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After finishing the butterfly garden collages, we entered several new areas of study.  We recently aquired another Burke Museum Box, one that teaches us about dinosaur science. The kids have been able to handle exact replicas of fossils, including the tooth of a T. Rex! The museum box introduced us to many images and facts about dinosaurs and other pre-historic creatures. The dinosaur toys, games, and books that are part of the Firefly collection see a lot of activity each day at school. Dinosaur figures become characters with distinct voices and personalities as the children dramatize their imaginitive play. New stories take shape constantly, and the dinosaurs become a vehicle for communication, problem-solving, and creative thinking.

In addition to our dinosaur study, the kids have been learning about oceans. We have focused on ocean creatures native to our region, such as Chinook salmon, the Orca whale, and plankton. At the art table, we’ve been working on ocean pictures that include printing, drawing, cutting and collage. We began making “ocean prints” with soapy water and blue paint. Next, the kids were given stencils of Orca whales, and black paper on which to trace the shape. Many of the children traced the Orca independently, then cut it out, added white patches, and glued it to the blue background of the ocean print. The next step was to add Chinook salmon to the picture, for the Orca to eat. We have been talking about the food chain, and we learned that the Chinook salmon rely on plankton to survive. Using eye-droppers, the kids splatter-painted onto a white paper with a salmon illustration, creating constillations of dots that resemble swarms of plankton. The children were invited to use fine-tip markers to outline the dots of paint, making the “plankton” more visible.

In the next couple of weeks, we will continue to explore these questions, themes and ideas. More importantly, the Firefly community will continue to celebrate the growth around us and within us, as we recognize the blooming flowers, the deepening friendships, the beauty of the changing seasons.