A week of squirrels

We were very fortunate to have Miss Amanda join us for the entire week as part of her in school placement. Having come on several class walks with us, and noticing what the kiddos are interested in, she further sparked their interest in squirrels by planning several follow up activities in the classroom.
Using collected leaves from outside, the kiddos created their own version of what a squirrel looks like. They talked about the various parts of a squirrel in order to create their art.

This week during our walk our focus was to see if we could find squirrel nests. Several kiddos looked high up in the trees to find nests, while others were looking for holes in the tree truck where the squirrels could hide. We found several of both.

Upon our return to the classroom, several kiddos were engaged in the creation of their own version of a squirrels nest. We talked about how the squirrels get up high in the trees, and how they would protect their homes if made inside a tree trunk.

Making our own squirrel nest

During our walk we were fortunate to come across one of the neighbour's pear tree. To our amazement several pears had fallen to the ground. They looked so tasty, we collected a few and brought them back to the classroom where we enjoyed the sweet fruit, just as the squirrels had done earlier in the week.

Next week we will learn how to write a thank you note and send it along to the neighbour with the tree.