To continue our study of birds we read Reschenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco, then created dyes using a variety of food items. We used turmeric, blueberries, beets, spinach, and onion skins, boiled with 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon vinegar. The children colored designs on white eggs with white pastels, then we poked holes in each end and they carefully blew out the yolk and albumen. The children then chose the dye they wanted and let the egg sit in the dye for several minutes. We were surprised by the color the blueberries dyed the eggs – a light black, while the turmeric was a bright yellow, beets created a pink, and the onion skins an orangey brown. The spinach was a dull yellow, likely due to being old and frozen, not the pretty green we were hoping, so no one chose to test it out.
Spring fever, the full moon, and school burn out combined to ramp up energy and decrease focus, so we spent as much time outside as possible expending energy.
During sign language Rose reviewed numbers 1-11 and taught us the teens, and how to count to 100 by 10’s. We learned days of the week and seasons, then the song “The Green Grass Grows All Around.” Wow, was that tricky to keep up with!!
During Spanish we did our body movement songs, practiced counting, sang the family song, then played the “Tu gusto” food game again. Zeanny introduced the fruits papaya (papaya), pine (pinapple), manzana (apple), fraise (strawberry), mango (mango), banano (banana), kiwi (kiwi), and sandia (watermelon). Everyone then chose an egg shaker by asking for the color they wanted and we followed the Spanish directions for how to move them.
We celebrated two birthdays this week. One friend turned 4 early in the week and we shared that her birthday was in the month of March in the season of spring before she walked the Earth around the sun 4 times and was serenaded by the birthday song.
Our other birthday girl turned 6 at the end of the week. We waited to celebrated until lunch time after everyone got some energy out. She donated a wonderfully funny book called Dragons Love Tacos, which the children enjoyed. The newest six year old shared that she was born in April in the season of spring. She walked the Earth very quickly around the sun while we rapidly named the seasons and counted her birthdays.
Kindergarten students have been finishing up another section of their letter books with Susan.
Friday students did more work with eggs. We read the book What’s In That Egg? and talked about all the animals that hatch/emerge from eggs. We then talked about what we learned last week about eggs – the shape of their shells make them very break resistant when put under pressure, but if you hit it on the ground or tap it on something, it will crack and break open. We predicted whether an egg dropped from way up high would break open on the floor. Did it? YES! We then put an egg in a box and dropped it from way up high. Did it break? NO! So we tested it in another box from even higher. Did it break? YES! The children then discussed how to work together as a team and were assigned partners to work with to design a way to drop an egg from way up high and keep it from breaking. Each team chose a box and some materials to package their egg to keep it safe. When everyone was done, the teams decided which order their members would drop their cushioned eggs, then we did the drop test, making sure everyone had a turn.
