Sibley Owl Drawing Lesson

We did another David Sibley bird-drawing lesson on YouTube.

They are only 5-8 minutes long and I think it helps the kids learn

to pay attention to detail and teaches them to follow directions.

They love it!  I can't believe what a great job they do!

 

Earth Day - April 22nd, 2021

One of my favorite days of the school year is Earth Day.  I'm sure that's not surprising.  I love to do a lot of fun activities with the kindergartners on this day.  We had such a great day!

We went out in the morning to do a nature scavenger hunt and we the first bird we saw on the playground was the European Starling.  He is a mimic and he was making the sound of the Red-tailed Hawk.  The kids were impressed!

One of the boys found a worm while doing his project and we all think worms are pretty interesting these days after our worm unit.

The kids loved this activity where they had to search for a flower, write yes or no and then sketch it.

For this activity they word a bracelet that was masking tape with the sticky side out.  They found nature items to stick to it: dandelions, clover, leaves, berries, grass, pebbles, etc.

I knew that rainy weather would soon be moving in, so we went to the lake quick to see if we could find any birds.  We found 16 species of birds and some were identified by sound like the White-breasted Nuthatch and the Downy Woodpecker.

Of course we had to hike through the "spooky forest".  We didn't see much in their today, but we could hear the Red-winged Blackbird singing over and over.

The kids were excited to see that the Canada Goose has a duck nesting beside it.

Here they are before we headed home.

We went around and picked up trash.  These kids did a great job!

We did the first step of our 4 Season tree painting.  We will finish it tomorrow.

A couple of days ago we made Earth Day posters to hang around the school and in our hallway.  They have a list of ways that we can help the Earth.

We finished the tree project on Friday.  Now we added

the details.

 

Ally's Field Day

On April 21st, we spent the day at the football field for Ally's Field Day.  Each team consisted of a K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd,...grader up to 8th grade.  The 13 teams took turns participating in 13 events.  Every 10 minutes we moved to a different activity.  It went from 12:30-3:15 or so.  We had a great time and everyone was smiling!  I love days like this!

For this event, the kids had to sneak up and try to grab a clothes

pin from the blindfolded person.  They took the chance of being

bopped by a pool noodle, but they thought it was funny...and it was!

For this skiing activity they had to cooperate and work

together when the leader said, "Left!" They needed to lift

their left foot and ski, so they could move forward.

At the end, they all had to put one shoe under the goal

post.  Then as a relay, each team went one at a time

to get their shoe. 

These bird-loving kindergartners love to draw birds, so the other day we did the online, step-by-step drawing lesson with David Sibley, the renowned bird artist. The kids loved it and I was shocked at how well they did drawing an American Goldfinch. I noticed that later during playtime, some of them were drawing birds and using the same techniques. Give it a try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1JgE-d0mY4

A New Total - They Know 337 Species of Birds!

 

Do worms mix and till the soil?

 

We layered the jars with black dirt and sand.  Then one

jar got worms and the other did not.  We are watching to

see how long it will take for them to mix and till the soil.  

These experiments teach students the value of worms 

for healthy soil. As the worms eat the soil and dead 

leaves, their castings/poop are filled with nutrients 

and their tunneling allows more water and oxygen into 

the soil to benefit plants.  I also learned a lot about worms

during these lessons.

Lessons From a Worm

We did some interesting lesson with earthworms.  First of all, we discussed their needs and wants.  Then, we discussed and experimented to find the answers to these questions.  All the while, we wrote about it in our Worm Journal.

How do worms mix and till the soil?  Why are worms called nature's recyclers?

We sure laughed when this sneaky worm crawled out of a small hole in the box.

Where do worms like to live?  Where it is light or dark?

How are worms the same as and different than humans?

Do worms like wet or dry conditions?

They enjoyed looking closely to see if a worm had a mouth, eyes or nose.  

I was impressed with how gentle the kindergartners were with their worm.

We all agreed that we learned a lot about worms and about living things.  We also learned about how important healthy soil is for growing plants.

 

Bunny Baskets

The kindergartners enjoyed making their own Easter baskets.

They were surprised when they came in from recess and found

their baskets hidden and filled with goodies!  That sneaky

Easter Bunny!

 

A Lesson on Observing Nature

                                   

My friend, Anne Lewis, had a lesson online for children about observing nature and making conclusions about an animal while looking carefully at photos on iNaturalist. The students sketched the Great Blue Heron that she was talking about.  They were encouraged to use labels.  It thought the kids did a great job!  They were so thrilled at the end when she told her viewers that many of the photos she was using were taken by Kelly Preheim, a kindergarten teacher in Armour, South Dakota.