This week, we read the story, "The After Christmas Tree" written by Linda Tyler. The story talks about how one family overcame their sadness from the holiday season was finished. Instead of being upset, they decided to hold a winter party for their friends. Friends were asked to gather pinecones. They then rolled them in peanut butter and seeds and made popcorn and berry chains. Once they were done, they "decorated" the tree outside and watched the animals come and enjoy the tree. It was the tree's second season of giving. When the story was finished, one of the kiddos commented what a cool idea the 'After Christmas Tree' was. We quickly decided this was something we would like to do. I questioned the kiddos about what we would need in order to accomplish this! One of my goals before the end of the year is for the kiddos to realize if they have a question, it is within their power to find an answer. I introduced them to a K/W/L (what I Know, what I Want to know, and what I Learned) chart. We spent some time discussing the difference between what we know to be 100% true fact compared to what we think we know about animals and birds in Brandon! We quickly realized we didn't know very much. We came up with some pretty interesting questions to explore during our research. We want to make sure when we create our tree, we know what animals/birds may visit and what they need to eat so we do not do any harm. After discussing animals we have seen in Brandon, we started to talk about whether we have seen them recently. This led us to our third question! Once finished charting, we discussed how we could find the answers to our questions. These were the suggestions by the kiddos. As an extension to our research project, we have been chatting lately about the word 'change', and how 'change' effects not only us, but animals and the environment around us. This has led to some interesting discussions about how we 'change' to survive in winter, as well as what animals will do. We spent some time discussing migration and learned about a few animals who utilize this strategy in the winter. The kiddos were intrigued by the photo of Canadian geese and wisely asked, "Why do they fly in a v?" After explaining this phenomenon to them, out into the hallway we went to experiment ourselves with this amazing strategy. We definitely had a few laughs, but now carry a new appreciation for those animals that migrate in the winter. Stay tuned for our exciting findings on our After Christmas Tree project!!
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July 2020
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