Dear Y'all,
Our week began with Jack and the Beanstalk. We added beans to our rice table, read a second version of the story the next day, and talked about magic beans. We then made beans and rice collages. We ate the beans and rice for snacks. Three people ate four platefuls--each!
In the block area this week we built bridges, a ship that carried oil for the cars, a jumping bridge that led to the boat, a flatbed boat, a garage, and a ramp for blocks. Whew!
Farmer Kayla came by and dropped off our baby chick eggs, very gently. We got to meet the proud chicken parents, Will and Gracie. Will had sharp nails to protect the hen from foxes and snakes. We had just read My Little Hen and knew what the red thing on top of the rooster's head was called. Everybody but two friends wanted to pet Gracie. Farmer Kayla told us to always wash our hands with soap and water after petting the chicks. We saw illustrations of baby chicks growing inside their eggs. We pretended to be baby chicks, curled inside eggs. We pecked, slept, pecked, slept, pecked, and came out of our shells.
We talked about incubator rules. The children said no leaning on the table, no bumping the table, no leaning on the incubator. Farmer Kayla said the baby chicks are busy growing and need to sleep. We wrote the rules and posted them on the incubator table. Everyone had many turns this week to stand on a chair and see the twelve eggs. We turned them three times a day but Farmer Kayla said Gracie usually turns them about a hundred times a day.
We made a list of Chick Rules. How do we treat baby chicks? Someone said, "We treat them softly." We read Chicken Stew and My Little Hen many times.
We looked at three different Jack and the Beanstalk books and compared the stories, looking for differences and similarities. We examined all beanstalks and went to work creating our own beanstalk. It grew greener by the minute. The next day we cut felt and paper into leaves and added them to the beanstalk. As much glue as possible was poured and squeezed. In the end, we added golden magic dust.
Family Shares. Everyone is invited into the classroom to do a family share. Anything goes, within reason. It can be as simple as reading a favorite book to doing a project, singing a song, or playing an instrument. Our folk tale unit will lead to learning about other backyard animals. If anyone wants to bring a pet from home for a family share, that would be great, too!
Next week we'll hang our beanstalk in the big room, and pet our baby chicks!
Have a weekend,
Therese