Our first day of the 2019 Spring Session was super fun! For Small Group, we put together a floor puzzle of polar animals. Then we used magnifying glasses to notice which animals lived at the North Pole and South Pole. Did you know that penguins only live in the southern hemisphere? We used the floor puzzle, the wall map, and a globe to look at North and South poles, and to talk about the animals found there.
Some of the awesome dialogue about this activity included where the light was coming from when they used the magnifying glasses. We noticed that wherever we moved the glass, a small spot of light followed. The magnifying glass was catching the light from the room and shining it onto the puzzle. We also observed that the magnifying glasses have a "small bump" that makes things look extra big! These powers of observation really helped us notice where different animals live on the map.
Work Time was filled with creativity and fun as well! Friend "S" used popsicle sticks and a paper towel tube together. She poked holes in the tube with a pair of scissors.
Friend "B" and Toddler "K" connected a bunch of vehicle pop-blocks and measured each other. When you connect all of the pop-blocks, it's the same height as friend "B!"
The Explore Table was full of South Pole discoveries! The styrofoam packing peanuts are in the shape of the letter 'S' for "snow" and "south." They make a great noise when you crunch them up, and are so much fun to toss and shower the penguins with snow! The baby penguins are small enough to hide under the styrofoam too, so we had to sift through it all to find them. The ping pong balls were "snowballs" or "eggs" depending on the plan.
Friend "S" worked at the Alone Table to connect Squigs to the mirror. Friend "B" also did this plan and talked about it at Recall Time. She mentioned that when they stick together they sound like"squish." :D
There were so many other things that the school friends worked on while they were here! Ms. Harmony will have to share those photos in a later post. We don't want to overwhelm our readers with too much awesome-ness!
To finish up our day, we read a book about penguins and noticed that they had very short legs. We tried out what it would be like to walk with super short legs by tying a bandanna around our ankles on going on a Penguin Parade. :) It was not a very fast way to get around. We also pretended to sled on our bellies, hop, and swim like penguins to find a faster way to travel!
P.S. Our sweet Baby Buddies had their own class downstairs and practiced taking naps and doing floor time. :) Baby "E" and Baby "E" are about one week apart. How fun they get to play together while big sisters are learning and playing upstairs!
