Nature Study...in the Classroom

Our student teacher, Ms. Hannah had a Nature theme prepared for her head-teaching day and had lots of fun activities planned for us. 

Mud painting, fun with a paintbrush, even MORE fun with your hands. Ms. Hannah had added organic food dye to the mud to give it a little color.

Painting with her hands was a HUGE hit for this friend!

She had a variety of natural materials displayed on a wooden tray and I invited friends over to create a nature story. Almost all of the kiddos participated in this activity and had some creative ideas floating around. 

The plan was for us to spend the majority of the rest of the day outside. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we became part of a precautionary lock-down and had to finish the day indoors. Ms. Hannah was a trooper and took it all in stride. 

We continued with our Scavenger Hunt, as planned, just indoors. We have LOTS  of natural items in the classroom, so the kiddos were still able to find everything on the list. 

We divided the kiddos into smaller groups and they were off. They quickly began scanning the classroom looking for items on the list.

 

This friend was quickly able to find a tree, right in the middle of the room. 

These friends were excited to find a rock and quickly marked it off of their list.

Ms. Hannah shared her Five Little Turtles story and the kiddos loved doing the countdown with her. 

We even had time for each child to come up and listen to Ms. Hannah share their Nature Stories. 

The day's format changed from the original plan, but Ms. Hannah transitioned beautifully and it was truly a success. 

One of my college instructors always told us when you work with children you have to be emergent and flexible. Those words come back to my memory often as ideas are extinguished or extended based on the children's interests or plans are suddenly changed beyond our control. One thing is for sure, in this profession, you've got to always be on your toes and ready to pivot. 

Preschool Explorers

We love exploring at preschool, inside and outside. Last week I shared how we use our nature packs: magnifying glasses, clipboard and paper, colored pencils, and clear backpacks. The kiddos grab a nature pack and take off on adventures. Love seeing the things they discover and sketch.

We also have a very cool magnifier that was gifted to us by a preschool family. One friend brought some roly polys AKA pill-bugs to share with the other kiddos. After we observed them for awhile, we released them into the flower garden. 

On another day a friend brought in a millipede. It was amazing looking at it through the viewer. With it, you have a magnified view from above and one from below. With the one from below we were able to view the movement of the many, many legs of the millipede, a rare perspective we wouldn't have been able to see without the viewer. 

After doing some research, I recently purchased four pairs of binoculars for use by the kiddos. I placed them out on the picnic table as a provocation and it wasn't long before they drew a crowd. 

The basket included the binoculars, field guides for insects, hummingbirds, western United States birds, bugs and slugs, and reptiles and amphibians. I also added Spring I Spy cards from spelloutloud.com. I also placed paper, clipboards, and colored pencils on the table. 

The kids were eager to take off exploring and looking around to see what they could spy. They were encouraged to find something, see if they could find it in one of the guides, and sketch an image of it, if they chose to do so. 

The guides were a great reference and they often would spend time browsing them looking for things they had seen before.

We recently did a unit called Eggs, Eggs Everywhere! We were able to explore a large variety of eggs and learn about all the different animals that come from eggs. 

We set up a sensory bin of "fish eggs". We placed rocks and a variety of aqua balls in yellow, orange, and clear in a tub of water. We later added some plants and a few plastic fish. 

We also had a "frog egg" habitat. We used rocks, aqua balls in green, clear, and blue, foam lily pads, and the frog life cycle pieces. 

Lots of opportunities for exploring and learning about the world around us.

Earth Day and Taking Care of the Planet

 We made our own Earth by using popcorn kernels in a knee-high stocking and splatting it inside a cut out circle form. When it was dry we painted the kiddos' hands with skin-tone paint and had them place them on the Earth. 

We did a magical swirling Earth experiment: milk, food coloring (blue and green) and dish-washing soap. The kids were so excited when they saw the large swirls of movement. So fun!!

We discussed ideas of what we could do to help take care of the Earth. 

We weeded our garden box with help from our little friends. 

Each child brought a blooming flower from home and we planted them in our garden box. What a splash of colors!

We played with the big Earth ball and read Earth Day Birthday.

We began using our "nature packs": clear backpacks, colored pencils, paper on clipboard, and magnifying glasses. 

We did LOTS of still life art. 

We did experiments to show how roots and stems drink up water by placing daisies in colored water. The first photo is in individual colors. The second photo shows daisies with split stems that go into two primary colors.

We began experiments on growing and reusing natural materials. Pictured here is the base of a celery stlak and an avocado pit. 

We shared SO many AMAZING books this week. They are shown above. LOVE!

We still had more friends bringing in rocks and gems to share. 

Our caterpillars had changed into their chrysalis' and then into butterflies. We ended the week by going outside and releasing them. 

Earth Focus: Trees, Rocks and Taking Care of the Earth

 

Observing trees: identifying the roots, trunk, branches,
and leaves; feeling the trunk; comparing the trunk to
our hands; looking for insects and plants on the tree, and more.

We did a litter pick-up around the preschool and
our campus. 

We ended our day outside reading
Miss Sadie McGee Who Lived in a Tree.

The kids enjoyed it so much that they asked our
parent volunteer, Ms. Melisa to read it to them again.

My "green" tree t-shirt

 

Ms. Shannon let us borrow her beautiful river rocks.

I LOVE how this friend took the instructions
literally. Notice how the colors match.

We were able to borrow a rock collection from
the elementary school and Ms. Shannon let us
borrow her amazing Andy Goldsworthy book.

 

Rock provocation: Each child creates their own
work of art and we photographed their creation.

We then added the nature inspiration cards.

Parent volunteer, Ms. Leslie brought in some rocks
from her home. Love the mortar and pestle. She
also identified where each rock was found.

The kiddos especially enjoyed this rock, which looked
like any other rock on the outside, but had beautiful
white crystals that sparkled and looked like snow
inside it. 

 

Ms. Myrna had collected rocks during her visit the
prior weekend to the lake. We set up a rock cleaning
provocation. The kiddos would dip the rock in soapy
water, scrub it clean with a toothbrush, rinse the
rock in clean water, and then lay on the towel to dry.

 

We used these two AMAZING rock books at our
group times. 

After cleaning the rocks, each child got to hold a rock
during the "If You Find a Rock" book reading.

, 

Ms. Myrna brought in a lava rock and
a pumice stone. The kiddos were able
to compare their weight then we did a
sink or float experiment. Many of them
were surprised that the pumice stone floated. 

We decided to make Earth crayons. The kiddos peeled
blue and green crayons, broke them, then placed them
in a small muffin tin.

We placed them in a 200 degree oven until they
were fully melted. We cooled them completely then
sent them home with the kiddos the next day.

LOVE IT!! She's got the whole world in her hands...

I saw how Play at Home Mom LLC created their own
homemade bird feeder from office supplies and items
around the house and decided we'd try it. I found an
office organizer at Walmart and the attachments there,
as well. So far so good. 

Bird seed in, ready for the birds.

I saw Juniper Moon Farm's suet feeder and decided
to create our own Bird Nest Supply Station. We
followed their guidelines of making sure the yarn
was cut between 4 and 8 inches by placing rulers
on the table and teaching the kiddos how to
measure the yarn pieces.

...measuring carefully...

...filling up the suet feeder...

...we hung it in the tree. Ready for the birds.

Our hummingbird feeder has seen LOTS
of action.

After seeing the nature chandelier's over at
 Fairy Dust Teaching, I knew we needed to create
one for our classroom. We gave craft wire to each
child and encouraged them to string the beads up
to 12 inches. Once again, a measuring activity.

If they put more than 12 inches, they could
remove some of the items. 

Carefully beading...we also had lace and
feathers available for their use.

The end result! I am thrilled BEYOND WORDS!!

We ended our week reading "One Love" by
 Cedella Marley, daughter of Bob Marley.
After reading it we listened to the song.

We did pause during the story as we heard flocks
of Canada geese flying overhead. 

These were some of our AMAZING books we read
during the week: The Busy Tree, Our Tree Named Steve,
and One Love. Not pictured is A Grand Old Tree and
BIG EARTH, Little Me.

This is one of the newest crazes in the
classroom: Frigits Deluxe or as we like
to call them "Magnetic Marble Maze".

We continue to have AMAZING adventures...