Hitchcock Center Homeschool: Hunter/Hunted

Yesterday was the last class of the spring session. We came full circle with our adaptations learning with the theme of "Hunter/Hunted."

We played a game of park ranger in the before coming in to morning circle.

We opened morning circle with silent greeting, which is all about eye contact. Kids looked across the circle, picked someone to greet, and silently greeted them with a facial expression or movement. Then the other child greeted back and went on to greet someone else.

We shared home projects, which was a review of our passwords. Kids chose one from our ten passwords this session, which were: adjective, warning coloration, aerodynamic, herpetology, omnivore, keratin, pheromone, pollen, limnology, and prey. A big favorite for kids was warning coloration!

Next we flipped through our journals, reviewing our adaptations of the spring and our passwords.

Then we read the morning message and introduced the day’s theme: hunter/hunted. To review the adaptations we've been learning about, we discussed what adaptations we would have if we were a predator, and if we were prey. Kids were so creative about the different strategies they would use: camouflage, warning coloration, venom, quills, mimicry, fast legs, slippery skin... the list goes on!

After snack we set up the classroom for the afternoon presentation. Kids got to work in groups displaying all our work around the room.

My personal biggest pride and joy for our session was our adaptation book, which is a collection of the homeschooler’s animal adaptation art and writing.

Next it was time to go outside for our outdoor adventure. We went over the rules for Predator/Prey, a game to demonstrate what it feels like to be a predator or prey.

One group of children was the hawks and the other was the mice. Each group’s goal was to survive by getting enough food, water and shelter. There were certain sites on the trails to get these items, but the hawks’ only food source was the mice, so they had to hunt! Both teams used what they knew about camouflage, and being quick and quiet and still when they had to in order to survive. At one point Ben said to me, “I’m starting to think like a mouse, and feel like a mouse, and I’m actually pretty scared!”

After the game was over, we discussed what it felt like to be a hawk and a mouse. Kids had interesting things to say about how their expectations changed. Some people realized being a hawk was a lot harder than they thought, and others realized that mice have a lot of options to keep themselves safe, such as all their tunnels underground.

Families joined us at 1:30 for to see our presentation and enjoy some snacks. I felt proud watching them hold up the art they’ve been working on, while wearing the t-shirts they made last week! Here’s some images of the presentation.