Forest Friends

Toad was finally able to come home!  He spent the summer with a good friend.  One of my kiddos was particularly interested in toad, so I had him help me set up toad's forest floor habitat.  We went out to the woods and he used a shovel to dig up some earth.  We dumped all of the loose dirt, decaying leaves, sticks and rocks into the terrarium.  Next came toad's little pond with fresh water.  Finally we put toad in.  He was so excited that he wouldn't leave toad's side for the rest of the day.

A few days later I brought toad lunch (crickets).  All of the kiddos loved watching toad catch his lunch.  They were very fascinated by the whole process.  We will also use the forest floor terrarium to study decomposition, seeds, worms and other insects.  Almost every visitor to our classroom is immediately drawn to this little ecosystem.

We learned about squirrels this week by reading many nonfiction books.  We gathered the facts and wrote a story about them together.

We learned about squirrels.  They 

climb up trees.  They can eat acorns. 

 They even have sharp teeth and 

bushy tails.  Squirrels are 

happy and brown.

We also read "Earl the Squirrel" by Don Freeman for fun.  The illustrations are fantastic and the story is engaging.  The kiddos did a great job pointing out the portions of the story that are fantasy and contrasting them with the squirrel facts that they just learned.   

We used unit blocks and nature blocks to build many different structures.  These kiddos are building castles for the fairy princess.

I like to introduce different tools to the kiddos during art.  We painted with feathers.  Every child used the tool a little differently.  

We have been learning about Creation.  I have a box with many picture books, story bibles and props so the kiddos can re-tell it over and over.  They have also done a wonderful job learning their memory verses.  I am so proud of them.

We begin every day with a time of prayer and praise.  It really does set the tone for the day.