Hibernation to Spring

   
While focusing on hibernation we started to talk about
when do we know it is spring.

We talked about which animals hibernate and which don’t. 
We talked about when the animals would wake. 
What signs of spring would we see?
    
When these children were helping the bears to come out
of their cave, I asked them that question. 
M responded by looking at the tree beside the cave
and saying “we see buds’.

So with just ten minutes left in the morning she pulled
the tree over to the art area. 
I pulled out tissue paper and they got to work.
 
After they cut or ripped the paper they crumpled it into balls
and we hot glued it to the branches.
 
When it was clean up time we left the materials for others to continue
                               tomorrow.

Hibernation

               This is our cave.

              This is our cave full of bears.

     This is our cave full of bears and a child. 
                 Do we sleep all winter?

   Sometimes we need some porridge.

      Sometimes we need a story.
 
 
      Sometimes we were taken out to make space
    
                         for friends.

Tube Snakes

     
This is the year of the snake and I spotted this easy snake craft on
Pinterest from eighteen25.
  
The snake is made from a toilet or paper towel tube.
       
I brought out toy snakes so we could see their colouring
and the colour patterns on them.
 
Cutting the tube in a spiral is very challenging.
It helped when a grown up held and turned the tube while
the child cut.
   
We looked closely at the toy snakes to see their
eyes and tongue,
     
     then we added them to our own snake.
  

We finished them off by gluing a chop stick inside to help the snake stretch out longer.

            

Easy Fortune Cookies

         
                   We made fortune cookies today. 
            Thanks to Mrs. Longland for the recipe. 
      She makes them with her grade 2 class every year.
       
        The children are becoming familiar with cooking at the
                                   round table. 
             

        They wait their turn and are starting to be able to predict 

                       when their turn is next.

           
                     Their patience is growing.
          
Once the batter was mixed the children and their grown ups wrote fortunes
                                    – good wishes –
                            on the little pieces of paper.
 
                                    Time to cook.
 
                  Scoop the batter with a tablespoon. 
      Use the back of the spoon to spread it thin in the pan. 
                 When the edges are brown flip it.
     
         As soon as you remove the cookie from the heat,
      place the fortune on it and fold in half then half again.  
               They will become crispy as they cool.
       
    It may take some adjustment of the heat to get it right
           but once you do they don’t take long to cook. 
               Thanks to my volunteers for cooking.

 
     Time to crack them open, read the fortune and enjoy the cookie.
        
                   Happy thoughts your way.

         
                  The recipe for you to try.

Chopsticks

The children have been learning how to use chopsticks. 

Chopsticks are available in different play areas around the room.
 
In the house area there are chopsticks and fortune cookies
or as some say ‘they look like dumplings’.

 
On one of the play trays they could transfer yarn noodles
from basket to basket.

 
But today at the art table we used chopsticks to move cooked spaghetti
noodles from the paint to the paper.
 
It was fascinating to watch how they attempted to use the chopsticks.
I tied some of the sets of chopsticks together to make it easier.
 
Even after watching how it’s done they decided to find
their own way to move the noodles.
 
And extending the play by making fingerprints. 
Fingers are just chopsticks.
 
Or learning that the faster you rub the noodles on the paper

the lighter in colour they become.

 
Two books we read today were “The Story of Chopsticks” and
 
Maggie’s Chopsticks.