Bird Study

    
There are quite a variety of birds that live on our Island.
If you took the time to notice you would see birds everyday.
Just outside our windows are chickadees, robins, starlings and
further down the road toward the water are gulls, hawks and eagles.
And Trumpeter Swans winter here, in the Valley, on the farmers
fields.
 
So it was a natural choice to study birds.
We started last week with a few art activities and a visit to the bird
sanctuary at the marsh. 
 
This week I encouraged the children to tell me what they know about birds
and what they wonder.  I soon realized the children are not often asked to
express their knowledge in this way and it took some time talking about
birds first to encourage them.
 
We wrote their thoughts on bird shaped paper and hung it on our
learning tree.
 
Once we had a few samples on the tree it became easier for
the children to think of more. 
 
I started to notice that most of their knowledge was about
what birds ate and where they lived.

      So this morning I changed the way we recorded what we know.
 
               He is drawing a tree with a nest on the top.
        
          Another child’s thoughts about the food they eat.
           We will continue this for a few more days.

In the next day or two I’ll add a few posts of other activities we’ve done
to support their knowledge.

Measuring Nature

       
This week’s “I Spy Nature” walk focused on measuring.
   
Their I Spy bags contained a documentation sheet and a length of string
for the child and an information sheet for their grown up
. 
I was thrilled that a lot of the families stayed for the adventure.
 
The children searched and collected 3 items that were the same
length as their string.
 
They walked along laying their string beside items till they found
a match.
Or their grown ups would find an item and help them measure to
see if it was a match.
 
Their collection was then attached to their paper.  The tape was a
bit chunky but I couldn’t think of any other adhesive that we could
take outside and would work quickly.
Any suggestions?
 
The grown ups recorded the names of the items.
      
                     I like his presentation.
                          It's a cross.

This activity took between 15-20 minutes from start
to finish.
         
Then they headed to the big rock or back up to the playground.

Back in the school I took all their collections and presented it
on our hallway bulletin board to share with all the members
of our school community.
      
 
 

Self Portrait Snowfaces

 
We created our own snowface today.
I saw this idea as a door covering at Apex Art blogsite.
      
The children could choose from  small, medium or
large circles to begin.
     
Mirrors were provided so the children could see
their facial features; colour of eyes, hair, are there
freckles, etc.
  
Paper, markers and yarn was provided.
 
   
Like looking at twins.

Here are a few more.
 
             

She made one of her mom and dad too.

Unfortunately most of the snowfaces disappeared home before I could
get them on a bulletin board.

Icicle Painting But So Much More

             
I saw this idea over at Inner Child Fun but I modified
it slightly.
             
First instead of using glue we used diluted white paint
and eye droppers.
       
Secondly I set up our pizza box easels on the tables and
we taped paper to them,
this way the children didn’t have to lift the paper to see
results.
 
They loved it and were intrigued to watch the paint drip down
the paper. 
              
The toddlers were intrigued with how to get the paint
into the eyedropper.
Watching them I noticed that they first just dip the
eyedropper into the paint and touch it to the paper,
it leaves a little mark.
                          Success!
      
Their grown up encourages them to squeeze the
dropper and they watch bubbles form in the paint. 
                            Fun!
     
They try over and over again, not getting frustrated
because
there is no wrong way to make a mark on the paper. 
                     Wonderful!
       
Some of the older children were content to see how many
icicles they could put on the paper. 
Then watching it pool at the base, just like real icicles
melting.
                               Amazing!