April showers bring May flowers! We may be heading into one of the rainier months, but we are leaving the rainy Amazon in South America. As we prepare for warmer Spring days, we will be traveling an African safari through the savanna this month and exploring all of the animals that live there. Our shelves will be filled with matching activities, 3 part cards, and writing story pages about different African animals. We will be exploring African culture through African art. For practical Life this month, we will use different African jewelry beads and fabrics. Our younger students will be practicing bead stringing, and our older students will be doing sewing activities. We will also introduce weaving on different types of looms and ceramic sculpting. In learning about different African art forms, the children will also be painting traditional African mask. We will discuss special ceremonies and rituals in African culture and will explore how and why people dress and celebrate in these authentic ways. We will be discussing different foods in African culture and making some of our own. For food prep, the children will be able to make fruit skewers and try various new and unique fruits. We will be making fan milk from Ghana. The children will use a hand whisk to blend the ingredients and will taste and prepare different flavors of FanYogo, FanChoco, FanVanille, and FanIce. This will really enhance the idea of connectedness, and give the children a sense of how all children around the world are related and have similarities and enjoy many of the same experiences.
Peace Education this month will follow along with this idea of connectedness, and we will continue to explore our culture and cosmic education unit. Throughout April we will have out various books written by African authors, that take place in Africa, or tell traditional African stories all about the uniqueness and connectedness of all people. They explore how humans are both different and the same all over the world. This belief is called Ubuntu, I am because we are. We will connect this to our animal study this month on categorizing different types of animals and where we fall into those categories. We will discuss how we are the same in that we are all animals, vertebrates, mammals, and yet we are all different.
With so many unique larger animals in Africa, we will be focusing on vertebrates this month. We will have out various works that explore the characteristic of vertebrates and how to categorize them (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians). We will especially focus on mammals since that is the category we fall into! We had our invertebrate presentation last month and were able to bring all sorts of bugs into the classroom. On April 10th, Cedar Run will be stopping by to bring some of their special vertebrate friends for a visit.
Monday, April 22nd is Earth Day, and we will get outside and enjoy nature and continue to discuss ways we can care for our environment in honor of Earth Day. We are going to have a wild month of adventure as we journey through Africa! Be sure to encourage your children to share their learning with you at home, so you can come along for the ride!
Songs for circle this month
Vertebrates
Hakuna Matata Savanna Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ss5PGYsPY
This is the Savanna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEGKGLY6XZo
I Love My Africa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghX8qwGSZpU
Movement Songs
African Playground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bluehC5Vga4
We’re Going on a Lion Hunt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03i5v1PS7P4&t=4s
The Lion King Soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlkPh7kOnt4&list=PLBXBmZcJbX0wcsPxZWZGGw7M_g- VMvmLI
Reminders:
- April tuition due at your earliest convenience! Be sure to put all check/cash payments in the lockbox on the porch or pay through QuickBooks.
- Wednesday April 10th Cedar Run presentation.
- Thursday, April 11th kindergarten and elementary information night virtually at 7:00.
- April 22nd is Earth Day so get out in nature, plant a flower, and enjoy our beautiful earth!
- End of the year show and Kindergarten graduation Friday, June 7th mark your calendars!
- Summer camp begins Monday, June 10th.