Wednesday was our day of "Why do we have Thanksgiving?" explanation. At this age, most children assume it's the season to make and eat turkeys. While most of us do this we often forget children don't know why. So i told the story of English people looking for a new life in a strange land vastly different from their own. The prospect of the Pilgrims going hungry and even dying made little eyes bug out. When they heard the Wompanoags (especially Squanto) helped these strangers and taught then to survive in the wilderness, you could see their relief. Making the celebration of the first year's survival an annual holiday sweetened the story a bit more. I too like happy endings.
We took our discussion further when I pulled out my Wompanoag and Pilgrim paper dolls. The clothes were very different so another explanation was needed about using available resources. You could see the "aha" in their faces when they thought about what the Indians killed for clothing and what the English grew to weave into cloth. Today we went further into the subject by talking about the animals the English brought and the ones the Indians hunted.
In music, Kim taught the children a Navajo song of joy. They weren't done enjoying this song so I had them sing it for me. I pulled out my gourd drum and bells on leather straps. I tied a strap to each of Xan's legs and told the children that Indian ceremonial dances usually were led by a tribal leader or medicine man. Xan danced to my drumming but naturally the others wanted to join in the fun. I pulled out the rest of my bell straps and put them on all but 2 children. Then I gave Emma a recorder and Andy an ocarina to "play". They began making melodious (no I didn't mean malodorous) music for their their classmates to dance. Our tribe made me proud with their rhythmic movement and obvious enjoyment of the moment.
Our fun with the letter L is winding up. Today we used my silk leaves to make a lovely leaf pile on the classroom lawn. They told me you had to rake leaves into a pile to jump in so I picked up my basket and tossed leaves in the air. All control was lost and giggles filled the air as the romped in the leaves. They pushed them into a pile and one by one jumped in. Think of it as outdoor fun without the worries of leaf disposal.
Our Hollins helper, Emily, cut leaves from crinkled paper bags this morning. Using 4fall colors, I showed the children how to sponge on paint to recreate fall leaves. They each painted 2 leaves which turned out beautifully. They range from completely crimson to very realistic multicolored leaves. I can't wait to display them on the wall.
No comments:
Post a Comment