Spring Farm Sprouts 2018 – Week #2 Wednesday AM

This week began our study of eggs and joined in on some experiences which provoked some fantastic belly laughs! We discovered many signs of spring, from blossoming cherry trees, a frog resting in the sun, four speckled eggs in a killdeer’s scrape nest, sprouting sunflowers, apple tree buds, and daffodils.

To sign in this week, Farm Sprouts drew an egg around their name in a hen’s nesting box. We’ll visit the chicken coop in the coming weeks to help collect eggs. We played a cooperative game and explored egg and baby animal materials. One Farm Sprout from our Maple Sugaring Season decided to build a sugar shack. When we gathered as a large group, we had thoughtful discussions on the topic of eggs, considering what we know and wonder. We settled eggs into our incubator and noted the warm, moist environment they will remain for the coming weeks. We’ll keep track of how many days it takes to hatch the chicks. We have two kinds of eggs, the larger ones from chickens as well as smaller, speckled eggs. We made predictions about what might hatch out of these interesting-looking eggs. Predictions included bees, alligators, turtles, and baby cows! We’ll continue to consider the difference between the different classifications of animals, with particular attention to birds and mammals due to the focus of our chores. Then we shared in some music and movement together as we danced, giggled, ad shook our “shaky eggs” to the song, “I Know a Chicken” by Laurie Berkner.

During our Invitations to Play, Discover, Explore! we explored the world of soil and plant science with different substrates in the sensory table, including soil, dirt, and sand. We wondered and made predictions about which would grow the healthiest plants and then sowed our sunflower seeds, harvested by many returning Farm Sprouts in the fall, which many in turn had planted and cared for last spring. Here we see the power of repeated seasons at the farm as children revisit experiences and build new understandings of how plants grow! The sunflowers are under the care of our Sustainable Agriculture team in the greenhouse and we will stop to care for them as well until the time arrives to transplant them in the garden. To help us consider and remember what plants need to grow in nature, we made “Fabulous 5,” or as we began to call them, “Plant Power!” bracelets. See if they can tell you what they need! (green = space, not grass 🙂 Some made collages with plant parts, collected through the development of fine motor work with scissors.

We munched on carrot sticks for snack and talked about how carrots grow. Some plants grow the part we eat down in the soil. We wonder what lives and grows beneath our feet? We’ll be thinking about that question a bit more as we continue to study soil and plant requirements.

Next it was time to help care for our goat kids! We stopped to wonder at the blooming cherry trees on the way. Our chore was to give them bottles of pasteurized milk from their mothers. Needless to say, it was an experienced which inspired big laughs and curiosity! What do goat kids need to stay healthy and strong? How are they different from birds? Did you know they don’t have front teeth on the top of their mouths?! Any ideas why?

To close the day, we read the story, The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling by Timonthy Basil Ering. It was a captivating story for our Farm Sprouts which included a big storm and a beast, creating an appreciation for music. We danced to Lindsey Stirling’s “Electric Daisy Violin” and rolled down the hill to celebrate the beautiful ending to the story, making a really special discovery on the way. Many thanks to the Hess family for their donation of today’s book!

See you next week for more adventures and learning on the farm!

“The good man is a friend of all living things.” – Ghandi

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