Chickadees, 17 Feb

Themes Explored:

Bears and what they eat. We were very fortunate to have a bear hide to examine and explore today in class. We discussed what we know about bears, shared an Lakota (of the Sioux people in North and South Dakota) story about "Badger and the Bear". We took our discussion of bears' favourite food and made berry enriched goodies in our snow kitchen.

Fire and understanding flammable materials. We started a small fire and lit different materials to see what burns and how quickly.

Frozen sun catchers. These pretty winter creations had us looking at things in the forest differently to see their beauty and how they might contribute to our artistic sun catchers.

Skills Embraced:

Snow Play and climbing. The fresh snow made a wondrous playground for sliding and climbing. With a rope and some teamwork we conquered the hill (only to slide back down again, of course!)

Soap Carving. Taking our carving skills to soap carving. We enjoyed sit spot in the trees whilst carving.

Risk and challenge, physical literacy, balance and upper body strength; Obstacle course. Our obstacle course was a rambunctious hit.. from a slack line to monkey bars to walking a plank and leaping challenges. Also a great deal of tree climbing on the fallen tree was involved in our free play.

Connection questions:

What did you notice about the bear hide, fur and claw? What did you learn about bears, what do they like to eat?

What did you make in the snow kitchen today? Was it a special recipe for bears?

Did you have fun sliding in the snow? Was the hill difficult to climb?

If you were investigating fire, what did you burn and what surprised you about the flammable materials?

What was your secret password in the game in tree with all the sticks?

Did you enjoy balancing on the slack line? Did you like hanging on the monkey bars? Did you walk the plank?