We had a wonderful last day of our homeschool session today.
The theme was “Whooo’s Still Here?” and we learned all about owls and other
birds that stay here for winter. We began the day with a few favorite games,
Colored Eggs and Fishy Fishy Cross My Ocean.
Then we came inside and did a high five greeting. We
discussed our password, raptor, which means a hunting bird that uses its talons
to catch its prey. Homeschoolers knew a lot about raptors already, and could
name many: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons, and (maybe) turkey vultures. We looked
at some owl mounts to learn about our local owls: great horned owl, northern
saw-whet owl, eastern screech owl, barred owl and snowy owl. We practiced their
calls – the great horned owl hoots with this rhythm: “Who’s awake, me, too” and
the barred owl hoots: “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” Homeschoolers
recognized these hoots right away as some they’d heard in their yards before.
Then it was time to eat snack and convert the classroom into
a museum. Homeschoolers did a fantastic job. Then we went on our outdoor
adventure, running through the woods and arriving at Bramble Hill Farm, where
we looked for frogs, praying mantis eggs, and cattail seeds! We saw a total of
8 frogs (on December 6th! Can you believe it?) and two praying
mantis egg cases! We saw one faraway raptor but could not identify it.
We came back to the Hitchcock Center to eat lunch and work
on the last pages of our journals. A
little more setting up the classroom and soon it was time for the parents to
arrive. Kids did a fabulous job teaching our passwords from our session to the
families.
Many thanks to
Anne Mileski and Carole Lynch, our parent helpers this session! Thank you to
Skye Belle Pryzstas for picking up our cider today!
