We began our look at the ocean with The Rainbow Fish. We decorated a picture of the fish and discussed what items would be hard or easy to share with friends.
We looked at the properties of ocean water by floating an egg in salt water after observing the egg in tap water. Those who have been to the ocean shared how the water felt and tasted.
I also purchased some flat canvas from Walmart to use with our old crayons. The crayons were hot-glued on the canvas and melted with a heat gun. The idea came from a training session and can also be found on Pinterest.
We also used collage materials, glue, and glitter to create ocean life picture.
Other rainbow inspired activities included color- sorting. The finished project is a result of great team-work!
We had many opportunities to explore with starfish (sea stars) and sea shells. We learned about star fish from our classroom expert along with the following site.
Our exploration led to a drawing/ tracing of shells.
We took a day to explore sharks and enjoyed a book and shark necklace that was shared by one of the children. Our activities included water and water bead play along with using the sharks from Oriental Trading Company to extend our play.
One of our art projects included drawing a shark or other sea creature in white crayon while using a blue water color wash with a cotton ball and clothespin. We finished the picture with shells from Jo Ann Fabrics and sand.
Another art project utilized our porcupine painters and tempera. We took a look at sea urchins and clown fish in our Ocean IQ book.
The new toys that we enjoyed from Discount School Supply included the wood pieces and Playdough tools.
We had the opportunity to build and play which resulted in the following creations.
Our backyard encounters included a bird that is not in abundance around here, a very small tree frog and our moth that emerged from its coccoon. I could not snap a picture of the bird quickly enough, but here is the image from our bird book. The name of the bird is House Finch according to the National Audubon Society Pocket Guide: Familiar Birds of North America and is typically found in cities in the East and deserts of the West.
This week we have begun our camping unit and have been busy creating and playing. We will be back to school very soon!
