On To Something....

"Hey let's make a nest for my eagle."
"I can make a nest for my cardinal."
"Look, I am the mommy cardinal and I am carrying my baby cardinal to a nest. I need to sit on it to keep my eggs warm."
" I am the Mommy and I have a bigger nest because I am an eagle bird and my eggs are super big and I need a bigger nest."
"We can all make nests because we are all birds because we are all cardinal birds!"

   Katy and Tori carefully carried their babies over to the nest area that they created with Kate in our outdoor classroom.  "We have to sit on our nests in a safe area back here so we are not bothered by anybody and it is safe."  The three friends sat quietly for several minutes together and then 'took flight' to find food for their babies.

Interest and excitement around birds and nests seems to be an ongoing theme which we have observed in our children's play during these first few weeks of school.  Children have been building nests in our outdoor classroom and have been  engaging in imaginative role play pretending to be Mommy, Daddy and baby birds.  One day, Kate brought in a set of beautiful eagle wings, sewn by her grandmother , and shared them with the class at morning meeting. The children were captivated the moment she put them on and "flew around the room".   "Oh, I wish I had wings too!" was overheard many times during Kate's flight.  Throughout the day, conversations about birds were overheard.  During Choice time, friends were observed sculpting nests in the Rock Sculpture Center as well as the Block Area.  Cushions from the Dramatic Play Area on the bench, were also used as props on the floor to create nests. Observing the creative, imaginative play in the classroom was most exciting  as the children  used their 'lovies' as well their whole bodies to represent birds!

Collaborative work in the Rock Sculpture area was quite remarkable!  Children found photographs of nests in Andy Goldsworthy A Collaboration With Nature book and attempted to recreate nests with the rocks to reflect the nests they saw in the book.

 

Sounds like we may ready to take flight ..... birds...wings....nests...stay tweeted!