Weekly Activities

Verdi, a young python, does not want to change.  The last thing he wants his to turn from his beautiful yellow to boring green. Verdi tries to change his colour back to yellow by scrubbing his skin and then covering it with mud. Nothing works.  He notices that the sky is bright yellow just like he used to be. Verdi launches himself from the treetops certain that his flight will change him back to yellow. How did Verdi fly through the air? What a great opportunity to learn about catapults. Elastics and popsicle sticks were the only materials need to build a catapult.  First the children, used plastic snakes to sail through the area.  It was delightful to hear the excitement and the laughter as the children made  their "Verdi" fly. I asked the children which would travel farther; a plastic snake or a pompom.  Most of the children though the heavier item, the snake, would travel a further distance.  The children were amazed at how far an...

We are studying the book Verdi by Janell Cannon.  It is the story of a young snake, Verdi, who does not want to "grow up and be green". Verdi equates being green to being boring and lazy.  Trying to prevent turning green, Verdi becomes adventurous but ends up hurting himself.   The older green pythons rescue Verdi and Verdi is forced to slow down while he heals.  He begins to appreciate his surroundings, the older pythons and the changes he experiences. Verdi realizes that he can change and still be himself. How do you learn about snakes? You be one.  The children spent time moving like a snake. The slithered and twisted across the floor.  It is not easy for one to move without the help of your arms and legs. Slithering like a snake. Manipulating foam rollers to imitate snake movements. Tracking the movement of the snakes.

 We have continued our discussion of the qualities found in a friend.  Through different stories and our conversations together, the children have identified the friendship qualities they find important. We made "friendship" play dough together using these qualities. 5 cups of caring 1 tablespoon of kindness 1 cup of sharing 1 cup of helping While making the play dough, the children were able to practice these qualities as well as patience and taking turns.  This is the actual play dough recipe: 2 tsp cream of tartar 1 cup salt 2 cups flour 4 tbsp oil 2 cups boiling water Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl Add boiling water and mix well Once blended, roll onto table and knead until smooth. Very easy to make and lots of fun to play with!

Through different stories, we have been discussing the qualities of a friend.  The one quality that the children unanimously agreed upon is that friends help one another.  In the story, The Little Red Hen, the Hen did all of the work by herself.  The children thought that the Dog, Cat and Goose were not good friends because every time the Hen asked for help, they refused.  Before we reached the end of the story, I asked the children if Hen should share her bread.  There were mixed responses however, the majority of the children thought Hen should share.  Louis' first response was to not share but he quickly changed his mind and said "sharing is caring!" This coming week, the children have asked to make bread and share it with the entire class. "I hug my friend when he is sad." "I blow up a balloon for my friend, Amalia, when she pops her." "I help my friends when they fall." "I help carry stuff for my friends." ...

The children of the Earth Group are learning how seeds grow into plants. Getting a closer look. We began by looking at different types of seeds comparing shape, size and colour.  The children found it very difficult to open the seeds. We soaked some beans in water overnight. This allowed the children to easily open the bean and discover what was inside.   To grow our bean plants, we germinated the beans by wrapping them in paper towel and placing it inside a Ziploc back.   Very quickly the beans began to grow and within a few days, the children could see roots and the beginnings of the plants.   The children were excited to share their knowledge of what a plant needs in order to grow: ·        Soil ·        Water ·        Sun ·        Love ·        Caring   ...

  When gathering information during our formative week, the children made an observation that "animals eat plants and hide in them, too."   Why do animals hide in plants? -" to be safe" - "to hide so they don’t get eaten by other animals" - "to be sneaky." To help the children understand the concept of camouflage, we read Leon the Chameleon by Melanie Watt.  In the story, Leon has a problem.  He can’t play camouflage and seek with the other chameleons because Leon does not blend in with his surroundings. It does not matter what Leon does, he always turns the opposite colour.  Last week in the forest, Keira was wearing brown clothing and was trying to camouflage as she played. Inspired by Keira's play, we brought different types of materials to the forest to play our own game of "camouflage and seek.”