Lots of experiments with snow and ice. New friends came to play. We welcomed them with warm hearts. The children used found items and snow to create a carnival game, knock the bottle over. Creating and following tracks is a fun thing to do.
These are the 100th day activities we had. We sent birthday cards to a man turning 100 years old in March. We found out later he had received 90 000 cards by March 6th.
Since we are all at home practicing social distancing I thought I would post photographs by the month that may or may not have been posted. The children can keep connected through the blog.
Tell us what you remember? Write in the comments what the children say is happening. Leave a message for a friend and they can reply. Play outside in your backyard. Take a walk around the block. Go for a drive in the country. No playgrounds and avoid people. Be safe and stay healthy. National Geographic Education Our Activities For the past few weeks the Kinder Forest School group has been working very hard learning about habitats, animals of the world and how damage to a habitat can cause some animals to be in danger. It all began with our novel series The Magic Treehouse. The story Dingoes after Dinnertime tells the tale of Jack and Annie going in the treehouse and making a wish. They end up in Australia during a drought. Somehow a forest fire ensued, Jack and Annie hid in a cave with a kangaroo. When they come out a rainstorm has put the fire out and all is well. Then real life happens and the forest fires in Australia are taking over the news. We looked on line at some of the photos. The children were very concerned about the animals and their habitats being destroyed. The question came up 'How can we help?' Roxane saw an animal rescue page on Facebook looking for donations. One donation is knitted/crocheted nests for birds and rodents. We have a set of knitting looms and a few of the children have shown interest in sewing lately. This is a perfect fit. Roxane also saw blankets were needed. Her quilting group is making a blanket and needs some squares to be made. The children got to work on the looms right away. Roxane brought in all the pieces needed for the quilt. Both activities build fine motor skills. Next we looked at more photos online and noticed the kookaburra in a photo. The children used the book to compare with the photo. Next we tried some pointillism art similar to the indigenous people of Australia. Eric and Edouard tried to write their names in dots. I added some new animals to the block area. Koala, kangaroo, panda, orangutan, owl, snake, panda, camel, monkey, bison and tiger. All of these animals are on the endangered species list. Some are in more danger than others. We used reference cards from National Geographic to get more information. We drew pictures of the animals we were talking about. The children chose an animal and used a new medium, charcoal to draw their animal. Once they were completed they chose to add colour using chalk pastels. Some children tried to be realistic while others used their imaginations. Our library has grown. I added several books talking about animals in Australia and around the world. Some books are about different habitat areas like deserts or rainforests. There are a lot of animal books and world atlas books. There were concerns about how to put out the fire. We looked at the NG photo of a fire bomber and watched a NG fire bombers video. We learned about how something simple like burning toilet paper can cause a forest and people's homes to be destroyed. We learned how firefighters burn a break wall to stop a fire from spreading. Also the weather can make a fire worsen or blow the fire over a break wall. We compared how we take care of the forest (bag toilet paper and dispose at the centre) to how others care for their surroundings. I shared a story about the fires in northern Ontario a few years ago and the smoke I saw and smelled. Also the water bombers use my river to scoop up water to drop on the fires. Next I added airplanes to the block area and a long piece of blue fabric. The children act out their new knowledge through storytelling and play scenarios. As part of my course I am to add new dimensions to the learning. The NG framework highlights Attitude, Skill and Knowledge (ASK). NG also looks at scale (local,regional & global) and perspective (human, nature, spacial, economic, historical, political, geography, ecology ). I also needed to do an activity using a NG theme. I chose Map It. This activity is using a storybook and a map showing the area the story takes place in and using cut outs to tell the story on the map. We did this a little differently. We used a world map and tagged all the locations the characters in our novel series visited. Next we used an atlas book and the animals from the block area. The children each had a turn showing the group where their animal lives. Then we stuck animal cutouts to the global map. We watched another video animation Rang-Tang by Greenpeace (https://youtu.be/3Ha6xUVqezQ ). We have watched this video a few times throughout the year. It is a great reminder that humans can be both destructive and constructive when it comes to the natural world. We have been so busy with all our learning and the nests take a lot of time. The rescue has been overwhelmed with items they asked people to stop sending things. Now we have four nests ready to go and nowhere to send them. So instead of helping globally we are going to help locally. We have found two rescues nearby that we like. The Owl Foundation 4117 Twenty-First St, Vineland Station, ON L0R 2E0 Grimsby Urban Wildlife Care 23 Betts Ave, Grimsby, ON L3M 2S7 My NATGEO capstone video https://natgeo.novoed.com/#!/courses/educator-certification-winter-2020/reports/1330168
Written by S Robitaille RECE |
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August 2020
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