We started off April by finishing Africa by comparing our desert to Africa's deserts. We then started learning all about the desert we live in.
We've been taking lots of hikes out to our desert Education Area
to observe and learn.
We took papers out so we could sketch desert plants.
We also looked for a small rock to go with our adobe houses.
On one of our trips we picked creosote so we could study it. We wrote down facts about it and other desert plants, then we made creosote sachets. We enjoyed learning that creosote is what we smell when it rains in the desert.
We also learned more about cochineal, the tiny bugs that make fuzzy white homes on prickly pear cactus. The bug is crushed and used to make dye (even food dye)! We've enjoyed having this piece of cactus in our room.
We made predictions about how the cactus would look when we cut it open.
The day before April 1, Mrs. Patchett had all of us plant a mini-marchmallow.
After school it had grown into a Marshmallow tree!
We had a special visitor, Trevor Swanson, who is a wildlife artist and Mrs. Gosher's brother in law. Trevor talked to us about Africa and some of the animals that live there.
He talked to us about drawing animals and how they were all a series of shapes.
He sketched a lion and an elephant.
When we got back to our classroom we looked at some of his paintings.
We sketched, outlined then painted a desert watercolor landscape.
On Tuesday some of us enjoyed Donuts with Dads and Dudes.
There were activities, animals and more.
Our silkworms are big and most are spinning cocoons. We got our pictures taken with some of the last ones.
One of our Dr. Seuss centers was to stack Cat in the Hat cups. We've continued to enjoy this STEM center and have made some very impressive towers!
We had a few more desert adventures which I will post later.
Next week we are moving on to South America!
