our awesome book of thanks...

we read an awesome book of thanks and afterwards we started on our own! the kids made a list of things they were thankful for which they turned into a rhyme and then illustrated...

artist study: olek!

we had a great time at the olek exhibit. the kids did an amazing job keeping the noise level down while making all sorts of observations. i had made a worksheet for the kids to help inspire some critical analysis. 

sequencing game

while we were waiting for our stone soup to cook, the kids had a little hunt for eggs i had hidden around the classroom. inside the eggs were details from stone soup which the kids read out loud and then put in order of the story. 

stone soup!

after reading stone soup we made our own version for lunch! the kids did a great job prepping everything...

peeling the carrots...

flashback video: daphne's park poem

daphne park poem from The Rad School on Vimeo.

bird field trip flashback part 2: a million dead birds!

time to trot out the olde eagle.

the american museum of natural history has one of the world's largest bird collections, containing more than a million specimens, including examples of species that have been extinct for hundreds of years.

the collections manager, paul sweet, gave us an amazing behind the scenes tour. we came face to face with penguins and eagles and looked through drawer after drawer of jewel-like perfectly preserved birds.

paul explained to us the importance of specimens in studying birds and some of the measures being taken to protect them.

bird field trip flashback part 1: hospital for wild birds

after studying trees in the early part of the fall, we moved on to their frequent partners the birds.

at the Wild Bird Fund on the upper west side, rita mcmahon introduced us to a few of the injured pigeons they are caring for. a live pigeon feels like a soft, warm pillow.