Happy Earth Day

     
It was a beautiful morning and we spent the entire time at the pond.  
Here are the activities we did.

Sit, Look and Draw
 
          
We took some time to sit by the pond and look around.  Then drew something that we saw.

Pond Skimmers

  
Pond skimmers made from old embroidery hoops and panty hose.  We think that is pollen from the trees.

Building Boats

             
 
This is a favourite activity, first to use the hammers and second to set sail.

Sit and Listen

     
Take some time just to sit and listen.  What can you hear?  They heard lots of birds.
      
They also heard the Snowbirds as they trained overhead.

Earth Art


          
                  
By using natural and man-made materials the families created works of art on the ground.

Chalk Stenciling
 
 
          
This was the top favourite activity of the morning.  I created stencils using a die cut machine, laminated them and then cut out the center.  The children picked one, placed in on the ground then sprayed water on them.  Next they used a grater and sidewalk chalk to leave the shape behind.

Sun Prints
  
Thanks to Colleen, a fellow facilitator, for this idea.  The children placed various objects on dark paper when they arrived in the morning then before leaving they removed them to see if anything happened to the paper.

Play dough
                
The children used materials they found around the mat to create.

Camping
       

With pretend fire and s’mores.

Chairs with Dolls and Fairies
                
 
A quiet spot to make believe with a friend.

It was a fantastic day to be outside.  Hope you enjoyed Earth Day too.

Peeling Eggs

I hard boiled eggs for snack this week. 
           
I placed them in a bowl on the table for the children to peel.

They loved the job.  Some have cooked at StrongStart before and had the opportunity to crack a fresh egg.  That was their approach with the hard boiled egg too – smack it on the table.  But when nothing happened we showed them how to pick off the shell to see that the egg was different inside.
                 
After peeling the egg they placed it in a bowl of water, to rinse, to be sure
all the little pieces of shell were off.
      
Then we used an egg slicer which was a new tool for many of the children.
       
Slicing it made it easier to share the egg with the group.

As we were peeling the egg one child asked if we could colour the shells. 
       
We used our clear coffee mugs so we could observe how the water
changed when we dropped in a dye tablet.
      
One egg I took and broke the shell, making cracks around the egg. 
Then placed it in the the yellow dye.
     
It was interesting to discover, when we peeled the yellow egg that a little of the dye coloured the egg white but mostly the colour was on the inside of the shell.

A Bunny Called Nat

I’ve posted this story twice in the past.  Both times with a video of myself telling the story. 
              
This year I added more pictures while I told the story.  I don’t have a video this year but here is the story.
                    
Once upon a time there was a little gray rabbit and his name was Nat.  One day he looked around and saw that all his brothers and sisters, cousins and friends were gray, too. He thought he would like to be different from them.   So he said:

I’m a bunny called Nat,

I’m short and fat,

And I can change my colour

Just like that! (snap your fingers)

    
Suddenly Nat was a blue bunny.  He was blue like the sky and blue like a blueberry and blue like the water in the pond.  It felt nice and cool being blue.  He decided to take a look at himself in the water.  He leaned so far over that SPLASH he fell into the pond.  He fell into the deep blue water and he couldn’t swim.  He called for help.  His friends heard him, but when they came to the pond they couldn’t see him because he was blue just like the water.  Fortunately a turtle swam by and helped Nat get safely to shore.  He decided he didn’t like being blue.  So he said:

I’m a bunny called Nat

I’m short and fat

and I can change my colour

Just like that!

He changed his colour to yellow.  Yellow like a daffodil, yellow like a bird and yellow like the sun.  Yellow seemed like a happy colour to be.  He was very proud of his new colour, and he decided to take a walk through the jungle.  Who do you think he met in the jungle?  He met a lion.  The lion looked at Nat’s colour and said “what are doing in that yellow coat?  I’m the only animal in this jungle that is suppose to be yellow!”  He growled so fiercely that Nat the bunny was very frightened and ran all the way home.   He said:

I’m a bunny called Nat

I’m short and fat

and I can change my colour

Just like that!

This time he changed to green.  He was green like the leaves on the trees, green like a grasshopper and green like the grass in the meadow.  As a green bunny, Nat thought, he’d be the envy of all the other bunnies.  He wanted to play with his other bunny friends in the meadow.  But because he was the same colour of the grass he could not be seen.  His friends just ran and jumped about him not seeing him at all.  So Nat had no one to play with while he was green.  Being green wasn’t much fun.  So he said:

I’m a bunny called Nat

I’m short and fat

and I can change my colour

Just like that!

Now he was orange.  Orange like a carrot, orange like a pumpkin, and orange like the fruit.  He felt like he was the brightest colour of all.  He decided he would go out and play with all his brothers, sisters and friends.  But what do you supposed happened?  When his friends saw him, they all stopped playing and started to laugh.  “Ha-ha who ever heard of an orange bunny?”  No one wanted to play with him.  He didn’t want to be orange anymore.  He didn’t want to be a blue bunny, a yellow bunny, or a green bunny anymore.  So he said:

I’m a bunny called Nat

I’m short and fat

and I can change my colour

Just like that!

He changed himself to gray.  And now that he was gray all of his friends played with him.  No one growled or laughed at him.  He was gray like a rain cloud, gray like a pussy willow and gray like an elephant.  It felt warm and comfortable being gray.  From that time on, Nat the bunny was always happy being a gray bunny and he decided that it’s really best being just what you are.

Each time Nat changed colour I would show the children and ask them what else was that colour.  They really enjoyed taking part and thought of many suggestions.

 

Where Did Our School Get It’s Name?

Part two of learning about ‘where names come from’, we are focusing on our school.
Our school use to have another name when it was a middle school.  But about six years ago our district reconfigured and removed middle schools sending the grade 8 & 9 students to high school and the sevens back to elementary.  Our old school became too small so we moved into the vacant middle school.
     
The middle school was given an Aboriginal name and during the opening it also received a totem pole made by a local carver.
    
Part of our re-dedication ceremony, that will be held at the beginning of May, is to learn about the Aboriginal name and the pole.  Every student in the school has drawn a picture of the pole either from memory or looking at it.
     
This morning was our turn to sit in the foyer, look, talk and draw the totem pole.   We talked about the shapes and lines we could see.  We guessed what the pole looked like.  Here are a few drawings.

We also did a survey.
 
The majority of the families didn't know that our school had an Aboriginal name. 
     It’s Dux'solas meaning a place to look from. 

The pole is Kulus, little brother of Thunderbird.  In the next couple of weeks the carver will be visiting a couple of the older classes telling the story of the pole.  Then a few of those students will share the story with us.