Snow, snow, and more snow!  The children continue to find many ways to spend their time outside in all of that white stuff.  Friday students were thrilled to be pulled around in the snow that fell on Thursday, which came up past their knees.

Our African adventures continued this week in Spanish and English.  We watched a short video of dancing and drumming, an important aspect of African culture.  We learned that there is a wide range of living experiences in Africa, from farmers living in mud huts and grass houses with no electricity or running water, to cities with lifestyles and houses similar to our own.  We read the story of Beatrice’s Goat about a little girl who receives a goat, which helps her family earn money to send her to school and build a new house.  This is a true story of a girl in Uganda who, after getting a goat from Heifer International, began school at the age of 9 then went on to attend College in the U.S.

Spanish was a lot of fun with Spanish BINGO games, animal acting games, and animal sound games.  The children learned lots of Spanish names for animals and African items.

 

At the art table we made drums with paper plates, and painted them with bright colors.  Next week we will do a lot of dancing and drumming!

We celebrated our first sixth birthday this week.  Happy birthday 6 year old!

Friday students had another full day.  They were engaged with a variety of activities in the morning until they were ready for a short science experiment.  We talked about the change of seasons from winter to spring and what happens in trees.  We learned that tree sap has sugar in it, so we made a sugar water solution, which we put in the freezer next to a cup of plain water.  In the afternoon we took them out and compared them.  We observed that the sugar water solution was slushy, while the plain water was frozen solid.

 

Next week we will be doing some African face painting and lots and lots of dancing, African style!