June 13-17 Day 1

We began the morning with Gratitude Circle (sharing something we are grateful for). Today was Antarctica day. We played Belgica Antarctica Freeze tag (based on the only visible insect native to Antarctica).Then we went to the art studio for the first lesson/activity. We discussed how Antarctica has 90% of the Earth's ice and is the largest desert. We also discussed the different type penguins that live in Antarctica and the explorers picked their favorite to make a clay version.

After snack they picked characters for their original play and went to the obstacle course for awhile. Then back at the art studio we looked at a model of Earth rotating around the Sun to understand why Antarctica has 6 months of darkness and 6 months of sunlight. We also looked at a model of the greenhouse effect to discuss what greenhouse gases are, where they come from and their affect on Earth's atmosphere. After setting up the model with a glacier, we looked at and talked about the symmetry in snowflakes and how they are formed. Then they worked on a snowflake watercolor, shape symmetry art project. While waiting for the watercolor paint to dry, we played Ancient Moss (a guesser in the center of the circle gets 3 guesses to figure out who is Mr./Mrs. Winter). Then we ate lunch, wrote more of the play, and went to explore the creek. Some explorers saw a blue heron. Almost everyone saw some small salamanders, crawfish, a couple frogs and water beetles as well as a trapdoor spider in it's funnel. Then we went back to work on the snowflake art work and archery out on the field.