What a happy week we have had so far! Naturally! We have had such lovely, sunny days lately. It's such a pleasure to be outside and to bring some of the outside in as well. Our week started with a nature walk, where the children collected interesting natural things they found around campus. Later, each child emptied the contents of his/her bag onto a small tray for closeup study. We used magnifying glasses, and our senses to really investigate what was found. The children used descriptive words to talk about their natural items, then they drew pictures of a few in their Science Journals and used inventive spelling to write the descriptive words. Awesome!
After each child recorded their information, the contents were packed back into the individual bags and collected to make a "baggie" nature book for the children to share in our Science Center.
It's so much fun to use nature for learning across the curriculum! We love to spend a lot of time outside, but it's also great to bring the outside in! The children played a matching game this week where they matched natural objects such as shells, rocks, leaves, bark, etc. to the impression each made in a moldable material we call "Bubber". The children had to figure out which item made each impression, and tell why they thought their figures were correct. Afterward, they were able to use those same natural objects and some others of their choice to make their own impressions in the "Bubber". They also made cool art by using stamp pads in different colors and stamping the natural objects on paper. Take a look!
Mr. S invited us down to the Lower Division lunch area to take a look through his amazing telescope! Guess what we saw! A mama and papa bald eagle and their eaglets were perched at the top of the electrical tower in their beautiful nest. We got a real birds-eye view of them in their own home! What an amazing treat!
 |
| This is the view from my camera. The telescope view was so much better!!! |
What was made by MAN and what came from NATURE?
The children sifted through a tub of sand that had a mixture of man made and natural items inside. They discussed together which things came from people and which were created by "Mother Nature". There were some interesting discussions about wooden pencils, polished rocks, etc. Where do they belong? Ask your child? :)
It's been a naturiffic week so far! Please stay tuned for more pictures and exciting descriptions about the days to come. We will head off to our campus pond tomorrow to do some more inquiring and investigative work!
Happy Wednesday!
