Measurement, Outdoor Classroom and a Visit From a Giant!?!

Wow, we really did a lot of interesting things today!  We started the day by playing at the carpet together.  And, of course, there were many requests to have photos taken before clean up time.

Then we explored the concepts of shortest, shorter, longer, longest with our bodies.  We're learning about measurement and all the different ways to compare two or more objects.

                                                 

Then, the strangest thing happened….Miss C was looking for a piece of paper to write the words "longer and shorter" on and we discovered a mysterious letter that was written on our chart paper.  We read it together and discovered that a Giant visited our classroom last night and left a job for us to do.  We don't know how he got in, but he sure does have lovely printing!

So, we set out to complete the task.  First we discussed ways to measure his foot so that we could compare the classroom objects to it.  We decided that Unifix cubes would work well because they stick together.  Can you estimate how many cubes long the Giant's foot was?  19!  So, we put 19 cubes together and started measuring around the room.  This is known as measuring using non-standard units of measurement.  Maybe you could look around your house and find some things that you could use as units of measurement and then start measuring and comparing the items you find.  

                                       
 Then we worked together with a partner to look for objects around the class that are shorter , longer and the same as the Giant's footprint.  We recorded our findings on a giant sized piece of paper!

We ran out of time for measuring and are looking forward to adding to this chart soon.  Miss C hung our findings up on the wall so we could see what everyone measured.

Then, this afternoon (after the staff had the most AMAZING lunch…thanks to all the parents for their kindness and the delicious food!!) we went on a forest walk and found the perfect spot for a story and a game.  Miss C is teaching us all about senses.  We sat and listened to all the sounds we could hear…wind, birds, leaves rustling, children playing and an airplane!  Then she read us the story "The Very Quiet Cricket".  

As I was listening to the story I couldn't resist taking a photo of this interesting sight…what does it remind you of?

After the story, we played a game involving listening and sounds.  We took turns making the sound of an animal and seeing if our friends could guess which animal we were making the sound of.  Not everyone got a turn today, but we will play again soon!

All in all, it was a pretty great day, don't you think?