Stone soup week finally arrived, a bit late but much anticipated. The children loved washing, peeling, and cutting (all those preparation tasks) their vegetables. They brought onions, carrots, potatoes, celery, green beans, butternut squash, thyme, and broccoli to prepare, some salt and pepper, canned beans, canned tomatoes, and frozen green beans. With Michelle’s magic touch and some help from some students, the soup made our classroom smell delicious for two mouthwatering days!
The children read about milk and watched some videos about making butter, then took turns shaking up some heavy cream until it separated into the buttermilk and the fatty solid butter to go with the tasty homemade bread Michelle mixed up and baked in her bread maker.
Wednesday finally arrived and we were so excited to have Laura join us for our stone soup meal. Everyone was thrilled to say hello, give hugs, and for new students to introduce themselves. The students brought their bowls up for soup, several going back for seconds and thirds, which they enjoyed with their homemade bread and butter, some cheese, and tasty apple cider.
During sign language Rose set out several reptiles and we practiced making their signs. We sang and performed the “Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Fire Truck” song. To finish up each child was given two caterpillar parts with the hand sign for two different letters then we built it from a to z.
On Thursday we were introduced to percussion and percussion instruments, which make noise when we strike them or two or more parts collide together to make a sound. We clapped to the count of 4, using our hands and bodies as percussion instruments. We then had brief demonstrations to a multitude of percussion instruments. Everyone chose an instrument to play, which we did to the count of 4 to the best of our ability, then traded for new instruments. To finish off, we took out the big drum. We discussed how sound is made by vibrations that travel through the air. We saw the vibrations on the drum by placing some small wool balls on the drum and watching them bounce as the drum was tapped, just a little for small taps, then higher and higher as the drum was hit harder and harder and the volume increased. Finally everyone had a chance to tap the drum, at first quietly like snow falling, or far off sleigh bells, or a distant snowmobile, then gradually harder (and louder), causing the balls to bounce all over and fly off the drum. It was rather exciting!
Kindergarten students did some snowman multiplication math. They rolled a die two times. The first time told them how many snowmen they were going to draw, and the second told them how many body parts each snowman would have. For example, if they rolled a two and a four, they would draw two snowmen with four snowballs each, then calculate how many snowballs were used (2×4=8). They did some writing about what they observe with their senses in winter. They thought then wrote what they see, smell, taste, feel, and hear in winter. They began work on a math story song, There Were Ten in the Bed, which they illustrated and used subtraction to determine how many were left each time one rolled out of the bed, and showed that on each page.
We had a super warm day that melted all the snow and made lots of watery puddles, then some chilly wintery days.
Legos and magnatiles made an appearance and the children had fun building and creating.
Friday students read Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones, all about the different animals that are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs, including reptiles. Several weeks ago we placed two chicken eggs in a jar of vinegar, so we pulled the jar down and examined the eggs. We observed that the vinegar had disintegrated the calcium shell, leaving behind a soft, rubbery membrane, like those surrounding reptile eggs, which have soft shells, unlike bird eggs. After rinsing off the shell gunk everyone took a turn holding the “reptile” egg, observing how squishy and soft it was.
