The Three Little Pigs have been the topic of our mini fairy tale unit this week. On Wednesday I read the common version of the unfortunate porcines. After music I followed up with the wolf's version of the story called "The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs". It seems that Alexander T. Wolf just needed to borrow a cup of sugar to make his granny's birthday cake. While he waited at the first pig's door a sneezing fit came on and he accidentally blew the house down killing the pig. Since pork spoils quickly he felt obliged to eat him. The story goes on in this manner with the jailed wolf proclaiming he was framed. The children then discussed the merits of the wolf's story and voted on his believability. The pigs won by a narrow margin.
Thursday we read "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Wolf". It reverses the bad guy and has the wolves using brick, concrete and metal as their building materials. The very clever pig uses modern equipment to drill or dynamite their houses. It isn't until they choose flowers as building material that the pig is overcome with fragrance and decides to mend his ways. This seemed to be the most ridiculous story of the three to the children and was declared "Impossible". Really? Pigs building houses can only be possible in the world of young children!
We experimented with sticks, hay and bricks. The children were divided and given one of the materials to build their house. They then became the wolf and tried to blow it down. the first group was successful with the hay but the second group needed to use the lungs of group 1 to help blow around the stick house. The last group needed everyone but we were unsuccessful. Perhaps the children are correct to assume pigs could build real houses!
As Mardi Gras approaches, we have been learning about its roots and traditions. Most of you probably know the season begins Jan. 6 and ends on Fat Tuesday (or Shrove Tuesday) before the beginning of Lent in the Christian religion. Everyone needs a little fun so the French settled area of Louisiana decided to have a celebration before the austere season of Lent and created what is now known as Mardis Gras (French for Fat Tuesday). The official colors are green, purple and gold and each parade Krewe (club) has its own king and queen.
We selected our king/queen using an old tradition of eating King's cake. A plastic baby was hidden inside Alora found. This made her the queen and the lucky winner gets to choose their king or queen. She chose Kris as her king and they will ride on our class float Tuesday in the parade. Our buddies in Kim's class helped us decorate the float, our masks and our hats for the big day. The parade will be on the playground during recess and will have noisemakers instead of a band. We will also have plenty of beads and doubloons to throw to onlookers. And yes, I will take pictures!
Don't forget: there is no school on Monday and all Scholastic orders need to be entered by 9:00 this evening.
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