Polar Play

Last week we moved from exploring Penguins and the South Pole to polar bears and the Arctic.  Here are some of the activities we’ve done for Arctic.

  
       Sensory tables – one full of fake snow and other with rice.


                                   Small world play.

                     
 
                    A new fingerplay with stuffies to play it out.


  We built igloos at the art table using styrofoam bowls and packing peanuts.

                  
   
        While continuing to build our igloo a big polar bear moved in and
                   that provided an invitation to play inside.

    We added the pillows for comfort and now its a hide away for quieter play.
 
               Time to be alone with the bear or to make a fort.
      
This afternoon I added a blanket underneath and smaller pillows.  I’m not sure if we’ll add any more jugs to the top but will focus on making a bit more of a tunnel
                                       out the front.
        
               I like the coloured lids on the inside of the igloo.

Bird Feeding

Today we went on a bird walk at Lazo Marsh.  It was a small group that
           ventured out but we had so many birds welcome us.
           
When we got out of our cars the chickadees were waiting to be fed, well
                                 that’s what it felt like.
      
                   Off we set with our nature bags full of bird feed
            
                                          and binoculars.
     
The first thing we spotted wasn’t a bird but moss on a tree that looked like
                                              a face.
        
             
             How exciting to have the birds eat right out of our hands. 
                            It kind of made us hungry.
     
                              Time for a snack and story. 
As I was getting started the birds landed on my hands looking for food. 
   But when they realized there was no seed they flew off.
 
               I told a 'clothesline' story.  It's called “Owl Feathers”. 
         As you tell the story you hang the pictures on a clothesline.

Here are the pictures I used.
  
Here is the story.
Owl Feathers
A long time ago animals used to give parties and balls, just as people do. One day the birds decided to have a ball. Birds from everywhere in the world were invited to come, wearing their finest feathers. Hawk was in charge of delivering the invitations, for in those days he was the most polite bird in the world.
Hawk set off around the world and delivered each invitation personally. He invited the dove and the flamingo, the rooster and the sparrow, the duck and the parrot. He invited big birds and small birds, chattering birds and birds with beautiful songs , birds with bright feathers and birds that were gray and brown.
When Hawk came to Owl’s house, he gave him the invitation to the ball, as he had the other birds.
Owl read it and then said sadly “I cannot come”
“Why not?” asked Hawk
“Well, just look at me” said Owl, “Don’t you see that I have nothing to wear?”
Hawk looked at him and noticed that owl was completely naked. He had no feathers at all on his body, not a single one. He was quite dismal-looking, in fact.
Hawk felt sorry for Owl and said “Don’t worry. I will talk with my friends, and we’ll see what we can do to get you something to wear to the ball.”
Hawk told the other birds that Owl couldn’t come to the ball because he had nothing to wear. “I will lend him one of my feathers” said the Dove, who was very kind.
“I will lend him one of mine” said the Duck
“And I will lend him one of my shiny ones” said the Rooster
Soon all the birds had promised to lend Owl feathers to wear to the ball. On the day of the ball Hawk carried the feathers to Owl’s house.
When Owl saw all the many beautiful feathers Hawk had brought him, he said, “How can I ever thank you, my friend?’
“Don’t thank me” said Hawk “Thank my friends the other birds instead”
But Owl paid no attention to him. He was too busy dressing up in the feathers and admiring his reflection in the lake.
Hawk said good-bye to Owl “See you at the ball” Hawk said “And by the way, don’t forget, my friends are only lending you their feathers. They’re not giving them to you to keep. You have to give each feather back to its owner as soon as the ball is over. Don’t forget”
Owl promised Hawk he would do that. But when the night of the ball arrived, he could hardly enjoy the dancing. All he could think about was that he had to return the beautiful feathers he was wearing. And he didn’t want to.
None of the dancers noticed when Owl left the ball. He hid the forest, in a dark hole in a tree where none of the other birds could find him.
The next morning the birds went looking for Owl. They called, “Owl, where are you? Give us back the feathers you borrowed from us.”
But no matter how loudly they called, Owl didn’t answer. At last all the birds had to go back to wherever they belonged without the fine feathers they had loaned to Owl, and each one of them was very angry at him for breaking his promise.
From that time to this, birds still spend part of every day looking for Owl. That’s why Owl never comes out in the daytime. He stays hidden in his dark hole in the tree until it is night, when the other birds are asleep.
And late at night he comes our and dances all alone. He looks very handsome in his fine feathers, but only the moon and the stars can see him.

Measuring our Planting a Promise Garden

Spring has sprung at our end of the country and believe it or not our flowers are
                                     starting to come up.

When we came back to school, from Christmas break, I noticed our Planting a Promise garden had tiny green shoots.  Our daffodils are sprouting.  Time to begin
                                          measuring.
                         
   I packed our nature bags with clipboard, a post it note, pencil and a ruler.
         
                 This is our second week measuring the plants.
   Each family tried to find the same plant that they measured last week.
    
Once they found it we were ready to mark it with a name stick so
                each week we’ll know which plants to measure.
               
Working with rulers is new for our children and one lesson we learned was to
          turn the ruler so the low numbers 1,2,3… started at the ground.
     
After they counted how tall the sprout was they then recorded it on their
                                               post-it note.

                       Printing the number and drawing a picture. 
         
  This is our chart where we have been and will continue to record our findings.
                       
Each week we’ll check the growth and predict what number our plant will
                                   be at before we measure.
              
                  In one week the plants grew one centimeter.

Play Trays From Last Week

Feed the Penguin game.  Roll the die, match the colour to a fish and feed the
    penguin.  It’s made from a coffee creamer container covered with felt.

       Once the penguin is full unscrew the lid and empty him.


                       What floats? What sinks?
      
Experimenting with the different materials provided then sorting
                  by what they do in the water.

  
Patterning cards from Scholastic using penguins, snowflakes, mittens and sleds.

    
I found these small pool balls at a thrift store.  They are numbered 1 – 10
                 which works great for placing on our 10 golf tees.