveal what's memorable to the children, because we know that they often have a hard time recalling and sharing what happened even a couple of hours ago. V sang about going to playgroup; T "built a plane with mommy" and B "read a fancy-dancer book". Then we worked together to take apart a bird puzzle, identifying the parts of the bird (head, bill/beak, body, wing, tail feathers and feet) and then reassembled it in its frame. The children noticed, too, that the puzzle bird had "no neck", but that other birds like ducks and flamingos do have long necks. We played a game, reading Ruth Heller's "How to Hide a Parakeet", taking turns to find camouflaged birds hidden in their native habitats--the children very obviously enjoyed this. We also have some resin birds for them to play with and examine, nestled snugly in a bowl of mixed birdseed on the sharing table, too.
In keeping with our theme, I had told the children we were making birds, and they chose two different colors of paper; one, I traced their hands on, and the other was a bird stencil. Once these were cut out, the children were given clean feathers and paint to make their birds beautiful.The children noticed how the feathers changed shape as they became saturated with paint, and I observed that some children began to use them in a different way, dragging them over the paper instead of brushing the paint on.On Thursday, the children put their birds and hand/wings together with fasteners and some real fun began! Our scarves became nests on the big rug, pattern blocks became bird food; V and B played having "tea" with their birdies, then told me they were "having a picnic and a sleepover". The tea turned into a full-blown affair, with the entire contents of the little kitchen arranged picnic-style on the scarves. T moved in and out of the play, and also experimented with using his bird like a paper airplane and flying it around the room. "I wish it had a remote control. Then it could really fly!"
We also did some triangle study on Wednesday, making triangles with our bodies at Gathering (three children holding hands is a triangle!), putting together our Big Barn puzzle to find and count the triangles hidden in the doors of the hayloft, and during our walk to see the big kiwi vine (complete with orbs of frostbitten kiwi still attached), we looked around for the triangles on houses. While we found many pointed rooftops, V also observed that the sword ferns were full of triangles. I also offered some cards which showed how we can use four of our small pattern block triangles to make one big one.
One of our big delights this week was playing with water and ice in the big bin. We started with warm water, and a tray of ice cubes, placed in a couple separate containers for the children to add in as they desired. Long handled slotted spoons were offered. T and V held the ice in the spoons over the water and told me they were "roasting marshmallows", while B decided that she was "fishing". Two questions and their responses:
Hazel: Is the ice as big as it was when you first put it in the water?
T: It's kind of getting smaller.
V: (reaching into her spoon) I don't feel any.
Hazel: What happened to the ice?
B: It's getting smaller now.
V: I think it all melted.
T: But this is warm water.
V: The ice needs to have cold water.
Isn't science fun?
A few more moments from our week:
We had a great idea come up at Gathering on Tuesday: what if we wore our pajamas to school? The kids thought this was a grand idea, but were a little confused as to the 'when' of it. On Wednesday, they loved helping to make backpack tags for this event. So don't forget-- next Wednesday the 8th is Pajama Day!
T, B and V gathered together on the big rug. T has the cone puzzle in front of him assembles "ice cream cones" for his friends.
B sits, cutting strips of paper happily as we practice using our scissors.
Big tea parties this week with alphabet cookies, horse chestnuts, tongs, spatulas and trays upon trays of goodies.
V and T have another skate park creation, which B later joins. Cars are used as skateboards. T and V tell me all about it~
T: We had cars.
V: And then we had white things. (Block boards.)
T: And then you go through an arrow and jump up.
V: And then you then you jump across the rug.
T: And then you know what we did? We goed in the dirt and got mud all over us.
V: And then we went through a wash-through (car wash) with water!
Lively dancing with felt snowflakes as we sing the "Snowflakes, Soft Snowflakes" song, and boisterous clapping as we sang "Eliza Jane", rolling a ball back and forth to each other while singing a verse with each child's name.
T brought a sweet 'treasure hunt' type book called "Pip in the Grand Hotel" that we all enjoyed. Thanks for sharing it with us!
We have some new daily jobs for our special helper board. Folding clean place mats, being a helper with coats for our time outdoors and picking out a book for storytime. Some are for skill building, and some just for fun.
Our playdough time was a delight, too. I flattened a piece down and counted out to twenty, while pressing a dowel end into the dough to make circles. "What could go here?" I wondered aloud. B took up the idea. "Here's two little snakes" she said, passing them to me. V began her own twenty circles and T contributed more snakes, B, another rock and it all ended up with endless birthday parties, once again!
Have a great weekend!
