This week we had some toasty days sandwiched between some cooler wet ones.  We spent as much time outside as we could, enjoying the long-awaited sunshine, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday!   On Thursday we brought out the water table, a fun puppet theater made for us by Gerrie Scott, and the parachute, and spent most of the morning outside.
For Monday art we read the aboriginal story, Pheasant and Kingfisher, and took note of the line and dot paintings used in the illustrations.  We looked at several aboriginal paintings, and then made our own on brown “bark” paper. The activity was then introduced to the whole class, and several children created some wonderful pieces of art.
Gerrie Scott came for her final visit on Monday.  She read us a story about kisses from Mama and the animal babies who get them in Mama’s Kisses.
Our study of Australia continued with the introduction of the didgeridoo, an instrument made from a eucalyptus tree hollowed out by termites.  It is played by blowing air through your lips (like making a raspberry), then placing the mouth of the didgeridoo over your lips to form a seal.  This creates a distinct tone.  Skilled didgeridoo players learn to circular breath, where they breath in through the nose and out the through the mouth at the same time.  Wow – is that hard!  We watched a video of an aboriginal man playing the didgeridoo, and another of some aboriginal men making a didgeridoo.  We read the tale The Singing Snake about why the didgeridoo was made. Each of the children then had a turn to practice playing a didgeridoo after loosening up their lips, and several were able to get a good tone. (We thoroughly cleaned between each player so as to not spread germs!)
We had some special visitors on Tuesday.  Lindsey and Betsy came to talk to us about dental care and how to properly brush our teeth.  We learned that we should brush for two minutes two times every day, and floss once a day.  We shared our favorite healthy foods to eat, and learned how healthy foods are important for keeping our teeth healthy, as well as the rest of our body.  Betsy, who is a hygienist at Lancaster Dental Care with Dr. Schmidt, brought several fun activities to do, including the play dough dentist set, the tooth brushing fish, and a fun flossing activity.  Many children took turns practicing with the activities, and everyone received a goody bag with a toothbrush, sticker, flossers, and a packet of coloring pages.  Thank you so much Lindsey and Betsy!
We had more special visitors on Wednesday.  Steve, a paramedic, and Zena, a fire fighter, brought the ambulance and fire truck to school.  We got to go inside each of them and learn about the vehicles and how they work, including the supplies on board, how the rescuers work to help us, how the ladders and hoses work, how people are carried and cared for in the ambulance, and why they have lights and sirens and what we do when we are driving and hear the sirens and see the lights.  Thank you so much Steve and Zena!
On Thursday we had even more special visitors.  Andrea, A.O., and Pooh came from Believe in Books for their final visit of the year.  Andrea made us laugh, as always, and A.O. read us a story about Pooh’s friends in the Hundred Acre Wood who spot a dragonfly, which Pooh misunderstood, thinking they spotted a flying dragon.  Everyone got to hug, high five, or wave to Pooh, then choose a story of their own to take home.
Friday students continued to learn about the body for science.  We read about the respiratory system and focused on paying attention to our breathing.  We put heavy objects on our bellies and did some belly breathing, even though we breath air into our lungs.  We ran around, and around, and around the rug until we were all out of breath and our bodies were working to take in more oxygen so we could make more energy.  We learned that we breath out carbon dioxide, which plants breath in, and we breath in oxygen, which plants breath out.