The sun is shining, the birds are singing and we are headed outside! One of the most important things we can do with our after school children is to take the learning outside where we can exercise their bodies as well as their brains. It has been a long Midwest winter and we are anxious to go out and play baseball in celebration of the start of spring training. We will use the change of seasons as a springboard for opportunities to learn about birds, weather and the hydrological cycle.
March 2 – 6 – We will talk about Casimir Pulaski and what it takes to be a hero, if you need a hint he was a famous Polish American hero in the Revolutionary War. As the weather changes hour by hour we will talk about weather adages such as If March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb and If you see birds out in the rain it means it will rain all day. Speaking of birds we will be making a graph of our favorite birds.
March 9 – 13 – Birds will be a major focus of our activities this week when we use feathers to learn how to write with quills and we look at the birds most often chosen as official state birds. We will be up and moving this week as we learn the Birdie Dance, have hopscotch tournaments and learn to play diamond ball.
March 16 – 20 – Making bird feeders and going outside for a bird concert are on the agenda for this week. In addition to talking about birds, we will explore all of the ways that dinosaurs are similar to birds. Who knows with St. Patrick’s Day coming this week we may even get lucky and find some Leprechaun gold!
March 23 – 27 – We will continue to explore dinosaurs this week by making our own fossils and learning about archeology and paleontology by setting up our own digs out in the sandbox. The children will design and name their own species of dinosaur and add it to the Jurassic backdrop of a classroom mural.