The leaves are covering the trees, the temperatures were just right, the dandelions have gone to seed and the caterpillars, toads, slugs, worms, beetles, flies, birds, spiders and various other little creatures have been hunted, gathered, examined, and released back to their natural habitats. All the little scientists love collecting and watching and studying any living creature they can find. Friday students wanted to be farmers, so we brought out a big box of older seeds given to us by the Root Seller. The children selected some to take home and dug up soil to plant others. We discussed concerns about planting in the playground, but they wanted to give it a try, so we will see if our gardens grow this summer!
The children were introduced to sheets of beeswax that was formed into panels of hexagons. They used a wax coated wick and a sheet of beeswax to roll up a candle. They also colored and cut out a bee mask to wear (if they want) for the presentation.
Rose sang and signed “The Bees Go Buzzing One By One” all up to 10 (different from the version we wrote) and we tried our best to keep up with her speedy signing. She read Franklin Fibs, about Franklin the turtle who tells a fib, then feels bad about it and struggles with how to tell the truth. We finished up with five more student butterflies as we sang and signed the “Five Little Butterflies” song.
The students helped Michelle mix up some cloud dough, then had a fabulous time playing it in!
Group times this week were focused on rehearsing for our Bee presentation, practicing our bee songs, and reading stories.
Kindergarten students chose their own work this week, selecting to work on their story writing, number writing, number identification, and several students chose to do a reading activity where they had to match the rhyming words. They did some syllable clapping, clapping and identifying the number of syllables in each of their names – both given and nicknames – and those of their classmates and teachers.
During Friday science we explored a fourth sense; smell! We read Thank You, Omu! about a grandmother who cooks up some thick red stew and everyone in the neighborhood smells it and comes knocking on her door. We learned that Omu is Igbo, one of the languages spoken in Nigeria, for queen, but it is the term the author used for her grandmother growing up. We then did some smelling and guessing. Lyn attempted hide items from view and the children closed their eyes, being respectful to others by keeping their guesses in their heads until everyone had a chance to smell before sharing what they thought they had smelled. They smelled hay, cinnamon, ripe banana, chocolate, dish soap, onion, orange, watermelon, onion, and lilacs. They then did a little tasting, too. (The photos were posed after the fact).
