Squirrel Play

The Secret Life of Squirrels

Last week, the First Graders made their squirrel tails. This week, we tried to attach them. Some children requested up tails, others asked for down. We found out that squirrels hold their tails both ways, but don’t really know why!

The Secret Life of Squirrels is a book that is illustrated with photographs of squirrels posed in miniature staged sets. The story is pretty basic, but the photos are wild! The First Graders loved them and were curious about the photographer’s methods.

A Turkey for Thanksgiving/Setting the Turkeys Free

I had some interesting conversations today with the Nursery, Early Ages, and Kindergarteners. I asked them if they remembered last year’s Thanksgiving, as I realized this morning that some of these children are barely 3 years old! Sure enough, the younger the child, the less they remembered about the Thanksgiving holiday.

We read a few different books – Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit!, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, and Setting the Turkeys Free. Some of the children had already made turkeys in the classroom. While I love the traditional handprint turkey, I thought we would try a washi tape variation. The Kindergarteners traced their hands, turned the paper over, and laid down stripes of washi tape. Then they cut on the lines of their handprint, glued on a googly eye, and were ready to gobble!

Many Moons

The Third Graders finished reading Many Moons today. In the story, the young princess answers the question of how far away the moon is by saying that it is caught in the branches of the tree outside her window and that it is as big as her thumbnail, as she holds it up to cover the moon. It was satisfying to hear that in the end, the princess thought that the moon always grows back, like a missing tooth or the horn of a unicorn!

I gave the children the option of embroidering constellations on paper and some of them chose to design their own. This led to a discussion of fact and fantasy – as the children thought about how constellations are made of real stars linked only by people’s imaginations….

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

The First Grade is studying about squirrels. We read What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Then we made squirrel tails! (Fake fur, of course!!!)

Some facts about squirrel tails:
They use them to balance on wires.

They use them as an umbrella to shade themselves from the sun or rain.

They use them to help steer in the water.

They use them as a blanket in winter to keep warm.

Many Moons

The Third Grade is studying about the moon. We started reading Many Moons by James Thurber. So far, the characters in the book all have different ideas about how far away the moon is and what it is made of. We are keeping track of the information on a chart.

We stopped reading just as the Court Jester tells the king that what each of these wise men thinks must be true. He says that he will next ask the princess how big and how far away she thinks the moon is…

Here are the Third Graders’ estimates of how far away the moon is: