Knowing we were going to be planting a few this summer I started with boxwoods, and it has been so fun to see the kids pointing them out wherever we go. (I had everyone first draw what they thought of when they heard the word "boxwood" and they made the greatest little pictures. Then I showed them some pictures of real boxwoods and we went for a walk/scooter ride to go find a few in the neighborhood) For my next turn, I taught about Honey Locusts and about how you can identify a tree by the leaves/bark/etc. and it was so fun to hear the kids pointing out all the honey locusts as we drove to and from Harry Potter camp later that day!
Porter took us on a walk to find a flower he'd picked out the day before, then we talked all about peonies. (He noticed right away all of the ants crawling on the buds, so it was a fun surprise to read in the flower description that you'll often see ants on the buds because they like the nectar). Then we went home and played a double jump rope game spelling out the word "P-E-O-N-Y" as we jumped.
Ellie taught about peacocks and then we all made word searches using words related to them from what we had learned. For her next lesson, she taught us about cranes and then helped us all make paper cranes (one of her favorite things to do! :)
I stretched the rules for Owen when he told me about the plan he had made to teach about frogs (not a plant, tree, flower or bird, but such a well thought out plan that he got to do it still :) He taught about the stages of a frog's growth and made a little card game up all about it. (Later when it was his turn to play with Isaac during rotations, he taught him also and Isaac could name each card - egg, tadpole, young frog, frog :)
Landon taught about robins and took us on a search for robins with a prize for the first to find one (which we did very quickly right at the park.) I remember several years ago feeling so excited to finally learn what a robin was -- it seemed so silly that I didn't know, and once I did I suddenly saw them all the time! I am loving this school time for how it is helping all of us pay attention and notice these things!
