Chickadees, 10 Feb

Themes Explored:

Lunar New Year. We discussed Lunar New Year celebrations and shared the story of "The tiger in the forest". We shared pictures of Lunar New Year celebrations and decorated our lion for doing a lion dance or made our own dragon.

Noticing things and scavenger hunt. Snow fairies left silver baubles (not easy to spot in the white wintery scenery) in the trees for us to find. They drew us to climb the hill to find them, we even setup a rope for our climb.

Music and cultural dance. For our experience with Lunar New Year Lion dance celebrations, we listened to some traditional music and made some of our own with similar instruments. It seemed the opportunity to make a great ruckus was enjoyed by all! We also learnt the first few steps of the lion dance.

Skills Embraced:

Snow Play. Sunny and chilly with lovely powder snow, we had a ball sliding and climbing!

Resilience in cold temperatures. It was a chilly day but the Chickadees were troopers we stayed out more than an hour and a half at the beginning of class and only came in to the cabin for about half an hour. Thanks to the wonderful efforts of parents to dress their little ones so warmly! We played happily the whole time and only really needed to come inside for snacks.

Perseverence and accomplishment. We played on the hills so there was a lot of climbing, both in our play and in the scavenger hunt. The chickadees took to the challenge without hesitation and kept at it despite the considerable exertion involved.

Confidence with risk. Sliding on the hill with the mats was a risky endeavour for which their confidence increased so that by the end all we heard was "weeeee" followed closely by "again!"

Fine motor, scissor skills, creative colouring, as part of our Lunar New Year themed craft.

Exploratory experience with coyote hide.

Connection Questions:

What animal hide (face) did we investigate inside the cabin?

Did you have fun sliding in the snow? Did you slide on the mat?

What did you learn about Lunar New Year? What animal is central to the celebrations?

What instruments did you play today? How would you describe the sound they made?

Did you draw with chalk? Did the chalk work on the snow?

What did you make in the snow kitchen and what ingredients did you use?

Did you use pretend sugar or flour? Did you use pine needles or leaves to your recipe?