During our first full week of spring we continued to enjoy the snow. The children loved collecting ice that formed after the warmer days and cold nights. Some of them filled their sleds and wheelbarrows with all of the pieces that they could find.
We completed our African journey during this final week of March. Students had their faces painted in African designs, a common tradition in some areas of Africa for celebrations and rituals. They practiced carrying bags and baskets of materials on their heads. As we have been learning, in some areas of Africa water is scarce, and people have to travel to bodies of water to fill containers to carry back to their homes. Many people transport these containers on their heads. They also need to clean the water. We did our own water cleaning demonstration by filtering it through dirt. We also discussed the need for boiling the water to complete the process. We read Mama Panya’s Pancakes and made African pancakes together.
At the art table the children did some chalk art on sandpaper. They also made books of Africa and did many drawings.
We celebrated our third birthday of the month. Happy fourth birthday friend!
During Spanish we continued to have fun with animal sound games, African Bingo, and Zeanny concluded the tale of el conejo, el lobo, and the princessa.
Friday students had another busy day. They once again spent the morning engaged in work. Gerrie Scott joined us to read My Amazing Grandpa. During science we used stethoscopes to listen to our heartbeats. We listened to and counted our resting heart rate, then ran all around the classroom (FUN!) then listened to our active heart rate. We discovered that our hearts beat a lot faster when we are active, bringing oxygen to all the parts of our bodies, just like a bus taking children home, as one student analogized.
