For circle time this week, we introduced geography and treasure maps. All the students made a folded piece of paper that showed the world, our country, our state, our town and our school. The kids were very excited about this project and put a lot of effort into making these. Then on Thursday we had both groups participate in a treasure hunt for geodes donated by Kate Sulentic (Carerra's mom). Boy, did the kids have fun with this. Thanks Kate! Some of the preschoolers dressed up as pirates to help look for the treasure. They each got to find their own sock which then led them to the treasure. The socks were what they used to break open the geodes. The Elementary students searched for one treasure independently. They had an aerial map of the school's campus. The older kids had nothing labeled except the compass rose. Then I added street names and then finally labeled the church and school. It was a difficult treasure to find but well worth the search!
On Thursday afternoon we had a guest speaker, Julie Qidwai (Amira's mom). She gave a presentation about the middle east. She spoke about the countries, the schools, the way of life, the traditional clothing and even brought in a treat for us to sample. Some students liked it and some did not. The kids enjoyed hearing about the sand storms and how the dark black robes keep them cool and protected from the sand. Thanks Julie and Amira for sharing!
The after school program focused on astronomy this week and made the night sky, marshmallow constellations and telescopes. Then on Friday they visited the raptor center but Surel (the Kestrel) was not there. There were plenty of other birds to see so it was still "cool"!