For the last couple of weeks we have been exploring similarities and differences among people around the world, particularly focusing on children.  We began by reading the book The Colors of Us, by Karen Katz, which explores the many shades of skin color by comparing them to different foods and celebrates the differences and similarities that connect all people.  We then spent time carefully examining  and drawing a collection of eggs.  Children were encouraged to capture as much detail as possible, from subtle differences in shades to little spots and lines on the shells.  When we were done with this they shared what they noticed:  all of the eggs were unique and different.  We cracked several eggs open and looked at the insides, and while there were slight differences, the eggs were very similar on the inside, much like people.  I asked students to try to compare this to people.  On the outside we are all different, with many shades and skin variations, but it is impossible to tell what a person is like just by looking at their skin.  Our skin is just a covering. As one child put it "You need to meet someone and get to know them to know what kind of person they are."

We also spent time looking at several books about the daily lives of children around the world.  Children worked in pairs and were given sticky notes to mark pages that they could connect to in some way.  We discovered many similarities (the books were filled with sticky notes!).  Many of these were quite simple, but they created a genuine sense of commonalities we might share with people in a completely different part of the world.  Some of the comments I heard as students looked through the books and shared their findings included "I ride a bike," "I take care of pets," "I don't see anything the same on this page... actually, I've eaten a coconut before", "That looks like rocks, paper, scissors!" "I go swimming," "That looks like our snow fort," "I have family pictures in my house," and " I ride the bus to school too."

We have been closely reading some of these books including This is How We Do It:  One Day in the lives of Seven Kids from around the World, by Matt Lamothe and Wake Up World:  A Day in the Life of Children Around the World, by Beatrice Hollyer.  This books both follow multiple children from morning through evening as they go through a day, describing where they live, who they live with, what they eat, and how they spend their time on a typical day.  As we have read each section children have had fun comparing themselves to the children portrayed and finding things they have in common with children around the world.

Students had fun celebrating rainbow week this week and especially seemed to enjoy making rainbow chains.  Several students challenged themselves to make very long chains which led to comparing the length of a paper chain to other things, a great exercise in measuring and counting.  One chain was 3 kids long and it turns out I am about 22 chain links tall!

In conjunction with our year long exploration of weather and weather patterns, we have begun learning about animals in winter and the different strategies animals use to survive the colder months.  We have read two books on this topic so far:  Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft and Richard Van Gelder  and Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner.  As we learn about animals in winter we are putting them into three categories:  animals that migrate, animals that hibernate, and animals that stay active.  Ask your child about one animal that fits into each category.

We spent time inside pretending to be woodchucks, first eating lots and lots to store up fat for winter and then finding a place to go into a long sleep, with our breathing and heartbeats slowing way down...for four whole months (really about 2 minutes for us) until the weather grew warmer and we woke up in spring feeling really hungry and much thinner.  Outside children have had fun pretending to be animals in winter with imaginative twists.  One group created an elaborate deer bed, while the whole class spent a recess collecting chunks of ice that represented food for squirrels? foxes?  rabbits? Depends on who you ask!

On Friday morning children had a chance to become squirrels looking for previously hidden food.  Three different color cubes were stashed in the gym representing pine cones, acorns, and apples.  To give the activity a mathematical twist they were challenged to find 5 cubes of at least 2 different colors.  We then used the different color combinations to represent ways of making 5. [I forgot that grades 1-6 were starting the day with an assembly about the ski program and they graciously left most of my cubes exactly where I had placed them, but this gave us an opportunity to talk about animals that might take food hidden by a squirrel if they found a stash.  Bears quickly came to mind.]  We will continue learning about animals in winter in the coming weeks and will have a visit from Carrie at some point for an ECO session at school.