"Why is it important to celebrate the earth on Earth Day - and every day?" "Because the earth helps us." That was the first comment made by a child during a discussion about the importance of Earth Day. Here are a few other comments shared:
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We took time last week to listen to poems about the earth as well as to sing songs about our special planet. Many children were inspired to write and/or dictate their own poems about the earth, the universe, and creatures that live on the earth. Here are three examples of their poetry:
Rainbows After Rain The rain falls. After the rain stops, The rainbow comes. It is beautiful. You can slide on the rainbow. Did you know that? -Andrew | Moons There are different kinds of moons in space. Yellow moons, Green moons, Orange moons. The world spins around Faster and faster and faster. -Dash | Bunny Bunnies hop, Bunnies play, Bunnies jump in boxes. Bunnies eat carrots. Bunny, bunny. I like feeding bunnies. Bunnies dig holes. Bunny, bunny. -Grace |
Celebrating the puddles!
April showers bring...April puddles! The children had a splendid time creating flowing streams in the sandbox. They found a multitude of worms and decided to create an island for them to live on. Don't worry, we made sure the worms were all safe on solid ground before we left the playground.
An Earth Day musical celebration:
A duo from The Birdhouse Center for the Arts in Lambertville performed a concert for us on Earth Day. They played music from all over the world that celebrated the earth and its people. They played several songs from Sweden which is where Bronwyn learned about the amazing instrument she played - the nyckelharpa. The nyckelharpa looks like a guitar combined with a violin combined with a piano. It was amazing! At the end of the performance, the entire school held hands and sang and danced together.
Studying and painting Daffodils:
Collecting items for a terrarium in LTL:
Mrs. Z took the children out into the woods to collect items to create a terrarium that will represent our school campus environment. The children had a wonderful time turning over logs and digging up worms, bugs and spiders. The also dug up natural plants and moss to add to the terrarium.
Collecting natural materials during Earth Week:
Children spent the early part of the week collecting natural items from the campus to use for artistic purposes. We asked the children to be careful not to pick up living things but to focus on other items that we could eventually upcycle into art work. This was a very different experience than collecting the items to create the terrarium because the terrarium is a living small world that will require human care. They filled many baskets and boxes with interesting items!
Creating art with natural materials:
The first stage of this process is exploration and the children were delighted to experiment with the natural shapes and textures. They were able to attach pieces together with wire and pipe cleaners. This process will continue over the next few weeks.
Earth Day gathering:
On Friday the entire school gathered together once again to celebrate the earth. The focus of this gathering was water and the Early Childhood Program kicked of the assembly with a beautiful song about a river. The children did a wonderful job! Other classes then had the opportunity to share information they researched about water: its importance for living things, its scarcity in many parts of the world and that water is a limited resource. The 2/3 graders came to our classroom and asked us to take a pledge to reduce the amount of water we use daily by turning off the water while brushing our teeth or lowering our tubs by one inch. We are fortunate that we were able to gather together as a school throughout the week to honor the earth.
Transforming our 'not-a-box':
The children decided that our not-a-box needed windows and doors. We have a special cardboard saw that is made to be used by children so we pulled it out and got to work! Everyone was so excited! We will continue to play with our not-a-box and see where the play leads us.