Do You Speak Bird?

I've been in a slight blog drought lately, but I still have so much to share! Three weeks have gone by... three whirlwind weeks! In my mind, I've been bothered because I want to make time to spew out all my preschool thoughts... but by the time I get home on any given work-day, the brain is wanting a break and is exhausted! Hence, no blog. So now, Saturday morning, is my spewing time! I hope you're ready!

Three weeks is just too much to shove into one big blog, so I'm dividing the weeks into three. Helps organize my brain, and it's probably easier for you all to understand all my craziness then, too! Here we go!

Bird, bird, bird... bird is the word! March 10th through 14th was all about different birds! While I could've gone the route of planning topics about birds in general (feathers, flying, laying eggs, and such), and what makes them different from other animal species, I decided to take it in another direction. Each day, we learned about a different larger-than-life bird! Eagles, flamingos, penguins, ostrichs, and parrots were our focus! And because Kate and I were really into learning about all the birds, the kids were interested in discovering things about them, too!

Here is our Bird Brainstorm we did first thing on Monday!

Artwork from this week has been some our favorite to date!

 

Kate did such a great job organizing the execution for these adorable "hand- and footprint" parrots of all the kids! Super-elaborate but super-adorable!

 

 Whenever any teacher needed a good little laugh during the day, they knew to come check out the precious little penguins in the hall and instant happiness ensued! The penguins, in particular, were such a perfect project because the topic was such a familiar focus for the kids, yet it provided such an open end for how they could each create something so unique.

Following step-by-step directions is an important skill to have entering Kindergarten, and a fun way to practice that with my kiddos is step-by-step drawing! We oftentimes make it into a guessing game too, which they always love! With one or two shapes at a times, I draw on my individual markerboard. They have to copy what I've drawn on their own board, all along giving guesses for what they are actually going to have as an end-product. I think I have just as much fun as the kids do! They always make sure to compliment my drawings too, even if they may think it doesn't look anything like it's suppose to in the end! This week, we obviously drew a lot of birds... this picture shows our cute ostriches!

What they all said:

"Cute ostrich, Ms. Anne!"

 

What they were actually thinking, and were polite enough NOT to say:

"Anne, why are you making us draw these birds that really just look like weird slinkies?"

After bird week, the kids were absolutely thrilled to have an in-house field trip with the National Eagle Center! This special place, on the Mississippi River in Wabasha, MN, is home to 5 injured and rescued eagles (4 bald and 1 golden). We were lucky enough to have Angel, one of the rescued bald eagles, come to visit us! She has been nursed back to health through close care and operations, after falling out of a nest and breaking both wings.

The kiddos loved learning her story and were able to recall information they had learned about eagles during our Bird Week! One of the highlights for us teachers was watching how fast the kids could move behind us when Katie, the eagle expert, warned the kids about Angel's pooping habits. Before Angel came out of her travel cage, Katie stuck out a yardstick and extended it as far as she could. Then she explained that when Angel has to poop, it might fall straight down or it might go further than the yardstick across the room! Ahh!!! The kids quickly moved behind where we teachers were sitting! When I heard this, I sat there calm for the kids but was hoping and praying that Angel's eagle bottom would be facing opposite me and the kids when nature was calling! Made for an exciting field trip!

 

http://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/

Kid Quotables

 

Anne: Hey sweetie! How was your weekend?

Little Boy: Not good... I had to do chores and go to bed early every night.

A: Why?

LB: Because I was bad.

A: Oh, that doesn't sound good. Why did you choose to be bad?

LB: My sister was bossing me around, and I said that I wish she wasn't born.

A: That probably made her feel really sad...

LB: Well, Ms. Anne, she needs to know that she's not an adult! She's only 8!

 

(class discussion about placing toys gently in buckets vs. throwing toys)

Ms. Kate: Why is it a better choice to place toys in buckets rather than throw?

Boy: Because when you throw a toy at somebody's face, they could die!

Girl 1: Yeah, and that's not very nice to make people die.

Girl 2: You know how else people die?

Anne: (interrupting) Alright, let's move on...

 

(question/answer session with National Eagle Center expert)

Eagle expert: Does anybody have any other questions? ...Yes, you, what's your question?

Boy: (very serious) Do you speak Bird?