Snail Trails

On the weekend I had coffee with a friend that is in her last practicum

for becoming a teacher.

Lots of discussion about what is happening in our classrooms and sharing ideas back and forth.

I told her about our Snail Garden

 and that I was trying to think of a craft that we could do 

that involved snails.

From that came Snail Trails.

 I cut pieces of sponge and glued that into shells that I found at a dollar store.

We dipped them into white glue that glided the snail

across the paper.

I moved our Snail Garden close to the art table

so we could watch how they moved.

And we noticed the shiny slime trails they have left on the screen

that covers their garden.

We handled the snails more to see how they feel.

Did they leave a sticky trail on our hands?

Then went back to our art work and added coloured sand sprinkled 

with gold glitter.

Then shook the paper to remove any excess.

Some of the children added to their art work by drawing

and making stories.

 Each snail has it's own trail.

Are they having a race?

"This is a tree (on the left) and this is me (on the right)",

she said.

"The snail is coming to me."

A couple of little girls really enjoyed playing with the snails.

I look over and see all the snails gathered on their garden couch.

Then I saw this wonderful picture.

Beautiful!

I love collaborating and I find it through blogging, peers and the parents

that participate in my program.

Thanks Sharon for brainstorming this idea with me.

Fairy Village

We went for a walk in the woods today.

We went in the woods to create a fairy village.

Then we made fairies to play in the village.

The fairies explored the village.

We let our imaginations lead the way today.

Then we cleared it all away.

This post is Linked to the Fairy Garden contest at
http://themagiconions.blogspot.ca/2012/04/fairy-garden-contest-2012.html

Pete the Cat's Belly Button

Well our Pete the Cat, who has been going on many adventures with the families all year,

had an adventure himself 

last weekend,

He had minor plastic surgery.

This story started when we got Eric Litwin's new book,

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.

It's a wonderful book, which I mentioned in a previous post.

I have heard parents use Pete's philosophy with their children

when they are upset about losing something.

"Would Pete cry?"

And amazingly their child calms and moves on.

Or a parent told me a story of overhearing her daughter searching for something

at home in her room.

When she couldn't find it she said, "things come and things go".

Wow, what power a few words can have.

Back at school, 

I found this yellow shirt that fits Pete and used velcro

to attach the buttons to the shirt.

So as we read the story the buttons can be removed.

Well when we got to the part in the story where we see Pete's belly button,

the children commented that our Pete didn't have a 

belly button.

After a little brainstorming, it was decided that someone would sew a button

on Pete.

Van and his mom Karen volunteered to be the doctors.

Van searched through our button box till he found a button.

After a full recovery, Pete was back at school showing off

his brand new belly button.

Ready to share his story with our big buddy class,

the grade 3s.

Waiting for Chrysalis

It's hard waiting.

Especially for something as exciting as watching caterpillars change to butterflies.

So this week while we waited for the caterpillars to form their chrysalis

we made our own chrysalis.

A family had collected this container of pussy willow seeds

and they reminded me of fuzzy caterpillars.

So we wrapped them up in string for our 'pretend' chrysalis.

 It takes sometime and patience to wrap our 'pretend' caterpillars.

 And even trickier to attach them to the inside of the container.

It has helped us learn patience and understanding for our 'real' caterpillars.

Not as complete as the real thing.

This is the first year that we've actually seen a caterpillar 

in the midst of forming their chrysalis.

If you look pass the long middle caterpillar to the one right behind it,

that one is partially formed.

By the end of the morning it was complete.

 We're still waiting on a lot more caterpillars to change.

We went outside this morning to collect some twigs for them to climb on

and to make it look a little more natural.

Butterflies for Snack

No we didn't do anything crazy like dip butterflies in chocolate,

reminiscent of the Galloping Gourmet.

We made our own using pretzels, celery, dip and raisins.

The recipe.

Sorry not the clearest picture.

I forgot to take a separate picture of it

and I haven't learned how to put a word document into my blog.

The children enjoyed counting the items needed

and putting them together.

Then the best part - eating.

Play Trays Week #17

Here they are...

Butterfly life cycle cards with matching toy pieces.

Hidden butterflies.

There were only four butterflies hidden.

Some children kept looking under the same cone.

It was suggested that the cones be turned over after

looking under them.

 Frog counting cards

with little frogs to match.

And finally...

 Poking coloured sticks into an old cheese shaker.