january 25
This morning we got straight to work on our Great Horned Owl book. Autumn drew another skunk and Sylvie worked on fish illustration. We’ve been referencing photos of the animals to help us choose realistic colors when painting. Still, sometimes the animals come out looking like a rainbow or with green heads :)
In the park, we discovered that one of the smaller duck ponds was frozen solid. After Deidre thoroughly tested the ice, she gave us the green light to walk around the perimeter. We had so much fun gliding around pretending we were ice skating! In the other ponds that weren’t quite as frozen, we used sticks to make holes in the ice. Then we lowered willow branches through the holes trying to poke the hibernating frogs and turtles at the bottom of the pond.
To warm up, we climbed the rock walls and basked in the sunshine. We also had a blast hiding in the “bamboo jungle” and trying to throw sticks at the frozen fountain.
We headed back to school to eat lunch inside and then had some extra time to play before rest. We love Snail Pace Race and all cheered as each snail crossed the finish line. It’s very exciting *every* time. We also worked together to complete the sign language alphabet puzzle — making the sound of each letter as we picked it up and searched for its special spot on the board.
After rest, we listed to a new story called Winter Is Coming and talked about the animals we see in our park in the wintertime. Then, we filled a silicon donut tray with a variety of seeds, baby pinecones, and dried strawflowers. We called our creations “fairy gardens.” We took turns filling the donuts up with water. “The seeds are moving when the water goes in!” We set the tray outside on the table and are going to see what it looks like tomorrow morning. We think that the water is going to freeze! If so, we can hang our ornaments on trees in the park and the seeds will become food for the birds and squirrels. We’re very excited about this project!